The Friday Album Cover #33

They want you to be Jesus^*,
They'll go down on one knee,
But they'll want their money back, If you're alive at 33.


Bit of a toughie this week I feel.








^* No John Lennon style "bigger than Jesus" proclamations here.... and, while I'm at it, there will be no "turning tricks" with or without^** religous paraphernalia.

^** Pun completely unintentional... promise.

The Friday Album Cover #32

Dear Friday Album Cover Aficionados,




Love,

A quickly running out of ideas Ambassador

The Friday Album Cover #31

T minus 125 days. Eek!

I haven't seen my bike in a week thanks to the snow (I may be stupid and foolhardy - but not to the extent that I would take it skiing). I miss it terribly.

On the plus side, the complete "The Wire" box set arrived yesterday. I've heard and read nothing but good things about it so very much looking forward to that.

The Friday Album Cover #30 (Side B)

And the answer was......

The Friday Album Cover #30

How did this reach 30 so quickly!

The Friday Album Cover #29

Another easy one - if you are an Irish child of the 80s. Can you recall the album name without Google's help though?

This is a personal indulgence. It's an album cover I've wanted to do for a long time - but I'd never been able to find a picture of the cover.

The Friday Album Cover #28

... and we're back. (Just about).

The Friday Album Cover #27

Apologies for the lack of an album cover last week.

A hearty mix of an alcohol and boogying on Thursday night, coupled with the room spinning more than is normal for a Friday morning, meant there wasn't much movement inside the embassy this time last week.

Last one before 2009.



Happy Christmas & a similar new year.

Thanks for reading - all 4 of you..

I can assure you, I've enjoyed reading your blogs more than you've enjoyed reading mine.

The Friday Album Cover #26

Pop quiz, hotshot!

The Friday Album Cover #25

Before getting to the actual business of this weeks effort, I'd like to draw your attention to the following (taken from Friday Album Cover #5)

It should be noted that we here at Ambassador Towers don't personally endorse or recommend any of the albums featured in the Friday Album Cover series. Although we may own some of them, that does not necessarily mean we like them, think they are any good or even know anything about the artists who recorded them.

I get the impression correctly guessing this week's album cover will serve as a good example of how one can be both a winner and a loser at the same time.

Question is: does anybody want the glory that much?

The Friday Album Cover #24

Busy day ahead so some rescheduling was required.

The early bird will definitely have the advantage - although hopefully it won't be too obvious.

For some reason this seemed like it would be a simple enough album cover to replicate. Anything but - you have no idea how many times this was started, re-started, scrapped and started again. In the end multiple save points allowed me to roll back only the most recent changes. It was the only way it was ever going to get done.

The Friday Album Cover #23

I got back to the embassy a shade the wrong side of 4am last night/this morning.

A good night was had by all - but right now I am still a little sleepy, the spin in on the bike having blown most of the cobwebs away.

Right - lets get this over with so SW can get back to work.

The Friday Album Cover #22

3....2....1.... Go!

The Friday Album Cover #21

I recently read Jack McCallum's outstanding "Seven Seconds or Less" - a fly-on-the-wall account of a season the Sports Illustrated journalist spent with the Mike D'Antoni coached Phoenix Suns basketball team.

Like all NBA coaches, D'Antoni diligently prepared his team with a meticulous, attention to detail. Hours of video footage were watched and analysed. Training sessions were tailored to suit their next opponents. Strategies were drawn up and discussed. Finally, each player was given a 10-page dossier highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of their opposite number.

Yes despite this, D'antoni firmly believed that his players shouldn't be overly concerned with strategy and tactics, arguing that a player's natural talent was more important, particularly when it came to adapting to the fluid nature of the game. To this end, at the top of the third page in each and every dossier was the line "If you get this far, come see me".

Nobody ever came - the players trusted their own abilities (and those of their team mates) preferring instead to just get on with the game.

