The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Pithon and the Holy Grail...

Notes on the Executive Version

*Python... not Pithon.

"Congratulations on purchasing the Executive Version of this record. You have chosen wisely, and we value your discerning taste in deciding to pay the few extra pence for a product of real quality... Everything on this record has been designed to meet the exacting standards which you have naturally come to expect. The  record itself is made from the very finest Colombian extruded polyvinyl. The centerhole has been created to fit exactly onto your spindle with all the precision of finest Swiss craftsmanship. The audio content has been quality graded to give you the finest in listening pleasure. There is little or no offensive material, apart from four cunts, one clitoris, and a foreskin, and as they only occur in this opening introduction, you are past them now. You can relax and enjoy this quality product, secure in the knowledge that it has been specially created for the lover of fine things and the man of good taste." ~G.Chapman  * FART *


Thus begins The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Yes, that is the title of this album, and, like most Python records, this is a brilliant yet oft-overlooked tie-in to one of the greatest cult comedies of all time. The video version of the movie has been released and re-released many many many many times before. And rightly so: IT IS the movie. The soundtrack, well, is not the movie. But it IS (in the same sense that Mount Everest IS) a Monty Python creation based on, incorporating bits of, and every bit as funny as the movie. Yet I bet many fans of the movie have never heard it. Die-hards, yes, but even casual fans should hear it. It's lost Python.

I hear some of you saying, really? The album opens with a fart joke? Well, yes, but then Chapman asks the engineer if he can "edit that out" and the engineer -- clearly with no intention of doing so -- says, Yeah, no problem. But to me the funny thing about the fart joke is that the fart is so audible; it's not only caught on-mic, it's at the fore. Was Graham mic'd "down there" too? Silly sound effects people. Besides, Holy Grail fans seem to like fart jokes. I've seen t-shirts, after all, that say "I fart in your general direction" on them, one of the more popular lines from the movie.

The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail is currently available on CD. Amazon Link here. (And yes, every time I refer to the title I will spell it out in it's entirety, like the Johann Gambolputtyetc. sketch from the television series. YouTube Link here ) but for the most part, I will be referring to the vinyl LP version.

First of all, let it be known, that ALL copies -- LP or CD -- of The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (you'd think I would just cut-and-paste the title, but no, I key it in every time...) ALL copies include the banner across the bottom left corner of the album cover which reads "Executive Version." I don't like to be the one to pee on your parade, as they say, but don't go thinking you've got something special because your copy is marked "Executive Version." I'll let you in on a little secret, though: you MAY have a rare copy of the original Arista (U.S.) release of the vinyl LP if it contains THIS sticker:

The first printing (1974) of the U.S. Arista version of The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was indeed printed wrong. The front of the album cover is a wonderful Terry Gilliam airbrush painting denoting, mostly, the title (with the first word THE appearing ten-times larger than the name of the movie!) The back cover is a not-so-beautiful wrap-around, crumpled mess, Scotch™-taped together on a black background. But look closely at the two versions:

Click image to enlarge

The Charisma (U.K.) edition on the left has the back cover wraparound with gold at the top and green at the bottom, which follows the design of the front cover. The Arista (U.S.) edition has the wraparound with green at the top and gold at the bottom, the opposite of the front cover. "It don't work!" The wraparound gimmick is lost, somewhat. I don't know how many people even noticed it when they first bought this album. (It was fixed by the time I purchased the LP, circa 1978). The joke is still obvious: the back is all Scotch-taped together while the front is slick and beautiful. Nevertheless, Arista placed the Collector's Item sticker on the back cover until they fixed the problem on the next printing. Apparently they had stickers left over because MY personal copy of the LP is printed correctly, yet it still has the sticker on the back. Only the sticker is upside down. And who IS Olive Watson? I googled her name and found an heiress to the I.B.M. fortune, but I must say I don't get the joke.

"Bloody weather" scene from the movie

As I mentioned before, the Terry Gilliam painting on the cover is a forced perspective of the album's title set against a blue sky and an orange sunset, reminiscent of his "bloody weather" animation in the movie, vis right:

Okay... so it doesn't look at all like the "bloody weather" cartoon from the movie, but they both share the same Gilliamesque airbrush feel and similar color pallet. My point is that the actual title of the movie appears so tiny at the very bottom of the album cover that many people probably didn't know this was the official soundtrack to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so again, Arista Records planted a sticker on the front cover! This LP, when it first came out, was loaded with stickers, but they were all adhered to the outside of the cellophane wrap so as not to destroy the Gilliam art underneath. Commerce before art, I always say. Well, I don't, really, but someone did.

When I first bought this album I had never before heard a movie soundtrack LP. My assumption -- age 12ish -- was that the LP contained all the dialogue and music from the movie. Never mind that a movie usually ran 90 to 120 minutes and an LP only ran 30 to 40 minutes. I assumed I was going to get the entire audio soundtrack from the film. So when I put it on the turntable and set the needle down and heard Graham Chapman's "Congratulations on buying the Executive Version" speech, I was all, "Yeah, yeah, hurry up! I want to hear the movie!" But my disappointment was short lived: I heard the fart joke.

