Comedian Stewart Lee says the collection has led him to “hate mankind”

A dreadful collection of “the world’s most awful record covers” has arrived at The Southgate Club.

The hilariously bad LP covers have entertained fans at music festivals, galleries, museums and on social media since quirky collector Steve Goldman first shared his collection in Huddersfield in 2021.

Steve’s book The Art of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve was published in 2023 and includes Roadstar by Peter Rabbitt where the heads of the band members have been super-imposed on to actual rabbits, plus David Bowie’s posthumous release, Toy, whose cover art defies explanation.

Comedian Stewart Lee wrote in the foreword to the book that the “relentlessly poor aesthetic choices of the sleeves made me despair of humanity itself”.

Since then the exhibition has featured on BBC’s Have I Got News For You and was recently praised by renowned BBC radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, who visited the exhibition when it was in Warrington last year.

Now arriving at The Southgate Club in Chase Side, near the tube station, the exhibition runs until 4th April. The club is open Monday to Thursday 5pm-11pm, Fridays 3pm-11.30pm, Saturdays 12pm-11.30pm, and Sundays 12pm-8pm.

Explaining how his collection of rubbish album covers started three decades ago, Steve said: “About 40 years ago I bought an album called Roadstar Peter Rabbitt. I picked it up simply because it had such an extraordinarily bad cover – rabbits picked out of a hat, with the band’s awkward faces amateurishly superimposed.

“Subsequently I lost it and had never been able to find another copy. Someone told me about Discogs.com, a website where you can pick up old and obscure vinyl records. To my delight I found it there. I searched for a couple of other albums I knew of and I was off. I remember the moment I said to my family, ‘I’m going to start collecting dreadful album covers’. That was nine years ago.

“Some people spend fortunes collecting fine art but no-one collects dreadful LP covers. “

The collection has now reached 700 in size and Steve has brought 150 of the most popular covers from previous outings to Southgate where visitors have the opportunity to vote for their favourite.

Steve, who had a stroke in 2020, is asking visitors to the free exhibition to make a donation to Different Strokes, a charity that supports young stroke survivors.

For more information about the book The Art of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve:
Visit easyontheeyeshop.co.uk/product/the-art-of-the-bizarre-vinyl-sleeve

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