Audio Play / Another Monty Python Record

Actually Norwegian Carpenter Songs.

Another Monty Python Record is the second studio album by Monty Python. Released in 1971 through Charisma Records, it's the Pythons' first to actually have new material, even though most of it are still sketches people familiar with Monty Python's Flying Circus would know, like "Spanish Inquisition", "World Forum", "The Architect", "Norman St. John Polevaulter (Contradicting People)", "The Piranha Brothers", "Death Of Mary, Queen Of Scots", "Lifeboat", "Penguin On The TV", "Spam", "The Judges" and "Undertaker".

The British version and American, international version differed from each other. On the USA version the tracks "Norman St. John Polevaulter (Contradicting People)" and "Old Ladies Thrown Into The Fjord" were left off the album and replaced by "World Forum/Communist Phonecall".

Tracklist:

British version:

Side One

1. "Apologies" (2:11)
2. "Spanish Inquisition" (2:03)
3. "Gumby Theatre" (1:50)
4. "Norman St. John Polevaulter (Contradicting People)" (0:28)
5. "Old Ladies Thrown Into the Fjord" (0:08)
6. "The Architect" (2:44)
7. "Spanish Inquisition" (1:18)
8. "Royal Festival Hall Concert" (4:18)
9. "The Piranha Brothers" (10:07)

Side Two

1. "Death of Mary, Queen Of Scots" (2:20)
2. "Spam" (2:30)
3. "Spanish Inquisition (Comfy Chair)" (1:25)
4. "Sound Quiz" (1:20)
5. "Be A Great Actor" (3:07)
6. "Theatre Critic" (1:26)
7. "The Judges" (1:27)
8. "Stake Your Claim" (2:26)
9. "Still No Sign Of Land/Lifeboat"
10. "The Judges" (0:25)
11. "The Undertaker" (1:38)

American/International version:

Side One

1. "Apologies" (2:11)
2. "Spanish Inquisition" (2:03)
3. "World Forum/Communist Phonecall" (4:00)
4. "Gumby Theatre" (1:50)
5. "The Architect" (2:44)
6. "The Piranha Brothers" (10:07)

Side Two

1. "Death of Mary, Queen Of Scots" (2:20)
2. "Penguin On The TV" (2:30)
3. "Spanish Inquisition (Comfy Chair)" (1:25)
4. "Sound Quiz" (1:20)
5. "Be A Great Actor" (3:07)
6. "Theatre Critic" (1:26)
7. "Royal Festival Hall Concert" (4:18)
8. "The Judges" (1:27)
9. "Stake Your Claim" (2:26)
10. "Still No Sign Of Land/Lifeboat/"Undertaker" (5:29)

Personnel:

• Graham Chapman
• John Cleese
• Carol Cleveland
• Eric Idle
• Terry Jones
• Michael Palin
• The Fred Tomlinson Singers: vocal choir.

