Bumpers is a double sampler album from Island Records, released in Europe and Australasia in 1970; there were minor variations in track listings within Europe but the Australian release was fundamentally different. The title refers to the basketball-style shoes on the front of the album cover and to the meaning "unusually large, abundant or excellent".[1] The album is left to present itself: there are no sleeve notes; the gatefold interior consists of a photograph showing publicity shots of the featured acts attached to the stump of a tree on a seemingly wet and gloomy day, without any identification. This image is flanked on each side by the track listings, but even there, the information given is unreliable.[2] Unlike its predecessors You Can All Join In and Nice Enough to Eat, there are no credits for cover art. [It was in fact by Tony Wright - his first sleeve for Island.] The English version of the album came out in two pressings, first with the pink label and "i" logo, and later with the palm motif on a white background and pink rim, each version with some minor variations in the production of individual tracks.

Bumpers
Compilation album by
Various Artists
Released1970
GenreRock
Length85:50
LabelIsland IDP 1
ProducerVarious
Series chronology
Nice Enough to Eat
(1969)
Bumpers
(1970)
El Pea
(1971)
The gatefold interior

UK track listing

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Side One

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  1. "Every Mother's Son" (Steve Winwood) - Traffic (from John Barleycorn Must Die (ILPS 9116)) (7:06)
  2. "Love" (Jess Roden) - Bronco (from Bronco (ILPS 9134))[3] (4:42)
  3. "I Am the Walrus" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - Spooky Tooth (from The Last Puff (ILPS 9117)) (6:20)
  4. "Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gauranga" (Quintessence) - Quintessence (Live version of track, not released elsewhere at the time, but available as 'bonus' track on CD version of album Quintessence (REPUK 1016) (5:15)

Side Two

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  1. "Thunderbuck Ram" (Mick Ralphs) - Mott the Hoople (from Mad Shadows (ILPS 9119)[4]) (4:50)
  2. "Nothing To Say" (Ian Anderson) - Jethro Tull (from Benefit (ILPS 9123)) (5:10)
  3. "Going Back West" (Jimmy Cliff) - Jimmy Cliff (from Jimmy Cliff (ILPS 9133))[5] (5:32)
  4. "Send Your Son To Die" (Mick Abrahams) - Blodwyn Pig (from Getting To This (ILPS 9122)) (4:35)
  5. "Little Woman" (Dave Mason) - Dave Mason (no source listed)[6] (2:30)

Side Three

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  1. "Go Out And Get It" (John Martyn) - John & Beverley Martyn (from Stormbringer! (ILPS 9113)) (3:15)
  2. "Cadence & Cascade"[7] (Robert Fripp, Pete Sinfield) - King Crimson (from In the Wake of Poseidon (ILPS 9127)) (4:30)
  3. "Reaching Out On All Sides" (Quincy, Fishman) - If (from If (ILPS 9129)) (5:35)
  4. "Oh I Wept" (Paul Rodgers, Paul Kossoff) - Free (from Fire and Water (ILSP 9120)) (4:25)
  5. "Hazey Jane" (Nick Drake) - Nick Drake (from his album to be released Autumn '70)[8] (4:28)

Side Four

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  1. "Walk Awhile" (Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick) - Fairport Convention (from Full House (ILPS 9130)) (4:00)
  2. "Maybe You're Right" (Cat Stevens) - Cat Stevens (from Mona Bone Jakon (ILPS 9118)) (3:00)
  3. "Island" (Keith Relf, Jim McCarty) - Renaissance (from Renaissance (ILPS 9114)) (5:57)
  4. "The Sea" (Sandy Denny) - Fotheringay (from Fotheringay (ILPS 9125)) (5:25)
  5. "Take Me To Your Leader" (Ellis, Ritchie, Hughes) -Clouds (intended to be on their Chrysalis album to be released Autumn '70)[9] (2:55)

Australian track listing

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Side One

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  1. "All Right Now" (Fraser-Rodgers) - Free
  2. "Notting Hill Gate" (Raja Ram-Shiva) - Quintessance
  3. "Empty Pages" (Winwood-Capaldi) - Traffic (band)
  4. "I'm a Man" (Winwood-Miller) - Spencer Davis Group
  5. "Primrose Hill" (B. Martyn) - John and Beverley Martin

Side Two

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  1. "Mona Bone Jakon" (Stevens) - Cat Stevens
  2. "You Really Got Me" (Davies) - Mott the Hoople
  3. "Lady D'Arbanville" (Stevens) - Cat Stevens
  4. "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" (J. Cliff) - Jimmy Cliff
  5. "Peace in the End" (Denny-Lucas) - Fotheringay

Side Three

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  1. "I Am the Walrus" (Lennon-McCartney) - Spooky Tooth
  2. "The Promised Land" (Quincy) - If
  3. "Somewhere Down the Line" (Taylor) - Tramline
  4. "Loosen Up" (Bown) - Alan Bown
  5. "Crazy Man Michael" (Thompson-Swarbrick) - Fairport Convention

Side Four

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  1. "Wild World" (Stevens) - Jimmy Cliff
  2. "Love Really Changed Me" (Miller-Grosvenor-White) - Spooky Tooth
  3. "Dear Mr Fantasy" (Winwood-Capaldi-Wood) - Traffic
  4. "Shiva's Chant" (Quintesswence-Stanley) - Quintessence
  5. "Anthem" (Gladwin) - Amazing Blondel

References

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  1. ^ Concise Oxford Dictionary, Seventh Ed., 1984 ISBN 0-19-861131-5
  2. ^ Record Collector magazine, UK, December 1996 edition
  3. ^ The album was actually titled Country Home and had the catalogue number ILPS 9124
  4. ^ this was a slightly different version of the same song
  5. ^ This catalogue number was actually issued to The Road to Ruin by John & Beverley Martyn. The track eventually appeared on the 1974 Album Struggling Man (ILPS 9235)
  6. ^ This was the B-side of the 1968 single Just For You (WIP6032) which was also included on the Dave Mason compilation double album Scrapbook (Island ICD5).
  7. ^ This version is faded out earlier than the source track
  8. ^ This was to be Bryter Layter (ILPS 9134)
  9. ^ This was Up Above Our Heads which was not released in the UK; a single version was issued on the European mainland only
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