1979 TV series made to accompany the release of the third solo album by Neil Innes, formerly of The Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band and The Rutles.
The album bore the same title, and both it and the TV show were intended to parody various genres of postwar music. The programme was made up of a string of videos to Innes's songs, some of which featured on the album and some not. Most of them managed to pinpoint the central tenet of a range of generic styles of rock music, ballad or theme, exposing the message or subject matter after everything else has been stripped away. Targets includes punk, Leo Sayer-style 'runaway lover' songs, end-of-the-evening wine bar crooners, and anthemic Roger Whittaker-type material.
Innes modelled himself on The Kinks, with long hair parted in the middle and wearing a tuxedo with a carnation buttonhole. Both TV programme and the album that it gave rise to received poor reviews. It was essentially aimed at that particular breed of middle class suburban liberal who was very good at being sardonic towards different subcultures and lifestyles, yet incapable of embracing any themselves.
Do You Remember The Innes Book of Records?
Do You Remember The Innes Book of Records?