Cover Story – Pink Floyd – “The Wall/Hammers” artwork by Gerald Scarfe

August 7, 2007 by Sugartune

By Michael Goldstein

Pink Floyd’s “rock opera” The Wall (released on Columbia Records in the U.S. and on Harvest Records in the UK), is the best-selling multi-disc recording of all time, having sold well over 30 million packages since its 1979 release. The record reached #1 in the U.S. (topping at #3 in the U.K.) and included the #1 hit single “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)”, along with the hits “Hey You”, “Run Like Hell”, and the epic “Comfortably Numb”. It was voted #87 of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” in the 2003 survey published by Rolling Stone Magazine.

It was after this record that founding keyboardist Richard Wright departed, to return as a paid player when the band performed The Wall on tour, finally re-uniting as a full member in 1987.

According to the legend, songwriter/lyricist Roger Waters was inspired to begin writing The Wall while on tour in 1977 promoting their Animals record. Near the end of the tour, an angry Waters spat in the face of an audience member who was trying to jump up onto the stage with the band. Whatever the motivation, the record required 8 months in the South of France to complete.

All Pink Floyd records since their 1967 release The Piper at the Gates of Dawn had featured cover designs/packaging by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis. For The Wall, the band chose U.K. cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe, who then also designed the giant puppets of the ‘Mother’, ‘Wife’ and ‘Teacher’, as well as the animations that were projected around the theater and onto the Wall constructed during the public performances of the opera. The selection of Mr. Scarfe as illustrator was inspired, as he creates “drawings that are often a cry against that which I detest, and in showing my dislike I have to draw the dislikeable. To horrify people with a drawing of the waste of war I must make a horrific drawing of war, and when I come to draw people, their bodies become vehicles for their emotions – greed, lust, cruelty.” Considering The Wall’s subject material, the story behind the making of today’s Cover Story image is particularly compelling….

In the words of the illustrator, Gerald Scarfe (interviewed July 2007, with additional quotes and info provided by Julie Davies and the nice folks at geraldscarfe.com) –

“In 1973, the BBC sent me to Los Angeles to work on a twenty minute animated film about all things American – a psychedelic stream-of-consciousness work featuring Mickey Mouse, Black Power, Playboy Magazine, the Statue of Liberty, Nixon and John Wayne. We used a new animation system called the ‘De Joux’ system. In full Disney-type animation there are twelve drawings to one second of film. The ‘De Joux’ system cut that number to only six or eight by mixing photographically between every drawing and producing the illusion of extra movement. This still meant an immense amount of work, drawing every second of a twenty minute film. I worked, ate and slept that project for six weeks, drawing every cliché I knew about America straight onto 70mm film – from Coca Cola to John Wayne. I called the film Long Drawn-Out Trip.

Two members of Pink Floyd (Roger and Nick) saw this film when it was shown on the BBC and asked me to make an animated film for their next series of live concerts, based on their LP Wish You Were Here. I didn’t take up the offer for some time – it seemed like a lot of work and I feared it might stop the flow of my other work (it did!). Directing animation is a full-time job. I ended up with a studio of about forty animators whom I tried to wean away from the Disney system in which most are trained.

The first animations I made for Wish You Were Here were projected onto a circular screen at the back of the stage, behind the band. I drew a man who walked slowly towards the camera, stopped and was eroded, like sand, by the blowing wind. A metal monster that stomped across the landscape for the song, ‘Welcome to the Machine‘, a sea of blood that appeared over the horizon, raced towards us and engulfed two shining, circular metal towers. The blood turned to groping hands which prayed to the metal monoliths. A leaf tumbled through the sky and slowly turned into a naked man who, still tumbling, smashed through the sky as though it were made of glass.

I continued my association with Pink Floyd by collaborating on The Wall. Begun in 1979, this project became three years of work. Roger and I worked out the cover design in the South of France and I completed it on my return to London. Roger gave me complete carte blanche, complete control over it. Besides showing me the libretto, they didn’t interfere at all in crafting of the images. They obviously saw what I was going to do, but they never altered them. I remember Roger saying that “when we employ an artist, we employ him for what he does, not for what we would like to make him do.”

In as far as what inspired the ‘Hammers’ imagery, we obviously wanted to have some figure of oppression, and I came up with the hammers. I had to think, ‘what would be the most obvious symbol of oppression’, and the most unrelenting, crushing, unthinking thing that I could think of was a hammer. The violence of a hammer when it comes down is horrific. I was slightly worried that they might be adopted by some fascist, neo-Nazi group as a symbol but thankfully it didn’t happen. And I think that when I did the hammers, and Roger wrote ‘hammer, hammer’ into the lyrics, it was the one instance when the drawings influenced the lyrics.

I knew the images were ultimately going to be used in an animated sequence. The actual images came to me quite quickly, but of course the animation is an incredibly time consuming process. When we began the animation for the film there were only about 8-10 people on the project, but by the end there were around 40-50 animators using pen, paper, ink and paint.

From the original LP of The Wall, a stage show was produced, for which I art-directed. I made puppets and inflatables and directed another animated film, The Trial. The Wall was subsequently made into a feature film which I designed and for which I directed two further pieces of animation – ‘Empty Spaces’ and ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’.

As a child who grew up in the war, ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’ came completely from my mind, because I had memories of the war. Roger was born after the war; as you may know, he lost his father in the war, and that’s why he refers to it, but I actually lived through it, and remember the bombs falling in London, and being in air raid shelters.

But above all else I remember having to wear a gas mask, which is a very claustrophobic thing for anyone to wear, let alone an asthmatic. I’d put this thing on and fight for breath. We had to put them on for practice – thankfully there was no occasion when gas bombs were actually dropped, to my memory. But I hated the mask. They tried to make it look cute and childlike by putting Mickey Mouse ears on it and calling it a ‘Mickey Mouse children’s gasmask’. But the memory of the mask came in useful for the ‘Frightened Ones’. I gave them gas-mask heads and they are running for cover into air raid shelters as the dove which explodes into the Germanic Eagle, and flies across the landscape, lays its trail of waste.

When I do my illustrated talks I like to show the ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’ sequence, because it ties up with my childhood really, it’s a sort of poem to the Second World War, and it was the Floyd that gave me the opportunity to do it. I am often asked if I think my drawings change anything. I don’t believe they do, but on occasion I hope they may crystallize a mood or sum up an attitude. If I have succeed in demonstrating this – or even better, in making people laugh – then I can ask for no more.”

About the illustrator, Gerald Scarfe -

Illustrator and cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was born in 1936 in London. He was asthmatic as a child and spent much time drawing and reading. After a brief period at the Royal College of Art in London, he established himself as a satirical cartoonist, working for Punch magazine and Private Eye during the early sixties. He has had many exhibitions worldwide, including ones in New York, Osaka, Montreal, Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago and London, as well as 50 one-man shows. He has designed the sets and costumes for plays, operas and musicals in London, Houston, Los Angeles and Detroit. His film work includes designing and directing the animation for Pink Floyd’s rock opera The Wall (he also created the graphics and animation for Roger Waters’ 1984 solo album titled The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking and its supporting tour). Scarfe has written and directed many live action and documentary films for BBC and Channel 4.

He has also published many books of his work, including Heroes & Villains: Scarfe at the National Portrait Gallery, which was published in September 2003. His most recent book, Gerald Scarfe: Drawing Blood: 45 Years of Scarfe Uncensored was published in November 2005. Gerald Scarfe has been political cartoonist for the London Sunday Times for 40 years, and has worked for The New Yorker magazine for 14 years. His work regularly appears in many periodicals and in 2005, he was selected as one of the 40 Most-Influential Journalists by the U.K.’s Press Gazette. In 2006, he received the British Press Award as Cartoonist of the Year.

Most recently, he has just completed working with Ozzy Osbourne on illustrating a 10-foot guitar for Gibson Guitar and their special charity event held for the Prince’s Trust.

He is married to British film/TV actress and author Jane Asher, and they have 3 three children.

You can see more of Mr. Scarfe’s work, please visit – www.geraldscarfe.com. Not only will you find a large selection of illustrations covering his whole career (including the work with Pink Floyd), but there is more information about Gerald, his book Drawing Blood (where some of today’s material was excerpted from), a CV, and writings on all the different subjects of his work.

To see more of Mr. Scarfe’s images that are available for sale at the RockPoP Gallery, please follow this link – http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/gerald-scarfe/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” – Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

We hope that you enjoy these looks behind the scenes of the music-related art business and that you’ll share your stories with us and fellow fans about what role these works of art – and the music they covered – played in your lives.

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Cover Story – IOMMI – “FUSED” cover art by Hugh Gilmour

July 30, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject – Fused – a 2005 recording by “Iommi” (Tony Iommi & Glenn Hughes), released on Sanctuary Records and featuring a cover image by artist Hugh Gilmour.