Music by DeWolfe

Virgin Chattering Classics
CD edition VCCCD-004

In the credits for both the film and The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "additional music" is credited to, simply, "DeWolfe." DeWolfe is one of the world's largest stock music libraries. (This whole sentence is a link to their website if you wanna snoop around and learn more about how music libraries work.) Thanks to the Virgin Chattering CD edition of The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, (right) I was able to note most -- if not all -- of the music used on the album (and in the movie, but this blog is mostly concerned with the album.) The booklet that comes in the jewel case of the Virgin Chattering Classics (2002) release lists all the music credits used on the album, whereas none of the other CD releases, nor the LP version, include such a listing.

Track Listing

Since the LP version of the album is not banded (i.e. there are no gaps between the "songs,") and most of the early CD releases are simply divided into two tracks, each representing a single side of the LP, I shall use the most recent (2006) CD version as my standard guide for the track listing (minus any CD-only bonus tracks).

Descriptions depicted in gray represent music/dialogue from the film itself;

Descriptions depicted in blue represent "new" music/dialogue recorded specially for the album.

SIDE ONE:

01: Executive Introduction

~ Music: "Jeunesse" by Anthony Mawer, under:

~ Graham Chapman's "Congratulations on buying the executive version..." announcement.

02: Introduction Part Two

~ Music: "Honour's List" by Kenneth Papworth, under:

~ Michael Palin's mispronounced "Pithon" announcement.

~ Also Michael's "Welcome to Silbury Hill" introduction.

~ Also Eric's Idle's tragic "Opening Night" sketch.

03: Arrival at Castle

~ Film Music: "Big Country" by Kenneth Papworth, under:

~ England 932 A.D. titles

~ Also John Cleese's description of film scene (left stereo channel).

~ Also dialogue from the film: "You're using coconuts..." scene, (right stereo channel).

~ Also dialogue from the film: "Bring out your dead..." scene.

04: Constitutional Peasants

~ Film Music: "Homeward Bound" by John Trombey, under:

~ Audio from the film: Arthur and Patsy galloping thru peasant village.

~ Also dialogue from the film: "We're living in a dictatorship/bloody peasants..." scene.

~ Film Music: "God Choir" by Neil Innes, under: Arthur's "Lady of the Lake" speech.

05: Witch Burning

~ Film Music: "Homeward Bound" by John Trombey, under:

~ Audio from the film: Arthur and Patsy galloping into Bedevere's village.

~ Also dialogue from the film: "Sir Bedevere/burn the witch..." scene.

06: Logician (No music used on track 06)

~ John Cleese's album-only "Sex is more fun than logic..." sketch.

07: Camelot

~ Film Music: "Fanfare" by Neil Innes, under:

~ Dialogue from the film: "Camelot!/Camelot!/It's only a model..." scene.

**MORE HERE TO COME **

The Book of the Film
Imagine, if you will, a time when the only way to see a movie was if it played in a "theater near you" or was shown on telly. There were no home-video-movies-on-demand devices in the 1970s. To "experience" a movie at home, one had only the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and/or a book tie-in, if available. Oftentimes the book was an actual novelization of a movie in paperback form, or the original novel (with a new movie-tie-in cover) if the movie was based on such a thing. Another option, as was the case with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was a scripted publication.

Later editions of the (Book) feature
a full-color printed cover rather
than the original die-cut.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was not the type of movie one could easily write a novelization of. Or to. Or is it for? Whatever. (That was a poorly constructed sentence.) (My apologies to purchasers of the Executive Version...) The "Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book)" is a beautiful package, produced to look like an actual movie script. My guess is that it actually IS (in the same sense that Mount Everest IS) a reproduction of the original script. The first edition was printed with a die-cut cover exposing "A First Draft" which appears to be a typewritten script with handwritten notes printed on cheap white typing paper. This makes up the first thirty or forty pages of the book and gives us a glimpse at the original idea of the sketch-based movie the Pythons had in mind before converting it into a proper storyline of the Arthurian Legend. "A First Draft" contains many sketches that were not used in the final film but were adapted for the fourth series of the TV show, and some sketches that are just plain lost, destined to exist forever only in this book. The remainder of the book consists of the final draft of the script we all know and love printed on heavier multi-colored rag stock, complete with handwritten notes, corrections, rewrites and even deleted scenes (gasp!) Also included are many still photographs (in black and white) and several Terry Gilliam doodles and storyboard sketches drawn within the margins and on the backs of the pages. The center spread of the book is a glossy full color section consisting of several pages that reprint movie theater lobby cards for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, complete with captions which have been cleverly worked into The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Which links us back to our original brief, The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.