Recommended Reading
The Art Of The Bizare Vinyl Sleeve
This new book revolves around the brilliant sleeve collection of Steve Goldman which first appeared at a public exhibition in Huddersfield (current dates at end of page). It then reappeared at Stoke’s excellent Spode Pottery Museum and we went over to see it, meet Steve and discuss the idea of a book. There are any number of “worst record sleeve” galleries out there on the internet, most seem to recycle the same poor jpegs over and over. There have even been a handful of very cheap books on the subject. But we figured that while these covers can be seen as bad from a variety of angles, there had to be a story behind them. So we’re tackling the subject properly, talking to some artists and designers and researching the covers in detail. You can chuckle over some utterly astonishing covers (there are around 300 in the book) but also read the stories behind many of them. The core of the book is album vinyl of course but the odd (and we mean very odd) single does turn up as well! For lovers of vinyl and students of sleeve design and anyone wanted a good laugh!
Some excellent reviews out there already, we have posted a few on this site (under the Bizarre Sleeves menu). And the foreword by Stewart Lee is probably worth the cover price alone!
There are some PAGE PREVIEWS up on the site.
The book has been designed by Simon Robinson at Easy On The Eye, who has a website ST33 devoted to vinyl art (good and bad!), and has a gallery of strange sleeves up there. Check it out via the link below. There is an article on the website about the cover design as well.
Boom Boom Boom Boom
American Rhythm & Blues In England 1962 – 1966
The Photographs of Brian Smith
ISBN – 978-0-9561439-4-5. Due 2024 at long last!
Pages previews click here. Flipbook preview : http://online.fliphtml5.com/msya/onod/
If you would like to be the first to get upcoming information on this book, see exclusive previews, learn about any pre-publication discounts and other advance news, please join our Blues Book mailing list by clicking the button below. It’s free and you can remove yourself from this list at any time.
TERRI HOOLEY: SEVENTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS
I partied a lot, and I drank a lot and I did drugs, and I had a good time. And I never killed anybody."
Terri Hooley about to celebrate his 75th birthday. He’s the record shop champion and the guy that gave critical help to the Undertones, RUDI, the Outcasts and many others. He’s the subject of Good Vibrations, a popular film and a stage musical. To mark his milestone birthday, Terri talks about radical times, conflict, lucky escapes, messy behaviour and the alternative soul of Belfast.
75 Revolutions is a 144 page book with over 100 photos, many of them unseen or rare. Featuring fresh, revelatory interviews with Terri and his friends, and a foreword from the Hooleygan himself.
Terri Hooley is celebrated for releasing ‘Teenage Kicks’, the classic Undertones debut, in 1978. He achieved a great deal with Good Vibrations, his shop and record label that blossomed in Belfast during the conflict. Terri’s character was informed by the rebellious spirit of the 60s and he has sustained that attitude across the decades.
The film Good Vibrations was released in 2012, featuring Richard Dormer and Jodie Whittaker. This led to a stage musical, Good Vibrations, which opened in 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. In 2023, a production of Good Vibrations was restaged at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, before moving to the Irish Center, New York.
Stuart Bailie is a Belfast-based writer, a former Assistant Editor of NME and a long-time Terri associate. He has authored a series of books, including Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland (2018) and 75 Van Songs (2020). He has been a music industry professional since 1985, writing for NME, Mojo, Uncut, Q, Vox, The Irish Times, Hot Press and Classic Rock. He edits Dig With It (digwithit.com), a magazine about arts and counterculture in the North.
Stuart has reached into his archive of interviews and Hooley adventures to find reason in a turbulent life. No other story spins out like 75 Revolutions.
“The definitive account of my life.” – Terri Hooley.
Written by Stuart Bailie. With a foreword by Terri Hooley
Published byDig With It
144 pages, 261mm square.
ISBN: 978-1-3999-6848-5
Retail Price: £18.99
B.R.S.A has inspired many exhibitions, features and radio programmes as well as providing the basis for Garth Cartwright’s two books.
