I
usually remove stickers from the cover of records. Most of the time it’s easy -
especially if it’s a brand-new record - but sometimes it can cause more damage
than keeping it on there. I’ve brought many records home from second-hand vinyl
shops, and tried to remove a sticker that’s probably been on the cover for 15
or 20 years, only to pull off a huge chunk of the cover in the process.There is a sticker on the front cover of my vinyl copy of this album that I’ve left on there. It is a HMV sticker, and alongside the price (£9.99) and the barcode, is my name in block capitals (MR J ANDREWS), the phone number of my parents’ house, and the date of sale (19/07/00).
This was given to me as a birthday gift by the lead singer in the band I was playing in at the time, and he had to order it into HMV Oldham, as they didn’t usually stock vinyl, hence the sticker.
I have to say I was pretty let down by this album. There was a lot of buzz around Badly Drawn Boy at the time, and I already had one of his early EPs - EP3, I think. This album was set to be an instant masterpiece, but it’s very disjointed. Later, Damon Gough said that he panicked when he got into the studio, and recorded a load of bits and pieces he didn’t plan. It sounds like it. I’d take those first three EPs - plus the It Came From The Ground single - over this album any day.
Hit: Once Around The Block
Hidden Gem: Disillusion
