Name: Climb Aboard My Roundabout! The British Toytown Sound 1967-1974
Brand: Various

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

CRSEGBOX119

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2024-06-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cherry Red (ADA)

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

5013929191907

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Total Cap

9999

CDx3

Artist

Various

Genre GB

Classic

Label GB

Grapefruit

Grapefruit is a UK-based music label that specializes in psych/garage-era music from the 1966-70 timeframe. Managed by Cherry Red, Grapefruit focuses on releasing single-artist career anthologies and definitive versions of rare and classic albums. Each release features sympathetic artwork, rare photos, detailed liner notes, and high-quality sound from the original masters.

First-ever legitimate anthology of British toytown pop, a much-loved sub-genre amongFour-hour compilation with 87 tracks including hits, misses, rarities and previously unreleased

Issued at the start of 1967, Beatles’ single ‘Penny Lane’ coupled a widescreen production (bolstered by a phalanx of session musicians on brass and woodwind) with a mildly hallucinogenic lyric populated by mundane characters going about their unremarkable suburban lives.

It proved to be an enormously influential record. For the next year or two, British pop was awash with records that married quasi-classical arrangements with newly-minted fairy tales and character vignettes based around the grey everyday lives of ordinary small-town folk.

Many years later, this burst of English eccentricity came to be known in collector circles as toytown pop – a pseudo-genre that took in everything from Jeff Lynne‘s early band The Idle Race and Deram-era David Bowie to backroom auteurs like Mark Wirtz, whose ambitious ‘Teenage Opera’ project inspired the young Andrew Lloyd Webber, who provided similarly over-the-top arrangements for CBS hopefuls Cardboard Orchestra.

Featuring 87 excerpts from various pre-teenage operas, Climb Aboard My Roundabout! is a 3CD celebration of the toytown pop experience. It includes contributions from the key players as well as many obscure delights and some huge rarities, including a hitherto-unreleased track from Wirtz’s aborted ‘Teenage Opera’ project.

With four hours of music housed in a clamshell box featuring a lavish 48-page booklet, Climb Aboard My Roundabout! is an invitation that very few late 60s pop aficionados will be able to resist.

DISC ONE 1 THE SKELETON AND THE ROUNDABOUT (mono single mix) – The Idle Race 2 JENNY ARTICHOKE – Kaleidoscope 3 CUDDLY TOY – Fruit Machine 4 PHENOMENAL CAT – The Kinks 5 LITTLE LESLEY – The Alan Bown! 6 EMILY SMALL (THE HUGE WORLD THEREOF) – The Picadilly Line 7 MAN IN THE TEAPOT – Fire 8 MR LIGHT – John Carter and Mickey Keen 9 THE DUBIOUS CIRCUS COMPANY – Clifford T. Ward 10 ICE CREAM MAN (alternative version) – Kidrock 11 LOLLIPOP MINDS – Wimple Winch 12 PETER’S BIRTHDAY (BLACK AND WHITE RAINBOWS) – World Of Oz 13 HA! HA! SAID THE CLOWN – Tony Hazzard 14 SAD SIMON LIVES AGAIN – Tim Andrews 15 UNCLE JOE, THE ICE CREAM MAN – The Mindbenders 16 PHOEBE’S FLOWER SHOP – The Cortinas 17 COPLINGTON – Persimmon’s Peculiar Shades 18 COLOUR SERGEANT LILLYWHITE – West Coast Consortium 19 OUR FAIRY TALE – The Herd 20 TEENAGE LOVE SONG – Hetherington 21 EBANEEZER BEAVER (demo version) – The Mirage 22 FAIRY TALE (demo version) – The Next Collection 23 BROTHER JACK – Barry Wigley 24 TRAFALGAR SQUARE – The Good Time Losers 25 SADIE AND HER MAGIC MR. GALAHAD – The New Generation 26 MARJORY DAW – Morning Glory 27 THE LAST PERFORMANCE OF THE ROYAL REGIMENTAL VERY VICTORIOUS AND VALIANT BAND – The Syn 28 RAINBOW ROCKING CHAIR – Majority One 29 EXCERPT FROM “A TEENAGE OPERA” – Keith West

DISC TWO 1 LAVENDER POPCORN – Scrugg 2 KNOCKING NAILS INTO MY HOUSE – Ambrose Slade 3 MR JOB – Jigsaw 4 UNCLE ARTHUR – David Bowie 5 THE BITTER THOUGHTS OF LITTLE JANE – Timon 6 CELLOPHANE MARY JANE – Astronaut Alan and The Planets 7 MR KIPLING – Tuesday’s Children 8 IT’S THE BEST SEASIDE IN THE WORLD – Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon 9 AND NOW FOR A LITTLE TRAIN NUMBER – Kenny Everett 10 GLORIOUS HOUSE OF ARTHUR – Fairfield Parlour 11 LAUGHING BOY FROM NOWHERE – Simon Dupree and The Big Sound 12 AUNTIE MARY’S DRESS SHOP – Tomorrow 13 THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE – The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band 14 JAMES IN THE BASEMENT – Denis Couldry 15 TALES OF FLOSSIE FILLETT – Turquoise 16 MY BEST FRIEND – The Picadilly Line 17 HAPPINESS IS TOY-SHAPED – Harmony Grass 18 BIRMINGHAM BRASS BAND – The Bullring 19 WATCHMAKER – Persimmon’s Peculiar Shades 20 ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS – Timothy Blue 21 AFTER TEA – Spencer Davis Group 22 DREAM DREAM DREAM – Kidrock 23 LEMON PIE FAIR – Complex 24 UNCLE HENRY’S MAGIC GARDEN – David Matthews 25 BRIC-A-BRAC MAN – Bill Niles 26 WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE* (full version) – Chas Mills and Mark Wirtz 27 EVERYBODY LOVES THE CLOWN – Nirvana 28 SHARKEY – Christopher 29 POOR JOHNNY – The Secrets 30 FAIRGROUND – Pure Gold 31 TOY SOLDIER – The Riot Squad

DISC THREE 1 (HE’S OUR DEAR OLD) WEATHERMAN – Mark Wirtz 2 ZEBEDY ZAK – Cardboard Orchestra 3 FLORENCE – Tapestry 4 MR MOODY’S GARDEN – Gilbert O’Sullivan 5 MUTINY – The Alan Bown! 6 UPTIGHT BASIL – Magic Valley 7 BANG BANG – Kidrock 8 TOYMAKER – Wild Silk 9 LANTERNLIGHT – Peter and The Wolves 10 LOVE AND THE BIG BRASS BAND – Dave Christie 11 PICCOLO MAN – Friends 12 UWE AUS DUISBERG – The Hi-Fis 13 EINER KLEINER MISER MUSIK – Tony Rivers and The Castaways 14 THE HAPPY KING – Music Box 15 MRS DAISY – Tintern Abbey 16 MRS MURPHY’S BUDGERIGAR – Blossom Toes 17 ANNIE’S PLACE – Gene Latter 18 GLASSHOUSE GREEN, SPLINTER RED – John Pantry 19 HENRY EVERYDAY* – Timothy Blue 20 DEAR OLD MRS BELL – The Shadows 21 MR NICE GUY – Dragonmilk 22 MISTER WHITE’S WHITE FLYING MACHINE (album version) – Ayshea 23 MAGIC SHOES (demo) – Fire 24 KING OF THE CASTLE – Jason Crest 25 THROUGH MY TELESCOPE – Marty Wilde 26 TIME TO GO HOME – The Tots 27 THE SAD STORY OF SIMON AND HIS BUGLE* (correct version) – Mark Wirtz