Another series of tropes

• Album Filler: In-Universe John Cleese apologizes at the start of the album for unneccesary putting an excerpt of "Norwegian Carpenters Songs" on the record.
• Alternate Album Cover: Some cassette and CD versions of the album respectively read "Another Monty Python Cassette" and "Another Monty Python CD" to reflect the difference in audio format.
• Asian Speekee Engrish: Mao speaks in this voice when he says "Sing Little Birdie" in the "World Forum" sketch.
• Bland-Name Product: The "ZDF" logo on the album cover is a parody of the trade dress for EMI albums of the era.
  • The original cassette release includes a parody of the Philips Records logo, crediting the album's release to "Bnitibe" rather than Philips; the proper Charisma Records logo appears on the tape labels. After Charisma introduced the Mad Hatter logo later in 1971, cassette reissues replaced the Bnitbe emblem with that.
• Broken Record: Mafiosi Luigi Vercotti scratches the record because of the Piranha Brothers sketch, resulting in one line being repeated until the end of Side One.
  Sorry squire, I just scratched your record
• Camp Gay: "Judges" features two judges who, when they're alone together, speak with outrageously camp mannerisms.
• Celebrity Cameo: In-Universe Former UK Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin supposedly wrote the foreword to the liner notes, even though the real Baldwin died in 1947.
• Classical Music: "Royal Festival Hall Concert" has a riot break out during a concert.
• Covers Always Lie: In-Universe: The album is presented as a Beethoven record, while actually being by Monty Python, while on the record itself people act as if it is a collection of "Norwegian Carpenter's Songs".
• Design Student's Orgasm: Both averted as well as subverted. The cover is a parody of a Classical Music album cover, but with everything crossed out and the title hastily written beside it. It was designed by Terry Gilliam.
• Dreadful Musician: In "Royal Festival Hall Concert" the violinist breaks his violin three times, causing a riot to break out.
• Fake-Out Opening: Michael Palin apologizes to the audience that the album "is not a Monty Python record, but a collection of "Norwegian Carpenter's Songs". After a few seconds of silence John Cleese appears to announce that the previous announcement was an error.
• I'm a Humanitarian: "Lifeboat", where starving sailors in a lifeboat decide to eat one another, and "Undertaker", where Cleese is persuaded to eat his mother's corpse.
• Long Speech Tea Time: When the Spanish Inquisition crashes the architect interviews, Cardinal Ximinez gives a typical Disorganized Outline Speech, during which his junior cardinals and the architects go off together for some tea. And this lovely chocolate cake with little silver balls...
• Motor Mouth: John Cleese's rambling in the "Theatre Critic".
• Not Quite Dead: Mary, Queen of Scots is being beaten up in a radio play. Her attackers assume she is dead, but she answers: "No, I am not", whereupon they beat her up again.
• Packaged as Other Medium: The cover looks like a Classical Music album, only with the title and image crossed out.
• Record Needle Scratch: The Piranha Brothers interrupt the sketch and scratch the recording, causing a continuous loop in the album's groove.
• Running Gag: The album cover looks like a classical music album, but is crossed out and the title "Another Monty Python Record" written on it. The back cover also appears to be a serious text about Beethoven, but when one reads it carefully it turns into a commentary about Beethoven joining the tennis contest of Wimbledon. When one first listens to the record the joke is continued with Michael Palin explaining the album has nothing to do with Monty Python's Flying Circus. However, instead of pretending this is a Beethoven record he says it is called "Pleasures Of The Dance": a collection of Norwegian carpenters' songs." After a small snippet John Cleese reappears, apologizes and confirms it is indeed a Python album, followed by a forced laugh and still more Norwegian folk music. Halfway the Spanish Inquisition sketch Cleese comes in again to apologize for the small snippet of Norwegian folk music that appeared on the album. After the "World Forum" sketch an angry calls to complain about the fact that a collection of "Norwegian Folk Songs should have Communist propaganda on it." At the end of the album the folk song gag is repeated by announcing the existence of a "Folk Songs of the Spanish Inquisition" album, which cuts to the inquisitors singing "Knees Up Mother Brown".
• Self-Titled Album: The group is mentioned in the title.
• Shout-Out:
  • The album cover provides a shout-out to Ludwig van Beethoven's "Second Symphony". The painting is Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Census At Bethlehem".
    • Among the personnel listed on the cover are "Soloist: Justus Pankau"; this is itself a joke since Beethoven's 2nd has no soloist. Justus Pankau is a German cinematographer who worked on, among other things, Christiane F. and the German version of Monty Python.
  • The Gumbies perform The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov.
  • "World Forum/Communist Phonecall" has Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Che Guevara and Mao being quizzed.
  • "Sound Quiz" asks listeners via a series of sound effects: "What famous person is this getting up in the morning?" The answer is Italian film director Luchino Visconti.
  • "You Be The Actor" gives the listener the chance to be "the next Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness and Laurence Harvey". Laurence Harvey was an actor best known for his role in Room at the Top.
  • "Royal Festival Hall Concert" has Emile Gilbert perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Canzonetta" from his Violin Concerto, but when Gilbert persistently keeps breaking his violin (first his own, then the leader of the orchestra's) a riot breaks out, in which conductor Otto Klemperer beats him with a stick. Near the end cellist Pablo Casals plays Antonio Vivaldi's "Sonatino In E sharp" while jumping into a bucket of boiling fat from 400 foot high.
  • "Stake Your Claim" has a man claim he wrote all of William Shakespeare's works, only to be debunked within 10 seconds.
• Stock Sound Effects: The album starts off with sounds of birds whistling in nature.
• Standard Snippet: "Liberty Bell" by John Philip Sousa, the theme song of Monty Python's Flying Circus can be heard, also the "Canzonetta" from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Violin Concerto" and the music hall song "Knees Up Mother Brown". When the Comfy Chair is announced a snippet from "Mars" by Gustav Holst's "The Planets" is heard.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The penguin on the TV set explodes.
• There Was a Door: Gumby Theatre. "NO, open the DOOR and come in!" "SORRY!"
• Time Marches On: In "World Forum/Communist Phonecall" the presenter says that the question "When did Coventry City F.C. win the FA Cup?" was a trick question, because this soccer club has never won this prize. In 1987 Coventry did win this championship, thus ruining the joke.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: Eric Idle announces theatre critic Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, by rolling the final "r" in his name.
• Walking Disaster Area: Violin soloist Emile Gilbert, who keeps breaking his violin and whose concert quickly devolves into a combination of orgy, riot and civil war.

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