Hundreds of record sleeves and pieces of ephemera designed by Barney Bubbles are currently on display in Sweden’s oldest record store, Burmans Musik in Umeå.
Farewell Tom Pogson, painter best known for his Armed Forces cover
Sep 2nd, 2022
++ Armed Forces front cover from the 2020 box set reissue ++
Sad to note the death last month at the age of 69 of the intriguing artist Tim (sometimes Tom) Pogson, whose work notably included the incredible pastiche of the popular wildlife painter David Shepherd for the front cover of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ 1979 album Armed Forces.
‘A lovely and essential work bursting with delight’
Aug 17th, 2022
‘There was a fair amount of detective work which went into it, but once you unlocked the door, it seemed that a lot of people were waiting for this; those that either worked with Bubbles or those that appreciated him were waiting for like-minded souls.’
Paul Gorman to Jon Langmead, popmatters.com
The Wild World of Barney Bubbles is hailed as ‘a lovely and essential work bursting with delight’ by pop culture website popmatters.com.
Writer Jon Langmead, who interviews Wild World author Paul Gorman, has skin in the game as the drummer for The Paranoid Style. As regular readers will know, their new album released this week features lead track Barney Bubbles, a tribute to the late designer.
Ed Hamell’s splendid Barney Bubbles interpretations
Aug 15th, 2022
This is the colour version of the drawing by musician Ed Hamell – of the band Hamell On Trial – which appears on the inner sleeve of The Paranoid Style’s new album For Executive Meeting.
Hamell also contributed to the lyric video for the album’s lead track tribute to Bubbles, including the interpretation of the cover of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’s album Imperial Bedroom – watch out for it at 02.00 in the clip:
Check out Hamell On Trial here.
For Executive Meeting is available from all good record retailers and direct from Bar/None here.
Norman Maslov on The Wild World of Barney Bubbles on Youtube
Aug 13th, 2022
Artists’ agent and passionate music lover Norman Maslov has posted a 10 minute journey through The Wild World of Barney Bubbles on his Youtube channel, augmented by examples of original and reissue record sleeve and poster designs from his collection.
Watch above and here.
The first copy of A Box of Bubbles is in…. and it looks amazing
Jul 14th, 2022
++ A Box of Bubbles is housed in this impressive 25 x 30cm casing decorated with one of Barney Bubbles’ most familiar artworks, for Ian Dury & The Blockheads’ 1978 single Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick ++
++ The box contains a copy of The Wild World of Barney Bubbles with a different hard cover jacket from the regular version ++
Very exciting – the first advance copy of A Box of Bubbles has arrived… and it looks amazing.
++ The boxed version of Wild World also has different end-papers based on patterns produced for Elvis Costello & The Attractions 1979 LP Armed Forces ++
Original artworks sell for £20,000 as Barney Bubbles’ collectability soars
May 5th, 2022
++ This 1977 felt tip on paper sketch for the debut album by The Damned together with the stickered limited edition LP fetched £6,120 ++
The first-time sale of original artworks by Barney Bubbles in yesterday’s Bonhams auction achieved close to £20,000 in total, with one item – the original design for The Damned’s 1977 debut album – scoring a winning bid in excess of £6,000.
Ultra-rare Barney Bubbles artworks on view as Bonhams auction ends tomorrow
May 3rd, 2022
Auction house Bonhams’ sale of ultra-rare and collectible original artworks by Barney Bubbles ends tomorrow at 12noon BST (British Summer Time).
++ Artwork for a poster for a 1979 Christmas concert at Birmingham International Arena. Barney Bubbles playfully inserted the name of his friend Cynthia Lole as the promoter ++
Accidents Will Happen: The ‘accidental’ single sleeve
Apr 13th, 2022
++ Back of the Accidents Will Happen sleeve ++
Barney Bubbles’ sleeve for Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ 1979 Radar Records single Accidents Will Happen/Talking In The Dark/Wednesday Week famously took its cue from the title of the lead track by presenting a blank outer with the design on the inside, as if the result of a printer’s error.
