Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for acting as Master of Ceremonies on Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells.
Smoke was a band from the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia that dissolved in 1999 with the death of writer/singer Benjamin. Benjamin was the subject of Peter Sillen and Jem Cohen's documentary Benjamin Smoke (2000).
Gorilla is the debut album by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, originally released by Liberty Records, LBL 83056, in 1967. In 2007, EMI reissued the album on CD with seven bonus tracks.
Gillian Knight is an English opera singer and actress, known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy operas. After six years from 1959 to 1965 starring in these roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Knight began a grand opera career.
Vivian Martin was an American stage and silent film actress.
Sally Timms is an English singer and lyricist. Timms is best known for her long involvement with The Mekons whom she joined in 1985.
Bejun Mehta is an American countertenor. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award, Le Diamant d’Opera Magazine, the Choc de Classica, the Traetta Prize, and been nominated for the Grammy Award, the Laurence Olivier Award, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael Stallknecht called him "arguably the best counter tenor in the world today."
Ki Longfellow was an American novelist, playwright, theatrical producer, theater director and entrepreneur with dual citizenship in Britain. She is best known in the United States for her novel The Secret Magdalene (2005). This is the first of her works exploring the divine feminine. In England, she is likely best known as the widow of Vivian Stanshall, the late musician, lead singer of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, songwriter, author, radio broadcaster and wit.
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, released in 1978, is a largely spoken-word, solo comedy recording by British musician Vivian Stanshall, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It originated in his Rawlinson End sessions for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 beginning in 1975, and a similarly-named track on the Bonzo Dog Band's 1972 album Let's Make Up and Be Friendly.
Chronicles is the first compilation album by Steve Winwood as a solo artist. The album contains some of his major hits up to this point and new remixes produced by Tom Lord-Alge, who had helped commercialize Winwood's sound on his previous album Back in the High Life. One track, "Valerie", was originally released as a single for Winwood's 1982 album, Talking Back to the Night. Despite the original single being a commercial flop, the remix of the song included in this album peaked at No. 9 on the US charts and No. 19 in the UK. The album peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 album chart and No. 12 in the UK.
The Paul McKenna Band are a five piece folk musical group from Glasgow, Scotland.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to public attention through a 1968 ITV comedy show, Do Not Adjust Your Set.
Jock McFadyen is a contemporary British painter.
The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.
Journey to the End of the Night is the 13th studio album by The Mekons. It was released on audio CD on 7 March 2000 by Quarterstick Records. The album was recorded in London at the MontiSound & Corina Studios and also in Chicago at the Stinkpole & Kingsize Sound Labs, it was then finally mixed and mastered by Kenny Sluiter in Kingside.
Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead is the 1974 debut solo album by the very English musician, writer, poet and comedian Vivian Stanshall.
Echo City is a British sound sculpture and music project founded in London in 1983 by Van der Graaf Generator member Guy Evans, Giles Leaman, and Giles Perring. Its current active members are Guy Evans, Julia Farrington, Rob Mills, Giles Perring and Paul Shearsmith. Susie Honeyman of The Mekons is a former member of the group. The project builds giant musical instruments and sound sculptures called "sonic playgrounds", but Echo City has since 1985 also performed as a band.
Little Sparta is a British band which was formed in the early 2000s by Alan D. Boyd and named after the garden of the artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. Over a number of years the band has changed personnel as their sound has developed. The current line-up is Alan D. Boyd on guitar, Scott Skinner on drums and Susie Honeyman on violin. Their first recordings were released on Fire Records and were collaborations with Scottish poet Gerry Mitchell. Many of these recordings received critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound. Later recordings have been released on the Grey Gallery label, started by Susie Honeyman.
Me is a studio album by the British-American experimental rock group the Mekons, released on May 19, 1998 on Quarterstick Records. It is noted for featuring greater use of electronic musical instruments than their previous work.
Retreat from Memphis is an album by English band the Mekons, released in 1994. It followed a few years of label troubles that saw the band considering a breakup.
