William Eggleston–Musician and Photographer. Some Record Covers.

May 17, 2025 rockdoc999 Leave a comment

I don’t normally write about record cover artists that I don’t collect. However, A friend has nagged me about William Eggleston’s covers and I felt I had to look into them.

Eggleston, born July 27th, 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, was apparently an introverted child who his mother described as “a brilliant but strange boy”. He taught himself to play the piano and drawing. He was drawn to visual media and collected postcards and cut out pictures from magazines. Eggleston first became intrested in photography while at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and bought his first camera after a friend who recognised his fascination with visual imagery and his interest in mechanics suggested he buy a camera.

He turned to colour photography and in 1976 the Museum of Modern Art organised the first exhibion of Eggleston’s photographs–an exhibition that for the first time showed colour photographs. This seminal show was accompanied by the Catalogue Willim Eggleston’s Guide and showeed, for the first time, that colour photography could be raised to the level of art. Two of the photos in this book would turn up on record covers.

Eggleston has had many impressive exhibitions since.

Record covers

1. Eggleston‘s first record cover image was on Big Star’s album Radio City, released in 1974. The cover featured Eggleston’s 1973 photograph Red Ceiling. Alex Chilton (1950-2010) was a founder member of Big Star. Eggleston was a good friend of Chilton’s parents and Alex’s father championed Eggleston’s work. Alex knew him well and also admired his work, so it was natural to ask Eggleston for an image for Big Star‘s album, In addition Eggleston was later to play piano on Nature Boy, one of Big Star‘s songs on their third album.

2. Alex Chilton‘s 1979 album Like Flies on Sherbert features Eggleston’s Dolls on a. Cadillac photo from his Los Alamos series made between 1965 and 1974. Again, Chilton asked his friend for a suitable cover image.

3. Green on Red, from Tucson, Arizona, was a quartet made up of Dan Stuart, Jack Waterson, Chris Cacavas and Chuck Prophet. The band released their fourth long player Here. Come the Snakes in 1988 with Egglesgon’s Near the River at Greenville, Mississipi from 1975 on the cover.

4. Primal Scream went to Ardent Studio in Memphis to record Rocks and recorded their 1992 EP Dixie Narco there.Intgerestingly, Big Star had recorded Radio City at Ardent studio and Alex Chiltern’s mother had an art gallery in Memphis showinfg Eggleston’s photography. It seems likely that Primal Scream would have been exopsed to Eggleston’s work during that visit to Memphis and resulted in the band using four of Eggleston’s photos on record sleeves.

5. Another Big Star album came out in 1993 when the re-formed band made up of Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and new recruits Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from the Posies released Live at Missouri University. Once again Chilton turned to Eggleston for a cover image. The picture of a ceiling fan is reminicent of the Red Ceiling photo on the band’s Radio City cover. the photo is titled Washington D.C:, 1970.

6. The following year (1994) Primal Scream used a cropped version of Eggleston’s Troubled Waters on their 1994 Give Out But Don’t Give Up album. According to Primal Scream the image of a Confederate Flag was a reference to the fact that the band had been to the South to Memphis to record with legendary producer Tom Dowd.

7. Gimmer Nicholson moved in the same Memphis circles as Eggleston and recorded his Christopher Idyll album in 1968, produced by Terry Μanning, a photographer and friend of Eggleston. Eggleston had helped edit the photography on Mannings’s own 1970 album Home Sweet Home. Nicholson‘s Christopher Idyll was first released as a limited edition LP in 1981 and later as a CD in 1994.

8. The title of Jimmy Eat World‘s 2001 album Bleed American echoes the title of Eggleton’s photo, which is also from the Los Alamos series (1965-1974). The photo shows sports trophies on top of a cigarette vending machine supposed to rerpresent “the fragilityof success.”

9. The photo on thee cover of The Derek Trucks Band‘s Soul Serenade album is Eggleston’s Untitled (Near Minter City and Glendora, Mississippi) from 1970 and is the first to come from the William Eggleston Guide book.I haven’t been able to establish a direct connection between the band and Eggleston, but the fact that the band comes from the American South makes using a photo from a fellow southener (Eggleston) logical.