Main personnel – Tony Iommi – Guitars; Glenn Hughes – Vocals, Bass; Kenny Aronoff – Drums; Bob Marlette – Keyboards, Bass

Having first worked together on the 1986 Black Sabbath album Seventh Star, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes reunited in 1996 to work on new songs but, as Tony was “side-tracked” by constant touring with Sabbath for the next 8 years, they weren’t able to get together again to work on this music until 2004 (note – you can listen to their 1996 efforts as they were compiled on an album released in 2004 titled DEP Sessions: 1996). After the release of the DEP Sessions record, the pair formed a power trio with crack session/John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff and with producer Bob Marlette also adding his keyboard talents, the group released Fused in 2005.

Looking to return to their harder, riff-centric pasts (Iommi’s riffs set the stage for all metal bands to come, and Hughes’ vocal and bass work with Deep Purple filled in the gaping holes left by Ian Gillian and Roger Glover in 1973), the band left no doubt of their blues/rock/metal pedigrees and musical prowess with riff-filled tunes such as “Face Your Fear”, “Dopamine”, and the epic “Insane”.

It only made sense then when the band approached Sanctuary Record’s former Head of Design (a well-known “metal head” and now independent graphic designer) Hugh Gilmour to create the packaging for this new release. According to Hugh, it was Black Sabbath’s fault that he got a job in the music industry in the first place. Let him explain in today’s Cover Story…

In the words of the artist, Hugh Gilmour (interviewed in July 2007) –

“I was at University in Kingston in UK, and saw that Castle Communications had a vacancy for a Mac Operator. I’d switched an Apple Macintosh on and off at University, so I figured I was qualified. Castle Communications had the rights to the Sabbath catalogue in the U.K., and I knew that one day they would have to reissue and remaster them, and I wanted to be the one to do it, so I applied for the job and got it.

After I’d been there a couple of years they began a campaign of reissuing the Black Sabbath catalogue (everything from 1970-1987), and I was the obvious person to do it, as I was the resident metal freak. Back then (in 1995) you didn’t automatically get sleeve notes, additional pics, memorabilia or additional material, in CD reissues. At the time, only Ryko was making the effort to give value for money with the packaging etc. but this was something I really pushed for. When I was told there was no budget to have sleeve notes written I went ahead and wrote ’em myself, all of which was approved by the Sabbath camp. I still have the faxes (this was before email!) from Sharon Osbourne praising my liner notes.

I worked on something like twenty Sabbath releases, mainly reissues and compilations. I did one Sabbath compilation called Between Heaven And Hell that I wanted to look like a Joy Division album cover, something akin to 1980’s Closer LP, and all of a sudden old Sabbath stuff is being compared favourably to Joy Division. Coincidence? Maybe. I also made sure we included tracks like ‘Wicked World’ (which was unavailable on CD in Europe) included as well. I genuinely created those from the perspective of being a fan first and foremost. They sold so well, and at a time when interest in Sabbath wasn’t that great, that it set the standard for all of the catalogue releases. I was told that certain record chains had complained that the booklets had been stolen, not the CDs! So I knew I’d done something right. And if you disagree with my opinions in the notes? Too bad. It was a long time ago, anyway. I also designed Geezer’s first solo record Plastic Planet for Gloria Butler, and like Sharon, I found Gloria and Geezer very easy to work with, and I’m still very proud of that album. These were all labours of love for me, but I also got to put my opinions and ideas in print.

To provide inspiration for the image and the theme of the packaging overall, I was given a brief by Tony’s management. They said that although it was an IOMMI album and that it was produced very much as a collaboration with Glenn Hughes. I wasn’t given a lot of specific imagery or instructions about the design, other than they wanted a sense that it was a collaborative effort, of ‘something fused together’, and to hopefully give an impression of brotherhood.

Another reference point I was given was a Rammstein album which consisted of an orange background and a single white strip. Whether you feel that’s a good or challenging design, or not I had to agree that something that was that simple and graphic does jump off of a CD rack. It was important to depict the IOMMI logo clearly, but to also find a way to balance Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes’s names too. Tony wanted some colour in the artwork too, as most of the albums he has been associated with have tended to be a bit dark, tonally. Some of the early ideas for Fused had a sense of heat, of something fusing through being melted then forged together. The finished design is quite cold in comparison. I quickly developed a number of ideas, and variations on those. I designed about 100 different ideas before the one used was settled upon. Tony and Tony’s management were involved very closely from the outset, which is a far cry from the early days of Sabbath when the band would see the artwork for the first time when it was in the record stores.

I trained as a traditional artist and technical illustrator (examples are on www.myspace.com/hughgilmour), but this sleeve was made up from a number of different images and photos put together in Photoshop. I still paint and draw as and when required, but Photoshop is now my primary tool for design. I couldn’t say exactly, but the time it took to develop the image, from the initial brief to the finished sleeve, was probably a month or so, which is quite generous as record labels do tend to work to very tight deadlines.

The images inside the Fused booklet are meant to be partly abstract, but at the same time, hopefully illustrate the lyrics in some way. There’s even a self portrait (of me) in there, somewhere…”

About the Illustrator/Designer, Hugh Gilmour –

Although little is known about what led Mr. Gilmour down the path he took to graphic design stardom, here’s what I can tell you. He was born on 20 June, 1969 and began his career in design doing freelance work in the early 1990s. From 1993-97, he was a Senior Designer at Castle Communications in Surrey, moving in 1997 to the position of Art Director at Diablo Design Ltd, Fox Studios, in London where he was responsible for the Design and Art Direction for a variety of clients including Castle Music, EMI Records, Sanctuary Music anagement, Snapper Music, Inferno Records, Eagle Rock Records, Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd., Music For Nations, Cleopatra Records (US), JVC (Japan) and Pony Canyon (Japan).

In 1998, he took on the job of Head of Design at the Sanctuary Records Group, UK, managing a team of 5 designers and a number of freelancers on a wide range of products and services for a busy music and multi-media company, reporting to the company COO. He provided the Design and Art Direction for CDs, DVDs, cassettes, videos, T-shirts, posters, advertisements, salesheets, POS and other associated promotional material. Clients have included Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, The Who, Bruce Dickinson, Motörhead, Marillion, Status Quo, David Bowie, the Kinks, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Bobby Womack, Barbara Dickson, Elkie Brooks, Small Faces, Humble Pie and the Sex Pistols. Additionally, he was responsible for packaging design for the Isle Of Wight Festival OST, Get Carter OST, Dune DVD, Conan The Destroyer DVD and Blue Velvet DVD.

With that experience under his belt, in September 2001 he launched his own Graphic Design & Art Direction firm – Gilmour Design, in London, UK. His clients include Capitol, EMI, Sanctuary Records, Sony/Columbia, JVC, Eagle Rock, Demon Vision, 2Entertain Ltd. and the BBC.

In addition to the packaging and print work he’s done for the music industry, he has written many sleeve notes for the same clients, and has published a number of articles on design and packaging in the popular music press. He has also lectured on packaging and graphic design for Moscow University, and he received his Master of Arts (with Commendation) in 2005 from the Communication Design School at London’s Kingston University.

Recently, he’s worked with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson on a logo for his new airline – Bruce Air – and he’s also been working closely with David Coverdale (who he calls “a true gent”) and Whitesnake, as well as on an Anthology project for Glenn Hughes (beginning with his work on Trapeze’s Medusa record, through his time with Deep Purple and up to his current solo material).

When he’s not incredibly busy working on designs for his clients, he also does the designs and artwork for his own metal band Pig Iron (www.myspace.com/soundsofcaligula or www.pigironmc.com)

You can see more of Mr. Gilmour’s work as Hugh Gilmour Design at http:www.gilmourdesign.co.uk and on mySpace at http://www.myspace.com/hughgilmour

About “Cover Stories” - Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

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Cover Story – The Ramones – “Too Tough To Die” cover by George DuBose

July 23, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein of RockPop Gallery

Subject – “Too Tough To Die” – a 1985 recording by The Ramones on Sire Records featuring a cover photograph by George DuBose.

Main personnel – The Ramones – Joey (vocals), Johnny (guitar), Dee Dee (bass), Richie (drums)

After “suffering” through three albums of music that was more slickly-produced hard pop than the straight-ahead punk rock, Ramones fans were rewarded with a return-to-form production titled “Too Tough To Die”. After firing drummer Marky (due to his diminished abilities brought about by alcoholism) and replacing him with the newly-christened Richie Ramone, original drummer and now producer Tommy (Erdelyi) headed the band into the studio and, with the help of Dave Stewart, brought the band back to playing what they played best – short, fast, and smart punk tunes, with 9 of them written or co-written by bassist Dee Dee.

Critics have said that the was the “last great Ramones” recording, and it certainly showed that the band was ready and able to hold its own in the emerging early-mid 1980’s hardcore punk scene. The album features two classic Ramones tracks – “Wart Hog” and “Endless Vacation” (sung by Dee Dee), as well as the Stewart-produced “Howling at the Moon”.