I wonder if the album cover preambles are in some way similar. Do you cut straight to the chase in an effort to beat sheepworrier to the punch.




This week's album cover is another easy-peasy classic. I had some trouble with the nose as usual. However, although it may not match that on the original cover, I'm sure it was right at some moment in time.

The Friday Album Cover #20

I was sure album cover #19 wouldn't last too long and with the benefit of hindsight I think it's fair to say, I may have been misguided in that particular belief.

So, confidence shattered and stuck for time, this week's cover is simple and (possibly more importantly) world famous. A real early bird's one!

Cue sheepworrier in 5...4...3...2...1...

The Friday Album Cover #19 (Side B)

No takers on Fridays effort then?

It was meant to be 0898 Beautiful South by The Beautiful South (who split in 2007 citing"musical similarities").

Here is the original:


I thought it was a pretty decent likeness myself.

The Friday Album Cover #19

It has been a good week.

The new albums from Duke Special and Ben Folds have been purchased, listened to and thoroughly enjoyed.

I did a gig last night and managed to fill 15 minutes without using any material - and it was good too (which caught me by surprise). Of course, it helps when the guy from the anti-litter ad (the boys and the girls in the fashion parade) and a woman who works in Arnotts lingerie department are in the crowd. Sometimes it all falls right into your lap.

The only downside was my complete un-preparednesses of this weeks album cover which comes from the early 90's. If the face in last weeks obfuscated matters then the outlook is bleak.

And now, on with the show....

The Friday Album Cover #18

Is it just me or is The Friday Album Cover coming around more frequently than it used to? It seems that no sooner have I poster one album cover, then sheepworrier has guessed it and the next deadline comes whoosing by!

Contrary to what first impressions may suggest, this week's album was not recorded by Nick Cave after he had been horribly disfigured in an out of control house fire. The head of the artist in question is, in fact, a more reasonable size and in proportion with the rest of his/her body.

If you don't pay too much heed to the head area it may look reasonably similar to the actual album cover.

Off you go!

[Edit: It might help to look at it cross eyed]

The Friday Album Cover #17

"The Man" sent me off to the glamorous surrounds of Amiens Steet this week. I have spent the latter half of the week working for a certain semi state body (whose internal newsletter is wittily titled "The Gasette") and observing the coming and goings at the nearby methadone clinic. Oh yes! Nothing but chic cosmopolitan hubs for me. In addition to listening to the half-baked notions of the fine Dublin citizens gathered below the window I have witnessed what, to me, is a completely new phenomenon.

There is a set of pedestrian lights outside near the client's office. At lunchtime today I stopped by them, pressed the button to summon the little green man and stood at the roadside waiting for the lights to change. After roughly 30 seconds a man stopped beside me, jabbed his finger at the button 5 or 6 times and joined me in waiting for the signal to cross.

Why did he feel the need to press the button? Did he think I am unaware how pedestrian lights are supposed to function? Perhaps he was under the impression that the lights would instinctively understand that his desire to reach his destination was more urgent than mine. Or maybe he felt pressing the button a number of times would convince the lights to change quicker - in much the same way Daddy Ambassador seems to think clicking his mouse button harder somehow encourages his PC. I don't know if the various etiquette books in publication cover such scenarios - but if they do, I can only imagine the following is the correct response.

Thanks God you're here. That's the kind of radical, outside-the-box thinking I could have done with 4 hours ago. Do you know I've been standing here, racking my brains, trying to remember what I was forgetting. I'm going to be so late for work

To say I was dispatched to Amiens Street at short notice would be an understatement. My departure was so swift that the latter half of the week was spent fretting over the half complete album cover on my laptop back in the office.

They say desperate times call for desperate measures so, unwilling to break the emergency glass in order to retrieve The Beatles "White Album", I went for something super-simple yet super-classic. The early bird will definitely get the worm this week.

The Friday Album Cover #16

One from my teenage years this week.

I don't know many people who possess (or even know of) this album so hopefully it won't prove too obscure.