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Showing posts with label album covers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label album covers. Show all posts
Monday, August 17, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
26. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
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This work is an experiment with the glass distortion and liquefy filters. The basis I chose is the album cover version which has pink instead of the more common dayglo red for the band's letters. It's the
pink as in punk that created the rush to add the bright blue bar at left and supplied the devilish creative adrenalin to arouse the X and drop the O.
One can have it any which way but Jamie Reid's original album art has already gone down in history as one of the standards of punk visual aesthetic.
Here's the original album cover art design.
No. 29, The Virgin all-Time Album Top 1000; No. 29, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 41, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
No. 2, Rolling Stone, The 100 Greatest Album Covers; No. 14, Music Radar, The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time.
Design concept by Jamie Reid, phrase supplied by Steve Jones. Album produced by Chris Thomas and Bill Price. Virgin 1977.
The album was originally going to be titled God Save Sex Pistols. The album's title changed in mid-1977, based on a phrase supplied by Steve Jones. Jones said he picked up the phrase
"Never mind the bollocks" from two fans who would always say it to one another. Johnny Rotten explained its meaning as a working-class expression to "stop talking rubbish".
"Never mind the bollocks" from two fans who would always say it to one another. Johnny Rotten explained its meaning as a working-class expression to "stop talking rubbish".
In the UK, the album was subject to what (writer Clinton) Heylin described as "blatant acts of censorship exercised by media and retail outlets alike". London police visited the
city's Virgin record stores and told them they faced prosecution for indecency if they continued to display posters of the album cover in their windows. The displays were either
toned down or removed. However, on 9 November 1977 the London Evening Standard announced on its front page headline "Police Move in on Punk Disc Shops", and reported
how a Virgin Records shop manager was arrested for displaying the record after being warned to cover up the word "bollocks".
An obscenity case was heard at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on 24 November. The defence presented the case as a matter of police discrimination. The arresting officer was
asked why the newspapers The Guardian and Evening Standard (which had referred to the album's name) had not been charged under the same act. When the magistrate inquired
about his line of questioning, the defence lawyer stated that a double-standard was apparently at play, and that "bollocks" was only considered obscene when it appeared on the
cover of a Sex Pistols album. The prosecutor conducted his cross-examination "as if the album itself, and not its lurid visage, was on trial for indecency.
The lawyer produced expert witnesses who were able to successfully demonstrate that the word "bollocks" was not obscene, and was actually a legitimate Old English term
originally used to refer to a priest, and which, in the context of the title, meant "nonsense". Full article
Case closed.
(A) Holidays in the Sun - Liar - No Feelings - God Save the Queen - Problems
(B) Seventeen - Anarchy in the U.K. - Bodies - Pretty Vacant - New York - E.M.I.
city's Virgin record stores and told them they faced prosecution for indecency if they continued to display posters of the album cover in their windows. The displays were either
toned down or removed. However, on 9 November 1977 the London Evening Standard announced on its front page headline "Police Move in on Punk Disc Shops", and reported
how a Virgin Records shop manager was arrested for displaying the record after being warned to cover up the word "bollocks".
An obscenity case was heard at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on 24 November. The defence presented the case as a matter of police discrimination. The arresting officer was
asked why the newspapers The Guardian and Evening Standard (which had referred to the album's name) had not been charged under the same act. When the magistrate inquired
about his line of questioning, the defence lawyer stated that a double-standard was apparently at play, and that "bollocks" was only considered obscene when it appeared on the
cover of a Sex Pistols album. The prosecutor conducted his cross-examination "as if the album itself, and not its lurid visage, was on trial for indecency.
The lawyer produced expert witnesses who were able to successfully demonstrate that the word "bollocks" was not obscene, and was actually a legitimate Old English term
originally used to refer to a priest, and which, in the context of the title, meant "nonsense". Full article
Case closed.