The cover for “Too Tough To Die” was one of nine covers George shot for the Ramones. The song “Durango 95″ bears the same name of the car driven by Alex in the Kubrick film “A Clockwork Orange”. Why is that important? Read on…

In the words of the photographer, George DuBose –

“I met the Ramones when Tony Wright asked me to shoot the cover for ‘Subterranean Jungle’. A year later, a call came from His Rockin’ Royal Highness, Johnny Ramone himself. He told me that he definitely wanted me to shoot another cover for them, but he asked me if I knew any other art directors, as they were not happy about the way the cover of ‘Subterranean Jungle’ looked.

‘What was wrong with Tony Wright?’ I asked. ‘The graffiti on the cover he did for ‘Subterranean Jungle’ really looked fake – we didn’t like it,’ Johnny said. Having worked with Tony on many projects by this point, I knew the range of his talents and capabilities. ‘Don’t write Tony off so quickly. Tony is extremely versatile. He will design the cover any wan you want – you just have to be clear and tell him what you like and what you want.’ I felt an allegiance to Tony. After all, I would never have shot ‘Subterranean Jungle’ – or probably even met the Ramones – if Tony had used another photographer.

At the following creative meeting with Johnny and Joey about the upcoming cover session for “Too Tough To Die”, Johnny asked me if I had ever seen “A Clockwork Orange”, the Stanley Kubrick film. ‘Not completely’, I said, not elaborating that I found the film kind of boring and didn’t appreciate the excessive sadism that the film projected. Johnny told me that, in the film, there was a scene of a mugging in a tunnel in London and that the band wanted to recreate that scene – or at least the feeling of it.

I asked my now ex-boss and mentor, professional fashion photographer Lane Pederson, where in NYC could a small pedestrian tunnel be found. Lane told me that there were lots of tunnels in Central Park and suggested one near the Children’s Zoo. I checked that tunnel – as well as a dozen other tunnels in Manhattan – but Lane was right; the small diameter of the tunnel at the zoo lent a scale to the shot that would be perfect. The tunnel was small and would make the guys in the band look bigger in relation…and more imposing.

As this was a job for Warner Bros. Records and the budget was quite substantial, we rented a Winnebago to use as a dressing room. I asked the band what they wanted in way of refreshments and they said ‘pizza and beer!’ This time, I felt like I was in charge of quite a big production. I had two assistants, a valid location permit, and the Winnebago we rented had an on-board electric generator to supply us with electricity for the lighting. We sealed of one end of the tunnel with clear plastic sheeting to control the smoke that would come from the smoke machines. We had several powerful studio strobe lights with blue-colored filters or gels outside the far end of the tunnel to backlight the blue smoke background and white light from the front of the tunnel to illuminate the group.

After shooting a couple of Polaroids to test the exposure, then several roles of 2-1/4 slide film, all the while listening to Johnny complaining about why the Polaroid pictures took so long (one minute!), I changed the Polaroid film pack from color to B&W for quicker developing time (30 seconds). Johnny was now looking at a B&W Polaroid and asked me ‘I thought we were shooting this in color!?’ I then let the band take a pause and asked them if they wanted to eat some pizza and beer. They ate the pizza, but I noticed that the full case of beer was untouched. After the pizza break, we resumed the session and I took another color Polaroid, but this time the white front lights didn’t flash for some reason…and wow!

It was clear from the image on the Polaroid that the silhouette of the band in the tunnel against the blue and smoky backlights was really powerful. Tony asked me to shoot a whole roll with no front lights. I then called a ‘wrap’, although I wasn’t quite convinced about the potential masterpiece that had just been created. The band quickly disappeared into the dark night without so much as a ‘good bye’.

After my assistant broke down all of the lighting and camera equipment and loaded everything into the Winnebago, I wanted to offer my hard-working crew their well-deserved first beer of the evening. When I looked into the Winnebago’s icebox, the whole case of beer had disappeared.

The following evening, I showed the developed film to Tony. It was clear that the backlit shots were by far ‘the bomb’ and since this was the seventh LP for the band – most of which had their faces on the cover – we thought that it would be easy to convince the group to use the silhouette shot. A couple of days later, when we met with the band to show them a mock-up of the cover, the band immediately agreed upon our choice. Tony added some simple block white type to the cover design which read ‘RAMONES’ and ‘TOO TOUGH TO DIE’ and one of the most powerful and classic rock’n’roll LP covers of all time was created.”

About the photographer, George DuBose -

Originally apprenticed to commercial and fashion photographers, George DuBose first became associated with New Wave music after he began speculative work with the fledgling B52s from Athens, Georgia. He has photographed and designed over 300 album covers, collecting 18 gold and platinum albums for groups as diverse as the REM, The Go-Gos, Melissa Etheridge, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane. The Ramones have commissioned him to photograph or design their last nine covers and it is his shot for their only gold record (“Ramonesmania”) that he treasures most. He continues to provide creative guidance, art direction, computer graphic design, photography, manufacturing assistance for major record companies and up-and coming artists that want to produce their own albums.

Du Bose’s professional experience includes staff positions as art director and photographer for Island Records and Cold Chillin’ Records, the first photo editor for SPIN magazine and The Image Bankbook division and staff photographer for the original Interview magazine. His company, PopEye Designs International lists Island Trading Company, The New Music Seminar, PolyGram, Warner Bros, Island Records (since 1978), Sony, MCA, Playboy Enterprises, Thirteen/WNET and others among its clients.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ART DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHER

FREELANCE 1991-PRESENT

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHER

ISLAND RECORDS, N.Y.C. 1988-1991

PHOTO EDITOR

IMAGE BANK 1987-1988

PHOTO EDITOR

SPIN MAGAZINE 1984-1987

PHOTOGRAPHER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

1978-1984

ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER

WESTSHORE PUBLISHING CO. 1975-1978

Read George’s new book, titled “I Speak Music – Ramones” – This book is 104 pages of text and colorful photos (many unpublished) that document the 10 year relationship between the Ramones and their “official” photographer, George DuBose. Stories about how the various concepts came about and how these remarkable photos were executed. This book is a “must have” for any serious fan, old or new.

http://www.lulu.com/content/877509

To see examples of Mr. DuBose’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/george-dubose/list.htm?1=1

Every Friday and syndicated the following Monday on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

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Cover Story – Iggy Pop & The Stooges’ “California Bleeding” cover by James Fortune

July 16, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein of the Rock Pop Gallery

Subject – “Life, Death, Love and Hate”, a photograph by James Fortune used as the cover of California Bleeding, a CD of 1973-74 live concert recordings of Iggy Pop & The Stooges released in 1997 on Bomp! Records.

With 1973’s Raw Power serving as a pre-cursor to (and strong influence for) the hard-core punk music movement that was to occur a few years later, Iggy and the Stooges built a small but hard-core base of fans and would seemingly stop at nothing to serve as that era’s “poster children” for the self-destructive lifestyle. It was during their live performances that Iggy would dive from the stage, or flash his privates, or smear raw meat on himself and, quite often, use a knife or broken beer bottle to cut himself – tactics later recreated by many punk artists (an homage, perhaps?). “The Godfather of Punk” and his band put on legendary shows, including a five-day booking at LA’s Whisky A Go Go in 1973, the recording of which serves as the basis of today’s Cover Story.

After disbanding in early 1974 due to the band’s famous drug problems, The Stooges reunited in 2003, appearing on Iggy’s Skull Ring record with original members Iggy Pop on vocals, Scott Asheton on drums, and Ron Asheton on both guitar and bass. When touring live, The Stooges have performed by adding bassist Mike Watt (The Minutemen) and Steve MacKay (Fun House) on saxophone. And while he never had the huge commercial success of many of his peers and contemporaries (David Bowie, Alice Cooper, The Doors), songs such as “Search and Destroy”, “Lust for Life”, “Candy”, “I’m Bored” and “Real Wild Child” always rank high on the list of most-influential rock recordings.

Iggy’s life story will soon be a motion picture – “The Passenger” is currently in production for a 2008 release and, personally, I hope that they bring in Robert Downey, Jr. to play him at some point – the resemblance is uncanny (currently, Frodo Baggins/Elijah Woods is set to star) and the lifestyle choices both shared at one point are uncanny, too.

The image shown at the beginning of the column was the original black and white photograph (the colorized version used on the cover is shown below) and it is a perfect portrait of Iggy Pop at his outrageous best. It shows Iggy clutching a mic in one hand, a knife in the other, with blood is running down his chest from several self-inflicted cuts. Photographer James Fortune tells us what it was like to be there to take the photograph that is the subject of today’s feature…

In the words of photographer James Fortune (interviewed early July 2007 at his home in Virginia) –

“While I was in college and working hard to break into the world as a rock and roll photographer, I met Danny Sugerman when I was photographing the band he managed – The Doors. Later on, Danny called me to help him shoot a photo of Ray Manzarek that would ultimately be used for the cover of his 2nd solo record and, because of that relationship, when a new band that he managed – Iggy & The Stooges – went to play the Whiskey in late 1973, he asked me to photograph those performances, too.

