On the surface this album gives the appearance of being a straight repacking and reissue of the 1972 LP of the same name. However there are several additional tracks included in this repackage. The album was released in June 1978 on the Encore record label (a subsidiary belonging to EMI) in stereo (catalogue number ONCR502) - some tracks had been electronically reprocessed from the mono versions to appear as stereo. Simultaneously a cassette tape version was released.
By 1978 when this album was released the membership of the band had changed significantly but EMI decided to maintain the image of the band lineup as used on the original version of this album so the artwork depicts Adge and his Wurzels as in 1972 - original Wurzel Reg Quantrill (guitar and banjo), Tommy Banner (accordion), and Tony Baylis (bass and sousaphone) and the artwork on the sleeve reflected this setup. Some of the tracks on the album are recordings by previous band line-ups.
This album was the second compilation issued after Adge's death, although strictly speaking it is a re-release of the 'Don't Tell I, Tell Ee' LP from 1972 with additional material in the form of four tracks - 'Dorset Is Beautiful', 'Up The Clump', 'The Chandlers Wife' and 'Drink Up Thy Zider' - all of which had been previously released. It was no coincidence that this re-release took place at a time when Adge's Wurzels were riding high in the charts and popularity stakes. As usual this album was produced at EMIs Abbey Road with Bob Barratt as producer. The work of cutting the disc went to Harry Moss (one of the most well-respected cutting engineers in the country) and with Stuart Eltham as transfer engineer. The artwork on the sleeve was taken from the photo-shoot used for the 1969 'Wurzelrama' tour programme and subsequently appeared on the 1972 predecessor to this album, but refreshingly uses photographs that hadn't been published before. The sleeve typesetting date is shown as 7806 - June 1978.
The same tracks details for this album are the same as the 1972 pressing of the album with the exception of the four additional tracks mentioned previously. The details below are as per the original pressing but with the additional material highlighted in italic bold . All tracks were edited together with snatches of Adge's chat most of which, but not all, had been taken from previously released material - all edited together to give the impression of a continuous 'live' performance. Side 1 Drink Up Thy Zider play-on by the house band, straight lift from the 1968 LP 'Cutler Of The West' 1 Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee straight lift from 1968 single DB8399 2 Oom Pah Pah straight lift from the 1969 LP 'Carry on Cutler' (side 1 track 6) 3 Poor, Poor Farmer straight lift from the 1971 single DB8793 4 Chitterling straight lift from the 1971 single DB8793 5 My Threshing Machine straight lift from the 1967 single DB8277 6 I Wish I Was Back On The Farm straight lift from the 1967 single DB8222 7 Dorset Is Beautiful straight lift from the 1968 LP 'Cutler Of The West' (side 1 track 6) 8 Up The Clump straight lift from the 1968 LP 'Cutler Of The West' (side 1 track 6)Side 2 1 The Wild West Show straight lift from the 1967 LP 'Adge Cutler's Family Album' (side 1 track 3). 2 I'd Love To Swim In The Zuider Zee This recording first appeared on the 1972 original version of this album. It is unclear when it was recorded but shows all the signs of being a studio recording. Written by Bill Stark and Dave Christopher originally a surviving typed text of their version with amendments by Adge show that he put his stamp on the song quite significantly. Interesting to note that the composers called it 'I'd Love To Swim In The Cyder Sea' and Adge's original redrafts keep this spelling. The 'Zuider Zee' concept came later. 3 Faggots Is The Stuff straight lift from the 1968 single DB8399. 4 Virtute Et Industrial straight lift from the 1967 first LP (side 2 track 6) 5 The Wurple-Diddle-I-Doo Song straight lift from the 1968 LP 'Cutler of the West' (side 2 track 7) 6 The Chandlers Wife straight lift from the1968 LP 'Cutler of the West' (side 2 track 2) 7 Drink Up Thy Zider straight lift from the1968 LP 'Carry On Cutler' (side 2 track 7)
Photograph of the group on the rear of the sleeve - taken from the 1969 photo-session and unpublished until this album was released. Left to right - Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis, Adge Cutler and Reg Quantrill.
This LP was released in 1978, in stereo, and appears to have had only one pressing, on the EMI subsidiary label 'Encore'.The examples below and the associated statistics are taken from the collection of Professor Wurzel and represent what a collector should expect to find. For more information on references to matrix information (including information on acetates), vinyl tax codes , album sleeves, singles sleeves, and Columbia album labels, then refer to the Vinyl Collecting Guides on the main menu.
Image Ref. 1 1978 first pressing of ONCR502 ON the EMI 'Encore' label with the ONCR502A1 and ONCR502B1 matrix. Both sides are first mother pressings. This pressing's vinyl weight at 135g is a mid-range weight. The label is the standard EMI red/tan design, with the 'Encore' logo across the mid-line. This disc is in a wrap-around sleeve and an EMI type K inner sleeve.
The sleeve is in the standard wrap-around design, front and back laminated with spine text reading: DON'T TELL I TELL 'EE - ADGE CUTLER AND THE WURZELS ONCR 502 The sleeve notes were rewritten for this this release by Bob Barratt and make for interesting reading. In rather small print there is also the comment that the album is available on cassette tape. This cassette was issued at the same time as the album.Beneath the catalogue number appears another code number i.e. OC 054-06 80: Between 1969 and 1982 EMI had an international coding system which they hoped would get adopted industry wide, and they used it worldwide for their own releases. In fact, the numbers used formed the basis of the 7-digit numbers adopted in 1983 and inserted into EAN/UPC barcode-based cataloguing, used to this day.