Tag Archives: Simon Robinson

Fine tuning

Posted on by


As we are about to send out updated press releases, Brian Smith’s Boom Boom photo book cover has had a little more time spent on it, in particular cleaning up the edges of the cut-out images which had been done only roughly until now. If you are wondering who is who on the cover, that’s Screaming Jay Hawkins on the far right with Brian Smith himself joining in the fun, taken by one of Brian’s mates; I wanted to sneak Brian onto the cover if we could!  Little Richard in the centre is a star more people might recognise. I realised a few days ago we ought to try and get John Lee Hooker onto the front too, so tweaked things to enable this and fitted him next to Little Richard.  On the left is Buddy Guy. The main cover photograph is of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. Several of these images were taken inside the Twisted Wheel Club, one of Brian’s regular haunts

Previewed

Posted on by

We have added another page of previews of Brian Smith’s Boom Boom Boom Blues Photos book to this site. Some of these spreads have been up here before but are now replaced by updated and higher resolution versions. The images below show Chuck Berry warming his fingers up in the dressing room, and Sonny Boy Williamson relaxing back at Roger Eagle‘s Manchester flat before heading back into town for the show that night. The story behind those shots is worth the price of the book alone, trust us!

Inside the tent

Posted on by

looking out? Nice to sit and chat with people about The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve at the Huddersfield Literary Festival tent on the 26th, and to meet vinyl fans after. Next time I will bring a torch as it was difficult at times to see my notes inside the tent despite the sunny day! Steve is now getting ready for a display of the sleeves at the Bearded Theory festival at Catton Hall, Derbyshire, 23 – 26 May 2024 [beardedtheory.co.uk] so we’re busy updating the flyers to get them ready in time, then back to work on the next book.

Gift guide

Posted on by

We see quite a few nice comments on social media but this one tickled us today. Somebody bought The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve for relatives in Australia, and got this nice message back! The only problem now is what can Mum find to top this next year?

And April 1st saw The Sun devote most a page to a selection of sleeves from the book, which given the date must really have confused readers who probably thought they were all spoofs! However we did have a smile at their headline, which went “Hex and Rugs and Rock and Roll” alongside appropriate covers. Happily we got a PDF sent, so didn’t actually have to part with money for a copy.

Rabbits

Posted on by

While we are now cracking on with our next title (stay tuned!), The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve continues to create a buzz, and the results of a poll at the last exhibition as to the worst sleeves on display has now produced a top ten chart. Gathered from over 600 votes at The Williamson Gallery before Christmas, it looks set to be a benchmark for strange sleeves for some time to come!  Particularly amazing perhaps is the sleeve above; we still don’t know what prompted these Romanians to pose with nothing but a rabbit each for their comeback album back in 1995. We have made this and the rest of the ten worst covers into a special gallery at the vinyl sleeve art website run by Simon Robinson over at ST33, so – if you dare – go and take a peek!  If you’re wondering exactly what the book is all about check it out on the site.  

Last chance to see!

Posted on by

If you are in the North West, Steve’s Bizarre Vinyl display at The Williamson in Birkenhead finishes on Saturday this week (27th). It then moves across to Alnwick in the North East in early February. More details on that soon. In the meantime you can now see the older Bizarre Vinyl Newsletters at our online archive site. Current newsletters are exclusive to subscribers.

And before we all collectively try and get on with the new year here’s one of the festive sleeves which didn’t make Steve’s book The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve… is uptrousering a thing? And if so should it be make illegal?

Stranger things

Posted on by

Maybe Stranger Things is a running feature in the Yorkshire Post newspaper’s Saturday 16th Magazine? Not sure how else to explain the heading! It was my Mum’s favourite paper, so a shame she is no longer around to see this and it is a well written article about The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve book (see below) and Steve’s collection. Just a shame they showed the back of the book not the front…! As for the author photo… Anyway we have put up the full article on this site.

A Bizarre release

Posted on by

Happy to announce that THE ART OF THE BIZARRE VINYL SLEEVE book is shipping NOW; indeed it will be landing this week for many people who placed a pre-order. Lots of folk picked up on it after a great discussion on Radio 4‘s arts programme Front Row this week – which you can listen to (or read the subtitles) on Steve Goldman’s Instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0OrAKitAul/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

There is plenty of stock but If you are wanting to order in time for Christmas then the sooner the better so we can process your order in good time. Don’t forget there is a discount if you use our dedicated shop – the links are on the right. Thanks to everyone for their interest in this title.

We will be doing an update on our other upcoming books in the next couple of weeks.

the easy on the eye books office under pressure!

The Cats

Posted on by

We have put half a dozen preview pages from The Art Of Bizarre Record Sleeves on the site to mark the opening today of the worst album sleeves exhibition in Huddersfield (details below). This gives a good idea of the designs even as they continue to be worked on.

Bizarre exhibition

Posted on by

Just to mention collector Steve is returning to the scene of his first successful Worst Record Sleeves exhibition, this time at part of the Huddersfield Literature Festival.

The exhibition runs 10am til 4pm Thursday 23rd March – Sunday 2nd April at the Huddersfield Literature Festival Hub, Huddersfield Piazza, Princess Alexandra Walk HD1 2RS.

If you can get along a really good laugh is guaranteed, plus you can help visitors select the three most bizarre covers!

Easy On The Eye managed to spirit away the first 100 or so sleeves from the collection a couple of weeks ago to get these scanned at high resolution for the book, in time for them to be collected for the display. More details on the book at the publishers site.