(A) Holidays in the Sun - Liar - No Feelings - God Save the Queen - Problems
(B) Seventeen - Anarchy in the U.K. - Bodies - Pretty Vacant - New York - E.M.I.
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| Previous: David Bowie - The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars |
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| Next: Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde |
Back to Gallery 1
Monday, June 1, 2015
24. Don McLean - American Pie
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"I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store where I heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play."
"Do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?"
Design and photo by George S. Whiteman. Album produced by Ed Freeman. United Artists 1971.
"American Pie" has been said to be Don McLean's boyhood memories upon learning the death of Buddy Holly. "The day the music died" in the opening verse was the 1959 plane crash that ended the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. More
It was also the story of America, or the evolution of the American music scene from the 1950s through the 60s. Thus "the jester on the sidelines" is Bob Dylan, "the king with the thorny crown" is Elvis,
"the quartet in the park" was The Beatles, and "Jack Flash" was Mick Jagger. Believing that an artist's work should stand by itself, McLean generally did not offer explanations for his work's
themes or meaning, though he did describe the title song as involving "a sense of loss".
On 13 February 2015, the Daily Telegraph reported that McLean's original manuscript of "American Pie," one of the most iconic songs of its time, could fetch up to $1.5 million
when it is sold on April 7, auctioneers Christie's have said. The 16 pages of handwritten and typed drafts include notes and deletions for the recording that became a hit
after it was released in 1971. It was named a Song of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
"American Pie" has been said to be Don McLean's boyhood memories upon learning the death of Buddy Holly. "The day the music died" in the opening verse was the 1959 plane crash that ended the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. More
It was also the story of America, or the evolution of the American music scene from the 1950s through the 60s. Thus "the jester on the sidelines" is Bob Dylan, "the king with the thorny crown" is Elvis,
"the quartet in the park" was The Beatles, and "Jack Flash" was Mick Jagger. Believing that an artist's work should stand by itself, McLean generally did not offer explanations for his work's
themes or meaning, though he did describe the title song as involving "a sense of loss".
On 13 February 2015, the Daily Telegraph reported that McLean's original manuscript of "American Pie," one of the most iconic songs of its time, could fetch up to $1.5 million
when it is sold on April 7, auctioneers Christie's have said. The 16 pages of handwritten and typed drafts include notes and deletions for the recording that became a hit
after it was released in 1971. It was named a Song of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
"Vincent" is a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night. The song
also describes different paintings done by the artist. McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist. The following year,
the song became the number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. In the US, "Vincent" also peaked at number two on the Easy Listening chart.
Everyday, "Vincent" is played by the staff of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for its visitors.
There is an often repeated claim that the song "Empty Chairs" was the inspiration for the popular song "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Lori Lieberman, who first
recorded the song, claims that she wrote a poem after seeing McLean perform "Empty Chairs" in concert and that co-authors Charles Fox and Norman
Gimbel re-worked it into the song, which she later recorded on her debut album. Fox denies this, saying that the song’s lyrical genesis was
found in a notebook of Gimbel’s that contained the phrase “Killing me softly with his blues.” They updated the phrase and wrote
the song which Lieberman liked and said reminded her of watching McLean perform. More
(A) American Pie - Till Tomorrow - Vincent - Crossroads - Winterwood
(B) Empty Chairs - Everybody Loves Me, Baby - Sister Fatima - The Grave - Babylon
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| Previous: Pink Floyd - The Wall |
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| Next: David Bowie - The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars |
Sunday, May 10, 2015
18. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
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This small project was totally unplanned; I never imagined that the finished work would come out this way. To say it differently, I just kept on exploring possibilities and experimenting with
new tools until I finally decided to stop. When I did, the work came out this way.
I began with the replace colour and found that after repeated tries I could obtain the colours of the florescent paints that we used to paint the psychedelic posters that decorated
our walls back in the 1970s - without changing the colour of the calligraphy and the image of the band at centre. Next, I experimented with different
levels of the stylize/extrude; and then I decided that the desired effect should emulate the globs of coloured lights that circled sleepily above our
heads as we listened to the music while we stood still on the dance floor. We were drunk or we were high. If not, we pretended to be.
