Neil Neil's Heavy Concept Album Insert SIGNED POSTCARD

£ 24

$ 32

£ 24 Sold For

Mar 17, 2009 Sold Date

Mar 7, 2009 Start Date

10 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

eBay Auctioned at

save auction

Description

Neil Neil's Heavy Concept Album Insert + SIGNED POSTCARD

1984 UK release on WEA WX12 240524-1.

Record is in excellent condition with no significant marks – looks almost as good as new. Sleeve is very good – some slight wear round the edges and at the corners. Red inner bag is excellent as is the insert.

Sleeve is a brilliant pastiche of the Beatles “Sgt Pepper” sleeve, likewise the insert.

Other performers on this LP include Stephen Fry, Dave Stewart, Dawn French and Barbara Gaskin.

This is a relatively hard-to-find album, especially with the insert. However, what makes this copy completely unique is the postcard I found inside the sleeve. It’s a “Great Hippy Cliches” postcard which appears to have been given by Nigel Planer (the actor who played Neil) to someone called Jeanette (who MAY be Jeanette Winterson, who wrote, amongst many other things, “Oranges are Not the Only Fruit”.

Message on the card is “Hope you all like this, Nige”. And it is addressed to “Jeanette, c/o Fraser and Dunlop, 91 Regent Street, London W1”. I have checked Nigel Planer autographs on the internet and am 99.9% confident that the signature on this card is Nigel Planer’s. Also, Fraser and Dunlop (now Peters, Fraser and Dunlop) are a literary and talent agency who have represented Jeanette Winterson.

I have absolutely no idea how this LP, with this postcard inside, came to be in a second-hand shop in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Tracks are:

1 Hello Vegetables 0:26

2 Hole in My Shoe 3:40

3 Heavy Potato Encounter 0:42

4 My White Bicycle 3:31

5 Neil the Barbarian 1:12

6 Lentil Nightmare 5:47

7 Computer Alarm 0:36

8 Wayne 1:36

9 The Gnome 2:29

10 Cosmic Jam 2:26

11 Golf Girl 4:40

12 Bad Karma in U.K. 2:17

13 Our Tune 1:13

14 Ken 0:41

15 The End of the World Cabaret 1:09

16 God Save the Queen 2:12

17 Floating 1:39

18 Hurdy Gurdy Man 3:46

19 Paranoid Mix 1:59

20 The Amoeba Song 1:19

AMG says:

Nigel Planer (vocals) revives "Neil" from the short-lived yet highly influential BBC-TV program The Young Ones on Neil's Heavy Concept Album (1984). Although the show was set in the 1980s, Neil's lifestyle centers around the mid- to late-'60s hippie culture, an exceedingly antiquated notion directly contrasting his ultra-mod housemates. This explains the inclusion of the fairly wide selection of psychedelic and progressive nuggets amidst the spoken links and occasional originals. The idea for the long-player stemmed from his version of Traffic's early side "Hole in My Shoe" — which came out as a single. When Planer appeared in character to promote it on BBC 2's Top of the Pops, he lost his footing, resulting in the backdrop falling apart and causing general mayhem on live television. The tune is given a lighthearted romp with notable session musician Rick Biddulph (guitar) working in phrases of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" during the waning moments. Other fun covers are Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle," Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd on "The Gnome," Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man," and "The Amoeba Song," aka the Incredible String Band's "A Very Cellular Song." Caravan's "Golf Girl" is worth additional mention, as it features a cameo voice-over from Dawn French — half of the comedy team French & Saunders — as (of all things) a policewoman. Instrumentally, Planer is supported by an all-star cast that includes Dave Stewart (keyboards/bass/drum/guitar), Barbara Gaskin (backing vocals), Pip Pyle (drums), Jakko M. Jakszyk (guitars), and jazz heavy Annie Whitehead (trombone), as well as Jimmy Hastings, who at one time was a primary contributor to the aforementioned prog rock outfit Caravan. "Lentil Nightmare" is a tremendously amusing Planer-penned composition that, among other things, quotes "In the Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson amidst the proto-heavy progressive metal madness. The connecting bits of dialogue provide an outlet for Planer's quirky and earthy humor. Also of note is "Neil the Barbarian," a parody of a movie advert where Neil — a strict vegan — eats a hamburger, which transforms him into this superhero-type character. All said, Neil's Heavy Concept Album is thoroughly entertaining and recommended for inclined parties.

price rating