Paul Gorman is…

The Stiff Records clock: When You Kill Time You Murder Success

Feb 13th, 2017

//The Stiff Records clock. Concept: Jake Riviera, design: Barney Bubbles, lettering: Caramel Crunch, 1977. No reproduction without permission//

Stiff Records was on fire in 1977.

The British independent record label, with owners Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson snapping up acts and art director Barney Bubbles applying his unsurpassable skills to the visualising of their music, came straight out of the traps 40 years ago this month with the release of the first ‘punk’ LP Damned Damned Damned by – who else? – The Damned.

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Sheila Rock: Early fashion styling captured the development of British menswear in the 70s

Sep 21st, 2016
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//Phil Lynott, styling Sheila Rock, photography Mick Rock, Club International, October 1973//

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//The Gentlemen At Number Ten, styling Sheila Rock, photography David Parkinson, Club International, December 1973//

To celebrate the opening next week of a new exhibition of work by photographer Sheila Rock, here is a selection of her early fashion styling.

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Jane Horrocks’ version of Joy Division’s Isolation to be followed by Hawkwind + Cabaret Voltaire covers

Oct 6th, 2013

//Photo: Dylan Vivian//

I’m particularly keen on Jane Horrocks’ recently released version of the Joy Division song Isolation; Horrocks’ vocal talents are widely recognised but I didn’t appreciate her feel for rock and post-punk until I saw her perform a storming Heart Of Glass at a party a couple of years back.

Rat Scabies was drumming that night and is on this Joy Division cover, which also features latterday PiL bassist Scott Firth and producer “Kipper”.

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Memories of Mick Farren: An entertaining afternoon in West Hollywood and a champagne-drenched night in Islington

Jul 31st, 2013

//’Mick Passes Shirley, 1955′  Illustration for a feature about growing up in the 50s by Mick Farren, Club International 1975 by Hollyhead/NTA from an idea of George Hardie’s//

Growing up in London in the 60s and 70s with an interest in the counterculture, music and street politics meant that the shaggy-headed figure of Mick Farren loomed large on the landscape.
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Design by Barney Bubbles – who would have been 71 today – for Mick Farren’s 1977 Stiff Records EP Screwed Up

Jul 30th, 2013

//7in sq paper sleeve, front: Screwed Up, Mick Farren, Stiff Records, 1977//

//7in sq paper sleeve, back: Screwed Up, Mick Farren, Stiff Records, 1977//

This is the sleeve designed by Barney Bubbles – would have been 71 today – for Screwed Up, the 1977 EP by the rabble-rousing writer and performer Mick Farren, who died at the weekend after collapsing onstage during a performance with his band The Deviants of their poem/song Cocaine & Gunpowder.

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Glastonbury 2011 in nine photos: Mud, Billy Bragg, Spirit Of 71 + more mud

Jun 29th, 2011

Talking Barney Bubbles with Billy Bragg in the Spirit Of 71 Cafe. Photo: Dom Chambers.

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