“I’m at work in the petrol station and I read that the album is at No. 23. I’d last heard it at a playback in George Martin’s studio”: Stackridge’s Monty Python-like experience with The Man In The Bowler Hat
Stackridge’s 1973 album The Man In The Bowler Hat marked a significant moment for the Bristol pop-prog band, who had been compared with a version of The Beatles that had never split up. The group worked with their production hero George Martin, an experience presented as both remarkable and surreal, and the album later reached No. 23 despite one member learning of its chart position while working at a petrol station.
The band had developed rapidly over four years from the Goon Show-inspired Griptyte Thynne, through Stackridge Lemon, into Stackridge. Its original line-up included Andrew Cresswell-Davis, James Warren, James “Crun” Walter, Michael “Mutter” Slater, Mike Evans and Billy “Sparkle” Bent, with the nicknames reflecting their comic influences. The article frames the album’s creation and modest commercial success as a Monty Python-like episode in the band’s history.
- Stackridge recorded with George Martin in 1973.
- The Man In The Bowler Hat reached No. 23.
- The band blended prog pop with British comic influences.