Another Monty Python Blog: And Now For Something Slightly Different...

Saturday, June 7, 2014

And Now For Something Slightly Different...

Elsewhere in this blog, my two readers (one of whom is me) may recall a statement I made along the lines of "there have been many Instant Monty Python record collections, Best Of--Worst Of compilations, Final Rip Offs, Ultimate Rip-Offs, and the Pick of the Best of Some Recently Repeated Python Hits Again volumes... but there has never been a COMPLETE Monty Python record collection. And then I believe I used the word "yet." Well, Yet is nigh.

The foot of Cupid has gone all spotty over the years, I'm afraid.

Virgin Records has released or is about to release (depending on how near June 2014 you two are, or are not, reading this) Monty Python's Total Rubbish, a career spanning 9-CD box set, or if you prefer, a 9-LP vinyl set. Nice! It comes in a nice slip case with nice new Terry Gilliam-designed artwork on it, and a nice new book of liner notes and graphics. You can read all about it and PRE-ORDER or ORDER it HERE BY CLICKING ON THIS BLUE UNDERLINED LINK.

9-CD Box Set

9-LP Vinyl Box Set

Now... I have to disclaim something here... but it's a minor something: This collection is not really, truly complete, per se. Although, for the first time in any Python Virgin Records collection, it contains the first BBC LP, Monty Python's Flying Circus, it does NOT contain the US-only release of Live at City Center. This is a small something because it DOES contain Live at Drury Lane and those two performances are very similar though not identical. But, be fair, the collection does NOT claim to be Complete. It only claims to be Rubbish. Which it's not. It's Snot.

Also missing from The Total Rubbish package is Monty Python Sings! But fear not! Also released in June 2014 is a deluxe version of Monty Python's 1989 musical anthology Monty Python Sings newly entitled Monty Python Sings (again) Available in CD or LP format, the new release contains six never-before released Python songs, three of which are new Eric Idle compositions. For those of you who don't like sport, there is also a deluxe 2-disc set which includes the newly expanded Sings (again) album as well as the remastered first BBC album Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Click to enlarge

And if you order from the official website HERE BY CLICKING ON THIS BLUE UNDERLINED LINK you will also receive a new poster of the Total Rubbish cover art printed 30x30 inch (rolled, not folded) (and probably shaken, not stirred) on a nice 250gsm quality silk paper!

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Is the first Monty Python album available on CD?

Virgin Records, the current owner of the Python catalogue, has released all of the original albums on CD. Except the first one. The first one has always been kind of the "misfit" in the Python oeuvre, since it was created before the Python's had achieved creative control of their work. (For example, they wanted to record in stereo; they didn't want to record in front of a live audience; and they wanted real dramatic music to link bits together, instead of one guy with a Hammond Organ (no offence, Hammond). Their wishes came true on subsequent albums, but their debut remains what it is: a product of the BBC, and is still in their copyright possession to this day. However, like The Beatles' Decca recordings, the first Python album stands as an important piece of their overall history, and yes, it is available on CD. Look for it in the book shop as opposed to the record store, though, because, for some reason, BBC has issued it as an AudioBook, packaged in a papperboard slipcase, minus the original album cover, but sporting a "oh, this will do" rip-off of Gilliam's original design. At least they used the proper Foot of Cupid.

Monty Python's First Album Re-reissued... Again.

Wait a minute, I'm just getting.... I'm just getting... a loud buzzing noise in my left ear... Stop press! This just in! (And all the rest of it.) It seems as if, while I was writing this blog in 2011, someone's decided to re-issue Monty Python's Flying Circus on CD in an effort to sort of "catch it up" with the 2006 reissues of all their other albums. I have only seen this on the internet, so I've not inspected it myself, but it appears to be in a plastic jewel case containing an insert that replicates the original album cover. A major step up from the prior cardboard audio-book edition. However, it appears to feature the cover design from the 2nd vinyl generation with the white string tag and not the original 1st generation Gilliam design with the yellow string tag (see my entry on cover design in the main text for details). Again, I'm not complaining about it, I'm just reporting what I see. This is a fan blog, after all, not an official Python site. The CD itself is designed to replicate the original BBC label, and the disc looks like a little vinyl record, which is kinda cool. Kudos to whoever put this package together.

According to the internet, this album has been digitally remastered by AudioGo as part of a Vintage Beeb series of comedy records, including Dad's Army and I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (a wonderfully silly album, by the way.)

Here's where I found out about it: Suite 101.com. (I hope they don't mind me spreading the good news to my two blog readers) (one of whom is me).

A couple more things of note on the new CD: Out of respect, they have corrected the spelling of Graham Chapman's name on the front cover. The first and second generation vinyl editions both had Graham's name misspelled as "Grahame". Omitted from both the vinyl editions and this newly remastered CD is Terry Gilliam's name as a performer. He does get credit on the back for creating the cover art, but only Cleese, Palin, Chapman, Idle, Jones, and Carol Cleveland receive front cover credit. Gilliam does indeed perform on the album, but as far as I know, he's only on one track, The Visitors on Side Two as the "poofy friend" of Mr Equator.

I suppose, when you're reissuing something in it's original packaging, you don't want to take too many liberties like adding Gilliam's name when it wasn't there before. Nice touch, though, correcting Grahame's name. I plan to order this disc so I'll prob'ly bore you (both of you) more once I've seen and heard it. Anyway, our thirty minutes is up. Goodnight. Baaaaahhh!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

And Now For Something Slightly Different...

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