Album Cover Art: Bee Gees - Odessa

Bee Gees: Suddenly

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   On the heels of their massive number one UK hit "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", The Bee Gees were ready to make their big statement album. That statement was the 1969 album Odessa, two lps wrapped up in a red velvety flocked cover with gold lettering.
"I think Odessa was an attempt to do a rock opera," Barry Gibb told The Guardian's Alexis Petridis in 2009. "It sort of turned itself into a bit of a mish mash, but our intentions were honourable. I think we wanted to do something that could be put on stage. There was supposed to be a thematic thing going on," he added, "but it just kind of wandered off into the distance."
  While it was nice to own an album cover you could actually pet, the flock reportedly caused a major allergic reaction among some of the workers during production.
   The reissues all came out in boring old cardboard sleeves.

Album Cover Art: Ramones - Ramones

Ramones: Loudmouth

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For their '76 debut, the Ramones were originally looking for an album cover that would be somewhat similar to Meet The Beatles!, but that didn't really pan out. Which proved to be a streak of luck really, as da brudders then decided to use a Roberta Bayley photograph which had already been published in Punk magazine. One look at it and you knew you were dealing with radically different stuff here. What you saw was what you got: Bayley had managed to epitomize the no-frills aesthetic of punk rock in just one shot. Four street kids from New York City - Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee, from left to right - in stark black & white, standing in front of a dirty brick wall looking bored but confident in their trademark leathers, jeans, and sneakers. And boy, did they look cool... Anyone still wear that uniform on a regular basis? Thought so.

Album Cover Art: Grateful Dead - (Skull and Roses)

Grateful Dead: Playing in the Band

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How often does the album cover art give an album its name? This one came out as simply Grateful Dead in 1971. But the band’s debut album from four years earlier was also called Grateful Dead. The title Live Dead was also already in use. So, over the years, this one has come to be known as Skull and Roses. I put that in parentheses above, because it is not the official title of the album. The skeleton was actually drawn for something else entirely, a 1913 edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, That illustration was by Edmund Joseph Sullivan. Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse added the lettering and color, to create the image seen above. The skeleton with roses became a visual motif that was identified with the Grateful Dead for the next 25 years. Playing in the Band is the song I always hear in my head when I think of this album. The singer on this one was Bob Weir.

Album Cover Art: Joseph Arthur - Come to Where I'm From

Joseph Arthur: Chemical

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When I first read about this week's topic, my mind went straight to musical artists who are also visual artists.  I'm a sucker for artists who create their own cover art.

Akron, Ohio's Joseph Arthur has been responsible for the artwork on several of his releases, but his first foray into cover art design was with his 2000 release Come to Where I'm From.  While the image itself doesn't really do much to present a theme for the record or add any meaning to any of the songs, it does do a nice job of establishing the tone of the album.  Arthur's artwork, like his songwriting and arrangements, can often be described as abstract.  Few things say abstract quite like a stylized human head with scarabs for eyes.

Musically, this album ranks as one of the most important of Arthur's career (although 2004's Our Shadows Will Remain will always be my favorite) due to the exposure he gained from its breakthrough track "In the Sun."  It's also interesting due to the fact that it was produced by the Americana Midas, T-Bone Burnett.  It's an odd collaboration that finds Burnett expanding his typical palate while also reigning in some of Arthur's more adventurous eccentricities.

Since many of you may already know "In the Sun," I'm going with another track from the record here.  For more of Arthur's artwork, check out his Museum of Modern Arthur.

Album Cover Art: Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

Donald Fagen: The Goodbye Look

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This week’s theme is right up my alley: I’ve run a batch of articles on some of my favourite album cover art over at my joint. And for your benefit (or really mine, for I am crazy busy at the moment), here’s a recycled post from that series, which also features the cover in Geoviki’s post which precedes this one.

