Trouble Over Bridgwater

LP/CD (PROBE48/PROBE48CD)
– 25 April 2000

✉ Letters Sent (22)

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(2 years ago by Exxo)

Chris The Siteowner
Couple of oddities about this album. Can anyone shed any light?
[1] It’s listed as “LP/CD (PROBE48/PROBE48CD)” but has anyone ever seen the vinyl version?
[2] Anyone have an explanation as to the two different CD back covers?
This one vs this one…
26 February 2016
paul f
I think you’ll find the catalogue number’s incorrect.
26 February 2016
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
According to this site, the vinyl edition was limited to 500 copies: http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Review/22396/T/Half-Man-Half-Biscuit/
26 February 2016
Bobby SVARC
I have everything, including vinyl TOB
26 February 2016
Daryl
One of those covers looks inspired by Jehovah’s Witnesses art. You’ll know what I mean if you ever had The Watchtower posted through your door (that is, if you don’t simply toss it in the recycling box without looking at it. I wouldn’t blame you if you did this.)
Perhaps there was some problems with copyright issues. That might explain the two different back covers.
26 February 2016
dickhead in quicksand
Perhaps the Brodskys came back off holiday? They aren’t mentioned on the skydiver back cover.
Good spot, it’s a JW thing all right. I found this on a page with Jehovah in the title, and the quote is from the NWT.
I wonder if they do a companion picture to illustrate Rev 21:8? It’s always been one of my favourites. “But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and the sexually immoral and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.”
27 February 2016
EXXO
We’ve touched on this before in another long-distant thread. The original back cover is a continuation of the religious pamphlet art work that’s inside the booklet running through the whole Evil Gazebo biography, though its relevance is far from obvious. I’m a bit sketchy on it, or on where we discussed it, and a long way from my own copy right now. Tell you what though if I ever get back to my little back room I’ll feel like Howard bloody Carter when I start tidying up and looking for stuff.
It’s weird to think though that there are some who have bought the track and never seen that Evil Gazebo story, just as there are some who have bought ‘Gwatkin’ and never seen all the CD inlay stuff around that track.
27 February 2016
EXXO
In case anyone didn’t know The Brodsky Quartet reference is a pisstake of their collaborations with McManus, Guðmundsdóttir, etc in the 90s.
Here they are, the year before ‘ToB’ was released.
27 February 2016
dickhead in quicksand
@Exxo – that cover pic is also relevant to your “The Gospel According to Nigel: the Eschatology of HMHB”, post 91 in this thread.
27 February 2016
Andy Williams
Is it true that the “hilarious west country comedian” Jethro stole this album title as his own in a joke about maudlin duo simon and garfunkel?
29 March 2017
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
Jethro may have ‘stolen’ it but Trouble over Bridgwater was also the title of a 1970s album by folk singer/guitarist Trevor Crozier, who hailed from Somerset and was apparently a mate of Adge Cutler (q.v.) , so any ‘stealing’ is likely to come from that source
30 March 2017
hendrix-tattoo
Has anyone noticed that if you cover Paul Simon’s face from the eyebrows down on the cover of Bridge over Troubled Water, Art Garfunkel has a large Cossack moustache?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bridge+over+troubled+water&safe=strict&client=ms-android-om-lge&dcr=0&prmd=vni&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR3O-f3JvaAhXHK8AKHVBbCNEQ_AUIDCgD&biw=320&bih=500#imgrc=YdpPOsCJ7wAAaM:
2 April 2018
CHARLES EXFORD
Always assumed that’s the reason they chose that picture Tony!
Meanwhile @GWA (hadn’t seen your comment #11 before), we discussed that very obscure Trevor Crozier live album about 8 years ago on here and when I asked Mr B. he said he’d never heard of it and borrowed the TOB title, with permission, off someone local on the Wirral. One of those ideas that’s bound to have occurred separately (and ‘originally’) to various different people.
2 April 2018
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
It is a fairly easy play on words to make, so not surprised it may have occurred independently at different times/places (this is starting to sound like an edition of “Quote…unquote”).
I think the point I was making was that it was more likely that Jethro had taken the phrase from Trevor Crozier rather than our lads
4 April 2018
Pirx The Purist
It seems that Mike Freer MP went to the Rollright Stones:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/05/man-admits-setting-fire-to-tory-mp-mike-freers-shed
5 March 2024
parsfan
Happy birthday to Trouble Over Bridgwater -celebrating its Silver Trumpet* anniversary today.
Some of my favourite tracks on here, some of my least favourite too – even ignoring the two throwaways. That said, I would love it if, instead of the usual three song encore, they came back out sometime, did Slight Reprise then called it a night.
* singular, like it should be in the lyrics as pointed out by Bobby String 14 years ago, #35, on the Uffington Wassail thread.
25 April 2025
paul f
Probably my favourite album.
25 April 2025
EXXO
So it’s a Taurus, which might explain a lot (as a flighty Gemini meself). Shares its birthday with typical Taurean Biscuit references like Oliver Cromwell, Johan Cruyff, Billy out of Nazareth (66 today) and my mum (87). OK my mum’s not a Biscuit reference but she’s an archetypical Taurean.
According to Russell Grant, today ToB (and my mum, and Billy out of Nazareth) should buy their first house or use their talents for decorating their existing one.
25 April 2025
BiscuitGigs
To help celebrate Trouble’s birthday, there’s a celebratory wall over on the HMHB Data Retrieval System.
Relatively easy today, just words from four of the songs, should be do-able without the clues if you know your stuff – if not, listen along, there’s no rush (unless it’s nearly midnight).
Tomorrow’s is trickier. The tiles are the 14 songs with words plus the two others from the “Look Dad, No Tunes” single. Each group of four has something in common, but a common thing that one or more other songs from other groups might also share. Hint, save the “real bands” group to last, about three quarters of the songs would qualify and most will be wrong. Again, listen along, use the clues and look here – it has all the answers.
25 April 2025
EXXO
Woohoo thanks Paul. No lives used, no clues needed. If they were all that easy it wouldn’t feel so damned good!! Sounds like tomorrow’s will be the opposite …
25 April 2025
EXXO
As I thought, it was worth wallowing in yesterday’s facile success, as today I would surely fail abjectly. Had a think without clues. Nothing. Had to get all four clues up to know where to start. As you suggested, left the ‘real bands’ group to the end (if the end ever came) but after getting one group with just one life down, my mistake was to choose a second category in which at least 6-7 songs could have qualified, so cycled them until all lives lost, and for at least 4 more goes beyond that, until it was telling me I was repeating meself – I kept including one song which I felt sure must be in that category as there were at least two references that fitted the category in those lyrics, but it turned out it wasn’t in, and I’d forgotten another reference near the end. I was tempted to give a big clue – be careful with That Song folks, but have managed to resist.
26 April 2025
EXXO
In fact there are three prominent references in That Song that fit into one of the categories, and just one at the end for the category it should have been in (neither category being bands). Brutal!
26 April 2025

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