Prior to packing up my equipment and driving out to the club with my wife, Danny gave me a warning that ‘Iggy will get physical’, but he didn’t elaborate. When we arrived at the club, there was an ambulance parked outside and my wife asked me ‘why do you think that is there’? As I’d never seen the band, I really couldn’t answer her.

Since I used a 120mm lens on my Hasselblad to be able to take high-resolution B&W images and close-ups, I really wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on overall during the performance when suddenly I saw that Iggy had a rather large knife in his hand. Then, without any obvious reason, he started stabbing and cutting himself. He’s 5 to 10 feet away from me and, as you can see by the photograph, he’s bleeding pretty badly. He then jumps down into the audience and he’s mobbed by his fans. I picked up my wife and my equipment and quietly left the club…

Six months later, Ray Manzarek’s band is playing and Danny invited me over to photograph him and his friends as they played and partied. There was Danny, Alice Cooper, John Densmore, and Iggy. They were all in good moods, having a good time, and there was no violence to speak of at the event.

In 1980, I packed up all of my negatives and moved them with me to Virginia (where he currently lives and works as a photographer – MG) and then in the late 1990s I began to digitize them. I had done some jobs for Columbia Records and knew of Michael Ochs, who was a publicist there and had since started the Michael Ochs Archives. In 1997, Michael was looking for some pictures to sell and so I sent him 70-80 8x10s from my collection, including the pictures I’d taken of Iggy at the Whiskey. One day not long after, I was told that the Iggy photo was sold for use as an album cover. While I did get a check and an album credit, I had no say about how it was going to be used – it turns out that they somehow colorized the photo (see below).

Needless to say, I now have an agent…”

Iggy Pop-related bonus story #1 – “When I was packing up my photos and moving out to Virginia in 1980, I called Danny Sugerman and offered to sell him all of my Doors and Iggy Pop negatives, and he turned me down. Now, I’m REALLY glad he did!”

Iggy Pop-related bonus story #2 – While James thought that his photographs of Iggy at the Whiskey were his first, he actually had taken an earlier photo. “I had contacted one of the big PR firms in LA (Salters & Roskin) and told them that I was interested in photographing Led Zeppelin if there was ever a chance, so one day in January 1973 I received a call and was told to go to a hotel where the band was encamped – they were in town to play a show and were at the hotel ‘getting ready’. After they invited me in, I started taking shots and, at one point, followed Robert Plant out on to the balcony of their suite where there were some people I knew and others I didn’t, but I said “hello” to everyone. Years later, I was going through my files and found those photos and, lo and behold, one of the people on the balcony was Iggy Pop. It’s pretty obvious that he was one of those people you just had to party with in LA!”

About James Fortune (from his bio) -

There’s a very good chance you’ve seen the photography of James Fortune before. Like many of the 70s most famous rock photographers, his images have been seen by millions in books, magazines and album covers. One of his pictures of Jimmy Page was used for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 2003 release titled How The West Was Won.

Beginning as a photographer for his college paper in the late ’60s, Fortune spent more than a decade photographing rock music icons like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, and countless others. His catalog of over 15,000 images from the tumultuous ’60s and ’70s contains shots of everything from hippie riots in Hollywood to Gene Simmons and Cher sharing an eclair. He ran with the high-and-mighty and photographed them all – Jimmy Carter and the Bee Gees, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton and Ronald Reagan. His photographs capture moments in rock history. Back in the 1970′s, in the aftermath of a world-wide political, civil, and sexual revolutions, Fortune plied his trade in the backstage areas and VIP sections of some of the nation’s biggest musical events. His work even spanned the Pacific to Vietnam, where the intrepid photographer served active duty from 1968 to 1970 with the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Combat Camera Group.

Since moving to Virginia in 1980, James has kept himself busy on photo assignments of all types. To see more of his work, please visit his site at
http://www.fortunesicons.com/

To see examples of Mr. Fortune’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/james-fortune/list.htm?1=1

Every Friday on syndicated on he Rock and Roll Report the following Monday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

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Cover Story – “AC/DC’s Classic Logo” by Gerard Huerta

July 9, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject – “AC/DC Classic Logo“, a logo/typographic design by Gerard Huerta used as a principal design element on a number of LP/CD/DVD covers for AC/DC, including “Let There Be Rock”, a recording released in 1977 on Atlantic Records.

Released as a follow-up to their album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, the 4th AC/DC album – Let There Be Rock – was the first to be released simultaneously world-wide (Dirty Deeds was not, in fact, released in the U.S. until 1981, and went on to sell over 6 million copies in the U.S.). As with the band’s previous recordings, fans in different parts of the world received slightly different products, with U.S. fans getting a record sans the naughty “Crabsody In Blue” (which was replaced by “Problem Child”). However, while the fans in Australia received a record packaged in a pretty mundane cover, U.S. fans enjoyed a cover that featured the debut of Mr. Huerta’s classic logo (Australian fans did finally see this product a bit later when the packaging was replaced to be the same world-wide).

The last recording with original bassist Mark Evans, Let There Be Rock was eight tracks of down-and-dirty AC/DC badness. The focus then was on doing what they did to separate their sound from other hard rock bands at the time – these boys were nasty and proud of it. With singer Bon Scott telling us (from experience?) that “Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be” and that sex was best with big girls in “Whole Lotta Rosie”, these proud practicioners of the “Bad Boy Boogie” established themselves at the forefront of the emerging heavy metal scene, playing with endless energy and joining Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and others in this formidable assault on the eardrums of rock fans world wide.

In 1980, AC/DC released a live concert motion picture entitled AC/DC: Let There Be Rock (with an audio recording of this same event released on CD in 1997). In total, the band has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide (almost half in the U.S.). Their 1980 release “Back in Black” has sold 42 million units worldwide, making it the second best-selling album ever and the biggest-selling album by any rock band. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler joined them on stage during the induction (there’s another electrical term!) ceremony to perform their hits “Highway to Hell” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”.

The Young brothers claimed that the idea for the band’s name came to them after seeing the letters “AC/DC” on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister. Since the boys felt that the band’s recordings and performances drew equally from their raw energy, they thought that the name AC/DC was appropriate and adopted it. Mr. Huerta was touched by that same energy as the inspiration for his designs – let’s let him explain…

In the words of the artist, Gerard Huerta (interviewed June 2007) -

“Album cover design in the ’70s was the place to be if you were an artist, illustrator, photographer or letterer. The twelve and a half by twelve and a half inch surface was one of the largest areas to fill for anyone involved in graphics. What seems somewhat rare now in the digital age was commonplace then – i.e., artists actually drawing things. My role first as a staff member at CBS Records and later as a freelancer was designing albums with an emphasis on the typography. As a young and eager artist, I took any chance I could get to invent letterforms for album covers – not only for rock, but for classical and country albums as well. It was a wonderful opportunity and always a challenge to see what you could get printed. I worked on the first Boston album with Roger Huyssen, designed a number of titles for Ted Nugent¹s albums as well as for Blue Oyster Cult, Willie Nelson, Alvin Lee, Rick Derringer, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Earl Scruggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Isley Brothers, Stan Getz, Archie Bell and the Drells and many classical albums. After CBS, I worked on albums by Foreigner, Stephen Stills, Chicago, Firefall, The Outlaws and AC/DC.

AC/DC was on the Atlantic label and I had first drawn some lightning bolt-style lettering for an album titled ‘High Voltage‘ (which featured a photo by Michael Putland and, incidentally, was their 2nd album with that title – the first being an album released in Australia only). It was basically my typographical interpretation of the title. Bob Defrin was the art director there and I designed many pieces of art for him and his staff.

Usually an album had a theme or title and it was my job to interpret that in letterforms. I was hired to design lettering for the next AC/DC album (after their hit ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap‘), entitled ³Let There Be Rock, the title providing me wit an obvious reference. I recalled a live album I worked on at CBS for Blue Oyster Cult called ‘On Your Feet or On Your Knees.’ The BOC cover featured a moody composite photo shot by Creative Director John Berg of a church with a limosine parked in front of it. The sky was dark and the limo had a flag retouched in with the BOC emblem on it. After researching religious typography and, in particular, the Gutenberg¹s bible type, I came up with some lettering based on that, with the twist being that it was metallic, as if it were a car nameplate. The lettering took on a slightly sinister look, particularly when placed over this wonderful photo.

This record featured a cover photo of the band on stage with a dark sky overhead and bright light shining down through the clouds. One of my sketches used the BOC Gutenberg-inspired lettering, but this time it was orange in color and dimensional. This lettering is probably the only typography I have designed that was made entirely of straight lines. The final artwork was produced on illustration board out of cut color adhesive backed overlay film with some starbursts airbrushed on.”

