KING OF LUXEMBOURG Royal Orig UK LP Indiepop Twee Psych

	£		21
	$		28

** RECORD COLLECTOR **

KING OF LUXEMBOURG

Royal Bastard

Original UK LP released on El / Cherry Red Records in 1987.

Of all the many aliases adopted by Simon Fisher-Turner, few have proved as endearing as the foppishly aristocratic King of Luxembourg. The character was one of many devised by the él label's eccentric svengali Mike Alway as part of his mission to create a kind of sunshine fantasy pop whose creators would be forever swathed in mystery and intrigue.

As with all of Alway's inventions, however, the character was inspired by the real-life personality of the person playing it. Fisher-Turner had been a teenybop idol and he was a well-spoken middle-class chap from something of an exotic background (his father was a submarine captain, his mother an archaeologist): the rest of his back-story was down to fanciful press releases and the services of a good costumer.

As the King, Fisher-Turner recorded two albums and a number of singles aided and abetted by él's in-house arranger/composer Louis Philippe. He also played a small number of live gigs, accompanied by his dancing manservant Clovis, and went down especially well in Japan, where Fisher-Turner was astonished to find himself being treated as a major star.

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Anyone for whom the name Simon Fisher-Turner evokes the somewhat daunting soundscapes he composed for the films of Derek Jarman or his own ambient/avant-garde recordings might be surprised to learn that he also briefly plied his trade as the foppish and fey-voiced King of Luxembourg. Behind the elaborate façade, however, lay not just Turner's considerable intelligence but the mischievous pop smarts of él label boss Mike Alway and the ingenious arrangements and compositions of Louis Philippe. Royal Bastard opens with a sprightly cover of the Monkees hit "Valleri": released as a single, it probably attracted more attention in the music press than the rest of Turner's output combined, not least because it flew so flamboyantly in the face of the prevailing fashion for all things dour and authentic. Like most of él's releases, however, it failed to make any impact whatsoever on the BBC, with one insider claiming that the track's total lack of bass made it virtually unlistenable through a portable radio. Anyone thus led to expect an album of conventional sunshine pop might have been a little disoriented by what followed. Admittedly there were more '60s covers in the form of the Turtles' "Happy Together," the Castaways' "Liar, Liar," and the delightful but little-known Mirage single from 1967 "The Marriage of Ramona Blair." But there was also a characteristically wispy treatment of the decidedly unwispy Public Image song "Poptones". But it's Louis Philippe who provides two of the album's finest moments with the heavenly chamber pop of "The Rubens Room" and the insidiously catchy "Smash Hit Wonder."

Tracks Are :-

Side One

A Picture Of Dorian Gray

Valleri

The Rubens Room

Mad

Poptones

Something For Sophia Loren

Side Two

Baby

The Wedding Of Ramona Blair

Happy Together (prelude)

Smash Hit Wonder

Happy Together

Liar Liar

Released on 'El / Cherry Red Records' in 19876

Catalogue No. ACME 8

Disc is in EX+ condition

Sleeve is in EX++ condition

Please contact me via Ebay Messages with any questions I will try my best to get back to you as quickly as possible.

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