Discovered: The rarest Barney Bubbles design ever!
Today we are proud to announce that we have tracked down the rarest of all Barney Bubbles designs: Knees Up Party, the 1975 album by popular pianist Mrs Mills.
Knees Up Party: "Intricately reflexive."
“Barney was very secretive and never talked about his work with Mills,” says his friend Jack Rivoli. “I only found out about it by accident when she appeared on The Two Ronnies one night and Barney hinted that they had collaborated.”
Like Bubbles, Mills revelled in pseudonymic disguise (she was born Gladys Jordan in 1918). Mills had been introduced to the designer by Paul McCartney (who would later marry her grand-daughter) when she was recording at Abbey Road Studios. At one time Mills was posited as a replacement for the dancer Stacia on Hawkwind’s groundbreaking Space Ritual tour. A deal with Stiff Records was reportedly cancelled due to her hedonistic lifestyle, as portrayed here.
In typically oblique style the cover track-listing does not mention Mills’ radical reworking of Kevin Coyne’s Eastbourne Ladies (Bubbles was responsible for the layout and logo for the Coyne album Marjory Razorblade).
Mills and Bubbles shared interests in cosmology, cybernetics and casseroles. When the concept album Knees Up Party was suggested after a trip to the Lesser Great Pyramid, Bubbles adopted his integrated approach for the sleeve, art directing the photo session which involved subtle use of Pearly King & Queen regalia (denoting his ongoing interlacing of references to heraldry and regality). Mills herself is adorned with a necklace of eight flowers, a potent symbol of Bubbles’ oeuvre.
This photo session was in turn to inspire his choreography and stage sets for Hawklords’ 25 Years On tour of 1978.
“This is definitely Bubbles,” says graphics authority Roy Wenge. “Knees Up Party is a fine example of the intricately reflexive nature of his work. As a graphic construction it offers multiple points of interest, dispersing the viewer’s attention.”
In the next post we shall examine another Bubbles rarity – his design for The Damned’s collectable album in their incarnation as little-known horror-rockers Lemming.
Brian James, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies and Dave Vanian, 1974.
Tags: 1974, 1975, 25 Years On, Abbey Road, Barney Bubbles, collectible, Hawklords, Hawkwind, Heather Mills, Knees Up party, Lemming, Mrs Mills, Paul McCartney, rarest, Space Ritual, Stiff Records
April 1st, 2009 at 2:28 pm
From here, it appears that Vanian is wearing Pumas with his vampire attire. Is this true? P.S. I’m obsessed with Reasons to be Cheerful! Borsalino hats off to you, sir. : )
April 1st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Yes Pumas (particularly the States in black suede on black leather) were the chosen attire of the Undead (better for sneaking around graveyards you see).
April 1st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I particularly like Barney’s ironic choice of font for Mrs Mills.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Ah yes, MFP…the big, unacknowledged influence on Factory Records. Interesting seeing Donny Osmond in the back there.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Yes – young and toothsome as ever. And of course Keith Richard front right.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Not Barney Bubbles. Photography by Colin ‘Glans’ Glanfield, and design by David ‘Warfarin’ Wharin. Commonly known as..colin and david..
I checked on the website printed on the 1975 LP cover. Which I would have otherwise ignored.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Is that a young Tony Blair front left? Moonlighting from Ugly Rumours??
What is certain is that that Mrs Mills cover was styled by Caramel Crunch…
September 25th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Lemming were a Dutch glam rock band. Definitely not the Damned, i know these guys personally. Very, very doubtful whether Barney was involved in this project. Very improbable. He would have liked them, though.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I dunno tho…the original artwork was up for auction recently and went to acknowledged BB expert Fred Wenge for £1,800. I think the confusion has occurred because Casino Steel left an early line up of Lemming (then known as Cuppatee and before that The Incredible Kevins) to join Hollywood Brats and then London SS with Tony James. Steel went on to form The Boys, labelmates of 999, while James auditioned for The Damned and then of course formed Generation X for whom BB did artwork. Have you quizzed the Lemming guys long and hard? I think they’re hiding something. I’ll bet the album’s an absolute corker.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
For those struggling with this, can i just repeat:
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 10:47 am… !