The rest, they say, is history…

About the artist, Gerard Huerta -

Based in Connecticut, Gerard Huerta is a designer of letter forms. From trademarks and logotypes to mastheads, from illustrative lettering to Swiss Army watch face designs, he has worked in a variety of typographic styles. Born and raised in southern California, he graduated from Art Center College of Design and began his career at CBS Records in New York designing album covers and creating letterforms for Boston, AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, Stephen Stills and Foreigner. He started Gerard Huerta Design in 1976 and has been drawing custom letters and logos ever since.

In addition to his well-known designs for the music industry, some of his logos and logotypes have included Swiss Army Brands, MSG Network, CBS Records Masterworks, Waldenbooks, Spelling Entertainment, Nabisco, Calvin Klein¹s Eternity, Arista Records, Type Directors Club, the mastheads of Time, Money, People, The Atlantic Monthly, PC Magazine, Adweek, Us, Conde Nast¹s Traveler, Working Mother, WordPerfect, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The National Catholic Register, Illustration and Architectural Digest as well as corporate alphabets for Waldenbooks, Time-Life and Conde Nast. He has been featured in Money Magazine, The Penrose Annual, Typographic i, Scripsit, The Graphis Business Issue, How Magazine, Step-By-Step Magazine, Westport Magazine and the books Graphis Typography 1: Masters of Typography and Friedrich Friedl¹s reference book Typography: When Who How.

He is also a guitarist and singer in the group The Merwin Mountain Band (www.merwinmountainband.com) and his studio is in the historic Southport Freight Station.

To see more of his current work, please visit Mr. Huerta’s site at http://www.workbook.com/portfolios/huerta/

To see examples of Gerard’s work for AC/DC in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/ac-dc/list.htm?1=1

Every Friday and syndicated Mondays on The Rock and Roll Report, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

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Cover Story – “Rolling Stones Tongue & Lips” by John Pasche

July 3, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject – “Tongue and Lips”, a logo designed by John Pasche and used as a principal design element on a number of LP/CD/DVD covers for The Rolling Stones, including Sticky Fingers, a recording released in April, 1971 on Rolling Stones Records (distributed by Atlantic Records).

One of the (if not THE) most-recognized band logos in the rock era, John Pasche’s “Tongue and Lips” design was first introduced to fans in 1971 as part of a record package that, according to a decree by VH1 in 2003, was the “#1 Greatest Album Cover” of all time. It is included in every book/article that chronicle the “best-and-most-influential album covers” as it was also a seminal (and quite controversial) work by artist Andy Warhol, featuring a Warhol photograph of a man (from the waist down) in tight jeans, the zipper of which was fully-functional. Unzipping the zipper revealed the subject’s underwear, imprinted with a saying – “This Is Not Etc.” (try doing THAT with a CD jewel case!). The design offended everyone you think might have been offended at the time, and so the record was also released with an alternative cover in some markets.

The band’s first release on its own label after having worked with Decca/London records since 1963, Sticky Fingers is also notable as it represents the first time that Mick Taylor was included as the band’s new full-time guitarist. With the band and their management now in total control of their music and its packaging, the resulting package featured extraordinary efforts in both music and art.

Reviews of Sticky Fingers focus on the fact that many of the songs are about drugs and drug use and, while this might be true (‘Sister Morphine’ being particularly drug-focused), it is a mix of music that really set the tone for their songwriting after this album, mixing the blues, rock and even a bit of country on ‘Wild Horses’ (which, interestingly, was written by the Stones but first released by Keith’s friend Gram Parsons and his group, The Flying Burrito Brothers).

The record introduced other Stones classics, such as ‘Brown Sugar’ (which went to #1 on the U.S. charts), ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and the aforementioned “Wild Horses” and its combination of attitude (both playful and mean-spirited) and classic studio craftsmanship helped make it the first of eight straight chart-topping records for the band and one of the ’500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ (#63) in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2003 listings.

Imagine, then, being a design student, still in college, and then being called upon to create identity graphics for one of the biggest acts in the world. Here’s John Pasche’s account of his first big gig, in his own words…

In the words of designer, John Pasche -

“In 1969, Mick Jagger’s office rang the Royal College of Art in London and asked if there was a suitable design student to come up with designs for their 1970 European Tour poster. I was recommended and on 29 April 1970 Jo Bergman, who was running the Stone’s office at the time, wrote to me to confirm that they had commissioned me to design a poster for their forthcoming tour. At this time, I was in my final year of a graduate design course. I was very honored when Mick Jagger turned up at the College to see my final degree show as the artwork that would ultimately be used for the poster was on display in one of the exhibits.

A short time later, I met with Mick again, who then asked me to design a logo or symbol for The Rolling Stone’s new record label. Mick showed me an image of the Goddess Kali which became the starting point to our discussion regarding the design of the logo. I was paid £50 for the design, which took me about a week to complete. In 1972 I was paid an additional £200 in recognition of the logo’s success.

The design concept for the Tongue was to represent the band’s anti-authoritarian attitude, Mick’s mouth and the obvious sexual connotations. I designed it in such a way that it was easily reproduced and in a style which I thought could stand the test of time. The first use of the logo was the inner sleeve for the Sticky Fingers album. The outer sleeve was designed by Andy Warhol, hence the mix-up with the credits (Ed. Note – many have attributed the logo design to Warhol, so we’re happy to clarify this here today!). The logo was not fully registered in all countries and a German jeans company registered the logo in Germany for their own products. This situation – and the fact that the tongue was getting used by unauthorized manufacturers of badges and t-shirts – prompted the proper registration and a merchandising agreement with myself to capitalize on the success of the logo.

The simplicity of the design lent itself to many variations which were done by other designers and not myself. Due to it’s immediate popularity, the Stones kept with it over the years and I believe that it represents one of the strongest and most recognizable logos worldwide. And of course I’m proud of that. The Stones ultimately bought the copyright but I still own the hand drawn & painted artwork which, by the way, is now on sale for £200,000.

My busiest time creating artwork for the Stones was from 1970 – 1974, which included creating four tour posters. This led on to work for Paul McCartney, the Who and many other artistes and bands through to eleven years ago when I started working as Creative Director for the South Bank Centre Arts Complex in London. I left this position last April due to the closure of the Royal Festival Hall for an eighteen month renovation programme. I am now 61 years old and work as a freelance designer from my studio at home – still enjoying rock music and working as a designer.”

About John Pasche (again, in his words) -

(Left) A 1969 photo of myself – a little more hirsute than I am now.

During the sixties, I was very interested in the Pop Art movement but also influenced by then current conceptual designers such as Bob Gill and by the works of the painter Magritte. In 1967, I was awarded a BA in Graphic Design from the Brighton College of Art and then a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in London in 1970. My career has included stints in the advertising world (Benton & Bowles Agency), freelance graphic design, 13 years in Art/Creative Director roles for United Artist (Music Division) and Chrysalis Records, Ltd., and then, most-recently, 12 years as the Creative Director for the South Bank Centre. I’ve also been a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal College of Art.

My designs have been used on record packages for Art of Noise (one of ‘The Greatest Album Covers of All Time’), Go West, Sinead O’Connor, Steeleye Span, UFO, Jethro Tull, The Stranglers, Fischer-Z, Dr. Feelgood, The Vapors and many others.

Design Awards include the 1996 Communication Arts “Award of Excellence”, 7 Music Week design awards for “Top Single/Album Sleeves”, 11 Design & Art Direction Certificates, and NME’s “Top Album Sleeve” Award.

There are examples of my sleeves and other projects on my site – www.johnpasche.com

- for your reference.

To see examples of John’s work in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/john-pasche/list.htm?1=1

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Cover Story – “Nashville Skyline” by Elliott Landy

June 25, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Bob Dylan * Nashville Skyline

Subject – “Bob Dylan, at his Byrdcliff Home”, an Elliott Landy photo used on the cover of “Nashville Skyline”, a recording released in April, 1969 on Columbia Records.

To put it simply – everyone who was part of “the 60’s generation” knows this photograph. So much so that, in order to provide visitors to their “Summer of Love – Art of the Psychedelic Era” exhibition (on display thru 9/16/07), the Whitney Museum of American Art chose this image as the principal illustration for the fold-out handout given to attendees during the show.

And why not? To many, this photo of Bob Dylan at his home in Woodstock represents the mood of the era where, as Elliott puts it, “it reflects the love we were all seeking to find through making the world a better place”. Dylan certainly looks happy at home, don’t you think, and yet he was trying hard to distance himself from the world’s troubles and just focus on his family and his music.

Nashville Skyline, which featured the timeless “Lay Lady Lay”, “I Threw It All Away” and a host of Dylan-penned classics – including a duet with Johnny Cash called “Girl From The North Country”, was the 1969 follow-up to John Wesley Harding and an out-and-out country/country-rock album. When you first heard it, you weren’t 100% certain that it was Dylan singing, as he had taken on a country crooner’s vocal stylings, but once you heard the words and music, Dylan’s magic took you over and made you a country-rock fan. The record spawned three hit singles and reached #3 on the U.S. record charts. It was also his fourth #1 album in the U.K..