Released in 1982 and Donald Fagen’s first solo outing, The Nightfly album evoked the sounds and spirit of the 1950s and early ’60s, without sacrifice of Steely Dan’s jazz-tinged rock. The cover concept clearly seeks to communicate the content, and it is simply executed with Fagen as an old-school radio DJ burning the nightshift with the help of Chesterfield Kings and copious amounts of black coffee. He is the sardonic DJ Lester, still unfettered by playlists, on the independent Baton Rouge station WJAZ who speaks to us, through the RCA 77 DX mic, on the title track.

Look long enough at the cover and listen to the title track, and armed with clues you may begin constructing your own backstory. In front of him is a Sonny Rollins album, so we know DJ Lester specialises in jazz and, as the lyrics advise, communication. What else does he play when he is not condescending his listeners with cynical tales about the absence of love in his life (which explains his nightfly existence)? Surely some more jazz, Coltrane or Parker perhaps. I like to think he branches out into some R&B to lighten up the pre-dawn darkness of 4:10am.

There is a rich irony in the cover’s relationship to the music it seeks to illustrate. Where the graveyard shift DJ is spinning crackling vinyl platters and the lyrics recall the Cold War (just on New Frontier, there are references to The Reds and nuclear shelters, Dave Brubeck as the latest thing, the young Tuesday Weld), The Nightfly was one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally. Issued before we were dealt the cursed dominance of the compact disc, this is a quintessential CD album whose charms are not, unlike much other music, boosted by the warmth of vinyl.

The photo itself, by James Hamilton, was shot in Fagen’s New York apartment, in which the radio studio (presumably just the two walls we can see) was temporarily built. Fagen might have assumed the collective persona of the DJs he listened to when he was much younger, but he cannot be accused of method acting: the photo had to be reshot when an engineer in the recording studio pointed out that the microphone had been incorrectly positioned…

Album Cover Art: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream

[purchase] – but if you can't find it at a yard sale, you're not trying.

You knew someone would have to post this one.

My family owned an actual stereo in 1965 with approximately seven LPs to play upon it. Like nearly all of America, we had this very popular album in our meager collection. I remember staring at the cover in fascination, trying to work out how they got all that whipped cream all over that lady (I found out later, it's shaving cream), and why they didn't manage to completely cover up her boob while they were at it…Okay, I was 9, and a girl, so that's almost as far as my imagination went. Any other thoughts I'll just keep to myself.

The title track was written by New Orleans musician/producer/writer Allen Toussaint. If you're old enough, you might remember it from The Dating Game, when the bachelorettes were introduced.

Independence => Album Cover Art: The Who - Tommy

The Who: I‘m Free

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If you are familiar with the story of Tommy, bear with me for just a moment. Tommy is a rock opera, complete with recurring musical motifs and an overture and “underture”. The story tells of a boy who escapes from the horrors of his life by retreating into himself, giving up his hearing, sight, and power of speech. This leaves Tommy in an inner world with no visual component. Nevertheless, it fell to artist Mike McInnerney to create a visual representation of this for the album cover. Being 1969, the album was released on vinyl on two records, with an extensive booklet with lyrics and notes. So the album cover would have two fold outs, and the whole thing measured 36 inches wide by 12 inches high. McInnerney came through with the image you see above. The large alien shape represents both the otherness of Tommy’s world and the fact of his imprisonment. But the fist shows that Tommy will eventually break free and rejoin the world. I’m Free is the song that describes that breakthrough. It seemed to me to be the perfect choice as a transition from our Independence theme.

Independence: Sign in Stranger

Steely Dan: Sign In Stranger

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There are two parts to the concept of independence. The obvious one is freedom or liberation, and it’s always a positive. But you also have to be independent from something, and that’s where the darkness creeps in. Leave it to Steely Dan to explore that side of things eloquently. In Sign In Stranger, the independence is from a person’s past. Mizar Five is a haven for criminals and lowlifes who seek a fresh start, and sometimes a new identity. The song does not suggest that any of them will change their ways, only that they will be free of their records. So here is independence with a sense of menace.

