"Hastily Cobbled Together For A Fast Buck"
- an unreleased Monty Python LPAs the supposed 'best bits' of the Monty Python audio catalogue get continually re-packaged into increasingly lacklustre, badly-mixed compilations, it's quite shocking to hear that there is - ready and waiting to go - an hour-long Monty Python LP featuring previously unreleased material rotting away in the archives.
Put together by André Jacquemin, the producer behind most of the Python's studio albums, this unreleased compilation features, in Jacquemin's own words, 'things which were never good enough to get on any other Monty Python LP - but you've gone out and bought it, so who's the mug?'
The mug - or mugs - in this case would be whoever suppressed this release which has yet to see the light of day since it was compiled back in 1987.
But you can hear it now, and you have Mötorhead to thank for this. Said rock group happened to be doing some final mixing for their LP 'Rock N'Roll' at Jacquemin's Brittannia Row studios. Michael Palin, who was present in the studio, contributed some improvised amusement for the end of side one and, gent that he is, got Jacquemin to run off some copies of this Python out-takes compilation for their tour-bus pleasure (a harkback to the 1970s when rock groups would cruise motorways to the sound of Derek and Clive bootlegs). The contents were as follows:
This is not an official tracklisting, as no paperwork accompanied the beer-stained tape. The title isn't official either - merely lifted from the opening announcement.
It would appear, from educated guesswork alone, that most of the selections are from the Contractual Obligation Album sessions in 1980. Alternate versions of 'Here Comes Another One' and 'I'm So Worried' aside, 'Minister Of Defence' continues the premise of Obligation's 'Bishop' as a sketch about inappropriate voice-over artistes, 'Olympic Shopping' isn't a million miles away from 'Crocodile', and - as with Obligation - there are a number of items which had previously been performed on non-Python productions. A version of 'Adventure' was previously issued on the Frost Report LP (1966), 'Indian Restaurant' was performed on How To Irritate People (1968), and 'Accountancy Shanty' (a different song from the one used in The Crimson Permanent Assurance) comes from Rutland Weekend Television (1975-77). John Cleese's 'Bunn Wakkit Buzzard Stubble & Boot' is also a perennial monologue, as well as being one of the original mooted titles for Monty Python's Flying Circus.
And, for real Python buffs, this little unreleased collection could even be seen as a conceptual link between Life Of Brian and Meaning Of Life:
The 'Otto' sequence on the LP is dubbed from a Life Of Brian out-take, and features the original mid-film appearance of the afeared 'Judean People's Front' suicide squad (
> Edit News ), along with their Fred Tomlinson-starred marching song. This whole sequence was printed in the Brian scriptbook and the song featured in the accompanying 'Scrapbook', as did a sketch called 'Brian Meets The Psychopath'. A studio re-recording of this latter item also appears on the compilation, albeit it in a modern day setting.And, on the subject of modern-day Life Of Brian, few people are aware that the original concept involved scenes set in a public school - and that the 'Brian' parable was to be revealed via a scripture lesson. Some of this also featured in the Brian scrapbook, while other bits were re-worked to form parts of Meaning Of Life. The 'Growth and Learning' sketch in the latter film ends with the nasty, one-sided Pupils vs Masters rugby match, but the original material included an extra scene in which a headmaster apologises to the parents of a pupil killed during the match ('We don't like to lose boys if we can possibly help it�'). This sketch (in which the parents are unfettered by the news) also features in the Scrapbook and on this out-takes LP. ('Martyrdom Of St Brian/Victor' and the school hymn 'All Things Dull And Ugly' found their place in both the scrapbook and on the Contractual Obligation Album.)
Lastly, a never-revealed-elsewhere sketch on the compilation called 'Memory Training' - in which Cleese attempts to sell a dubious sex-reliant memory course to Chapman - ends with a long list of the towns where Life Of Brian was banned.
But, aside from the obvious historical interest for collectors, does the tape hold up as an LP of Python material in its own right? Well, we think so - it doesn't give the listener quite the same glow as the Flying Circus-period albums, but it's about as enjoyable as Contractual Obligation Album, and still proof that even cutting-room-floor Python can rival any of the so-called 'classic' sketches or songs. The highlights (eg, Palin's heavenly 'School Song') are wonderfully high, the lowlights can be excused as having been pulled out of their original context but serve to highlight the highlights, if you like. In summary, though, it's all fantastic - simply because it exists.
Anyhow, judge for yourselves. Download the fucker and listen. Then, tape it for your friends. A middle-ground Python fan will be vaguely interested. A huge Python fan will be amazed.
Notes
:The following Python material has yet to see a CD release:
1)
'Teach Yourself Heath' (Palin and Idle introducing a spoof language course - given away as a flexidisc with Zigzag magazine in 1972.)2)
'Monty Python's Tiny Black Round Thing' (The rushes of the 'Election Night Special' sketch from Live At Drury Lane, together with new links by Palin - given away with the NME in 1974.)3)
The 1972 single version of 'We Love The Yangste' (b/w 'We Love The Yangste (Singalong Version)').4)
'Farewell To John Denver' ( > Edit News: Monty Python LPs, Point)All the Python LPs are currently available on CD. However, the two compilations, Instant Record Collection (1977) and The Final Rip Off (1987), have been deleted, resulting in the unavailability of:
1)
Instant Record Collection's 'Summarising Proust' (An out-take from Previous Record).2)
Palin's specially-recorded linking material to The Final Rip Off.MORE NOTES:
There are currently no plans whatsoever to release an official version of the 'Hastily Cobbled�' LP. As far as we can understand, Michael Palin must have been behind the release or presumably he wouldn't have been so keen back in '87 for Motorhead to hear it. Eric Idle is always keen on the audiophonic side of Python. John Cleese is presumably too wrapped up in his Shamanic self-discovery to worry about the few duff sketches tainting his career. Terry Jones has no problems with out-takes. Terry Gilliam probably wouldn't care either way. Roger Saunders, the gentleman who runs the Python production office, has ceased communication with this website's authors (on the grounds that we - justifiably, we feel - refered to the Python office as 'hopeless' in a letter which wasn't even addressed to him).