After Elliott’s previous photos of Dylan and The Band had solidified his relationship with the artists and their management/record label, he moved to Woodstock permanently in 1968 and, in early 1969, he was hired to take a picture for the back cover of the soon-to-be-released Dylan album, titled Nashville Skyline. Here now, in the words of photographer Elliott Landy, we learn how this image went from the back cover to the forefront of our consciousness (and the front cover of the record!)…

In the words of photographer Elliott Landy –

“He had the front cover already picked out – a picture of the skyline of Nashville, where he had recorded the album. We didn’t know what to do – we had no concepts when we started. We met and he suggested that we take a picture in front of the bakery in Woodstock with his son Jesse and two local Woodstock people. The brown leather jacket he was wearing was the same one he had worn for the covers of John Wesley Harding and Blonde on Blonde.

He was still uncomfortable being photographed and, therefore, I was uncomfortable photographing him, but we stayed with it. We took some pictures at the bakery and then went to my house and hung out…The same day, we took some photographs outside my house. He had his glasses on, but there wasn’t any discussion about ‘I don’t want to have the glasses on the album’ or anything like that. We were just easy – it was very casual. He wanted some pictures, we took them, and neither of us conceptualized it. I’m spontaneous when I work, and so is he. An Art Director might have said ‘Take the glasses off’, but neither he nor I thought about it. However people present themselves is how I photograph them – I don’t judge it.

Then on another afternoon I went over to his place. As we left the house, he grabbed a hat and asked ‘Do you think we could use this?’ I had no idea if it would be good or not, so I told him ‘take it and we’ll see.’ We walked around through the woods behind his house looking for a good spot. It had just been raining, we had boots on, and he was carrying this hat.

He paused for a moment – apparently inspired – and said ‘What about taking one from down there?’ pointing to the ground. As I started kneeling I saw that it was muddy, but I kept going. ‘Do you think that I should wear this?’ he asked, starting to put on his hat, smiling because it was kind of a goof, and he was having fun visualizing himself in this silly-looking traditional hat. ‘I don’t know’ I said as I snapped the shutter. It all happened so fast. If I had any resistance in me, I would have missed the photograph that became the front cover. It’s best to be open to life.

I brought the picture to CBS Records and told them that Dylan wanted this as the new cover image and that he didn’t want any writing on the cover – no names, logos or other sales tools. This was Bob’s way of saying that his music was not created as a commercial pursuit. Despite his wishes, CBS put their logo in the upper left-hand corner and, although small and seemingly insignificant, this ruins the three-dimensionality of the image (try this – while looking at the record cover, cover up the logo, then uncover it and cover it up again. The image will appear to go from two dimensions to three and then back).

During those days in Woodstock, he was really open and in a good mood. It was sunny out and we just followed our instincts. It was the first picture of him smiling and, in my opinion, it reflects the inner spirit, the loving essence of the man behind all of the inspiring music he has given us. Someone told me that the reason people like it so much is that it makes them happy. Every review of the album mentioned his smile on the cover…This was a magical picture for all of us. It certainly assured my reputation as a photographer.”

About Elliott Landy –

Elliot Landy

Elliott Landy, born in 1942, began photographing the anti-Vietnam war movement and the underground music culture in New York City in 1967. He photographed many of the underground rock and roll superstars, both backstage and onstage, from 1967 to 69.

His images of Bob Dylan and The Band, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, Richie Havens, and many others documented the music scene during that classic rock and roll period which culminated with the 1969 Woodstock Festival, of which he was the official photographer.

After that, Elliott moved on to other inspirations and art forms, photographing his own children and travels, creating impressionist flower photographs and doing motion and kaleidoscopic photography in both still and film formats.

His photographs have been published worldwide for many years in all print mediums including covers of Rolling Stone, Life, the Saturday Evening Post, etc. and album covers, calendars, photographic book collections, etc.

He has published “Woodstock Vision, The Spirit of A Generation”, in book and CD-ROM format, and authored the book “Woodstock 69, The First Festival”.

Elliott Landy trivia – “curiously, because our names are anagrams of each other – DYLAN/LANDY – many people thought I didn’t exist – that I was Dylan under an alias!”

To see all of Elliott’s works in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/elliott-landy/list.htm?1=1

Every Friday at RockPop Gallery and syndicated on The Rock and Roll Report on the following Monday, we’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

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Cover Story “Evolution” by Karl Ferris

June 18, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject: “Evolution” – an album cover design produced by photographer Karl Ferris for the cover of the 1967 recording by The Hollies titled “Evolution“, released on Parlophone Records (U.K.) and distributed in the U.S. by Epic Records.

One of the “British Invasion’s” most-popular bands, the Hollies began (as did most acts at the time) doing covers of early rock, blues and R&B tunes. As they grew musically (and finalized their core line-up), they soon added original tunes that focused on their unique vocal harmonies (featuring Allan Clarke and Graham Nash), Tony Hicks’ ringing guitar work and Bobby Elliott’s innovative drumming.

Throughout the 1960’s, the band landed in the U.K. Top 20 charts nearly 20 times, but they didn’t have a hit in the U.S. until 1966, when they broke into the Top 40 with “Look Through Any Window”, followed soon after by the Top 10 hit “On A Carousel”, “Bus Stop” and “Stop Stop Stop”. While the Hollies focused on keeping pop listeners happy, other top British acts began to experiment with more studio-based psychedelic sounds and records “that made a statement”.

Graham Nash, in particular, thought that it was time to explore their more trippy side, and so their next album would begin taking them in that direction. Released in the U.K. in June of 1967 on Parlophone Records, Evolution reached #13 on the British charts, driven by the record’s fan-friendly mix of psychedelics (“Headed for a Fall”) and great pop (“Carrie-Anne”).

Original band members Allan Clarke (guitar/vocals), Graham Nash (guitar/vocals), Tony Hicks (various stringed instruments/vocals) and Bobby Elliott (drums) were joined by new bassist Bernie Calvert in their effort to take their sound into new and exciting directions. Let’s pick up the story now as cover photographer Karl Ferris recalls what happened next -

In the words of photographer Karl Ferris (interviewed in June 2007) –

“In the summer of 1966, The Hollies had asked me in to design a front album cover photograph for their new LP, Evolution, with which they wanted to break from their ‘Pop Beat’ sound into something more psychedelic. During the Hollies recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios which I attended, the Beatles were also there recording the Sergeant Pepper album and John and Paul dropped in to hear some Hollies tracks and invited us over to hear some of their new tracks, which we did, and were duly blown away by the revolutionary music.

To begin the process, I listened to the music that they were recording and got an image of them pushing through a membrane into ‘the Psychedelic world’. I took a studio shot of them pushing out their hands and the lead singer pointing through clear plastic. Over this, I superimposed a shot of William Morris ‘Art Nuevo’ wallpaper with an illustration and some ‘Love’ lettering drawn by my girlfriend, Anke.

This combination created the image of the Hollies ‘pushing through to a new wave of music style and consciousness’. I worked with the design collective The Fool (lead by Simon Posthuma) on this, and they did the lettering, the back cover design and created the group’s fantastic costumes.

When it was released early in 1967, the music magazine columnists raved about the cover photo, saying that it was the first ‘psychedelic photo’ cover they had seen anywhere.

I then started to be approached by other major Pop stars who’d seen Evolution to do their promo shots and album covers. A month later I was invited to the ‘wrap party’ for Sgt. Pepper, during which I was asked if I wanted to shoot some 16mm film of the happenings there, which I did. Everyone was there, all the London Rock elite: The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, Donovan, Marianne Faithful, The Who, The Fool and many others. At one point we all stood in a large circle beneath a hanging mike and sang an ‘Oom’ mantra which was double-tracked with a long extended note that Paul was conducting and had the London Philharmonic’s 77-piece orchestra play while I filmed it. This recording was used as the final note on the song ‘A Day in the Life’. The camera and film were placed in a box and I didn’t see it again for 35 years, until I recently saw it on The Beatles Anthology DVD set and recognized some of the footage I shot.

Later, apparently Jimi Hendrix saw the Evolution cover and said to his manager Chas Chandler that he wanted something similar “psychedelic” on his Are You Experienced album when it was to be released in the USA, as he was not happy with it’s UK cover “which he said, made him look like a fairy” so he sent Chas off to contact me…”

This, as you might figure, will be the subject of an upcoming “Cover Story”…

About Karl Ferris –

Karl Ferris is known as “the Innovator of Psychedelic Photography”. A photographer to the “British Rock Elite” – Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix – Ferris was invited as their personal photographer to create their “Images”. He was given an insider access to the “Experience” that defined the 60’s and the world.

