Monty Python: 'The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
In the following essay, Roger Hughes critiques The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" as a satirical take on soundtrack albums, arguing that it lacks replay value compared to earlier Monty Python records due to its conceptual focus.
"You have just wasted over £2" proclaims the inner sleeve [of The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"] as it emerges from the tatty, sticky-taped outer cover, and there may be more than a hint of truth in that. First of all, let no-one be misled into believing that this is the soundtrack from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Of course it's not. Did we really expect it to be? For the Python team it is the concept behind the medium in which they are working that becomes the challenge. As with television, so with records. It is the concept of soundtrack albums that is being sent up in this record. After all, we are regularly reminded, the film is mainly visual…. [There is a] warning on the sleeve that "this record can only be played once". And that may well sum it up. For the Holy Grail soundtrack does not stand up to the repeated playings that were such a joy with earlier Python albums.
Roger Hughes, "Monty Python: 'The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail'," in Gramophone (© Gramophone—1975), Vol. 53, No. 630, November, 1975, p. 921.
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