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Vivian Stanshall
Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead
Harkit Records
HRKCD 8336
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1. AFOJU Tl OLE RIRAN (DEAD EYES) 3:51
2. TRUCK-TRACK 4:48
3. YELP, BELLOW, RASP ET CETERA 1:01
4. PRONG 5:08
5. REDEYE 4:50
6. HOW THE ZEBRA GOT HIS SPOTS 2:09
7. DWARF SUCCULENTS 2:49
8. BOUT OF SOBRIETY 1:42
9. PRONG & TOOTS GO STEADY 6:57
10. STRANGE TONGUES 3:42
11. BABA TUNDE* 5:08
12. LAKONGA* 3:25
*BONUS TRACKS
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Vivian Stanshall: vocals/recorder/euphonium/ukulele/Chelonian pipes.
"Bubs" White: electric guitar.
Steve Winwood: bass guitar/organ.
Caspar Lawal: talking drum/congas/xylophone/& kit drums on 'Zebra'.
Jim Capaldi: kit drums/lesser log.
Deryk Quinn: kebasa/ Nigerian coffee tables/greater log.
Ric Grech: violin. 'Reebop'.
Kwaku Baah: congas on 'Prong & Toots'.
Ladies' Voices: Doris Troy, Madeleine Bell and Barry St. John.
Male Yoruba Chorus: Ayus Ape, Cani, Caspar Lawal.
All muck written and arranged by V.S. except 'Afoju Ti Ole Riran', 'Baba Tunde' and 'Lakonga' written jointly with Caspar Lawal.
Recorded at: The Manor, The Workshop, Trident and Apple Studios.
Made by: John Darnley & Vivian Stanshall.
Completed: April, 1974.
Cover drawing: Peter Till.
Photograph of V.S.: Barry Wentzell.
Remastering by Remasterers of the Universe.
Notes by Freek Kinkelaar.
Produced for CD by Michael Spencer.
CD package design by Tim Noel-Johnson.
Some research - not a lot - by Burnell House.
Music published by Warner Bros. Music.
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"Why can't I be different and unusual, like everybody else?"
Considered something of a national treasure today, Vivian Anthony Stanshall (21 March, 1943 - 5 March, 1995) is often labelled the archetypical English eccentric.
But that would sell Vivian short; he never acted the character, he was merely being himself; funny, kind-hearted, obnoxious, loud, deeply depressed and deliriously happy (often at the same time), which was complex enough. As vocalist, undisputed leader and crackpot mastermind of the Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band, coping with an immense workload, responsibilities and the band's legendary utter chaos since 1962, Vivian had been left exhausted and on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the end of the 60's. The Bonzos farewell gig at Loughborough University in March, 1970 came as something of a relief to all its members. Vivian was prescribed Valium to ease his nerves (which would lead to a lifelong battle with an addiction to tranquillizers) and formed the idiosyncratically spelled biG GRunt (also featuring Bonzo colleagues Roger Ruskin Spear and Dennis Cowan). The band had showed a lot of promise in a radio session on 16 March of that year and a live show at Aston University nine days later. However, in the end, the sole GRunt's official recorded legacy was their January, 1970 single Blind Date for Fly Records. The flip side, a rousing cover of Elvis Presley's Suspicion, was confusingly credited to Vivian Stanshall and The Gargantuan Chums.
Later that year Vivian teamed up with fan-proclaimed guitar-maestro, Eric Clapton as the Sean Head Showband releasing the brilliant tongue-twister single Labio-Dental Fricative (backed with Paper Round) on Liberty Records. Not taking any kind of break, Vivian recorded two more tracks, Lakonga and Baba Tunde, for Warner Brothers, which were finally released as a taster for the Umbrellas album in July 1974. The impromptu band featured Steve Winwood on keyboards and Winwood's West Indian taxi driver on bass and the taxi driver's friend on drums. Both songs show Vivian's deep love for the African culture. A triviality: the promo edition managed to spell Vivian's name as Standshall (see picture). Late 1971 the Bonzos briefly reunited to record their swansong album Let's Make Up And Be Friendly for United Artists, but their happiness was brief.
After the initial joy of recording, old frictions arose and the band exploded once again. With an ever fluctuating line-up, Vivian toured the UK in 1972 as Vivian Stanshall and Friends. He also entered the studio with Mike Oldfield for the Tubular Bells albums, on which Vivian announces all instruments in his BBC-deadpan voice. Between all that Vivian also found (part) time to appear on radio, write poetry, paint wonderful gargantuan pictures and be an occasional member of GRIMMS, a collective of musicians and poets, which also included his old friend Neil Innes.
Working with Innes commenced on the (incidental) recordings for the Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead album, which started in 1972. The title was a logical conclusion of a favourite Bonzo tour-play, where bored band members tried to out-do the other by making up silly alternative names for road signs. Even though recording was troubled at times due to Vivian's suffering from bouts of alcoholism, the sessions turned out well; Vivian's singing is spot-on and his crack musicians, such as Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Gaspar Lawal, Bubs White and the ever-faithful Neil Innes, provide suitable backing. More trivia: when the album was finally completed in April, 1974, it is said that Vivian thought it wise to deliver the master tapes himself to Warner Brothers. To be on the safe side, he took a taxi. However, Vivian accidentally left the master tape to side two of the album in the taxi and it was lost - never to be found again. Therefore, the original vinyl release has side two mastered from an acetate copy. From the opening track, Afoju Ti Ole Riran (Dead Eyes), (all about Vivian's contempt of the music business), it clear that Umbrellas is not a "comedy' album. Much of the material is dark by nature and reflects Vivian's confused and frustrated state of mind at the time. "It's all about frustration," Vivian stated, "It's one long squawk," which is also reflected on tracks like Redeye and Strange Tongues. There are lighter songs of course, such as the delicious cod-calypso How The Zebra Got His Spots (about his most favourite body-part) or Dwarf Succulents. There are many African influences in both the structure of the songs, the instrumentation and the lyrics. As always, Vivian is in total control of the English language, a master at his art, weaving words making "let it be-ness" rhyme to "a certain penis".
Umbrellas was deleted after the initial short pressing run had sold out, which led to the album becoming something of a collector's item. Now available again for the first time in 35 years, together with the aforementioned bonus single tracks Lakonga and Baba Tunde, would you please enter the most peculiar, surreal, highly original and utterly British world of Vivian. Final trivia: when Warners got cold feet over Umbrellas and refused serious promotion of the album, legend hath it that Vivian secreted a bag of bluebottle maggots behind the radiator in the office of the label president. There are lessons to be learned from Umbrellas. Now listen on dot, dot, dot
Notes by Freek Kinkelaar
June, 2010
© Harkit Records, 2010
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® 1974. This edition © 2010 Harkit Records.
Printed and manufactured in EU.
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