As a World War II baby who grew up in Hastings, England in the 50’s, Ferris learned two things that would later affect his life, the first being the history of Hastings, conquered by the Normans in 1066. This peaked an interest in this medieval period of history and Karl would find himself bicycling around Norman castles and fantasizing about battles, knights, chivalry and heraldry. The second thing he learned was an appreciation of art, having a showing of his early paintings at the Hastings Museum. He later went on to study at Hastings College of Art focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting which would later influence his psychedelic photography of the 60’s.

After school and with dreams of traveling to India, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India. After returning to England he served two years with the Royal Air Force for his National Service (Conscription) as an aerial photographer. During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee, who was a member of a Liverpool Mersey Beat group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music. He was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group – The Beatles – who were appearing at the Cavern Club and was introduced to them. He was then hooked on the “Beat” music from which the Beatles took their name.

After his military service, Ferris immigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harold Nygard. From him, Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also began an involvement in the “Beatnik” lifestyle and began hanging out in “coffee bars” listening to poetry readings and the progressive jazz of such artists as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coletrane and Ornette Coleman. He shot his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines. He also began to take fashion shots of girl friends and models, building up a portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this and should return to London where the Mod Fashion scene was going on.

In 1964 Karl returned to England and the happening Beat scene. Ferris received commissioned work as a fashion photographer for the teen magazine “19” and later for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, French Mode and Marie Claire. These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn’t working, he would join into the “Scene”. After meeting up (and eventually dating) Denmark’s top superstar model of the time, Karl was introduced to a pop group called the “ The King Bees” who invited him to sing Rolling Stones cover songs with them, so he began touring in and around Copenhagen doing this.

He eventually returned to England for a “shoot” offer with Vogue. The Beatles had just released Rubber Soul and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images – which he promptly did – in his unique psychedelic style. On a trip to the Spanish island of Ibiza he met and began shooting “The Fool’s” (Simon and Marijke) innovative psychedelic fashion designs, which were eventually printed in the fashion section of The London Times. This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere. He and the Fool were then invited to come to London to shoot some more “Psychedelic” fashion features.

From this Ferris received many commissions. He also began working on “Psychedelic Happening shows” combining projections of colored liquid and photographs over freeform dancers. The likes of Paul McCartney, Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, T Rex, Pink Floyd and John Lennon dropped by and began participating by playing music with these shows. Ferris was also invited to do a stage light show for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be the first one ever done in England, in 1966.

Ferris met with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through Chas Chandler, who had “discovered” Hendrix. Karl received the compliment of a lifetime when Hendrix remarked to him, on seeing his portfolio, “You‘re doing with photography what I’m doing with music – going far out beyond the limits”. Hendrix then asked Ferris to be his photographer and to re-shoot the UK version of the album Are You Experienced for the US market.

Karl began experimenting using a giant Nikon fisheye lens and secret infrared film that had just been released by the military, who had used it for U2 plane spying. He created the famous photograph used for Jimi’s first US record album cover, which he also designed, and his images appeared on all three U.S. album covers released during Hendrix’s short life – Are You Experienced, Axis Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland. Karl also created the album cover images for Donovan – Gift From A Flower To A Garden, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, For The Little Ones and Hurdy Gurdy Donovan and for The Hollies’ Evolution. During the years 1967-69, Karl was one of the preferred photographers to the British Rock elite, shooting also many PR photos for them.

In 2003 Ferris began his quest to re-visit a time in music that defined a generation, creating “The Ferris Experience” Happening. He exhibited the famous record album cover photographs and a psychedelic multimedia video and slide show in Vancouver, Canada, at The Exhibitions Gallery. It was be the first time in 35 years that such an exhibition had been unveiled. In 2005, Karl’s “Happening” show and photo gallery exhibit began a tour of major cities in the USA, starting with the San Francisco Art Exchange and continuing in Toronto and other cities in 2006.

Also in 2006, Karl and his team began production on a major filmed documentary called “Revolution” which is scheduled for a 2007 release (to coincide with the 40th anniversary of “the Summer of Love” in 1967). ‘Revolution’ explores, through interviews with many of its key instigators, the ground-breaking cultural and social transformation of the 1960s, looking to find the roots of what exactly changed during that period. To what extent is our society and culture today a product of those changes? What remains to be done today to complete the revolution? ‘Revolution’ will serve as a legacy and historical document of the era from which future generations will gain a better understanding of the 1960s through first hand accounts by those that not only experienced it, but also helped to shape that revolutionary era.

The film will uncover the culture of 1960s psychedelia as a symptom and part cause of this cultural shift. The film is narrated by Peter Coyote, film star, political activist and a former San Francisco street mime!

Also in 2007, books of his Hendrix and Donovan photographs (including DVDs) will be published.

Karl and his buddy Willie Nelson – Maui, HI – Feb. 2007

To see all of Karl’s works in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/karl-ferris/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” –

Our weekly series will give you, the music and art fan, a look at “the making of” the illustrations, photographs and designs of many of the most-recognized and influential images that have served to package and promote your all-time-favorite recordings.

Every Friday, you’ll meet the artists, designers and photographers who produced these works of art and learn what motivated them, what processes they used, how they collaborated (or fought) with the musical acts, their management, their labels, etc. – all of the things that influenced the final product you saw then and still see today.

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Cover Story – “Tommy” by Mike McInnerney

June 4, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject: “Tommy” – an illustration produced by artist Mike McInnerney for the cover of The Who’s 1969 recording titled “Tommy”, released on Decca/MCA Records (U.S.).

One of the first (and, arguably, the finest) “rock operas”, Tommy was the first of two such musical works by The Who, followed in 1973 by Quadrophenia. Both were later made into feature films.

Written primarily by Pete Townshend, this now-classic story about the life and ultimate awakening of a deaf, dumb, and blind boy was both hailed as a breakthrough in modern rock composition and also banned for its subject matter in some less-than-free-thinking parts of the world. That this effort launched the band’s career as superstars is undeniable. Later adaptations of the story – in concert, theaters and film, met with varying degrees of critical and public acceptance, but it was Townshend’s ability to craft a complex narrative around some of rock’s best songs – “PinballWizard”, “I’m Free”, “Sensation” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – that ultimately establishes this work as an all-time great (who can forget Daltry’s performance of “See Me, Feel Me” during the early-morning sunrise at Woodstock?).

The recording was ranked #96 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

Tommy was originally released as a two-LP set with the cover artwork in a fold-out triptych. All three of the outer panels are spanned by Mike McInnerney’s painting, which is the subject of today’s Cover Story. Executives at The Who’s record label insisted on having the band members pictured on the cover, so another version featuring small images of their faces inserted into the gaps in the central sphere was created for this purpose. Recently released remastered CDs were packaged with Mr. McInnerney’s original artwork.

Mike McInnerney was the art editor for the International Times underground British newspaper when he met Pete Townshend in 1967 at a gathering organized by the paper. An active member of the UFO Club and an ardent follower of Meher Baba, McInnerney introduced Townshend to the teachings of M. Baba and these influences ultimately shaped (to a certain degree) Townshend’s budding rock opera. As their relationship grew and as the recording process advanced, Townshend finally commissioned McInnerney to do the cover. Pete Townshend adds – “As ever, Mike overflowed with visual ideas, many of them influencing the way some of the songs – at that time in raw demo form – were to turn out..” With this as the background, let’s now turn to the words of Mike McInnerney for the rest of this Cover Story…

In the words of artist Mike McInnerney -

“It was 1968 and the world was full of messages. Everyone was promoting some kind of message – feminism, expanded consciousness, meditation, revolution, God, drugs, love, the environment. Rock was doing its usual up-to-the-minute job of transmitting them – if rock could do it, I thought, so should illustration.

By the time Pete commissioned me, the recording was well advanced. He gave me some tape cassettes from the recording studio, filled me in on the libretto, and left me to it. Tommy was a lovely vehicle for the visual interests I had at the time. I had been exploring ways of creating images that could picture my pre-occupation with spiritual ideas. I particularly liked the patterns and rhythms of Op Art and its concerns with perception and illusion and the language of Surrealism – not for its subversive qualities but rather its transcendental possibilities – like finding poetry in the ordinary.

The project started off as a double album cover job and grew into a triptych with 12-page booklet. The Opera had a strong libretto which I used to develop the images…I chose to do images that acted as symbols for key moments in the story. I hoped the images would be viewed like painting and sculpture are viewed – that is, in a contemplative way, with a long look at images layered with references.

I liked the ‘idea’ of the Tommy character. Rather than trying to portray him, I wanted to picture his experience of being in a world without conventional senses. I thought it would be limitless and unbounded, yet trapped in an environment made for people who have all of their senses.

The outer and inner covers seemed to be the appropriate places for this statement. The outer cover has its globe (Earth/Self) hanging in an endless infinite space that can never be touched – only imagined. The inside cover has its wall and wall lights, a symbol of domestic space – the room we all live in. The light from these lamps, however, does not fix things as in our sighted world – it shifts and changes for Tommy.

