Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding get together to launch their old shows on vinyl

Mighty Boosh duo Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt have reunited – but only to plug World Record Store Day.

As Chortle reported last month the complete Mighty Boosh radio series is to be released on vinyl to mark the event on April 13, which celebrates the role of independent shops.

Now they have been announced as ‘ambassadors’ for the event

 Barratt said he was backing it as ‘we are approaching singularity, when computers will overtake and replace us. Therefore, it suddenly felt prescient to outwit them and somehow save our precious early recordings onto a format that the dawning artificial intelligences will not see as a threat.

‘In the feint hope that one day, thousands of years from now, when the human race is decimated and bereft, its ephemeral digital archive wiped by the powerful shockwaves of the ‘magneto-pulse’, a solitary humanoid survivor, scavenging and in the dark tunnels beneath the humming glistening exo-skin of the earth… will discover this disc abandoned in a cave, and trace its long fingernail across the patterned surface only to drop in shock as it hears my rich and resonant voice echoing through the cave"

Fielding added: ‘People that work in record shops are often obsessed with vinyl and music and bands and can steer you in the right direction and tell you about things that you would never know about. Whereas you can’t do that on the internet. It’s not possible. You want some vinyl expert to tell you about a record you’ve never heard of. That’s the beauty of it."

Natasha Youngs, owner of independent record shop Resident Music said  the Boosh were perfect ambassadors. 

She said: ’As a duo that have come up through grassroots venues, reliant on word of mouth and committed returning fans/customers, they understand the ethos of our establishments and the need to support independent businesses. They also handily really like music. And record shops. And buying music from record shops. So it’s all worked out really rather nicely. 

'They even went and put out a record for the day. God bless them. A shamanic God obviously."

The pair recorded their six-episode audio series in 2001 – originally for BBC London and then going out on Radio 4. It was their first commission following the success of their live shows at Edinburgh, and was produced by Danny Wallace, who would go on to collaborate with Dave Gorman before becoming an author.

The new release will be the first time the series has been available on vinyl and will comprise three coloured, paint-spattered, 180g discs – with just 1,000 copies pressed. Fielding and co-star Dave Brown have created new artwork for the release and Barratt wrote the sleeve notes.

Ashlie Green from David’s Music in  Letchworth, Hertfordshire, said: ‘Noel and Julian are rock stars, so it seems fitting that this will come out for Record Store Day.  I’m so excited this will get renewed attention, because it’s flipping hilarious.’

Published: 9 Apr 2019