The Ian Dury Wallpaper Fetish

OK, now here it is - My special page about this specific album by Ian Dury & The Blockheads. Different sources report 48 different versions of the cover art of this album. All being kind of seventies wallpaper design. I think whoever got the idea for the cover art of this album had great fun to drive collectors like me completely mad! Those shown here are the ones I found over the years here in Germany in second hand stores and fleamarkets, along with those from other collectors friendly enough to sent me in pictures of their collection. I don't know if all versions were available over here, or if each country where the album has been released had their own wallpaper design. But I have the fear I won't be able to complete the series during my lifetime....   8-)

If you have the same silly hobby and like to trade the ones you have that weren't shown here, just move your mouse over the pictures. The ones I have more than one example are marked.

All the wallpapers were taken from the british wallpaper brand Crown, and they probably used a numbering system for their different designs in a catalogue. On many copies you can see a number on the lower left corner, which probably matches the catalogue. However, not all printing-offices were aware of this small differences in the overlay of the blue title printing, and therefor must not necessarily match reality. For example the dutch covers Dutch2 and Dutch3 share the same number.

In the meantime I got some responses about this little gallerie, and a Blockhead in the Netherlands shares the same hobby in collecting DIY. He was friendly enough to provide me with photos of his collection, and also sent me some dutch copies I never saw here before. (Note: The colours of those pictures were taken with a digital camera and differ from those scanned with a scanner.)
    From his collection, of which I have one or the other example already, too, it gets likely that my assumption of "each country its own cover art" is proven to be true, so I decided to rearrange the covers as I included the new ones here on this page. They are now arranged country-wise. - Hope you like them...   8-)

Note: This "IanX" you can see on some of the covers is in fact Ian Dury's sign. He also signed with "DuryX" occasionally, which is a reference to "Durex", a brand name for condomes. They teased him with this name when he was young. You can see this name on the carriage of his funeral. The sound man of The Blockheads name is Ian Horne, nickname Horny.

I found the japanese one on the international eBay, this one was sold by a japanese guy. It's very seldom someone from Japan is selling stuff at the american eBay, so seldom like us selling, or even buying, things on the japanese site. The bigger the suprise I found the one here, with obi.
 
 
 


United States of America

USA1 - no Crown numberUSA2 - no Crown numberUSA3 - no Crown number
USA4 - no Crown number


Canada

Canada1 - no Crown number


England

UK1 - Crown P87995UK2 - Crown L43547UK3 - Crown L44088
UK4 - Crown L44115UK5 - Crown L48150UK6 - Crown P87554
UK7 - Crown P87806UK8 - Crown X36434UK9 - Crown X36809
UK10 - Crown T72907 - 1 copy available, has one mark from tearing off a price sticker.


Germany

Germany1 - Crown P86701 - 1 copy available, with a tour date sticker on the front.Germany2 - Crown P87842Germany3 - Crown L48079 - 2 copies available, both with marks from tearing off price stickers.


The Netherlands

Dutch1 - Crown P56003Dutch2 - Crown P87949Dutch3 - Crown P87949


Italy

Italy1 - unknown number


France

France1 - Crown P87813


Spain

Spain1 - no Crown number


Portugal

Portugal1 - Crown L44167


Australia

Australia1 - no Crown number


Japan

Japan1 - unknown number


CD Releases

There are also CD releases of this album, in different "outfits" like in a normal jewel case and a special edition dressed up like a box set. I do not particulary collect the CD ones, but when I get close to a cheap one I sure grab it, alone for being able to include it here. And who knows, maybe they have different cover art, too.
Rear side of jewel caseStiff Records / Disky The Netherlands
Rear side of jewel caseRepertoire Records Germany
Rear side of jewel caseDemon Records England


The Gimmix Book Of Records

This example here is taken from a book, "The Gimmix Book Of Records", a nice LP sized book with many pictures of collectable items regarding old vinyl. Rare picture sleeves, picture discs, shapes, postcards, playable stamps, etc. etc.. I can still see it from time to time in book stores and second hand shops for a retail price.

But it raises one question to me: Was this variant sold in Canada with this sticker attached? Can anybody verify this as being sold in Canada? Look at "Canada1" above.

Gimmix 432 - Request: Can anybody identify if the sticker is one for the US releases? - See USA3.

Taken from:
The Gimmix Book Of Records
Virgin Books (1981)
61-63 Portobello Road
London W11 3DD
ISBN 0 907080 17 0


[home]        [e-mail]        Created: 17.09.2000        Last update: 04.08.2002

The big note: Like most of you I, too, have a regular life and have to go to work each day, so do not expect updates on a daily basis, nor a prompt reply to e-mails. Just give me a little bit of time. And then there's always the question of violation of copyrights. If you think that my pages contain material which I'm not allowed to include because of its protected status, please drop me an e-mail, and I will remove the doubtful parts. On the other hand I regard all material within my pages as protected by copyright laws, too, so please ask before you steal. I'm sure we can work something out.