IS YOUR HEART STILL A FIREBALL...?

Images copyright relevant owner

Around 40 years ago, I managed to obtain replacements for the two copies of the 45 rpm single of FIREBALL that had once been part of my family's record collection since childhood.  The originals had been dispensed with only a few short years before due to damage so the gap between them and their replacements wasn't that large, and when I look at those two singles today it's as if they'd never been absent.

Then, around a quarter of a century ago, someone lent me their Extended Play version of the record along with its picture sleeve.  This single had four themes (two each side), so I taped them onto a cassette and had the sleeve photocopied, then made a couple of 'facsimile' covers.  Since then, I've stored my two singles inside their respective replica sleeves, even though they were short of the full complement of themes listed on the track list.

The plot now thickens.  A couple or so years back I saw another copy of my records listed on ebay, this one sporting the 'original' blue label (the other singles had black labels, same as my childhood copies), so I bought it.  This now meant I had three singles of the same theme, and it occurred to me that it would be nice if they each had an appropriate paper picture sleeve to store them in.

So a couple of nights ago I scanned one of my homemade replica EP sleeves and used digital technology to remove references to the extra two tracks, along with anything else that would betray the fact that it wasn't designed for the two-track single.  The accompanying images are of the sleeve in its pre-altered state, along with its customised result.  When I remember where I stored the cassette recording of the EP I'll transfer it onto CD, then make a CD-sized copy of the unaltered sleeve, but that's a project for the future.

For the meantime, paste your peepers on the results of my handiwork - visual testimony of my creativity, and the reason why I often surprise myself with the high standard I'm capable of achieving in my chosen endeavours.  Combined with my modesty and humility, that's a pretty potent combination.

I've since added the single's number to the top corner

And below, because you demanded it (you didn't?  Then who did?), both tracks on the single.

Posted in: Cartoons