Quote: Kenneth @ April 5 2011, 9:01 AM BST

Both on tape, both carted about the world and played on various tape players before succumbing to a mould infection in Jakarta.

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You or the tapes?

So that's the secret. If using PhotoShop I'd have to make an effort not to embellish the covers with images of James Cotter and such stuff.

Tempting isn't it?

Here is that Not the Nine O'Clock News single I was banging on about a few pages back but couldn't find, 'The Ayatollah Song', lurking in a drawer with a load of other comedy singles. Must improve my filing system.

Quote: Agnes Guano @ April 5 2011, 9:28 AM BST

You or the tapes?

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Only the tapes. I was inoculated while working for The Daily Dose, Southeast Asia's leading feminine hygiene journal.

I love these pics! How do you get them? Sorry, not techy and would love to contribute, got a couple of awesome covers!

Well there's a lot to be said for a decent camera! I used to use one I thought was good but the girlfriend went mad recently and bought some crazy bonkers multi super duper megapixel thing which made all the previous photos I took look a little bit crap, eg this one, which isn't comedy related but does have a very stupid sleeve. If I'm rummaging through charity shops for that elusive Little and Large record I often console myself by blowing 50p on a particularly naff album with an atrocious cover:

Compare and contrast with my later efforts.

I tend to wait for a sunny day and take a picture in natural light, directly over the cover with as steady a hand as I can. I've got it off to a fine art now. Then after my lovely megapixel galore picture is uploaded I fiddle around in Photoshop, straighten it out a bit into a perfect square using the 'distort' function, remove and major rips or dirt with the clone stamp, auto adjust the colour balance and the levels and fiddle with the brightness and contrast manually. And there you go.

There are some pretty decent free versions of Photoshop if you don't have the full thing: http://www.pixlr.com/editor/ http://www.gimpshop.com/ (great URL!)

Quote: Agnes Guano @ April 7 2011, 10:23 AM BST

There are some pretty decent free versions of Photoshop if you don't have the full thing

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Would that I understood how everything works on PhotoShop. All I do is end up playing with the filters and making a mess. But yes, it helps.

Before attending Agnes Guano School of Comedy Album Cover Restoration:

After:

Well done! Feel free to print yourself off an online certificate.

That 'Another Monty Python Record' . . isn't that the one where the sleeve notes morph from a review of the Beethoven recording into a commentary on a tennis match ?

Yes it was. What I loved about all the Python products, the TV, books, records, films and so on was that they approached each medium differently. The records are extraordinary for the way they play with every convention, be it the cover, the notes on the back or the sound mix itself.

Quote: Agnes Guano @ April 8 2011, 10:06 AM BST

Yes it was. What I loved about all the Python products, the TV, books, records, films and so on was that they approached each medium differently. The records are extraordinary for the way they play with every convention, be it the cover, the notes on the back or the sound mix itself.

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Agreed - it was hardly just bung the soundtrack on vinyl.
I used to be the proud owner of (signed) Alexei Sayle 'Cak!' and 'Fish People' albums, but God knows where they are now. I still think Cak is Sayle's finest moment.

Any excuse for some more photos!

Cak!:

The Fish People Tapes:

And the classic single - 'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?

He also crops up on here, from the original club before all the TV shows made them household names, The Comic Strip:

Thanks for that Sir, brought back some nice memories. Sayle also did an album 'Panic' which somehow eluded me - I think it was all songs.

I just want to post simple fun pics as additions to my excellent comedy, alas no idea how to? Help if you can be arsed.

Whatever happened to Richard Digance? And have you seen what Arfur Crown can do? http://ithinkivegotit.com/arfur-crown.html

You know what, I don't own a single Richard Digance record!

Quote: Agnes Guano @ April 9 2011, 11:21 PM BST

You know what, I don't own a single Richard Digance record!

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Do you know...I've never met anyone who does...but there must be someone out there...?