10. Chuck Prophet, as previously mentioned, was previously a member of Green on Red and was a confirmed Eggelston fan. His Age of Miracles album was released in 2004. The photo, from 1975, was of Eggleston’s friend Martha Hare spaced out on half a Qualude taken in Memphis. It would turn up again on Primal Scream‘s 2006 single Country Girl.

11. Primal Scream seem to like Eggleston’s work as the band released two singles in 2006 with cover photos by him. Here’s the cover of Country Girl. The other was Dolls. (see No. 12)

12. David Berman, formed the Silver Jews in New York together with Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich from Pavement in 1989. Berman was living in Memphis when the band’s Tanglewood Numbers came out in 2005 and he felt that one of Eggleston’s photos from Memphis suited the album’s cover.

13. The second Primal Scream single from 2006 was Dolls with Eggleston’s Untitled, Memphis, 1972-73 photo on the cover. I’m not sure who the model was on this one.

14. It is unclear why Joanna Newsom decided to use a modified version of Eggleston’s Kenya, 1980 photo on the cover of her 2007 release Joanna Newsom and Ys Street Band E.P. The cover shows a rotated version of the original photo. Eggleston’s original has the branch sticking out from the left of the picture. The record’s title is supposed to be a play on Bruce Springsteen’s E. Street Band.

15. Spoon, a band from Austin, Texas, released their seventh album, Transference, in 2010 and selected Eggleston’s photo of his nephew from his Sumner, Mississippi, series. This photo was also included in the 1976 MoMa exhibition of Eggleston’s owork and included in the exhibition catalogue.

16. 2017 William Eggelston’s Music, his first release of his own musical improvisations with two tracks by well-known composers; Lerner & Loewe‘s On The Street Where You Live and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Tit Willow.

17. Eggleston‘s second full-length recording came out in 2023, when he was 84 years old! This album contained one of his own improvisations and five “standards”; Ol’ Man River, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Over the Rainbow, That’s Some Robert Burns and Onward Christian Soldiers (which occupies the whole of side two. The title, 512, comes from the flat where he recorded the album,

18. J. Spaceman (Jason Pierce) and John Coxon, part of Spiritualized, one of my favourite bands, released a double album entitled Music for William Eggleston’s Stranded in Canton on 18th October 2024. They first performed the musical score in a show at the Barbican Gallery in 2015 but the record wasn’t released until nearly ten years later. Stranded in Canton is Eggleston’s 1974 raw Memphis film shot in bars and on street corners and showing Eggleton’s friends carousing, playing music and firing pistols into the night sky.

The album cover shows stills from the film rather than separate photographs. I have the standard edition but there is a deluxe white vinyl version with extra photos and a booklet and a different cover image (see the lower picture.)

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A Summary of Record Cover Art by the Artist Known as Banksy.

May 13, 2025 rockdoc999 Leave a comment

I would advise anyone who wants to start collection any designer’s, illustrator’s or photographer’s record cover for simpliccity’s sake choose one with a maximum of, say, 200 covers to collect. That would rule out the likes of Alex Steinweiss (who has been estimated to have produced over 2,500 covers) or Anton Corbijn or even Rob Jones (I started collecting his covers but gave up), who designs many covers for Jack White’s Third Man Records.

I started collecting record covers by the artist known as Banksy–whoever he may be–in around 2005 not thinking there would be too many to find. So far my collection includes 180 items, admittedly with a few doubles, but I’m getting dangerously near the 200 cover limit!