Independence: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

The Waterboys: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

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There is a common motif in folk songs, where a wealthy woman, often a noble, seduces or goes off with a man with no money. The husband discovers this, and goes after her or finds her in the act. From here, either the husband kills the lover and sometimes the wife as well, or you get something like what happens here. In The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, the husband reminds his noble wife of all that she is giving up, and begs her to return. She makes her choice, and leaves with the gypsy, and the husband lets her go. Why does he let her go so easily? Remember that she is a noblewoman, and that means that she is in an arranged marriage. These kinds of marriages were all about status, with love being an occasional happy accident. In this case, he does not seem to love her any more than she loves him. Her escape is a declaration of personal independence, although the actual declaration comes at a point earlier in the song, and most people miss it. The gypsy comes to her door, and she goes upstairs to change clothes. In The Waterboys’ version, the lady “put on her suit of leather-o”. Other versions make it even clearer, saying, “Then she pulled off her silk finished gown and put on hose of leather, O!” This isn’t simply a matter of practicality. The changing of clothes here is a ritual act that represents casting off her old life in favor of the new.

Independence: Free

VAST: Free

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This was the first song that came to mind when I thought of celebrations of freedom because to me it's quintessential to the topic. This song is an anthemic fist pump about liberation by an industrial band called VAST (which supposedly stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater) whose frontman, Jon Crosby, is also the songwriter. This particular album "Music for People" was released in 2000 which was at the boom of the rap/metal craze which, as a fan of sappy female singer-songwriters, embittered my heart. But I am reluctant to lump VAST with most of the other bands of that era, despite it having a similar dark feel. But it is easy to hear the rebelliousness of youth in the song, it most certainly sounds like a teenager yelling about not wanting to be told what to do, but the theme is general enough to want to to blast the music in your car after a break-up, or after quitting your job, or just about any situation where you felt like your freedom was infringed upon and you finally got it back.

Frontman Crosby now is a solo artist doing music which is much softer, apparently. But VAST was his bread and butter and is apparently where his talents lie. I'm not much for industrial or anything hard, but I immediately loved this song when I heard it. I think this feeling of getting out of a bad situation is something we've all felt and wanted to celebrate.

Independence: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

Nils Lofgren: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

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Could one of rock's great declarations of independence have really come from one its most famous sidemen? Absolutely!

Before he joined Springsteen's E-Street Band or toured with Neil Young, Nils Lofgren was a 17 year old B-average senior who dropped out of his suburban Maryland high school to become a rock star.

As he recently told The Wall Street Journal, "Nobody dropped out of school where I was, except the juvenile delinquent that was pumpin' gas and had knocked up his girlfriend and his life was already over." Lofgren's life was just beginning. By age 18, he was living in Topanga Canyon, playing piano and singing harmonies with Neil Young on After the Gold Rush . He parlayed the Neil connection into a record deal for his own band, Grin ( returning to record with Neil on Tonight's the Night). When Grin broke up in 1974, Nils recorded his self-titled solo debut--a critically acclaimed gem featuring a Keith Richards mash note, "Keith Don't Go", as well as a number of radio friendly songs, including this autobiographical statement of self-determination which reminds all of us of our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Guest post by 1001 Songs

Independence: Chimes of Freedom

Bruce Springsteen: Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan cover, live)

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Earlier today [July 3, 1988] Amnesty International announced a worldwide tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Declaration Of Human Rights. The Declaration Of Human Rights is a document that was signed by every government in the world* 40 years ago, recognizing the existence of certain inalienable human rights for everyone regardless of your race, your color, your sex, your religion, your political opinion, or the type of government that you're living under. I, I was glad to be asked to participate… in a tour that's gonna begin in early September…. So, I'd like to give, dedicate this next song to the people at Amnesty International and their idea. And so when we come to your town, come on out, support the tour, support human rights for everyone now, and let freedom ring.

* not precisely: 48 members of the UN General Assembly voted for it; the Soviet bloc countries, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia abstained.

