''Neil's Heavy Concept Album'' is a 1984 recording of songs and spoken comedy routines by British actor
Nigel Planer
Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating th ...
, in character as the long-suffering hippie Neil from the BBC comedy series ''
The Young Ones''. Production, arrangements and keyboards are by
Canterbury scene
The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) is a musical scene that originated in the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisation ...
keyboardist
Dave Stewart, who also plays guitar, bass and drums. Other players on the album include ex-members of bands
Gong
A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...
,
Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England, in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years.
History
Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding ...
and
Level 42
Level 42 are an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s.
Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on th ...
.
Concept
The front of the album sleeve is a loose parody of
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
' ''
Their Satanic Majesties Request
''Their Satanic Majesties Request'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1967 by Decca Records in the UK and by London Records in the United States. It was the first Rolling Stones album rel ...
'' album sleeve. The rear parodies the Beatles' ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...
'', with Neil wearing different outfits replacing the images of the four Beatles, and the text "A heavy time is guaranteed for all." replacing "A splendid time is guaranteed for all."
The album followed the success of the Neil single "
Hole in My Shoe" — a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of
Traffic
Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...
's 1967 hit – which reached number 2 in the United Kingdom.
The album starts with a spoken apology ("Hello Vegetables") in which Neil says the album was "a hassle to make and there's much too much technology and commercial stuff on it". Additional spoken tracks include Neil having a conversation with a potato in a sewer, reciting a poem to his rubber plant Wayne ("your roots are in the ground, my roots are in Twickenham"), and experiencing a
flashback in the track "Paranoid Remix" which features
Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
-esque backwards noises and voices, and ends with a parody of the last chord from "
A Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the final track of their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the opening and closing sections of the s ...
". A parody horror movie commercial, which sees vegetarian Neil being turned into a
carnivorous
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...
monster after accidentally eating a hamburger leads into the original Planer composition "Lentil Nightmare", a dark heavy metal number that commences as a pastiche of
the eponymous title track of
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
's debut album ''
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
'' and which subsequently quotes briefly from
King Crimson
King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...
's "
The Court of the Crimson King
"The Court of the Crimson King", sometimes billed "In the Court of the Crimson King", is the titular fifth and final track from the British progressive rock band King Crimson's debut album, ''In the Court of the Crimson King''. Released as a sing ...
" and features Planer singing in an uncharacteristic wailing, high falsetto. In the disco/rap number "Bad Karma in the UK", Neil's mother (played by musician
Barbara Gaskin) admonishes him to watch his
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
, chew his food eleven times, and remember his
expectorant
Mucoactive agents are a class of pharmacologic agents that include expectorants, mucolytics, mucoregulators, and mucokinetics that can affect the volume, viscosity, transportation, and composition of mucus or sputum. They often aid in clearing ...
. "
God Save the Queen
"God Save the King" ("God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is '' de facto'' the national anthem of the United Kingdom. It is one of two national anthems of New Zealand and the royal anthem of the Isle of Man, Australia, Canada and ...
" is performed as a cabaret number by a bad American standup comic who sounds identical to the American "comedian" Dino, also played by Planer, in ''The Young Ones'' episode ''Bomb''.
Track listing
The European cassette version of the album is very similar but features the track "Cassette Jam" following "Cosmic Jam" where Neil, realising that the comedy of peanut butter coming around on the LP will not work on the cassette version, attempts to redo the track for cassette with an impression of the album being tangled on tape, followed by "
Brown Sugar
Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...
", in which Neil discovers some buskers performing the track by
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
, assumes the song is about whole foods and joins in with them. After "The Amoeba Song", it features two additional tracks: "Go Away", where Neil tries to explain the album has finished, and the B-side of "Hole In My Shoe", titled "Hurdy Gurdy Mushroom Man". These tracks did not appear on the Australian release of the cassette. All four cassette bonuses were included on the 2014 CD reissue on Esoteric Recordings.
There is a title inconsistency on the listing of track 19. The LP lists "Paranoid Remix" but the vinyl cover has "Paranoia Remix".
There was a 12-inch version of "My White Bicycle" released which featured an "Extended Mix" on the A-side and a "Christmas Rip-Off Mix" on the B-side.
Personnel
As listed and described on
sleeve notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards.
Origin
Liner notes are descended from the progra ...
:
Horrible Electric Musicians
*
Bryson Graham
Bryson Macrae Graham (12 September 1952 – 6 December 1993) was an English rock drummer, most notable as a member of Mainhorse, Spooky Tooth and Girl, and as a session musician.
Life and career
Bryson Macrae Graham was born to parents Joe G ...
– heavy metal drummer
*
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Richard Harrison (born May 28, 1963) is an English musician. He is best known for playing with the progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree (2002–2010; 2021–present), King Crimson (2008, and 2014–2021) and The Pineapple Thief (2016� ...
– flash studio drummer
*
Pip Pyle
Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield and the North ...
– drunken cabaret drummer
*
Jakko Jakszyk
Michael "Jakko" Jakszyk ( , born Michael Lee Curran, 8 June 1958) is an English musician, record producer, and actor. He has released several solo albums as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as lead singer and se ...
– heavy and psychedelic guitarist
*
Dave Stewart – keyboardist, heavy metal bassist, useless drummer and fifties guitarist
* Rick Biddulph – cabaret bass & Rickenbacker 12 string
Beautiful Acoustic Musicians
*
Jimmy Hastings
James Brian Gordon Hastings (12 May 1938 – 18 March 2024) was a British musician associated with the Canterbury scene who played saxophones, flute and clarinet.
Early life
Hastings was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He started playing the saxop ...
– flute, saxophone and piccolo
*
Annie Whitehead
Lena Annie Whitehead (born 16 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British jazz trombone player.
Career
Whitehead learned the trombone in high school and participated in rock and jazz bands. When she was 16, she left school to become a member ...
– trombone
*
Barbara Gaskin – backing vocals
* Ted Hayton – backing vocals on "Hole in My Shoe"
* Rick Biddulph – 12 string guitar
References
External links
*
*
*
* http://faqs.org/faqs/tv/british-comedy/young-ones/part1/
{{Authority control
1984 albums
Nigel Planer albums
1980s concept albums
The Young Ones (TV series)
Albums recorded at Spaceward studios