The work took two to three months to complete (According to Pete T. – ‘Mike worked constantly under a single ordinary lightbulb. He entertained and pontificated from his drawing board at one side of the room, stopping only to eat…Behind him on the wall was a picture of the young, craggy-looking Meher Baba…As an illustrator, he was constantly up against impossible deadlines, and in the case of Tommy, he worked indefatigably to produce the cover art even though the actual album completion was continually delayed by technical and financial problems.’). During that time, I had the feeling that I was working on a special project. That’s why it kept expanding.

I have this memory snapshot, back in ’68, sitting in Pete T’s kitchen, showing him the finished artwork for the Tommy cover and trying to find a way of bringing God into the cover copy. The Indian word for God is ‘Avatar’ and, for us, his name was Meher Baba and the cover credit list was where we put him. Somehow, giving God a job description on the album, juxtaposing the ordinary with the extraordinary, seemed appropriate to the project. It was a contrast that wove its way throughout the Opera.”

As Townshend put it – “The poetic mysticism of his work, its simplicity and bleakness, mirrored the music precisely. As ever, Mike’s response was explosively positive.”

About Mike McInnerney – by Pete Townshend -

“Michael McInnerney was an important figure in my life in the late 1960s. His move to Richmond and later to East Twickenham near the River Thames attracted me to look at the area, and when we got married my wife and I bought a house near Mike and his wife Katie.

They were a gregarious couple. Their hippy wedding in Hyde Park made the national papers and their dilapidated-but-aristocratic flat was always full of life.”

McInnerney was art director for the underground paper International Times, which was part of the network of underground press in the UK at the time. After the release of Tommy (“I was in Morocco when it hit the shops”), his career “took a turn for the better”. He went on to produce well-regarded art – posters and more cover art, including images for Rod Stewart and The Faces.

Text adapted from 1990 essays by Mike McInnerney and Pete Townshend for the descriptive text to accompany the limited-edition prints published by Record Art, New York.

To see all of The Who-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/the-who/list.htm?1=1

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Cover Story – “Dark Side of the Moon” by Hipgnosis

May 29, 2007 by Sugartune

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By Michael Goldstein

Subject: Dark Side of the Moon – an illustration produced by Hipgnosis (Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, producers, with design by Storm Thorgerson and illustration by George Hardie) for the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1973 Harvest/Capitol Records release titled “Dark Side of the Moon”.

This album is Pink Floyd’s commercial-meets-conceptual equinox. No.1 on the Billboard album charts in March of 1973, this recording went on to achieve a record 741 weeks (or 14 whole years) on the ‘Top 200 Albums’ chart. It is the longest-charting album ever (beating its nearest rival by five years), with well over forty million copies sold to date (one of the top-five best-selling LPs ever).

The album has been re-released a number of times on CD and in collector’s edition vinyl record packages. The 1992 remaster was sold as the “20th Anniversary” box set and then, in 2002, a 5.1 channel Dolby Surround version – mixed from the original studio tapes – was released as the “30th Anniversary” edition. In 2003, a collector’s vinyl version of the 30th Anniversary package was released which included reprints of the original poster, stickers, and Storm Thorgerson’s new 30th Anniversary artwork.

In the words of Storm Thorgerson –

“The idea itself was cunningly cobbled from a standard physics textbook, which illustrated light passing through a prism. Of significance was the simple, elegant layout against black – standard textbook illustrations did not do this. Also important to the art direction, was the fortuitous decision to listen to Rick Wright, who suggested we do something clean, elegant and graphic, not photographic – not a figurative picture. And then to connect this idea to their live show, which was famous for its lighting, and subsequently to connect this to ambition and madness, themes Roger was exploring in the lyrics… hence the prism, the triangle and the pyramids.

Of minor significance was the complete appropriateness of the artwork to the record. The design is simply a mechanical tint lay, which means we drew outline shapes, black on white, and indicated what colours were to appear when printed. The prisms were airbrushed black on white and reversed by the printer.

The refracting glass prism referred to Floyd light shows – consummate use of light in the concert setting. Its outline is triangular and triangles are symbols of ambition, and are redolent of pyramids, both cosmic and mad in equal measure, all these ideas touching on themes in the lyrics. The joining of the spectrum extending round the back cover and across the gatefold inside was seamless like the segueing tracks on the album, whilst the opening heartbeat was represented by a repeating blip in one of the colours.

Pink Floyd. in their infinite wisdom, perused our 7 complex detailed roughs for this cover in a drab basement room at Abbey Road – submissions over which we at Hipgnosis had toiled for weeks – but managed to decide within 3 minutes which one they liked. No amount of cajoling would get them to consider any other contender, nor endure further explanation of the prism, or how exactly it might look. ‘That’s it’, they said in unison, ‘we’ve got to get back to real work’, and returned forthwith to the studio upstairs.

‘It all connects, somehow, somewhere.’. says Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, ‘We knew that the package – the record and the cover and everything together – was going to be far, far stronger than anything we had done before.’

To look back now and reflect upon how the actual artwork itself had no colour, being just a tint lay, and how the spectrum was missing a colour anyway, and how the whole design was only cobbled from a standard physics textbook diagram (albeit cunningly), and how there was another album called “Dark Side Of The Moon” (released in 1972 by British blues-rock band Medicine Head, which didn’t sell well at all! – MG) only a year previously, all of this just goes to show how such matters pale if a design feels ‘appropriate’. How fitting it is to be fitting!”

– Storm Thorgerson (via MediaBitch, his PR firm – thanks to Robin Headlee for her help in gathering materials for this Cover Story)

The “other” ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, just for fun…

About Storm Thorgerson (again, in his own words, in the third-person) –

“Born, if that’s the word, in Potter’s Bar Middlesex, in 1944. BA – Honors in English and Philosophy from Leicester University (63 – 66) and finally an MA in film and TV from the Royal College of Art, London (66 – 69). Formed Hipgnosis in 1968 with Aubrey Powell (Po), a graphic design studio specializing in creative photography and working mainly in the music business designing album covers for many rock ‘n’ roll bands including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, 10cc, Yes, Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett and Styx, amongst others. Started a series of books on album cover art with Roger Dean called “Album Cover Album’ and, with Hipgnosis, wrote and designed ‘Walk Away Rene’ in 1978 and ‘The Goodbye Look’ in 1982, about their own stuff.

In 1983 Storm, along with Po and Peter Christopherson, formed Green Back Films and embarked on producing numerous rock videos including material for Paul Young, Yes, Nik Kershaw, Robert Plant, Interferon, Nona Hendryx, Big Country and many others and also long forms for Barry Gibb (Voyager), Yumi Matsutoya (Train of Thought), and Channel Q – a heavy metal compilation for Polygram Records. Green Back and its partners went up in smoke in 1985.

Storm went solo (because he had to) and continued making videos (“Learning To Fly” for Pink Floyd won “best director” at Billboard), and tried his hand at commercials (Tennant’s ‘One Great Thing’ won Golden Rose in Scotland). He continued designing album covers for Pink Floyd, Catherine Wheel, Alan Parsons, Anthrax, amongst others, and branched out into documentaries, making “Art Of Tripping” for Ch 4 in 1993, a two part exploration of the connections between drugs and artists. In 1994 Storm directed six short films for Pink Floyd which were screened at concerts during their world tour, and also an hour long science documentary on the Hubble Constant for Equinox called “The Rubber Universe”. In 1997 he compiled a book of his images for Pink Floyd called ‘Mind Over Matter’ published by Sanctuary Books. And in 97/98 he wrote and directed an hour long documentary for Discovery channel about the (non) existence of Aliens subtitled “Are We Alone?” (Or was it We Are Alone).

Storm continues to design album covers (Phish, Ian Dury, Cranberries, Pink Floyd, Catherine Wheel, Alan Parsons, Ween etc etc), to execute assorted graphics for DVDs, websites, programs, T-shirts and so on, and to direct the occasional film. He has written and designed several books including “100 Best Album Covers” (Dorling Kindersley) and “Eye Of The Storm” (Sanctuary Books).

To see all of the Storm Thorgerson-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click here:

To see all of the Pink Floyd-related items in the RockPoP Gallery collection, please click on the following link:

http://rockpopgallery.easystorecreator.com/items/pink-floyd/list.htm?1=1

About “Cover Stories” –

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Cover Story – Pink Floyd – “The Wall/Hammers” artwork by Gerald Scarfe

Cover Story – IOMMI – “FUSED” cover art by Hugh Gilmour

Cover Story – The Ramones – “Too Tough To Die” cover by George DuBose

Cover Story – Iggy Pop & The Stooges’ “California Bleeding” cover by James Fortune

Cover Story – “AC/DC’s Classic Logo” by Gerard Huerta

Cover Story – “Rolling Stones Tongue & Lips” by John Pasche

Cover Story – “Nashville Skyline” by Elliott Landy

Cover Story “Evolution” by Karl Ferris

Cover Story – “Tommy” by Mike McInnerney

Cover Story – “Dark Side of the Moon” by Hipgnosis

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