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Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead is the 1974 debut solo album by British musician, writer and comedian Vivian Stanshall.
Stanshall had been the frontman of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a British rock group notorious for its riotous stage act, involving comedy and theatricality. His solo career was haphazard, but, after a celebrated cameo appearance on Mike Oldfield's 1973 multi-platinum Tubular Bells, he was signed to Warner Bros. to make this album.
The album featured various former members of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Neil Innes, Bubs White) and Traffic (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Reebop Kwaku Baah). It sold poorly upon release, with only an estimated 5,000 copies pressed before it was deleted. It remained unavailable until its reissue on CD in 2010 by Harkit Records in the UK. This excellent quality CD (there were no masters to work from, a fact explained in the accompanying booklet with highly informative and amusing notes by Dutch dada-ist Freek Kinkelaar) also features two bonus tracks not on the original LP- "Babtunde" and "Lakonga".
The album's title is a reference to a game played by members of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band when travelling between concerts, in which players made up ridiculous interpretations of road signs. ("Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead" was a Stanshall favourite as an alternative interpretation of the sign meaning "road works ahead".)
On 14 May 2012 Poppydisc Records is reissuing an official vinyl version of the album, sanctioned by the Stanshall family release and remastered with new liner notes from his widow and daughter.
Track listing
(All songs written and arranged by Vivian Stanshall except where noted)
Side 1
- Afoju Ti Ole Riran (Dead Eyes) (Vivian Stanshall/Gaspar Lawal)
- Truck-Track
- Yelp Bellow, Rasp Et Cetera
- Prong
- Redeye
Side 2
- How The Zebra Got His Spots
- Dwarf Succulents
- Bout Of Sobriety
- Prong & Toots Go Steady
- Strange Tongues
Bonus tracks on 2010 reissue
Lakonga (Single A-side)
Baba Tunde (single B-side)
Personnel
- Vivian Stanshall - vocals, recorder, euphonium, ukulele, Chelonian pipes
- Anthony "Bubs" White - electric guitar
- Steve Winwood - bass guitar, organ
- Gaspar Lawal - talking drums, congas, xylophone, drum kit ("How The Zebra Got His Spots")
- Neil Innes - piano, slide guitar, organ ("How The Zebra Got His Spots")
- Jim Capaldi - drum kit, lesser log
- Deryk Quinn - cabassa, Nigerian coffee tables, greater log
- Ric Grech - violin
- Reebop Kwaku Baah - congas ("Prong & Toots")
- Doris Troy, Madeline Bell, Barry St. John - backing vocals
- Ayus Ape, Gani, Gaspar Lawal - male Yoruba chorus
- unidentified West Indian taxi driver - bass guitar ("Lakonga" and "Baba Tunde")
- unidentified West Indian taxi driver's friend - drum kit ("Lakonga" and "Baba Tunde")
References
External links
- Men Opening Umbrellas page on Ginger Geezer website