Independence: Independence Day

David Byrne: Independence Day

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I am a firm believer that “none of us is truly free until all of us are”. From this point of view, the process of achieving our nation’s independence is ongoing. This week, an important step was taken. New York became the first state in the United States to legalize gay marriage by a legislative act. The states which previously recognized this right did so by court order. David Byrne’s song Independence Day, from 1989, is set in New York City, and it looks forward to this day. But in 1989, legal gay marriage seemed like an impossible dream. So, I thought this song was a perfect way to launch our weeklong celebration of independence here on Star Maker. New York State, I salute you. Let me be the first to wish our American readers a happy and safe Independence Day. To our Canadian readers, a belated happy Canada Day. And to all others, my best wishes for your independence and freedom, in what ever form they take.

Reproductions: The Dawntreader

Joni Mitchell: The Dawntreader

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This week, we have looked at songs that were reimagined in cover versions. But there are also times when an artist radically reimagines their own song. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is Joni Mitchell. Over the course of her albums Both Sides Now and Travelogue, Mitchell revisited her songbook to create fully orchestrated versions of her songs. This is disconcerting enough when it happens to her later songs, which were at least done originally done with some kind of band. But The Dawntreader comes from Mitchell’s first album, and was originally arranged for just voice and acoustic guitar. Now it has a lush orchestral setting. The original had a stark quality, which is mostly gone, but amazingly enough, the intimacy of the song is preserved in the new version. The original was a dream of love in black and white. Now it’s in full color, but the dream is still very much there, now in rich detail.

Reproductions: Comfortably Hot in Herre

Scissor Sisters: Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)

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Tiga: Hot in Herre (Nelly cover)

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Some people can dance to anything: wind chimes, lawn mowers, ring tones. Others need the help of a strong and audible beat. These two cuts are guaranteed to have you shaking your booty in no time!

The nu-disco version of the Pink Floyd chestnut rocketed the Scissor Sisters to stardom in Europe in 2004 (they're lagging a bit in their home country, the USA). Their version was nominated for a Grammy as Best Dance Recording, and even the members of Pink Floyd have confessed that they enjoy it.

Yes, it has a high-pitched male vocalist, why do you ask?

That vocalist, Jake Shears, is featured in the cover from his buddy Tiga, a Montreal-based DJ/producer/performer. Jacking up the tempo and tossing in a lot more synthesizers has turned Nelly's hip-hop classic, Hot in Herre, into an electro-house barn burner.

Reproductions: Every Little Thing

Yes: Every Little Thing

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Some strains of psychedelia where turning into prog rock in 1969, and Yes' self-titled debut shows a band pointing towards prog. Their take on the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" follows the mold of Vanilla Fudge and the early Deep Purple, who both created such elaborate arrangements of other people's songs they were almost new songs. But where both of those bands had a tendency to slow down faster songs, Yes come out firing on all cylinders. It's a tour de force that was probably a calling card for the band in their early days.

Over the top? Yes. But you have to admit, it has an energy that matches the lyrics much better then the comparatively tame original.

Reproductions: The Lounge Version

Pat Boone: Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)

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Richard Cheese: Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-a-Lot cover)

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Mike Flowers Pops: Velvet Underground Medley

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Pastel Vespa: White Wedding (Billy Idol cover)

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Bad cover songs are nothing new. While poking around some of my more horrible examples, I uncovered a multitude of 60s easy listening groups who tried to emulate the groovy sound of what those crazy kids are listening to now! We had the Four Freshmen doing Hurdy Gurdy Man in a pretty funereal style; the Lettermen butchering a Doors medley; the Johnny Mann Singers crooning an utterly soulless take on the Yardbirds' Heart Full of Soul; and an appalling adaptation of Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People by the Ray Bloch Zombies Singers. I'm sure there are many, many more "hits" on this wall of shame. Any PBS rerun episode of the Lawrence Welk show will have at least one or two.

Deliberately bad cover songs, though, they're more recent. I'm trying to remember when I first noticed it. Maybe Bill Murray's memorable "Nick the Lounge Singer" character – his first appearance on Saturday Night Live was in 1977; his most famous cover was the Star Wars Theme (with lyrics!).

White-buck-wearing Pat Boone made his career in the 50's covering (some say "ripping off") R&B songs of black artists when radio was segregated. In 1997, he unexpectedly released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, an album of metal band covers. Needless to say, it deeply shocked his fans and got him kicked off a gospel show for a time.