In 1966-71 my parents sent me to a provincial high school that was owned and managed by the Roman Catholic Church. We
were far from the city. We usually hung out at a store nearby where we could share the latest news and I would go
directly to the movie section to see what's showing and what's coming. "Woodstock" was coming to the city.
Before I got the chance to see it first run, Jimi Hendrix was dead.
I came to the city in 1971 to go to college (and work). There was an old dilapidated theatre at a marketplace
with only electric fans to circulate the heavy air that reeked of sweat even from the outside. The
posters were old and torn and faded. The mud that caked the sidewalk led to the ticket booth
and inside. I swore to myself I will never be in a place like this. But one fateful day,
"Woodstock" was showing. I lived to tell the story. With neither shame nor glory.
This the original cover art design on the album's release for North America.
No. 2, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 15, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time;
No. 26, Entertainment Weekly, 100 Greatest Albums Ever; No. 63, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000.
Art design and photo by Karl Ferris. Album produced by Chas Chandler. Track (UK), Reprise (US) 1967.
Jimi Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced, so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with graphic designer Karl Ferris. Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic", so he requested
Ferris because he appreciated the photographer's sleeve-work on The Hollies' Evolution. During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their
music from which to draw inspiration. They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis:Bold as Love.
Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently. His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that
it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring
their unworldly space music to earth." With this concept in mind, he took colour photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a
fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture. Ferris used what (author Sean) Egan described as "an infrared technique
of his own invention which combined colour reversal with heat signature", further enhancing the exotic nature of the image.
Ferris was an experienced fashion photographer, and his interest in the finer details of his covers led him to choose the band's wardrobe. After seeing
Hendrix with his hair combed away from the scalp, Ferris requested that he wear it that way during the photo shoot. Hendrix's girlfriend,
Kathy Etchingham, trimmed his hair to improve its symmetry, forming an afro that became the basis of a homogenized
Experience image. Ferris chose the cover's yellow background and its surreal lettering, and he intended
for a textured gatefold jacket that Reprise, as a cost-saving measure, did not approve. Full article
(A) Purple Haze - Manic Depression - Hey Joe - Love or Confusion - May This Be Love - I Don't Live Today
(B) The Wind Cries Mary - Fire - Third Stone from the Sun - Foxy Lady - Are You Experienced?
No. 26, Entertainment Weekly, 100 Greatest Albums Ever; No. 63, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000.
Art design and photo by Karl Ferris. Album produced by Chas Chandler. Track (UK), Reprise (US) 1967.
Jimi Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced, so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with graphic designer Karl Ferris. Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic", so he requested
Ferris because he appreciated the photographer's sleeve-work on The Hollies' Evolution. During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their
music from which to draw inspiration. They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis:Bold as Love.
Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently. His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that
it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring
their unworldly space music to earth." With this concept in mind, he took colour photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a
fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture. Ferris used what (author Sean) Egan described as "an infrared technique
of his own invention which combined colour reversal with heat signature", further enhancing the exotic nature of the image.
Ferris was an experienced fashion photographer, and his interest in the finer details of his covers led him to choose the band's wardrobe. After seeing
Hendrix with his hair combed away from the scalp, Ferris requested that he wear it that way during the photo shoot. Hendrix's girlfriend,
Kathy Etchingham, trimmed his hair to improve its symmetry, forming an afro that became the basis of a homogenized
Experience image. Ferris chose the cover's yellow background and its surreal lettering, and he intended
for a textured gatefold jacket that Reprise, as a cost-saving measure, did not approve. Full article
(A) Purple Haze - Manic Depression - Hey Joe - Love or Confusion - May This Be Love - I Don't Live Today
(B) The Wind Cries Mary - Fire - Third Stone from the Sun - Foxy Lady - Are You Experienced?
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