Name: Rawlinson's End
Brand: Vivian Stanshall

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SMALP931

Colour

Black

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

2023-07-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Proper

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

636551893114

Total Cap

Black LPx2

SMACD931

636551893121

Artist

Vivian Stanshall

Genre GB

Psychedelic

Label GB

Madfish

Madfish is an alternative label established in 2009, specializing in Rock & Progressive genre. It is a division of Snapper Music plc and is also known as Mad Fish and Madfish. With its focus on these genres, Madfish has become a go-to destination for music lovers looking for unique and cutting-edge sounds. As part of the Snapper Music family, Madfish brings together a diverse range of artists and releases that are sure to captivate fans of rock and progressive music.

Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit. He rose to fame as a member of the Bonzo Dog Band in the late 1960's before embarking on a solo career. Known for his idiosyncratic style and creativity, Stanshall's most famous creation was the saga of Rawlinson End, featuring spoken-word pieces and original songs. Despite struggles with alcoholism and depression, he collaborated with various artists and created two solo albums showcasing his love for rhyming slang and absurdist puns. Stanshall left behind a legacy of comic and musical originality.

Perhaps Vivian Stanshall's most notable work was his involvement in the Bonzo Dog Band during the late 1960's. After their split in 1970, he pursued a solo career characterized by its variety and fertility but also interrupted by periods of inactivity due to personal challenges.

Stanshall gained recognition for his creation of Rawlinson End, which started as a short track on a Bonzo Dog Band album but evolved into sprawling spoken-word pieces accompanied by original songs. These stories depicted an eccentric world of English aristocracy filled with intricate wordplay and surreal imagination.

Newest Listed Items

In 1978, Charisma Records released the Sir Henry At Rawlinson End album, a forty-minute introduction to the eccentric custodian of the crumbling British country estate, which incorporated characters and music from the various episodes of the Sir Henry saga, originally broadcast on the BBC's John Peel show from October 1975 up until 1991. The BBC regular re-broadcast Sir Henry even today.

In 1980, Sir Henry was also unleashed on the public as a film, starring the great Trevor Howard and was also issued as book published by Eel Pie Publishing, owned at the time by The Who's Pete Townshend.

The 1990's found Sir Henry used as the concept for a now legendary series of 'Ruddles Beer' adverts that cemented 'Rawlinson's End' in the National consciousness.

Stanshall was a major Influence on the cream of the new wave of British comedy in the 1980's including Stephen Fry, Adrian Edmondson, Phil Jupitus &amp; Paul Merton and he remains much loved nearly thirty years after his death. In the years just before his untimely death in 1995, Vivian intended to generate a new album based around the content of three of the final episodes broadcast by John Peel on the BBC; 'Crackpot At The End Of The Rainbow' recorded in February 1988, 'The Eating At Rawlinson End', from August 1988 and 'The Thing At Rawlinson End', from April 1991.&nbsp;

For decades it has been rumoured that a new Sir Henry album would be released and now finally Madfish / Snapper Music in collaboration with the Stanshall Family have made that rumour a reality.

Using all the remaining tapes from Vivian's archive, Stanshall expert and performance artist the magnificent Michael Livesley has managed to put back together the intended release, a process that he has described as like "putting back together a smashed vase". The results are a revelation with the final album now a double LP containing some of Vivian's finest work. Fans of Sir Henry, Old Scrotum, Mrs E and the various bizarre and evocative characters that inhabit the musty Rawlinson's End will be thrilled at the imagined adventures that await them.

Rawlinson's End

Music GB