Just when I thought my record buying days were over I got hit by the Interscope 30th anniversary reissues with covers of classic albums reimagined by contemporary artists including the whole Eminem album catalogue with covers reimagined by Damien Hirst and a Nine Inch Nails cover reimagined by Richard Prince. In all, Interscope reissued 47 albums with reimagined cover art.

Here’s the full list (thanks to Vinyl Factory for the compilation):
1. Dr. Dre – The Chronic (Adam Pendleton)
2. 6LACK – FREE 6LACK (Amoako Boafo)
3. Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? (Anna Park)
4. Gwen Stefani – The Sweet Escape (Anna Weyant)
5. Timbaland – Shock Value (Burnt Toast)
6. N.E.R.D. – Seeing Sounds (Burnt Toast)
7. Billie Eilish – dont smile at me (Cecily Brown)
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! (Chloe Wise)
9. Eminem – Entire Catalogue (Damien Hirst)
10. Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough (Derrick Adams)
11. 2Pac – All Eyez On Me (Ed Ruscha)
12. Nine Inch Nails – Broken (Emily Mae Smith)
13. Blackstreet – “No Diggity” (Ferrari Sheppard)
14. Summer Walker – Over It (Genesis Tramaine)
15. Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR (Henni Alftan)
16. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (“DNA”) (Henry Taylor )
17. Selena Gomez – Rare (Hilary Pecis)
18. Gwen Stefani – Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (“Cool”) (Issy Wood)
19. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die (Jenna Gribbon)
20. BLACKPINK – THE ALBUM (Jennifer Guidi)
21. U2 – “Beautiful Day” (John Currin)
22. Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets to My Downfall (“My Bloody Valentine”) (Jordy Kerwick)
23. No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (“Just a Girl”) (Julie Curtiss)
24. Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle (KAWS)
25. Dr. Dre – The Chronic 2001 (Kehinde Wiley)
26. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly (Lauren Halsey)
27. Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever (Lisa Yuskavage)
28. Lady Gaga – Fame Monster (Loie Hollowell)
29. No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (“Spiderwebs”) (Lucy Bull)
30. Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets to My Downfall (Mark Quinn)
31. Lana Del Rey – Paradise (Matthew Wong)
32. The Game – The Documentary (Fulton Leroy Washington
a.k.a. Mr. Wash)
33. Lady Gaga – Joanne (Nicolas Party)
34. 2Pac – The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (Nina Chanel Abney)
35. Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D. (OSGEMEOS)
36. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid MAAD City (Rashid Johnson)
37. Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell (Raymond Pettibon)
38. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid M.A.A.D City (“Swimming Pools” (Drank)) (Reggie Burrows Hodges)
39. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (Richard Prince)
40. 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Sayre Gomez)
41. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell (Shepard Fairey)
42. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (“King Kunta”) (Stanley Whitney)
43. Juice WRLD – Goodbye and Good Riddance (Takashi Murakami)
44. Eve – Scorpion (Titus Kaphar)
45. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (Toyin Ojih Odutola)
46. Tupac – Me Against The World (Umar Rashid)
47. Helmet – Meantime (Will Boone)

So I reckoned I was up to date with my Damien Hirst collection even though I am going to have to forgo the full Eminem oeuvre as these 12 albums cost a prohibitive $2,500 each (but you get a giclee print of the album’s artwork signed by Damien Hirst in an edition of 100, so effectively you get a free album if you buy the print!) However, no sooner had these five new Damien Hirst creations arrived than I found out the he had designed the cover for Pete Townshend’s (he of The Who) latest single Can’t Outrun the Truth which was released last March in an edition of 200 all autographed by Pete. Despite being on the Who’s mailing list, I missed out on this and had to resort to Discogs to´find a copy. Not the cheapest way to get a rare record.

And then I read that Eric Clapton has released three albums of his legendary 1980-81 24 Nights concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, calling them the Definitive 24 Nights. The three albums called 24 Nights – Rock (3 LPs), 24 Nights – Orchestral (3 LPs) and 24 Nights Blues (2 LPs). There is also a deluxe box set of the eight LPs with three Blu-ray discs, a book and a signed lithograph of Eric Clapton. Of course Eric reuses Peter Blake’s sketches from the original 24 Nights album.

The limited edition deluxe box set was available from Clapton’s store but rapidly sold out. However, it is available from most record shops. I’ll have to wait for my copy to see exactly how much Peter Blake was involved in the design of these sleeves.