Other artists began to embrace satirical stylings, blithely covering alt rock, industrial, hip-hop, metal, or grunge in a deliberately retro style – usually lounge. One well-known singer is Richard Cheese, who probably comes closest to the "Nick" sound. Mike Flowers Pops goes for that immortal Ray Bloch Singers approach, and Pastel Vespa takes it from the female angle.

Reproductions: Fly Like an Eagle

Jaymz Bee & the Royal Jelly Orchestra w/ Elizabeth Shepherd: Fly Like an Eagle

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In my roamings looking for music for my own blog, Oliver di Place, I have found out a little about the music scene in Toronto Canada. From what I can tell, the musicians there feel free to ignore genre boundaries, and make whatever music they feel. So it isn’t that surprising that a Toronto jazz band would consider the song Fly Like an Eagle fair game. So imagine what might have happened if the classic Miles Davis quintet heard on the album Kind of Blue had had a singer, and you will have some idea what to expect here.

As far as I can tell, Jaymz Bee is strictly a local act in Toronto. As such, you can only get this album from the American version of Amazon at a collectable price. The more economical option by far is to get the album from Amazon’s Canadian site, so that is the link I have provided. As a solo artist, singer Elizabeth Shepherd is evidently better known. Her albums can be found on the US Amazon for a reasonable price, and they are well worth seeking out.

Reproductions: Let 'Em In

Billy Paul: Let ‘Em In

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When Paul McCartney sang Let ‘Em In, he issued a roll call of family members, friends and musical inspirations. There was Sister Suzie (Linda McCartney, who once recorded as Suzie And The Red Stripes), Brother John (Linda’s sibling, John Eastman), Martin Luther (John Lennon, whom the Beatles used to call Martin Luther Lennon), Phil & Don (Everly), Brother Michael (Mike McCartney), Auntie Gin (Paul’s aunt), Uncle Ernie (Keith Moon’s character in The Who’s rock opera Tommy), and Uncle Ian (Auntie Jin's son). It’s all a bit a folky scene, even with that martial drum beat. You could bake white bread to it.

Billy Paul quickly covered the song, and gave it a bit of funkified political spice, with an urgent bassline, disco strings and insistent horns. The singer, who once alienated record execs by calling an album Am I Black Enough For You?, sets out his stall early as a recording of Malcolm X intones: “You’ve been had, you’ve been misled, you’ve been took.” We immediately develop a hunch that kindly Auntie Gin won’t get much of a look-in on this version.

In the Philly Soul man’s take, we are asked to let in a succession of black icons, not all of whom are widely known today. He seems to have a special place for Louis Armstrong, though. It’s interesting that Satchmo, often derided as an Uncle Tom figure by some people, makers it into Billy Paul’s pantheon, alongside MLK and Malcolm X. The song is interspersed with soundbites from Martin Luther King Jr, some eight years after his assassination.

Reproductions: Your Cheatin’ Heart

James Brown: Your Cheatin' Heart

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Good God!

In 1969, coming off five singles with the word "popcorn" in the title, James Brown teamed up with a 20 piece big band to try a brand new bag.

‘At heart,” James told jazz writer Leonard Feather, “I’ve always been a jazz man. When I was just a kid in Macon, Ga., doing amateur shows, I went up on the stage with some of those great name bands that passed through town. I’ve never forgotten the impression those big band sounds made on me.”

With arrangements by Oliver Nelson and an orchestra led by jazz drummer Louie Bellson, JB brought his larger-than-life "soul power" to showtunes, jazz standards, a couple originals and this 1952 Hank Williams classic. Best known as a slow burning country blues ballad, "Your Cheatin' Heart" gets the full Godfather of Soul treatment with special thanks to Maceo Parker, Jr. for his incendiary sax solo. Pretty sure there isn't a version anywhere of Hank Williams singing "Can you.Gotta,Gotta,Gotta,Woah,Ow!"

Guest post by 1001 Songs