Here’s my list as of May 2025. I make no claim that it is complwete. One can always find covers with minor details with Banksy art.
Artist–Title–Format–Label–Cat No. –Year Released
1. Mother Samosa[1]— The Fairground of Fear — Printers proof of cassette inlay — Mother Samosa — 1993
2. Mother Samosa* — Oh My God It’s Cheeky Clown — Printers proof of cassette inlay — Mother Samosa –1994
3. Revolucion X--Canciones electorales–Cassette — Not on label — 1997 (?)
4. One Cut — Cut Commander — 12” — Hombre Records — MEX 006 1998
5. Capoeira Twins — 4 x 3 / Truth Will Out — 12” promo — Blowpop Records — BLOWP 001 1999
6. One Cut — Hombre Mix — CD — Hombre Records — 666017004020 (CDX002) — 1999
7. Various Artists compilation — The Next XI — Sleazenation No 2, Sept 1999 — Wall of Sound — IMPRESS SN 01 — 1999
8. One Cut — Grand Theft Audio — Double LP — Hombre Records MEX 024 — 2000
9. One Cut — Grand Theft Audio Sampler — 12” promo — Hombre Records — MEX 025 — 2000
10. One Cut — Mr X / Rhythm Geometry — 12” — Hombre Records — MEX 029 — 2000
11. One Cut — Underground Terror Tactics — 12” — Hombre Records — MEX 016 — 2000
12. One Cut — Armour Plated, X-Rated — CD promo — Hombré Records — MEX 024cd — 2000
13. Monk & Canatella — Do Community Service — CD — Telstar Records — TDC 3112 — 2000
14. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us — LP — Wall of Sound AMOUR 1 — LP 2000
15. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us — CD — Wall of Sound — 72438491421 (AMOUR1CD) — 2000
16. Dynamic Duo / Nasty P — Skateboards — CD promo — Turntable Masochists — 2000
17. Dynamic Duo — Styles by the Dozen — 12” — Complex Broad — CB001 — 2000
18. Various Artists — Monkeys With Car Keys — CD — Natural Born Productions — 2000?
19. The Promise — Believer — Red vinyl LP — Deathwish — DW124 2022-07-15.
20. The Promise — Believer — Clear vinyl LP — Deathwish — DW124 2022-07-15
21. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us Too — CD — Wall of Sound — AMOUR 4 — CD — 2001
22. Various Artists–We Love You… So Love Us Too –12” promo–Wall of Sound — WLY 4 — 2001
23. Roots Manuva — Yellow Submarine — Single sided 12” — Ultimate Dilemma — UDR 050 — 2001
24. Various Artists — Peace Not War CD promo — The Big Issue 2001
25. The Promise — Believer — CD (US) — Indecision — IND53 — 2002
26. Skitz — Badmeaningood, Vol 1 — Gatefold double LP — Ultimate Dilemma — UDR LP 018 — 2002
27. Roots Manuva — Badmeaningood, Vol 2 — Gatefold double LP — Ultimate Dilemma — UDR LP 019 — 2002
28. DJ Frenzic & DJ Fearless — ATM Magazine — Magazine + CD — ATM ATM 54 — 2002
29. Blak Twang — Kik Off — Double LP — Bad Magic — MAGICLP5 — 2002
30. Blak Twang — Kik Off — 12” EP — Bad Magic — MAGICT023 — 2002
31. Blak Twang — Trixstar — 12” EP — Bad Magic — MAGICT024 — 2002
32. Blak Twang–Trixstar (Remix) – Feat Estelle (Joni Rewind Remix) –12” EP — Bad Magic — MAGICT024X — 2002
33. Blak Twang — So Rotton — 12” EP — Bad Magic — MAGICT25 2002
34. Röyksopp — Melody A.M. — Double LP promo -(dark green print – Wall of Sound — WALLLP027 Ltd 2002
35. Röyksopp — Melody A.M. — Double LP promo (light green print Wall of Sound — WALLLP027 Ltd — 2002
36. Various Artists — Seven Magazine presents the Soundtrack to the Sizzler Parties — Promo CD — Rizla / Wall of Sound — SEVENMAG004 2002
37. Blur — Think Tank — Gatefold double LP — Parlophone — 5829971 — 2003
38. Cave, Nick — Complete Lyrics 1978-2001 — Paperback book Penguin — 9,78014E+12 — 2003
39. Cave, Nick — Tutte le canzone 1978-2001 — Paperback book — Monalani 9,78014E+12 2003
40. Blur — Think Tank — CD promo + Petrolhead stamp – -Parlophone THINK 1 — 2003
41. Blur — Think Tank — Limited edition CD book — Parlophone.
43. Blur — Think Tank — CD promo + Petrolhead stamp — Parlophone — THINK 1 — 2003
44. Blur — Think Tank — CD promo – Petrolhead stamp Parlophone THINK 1 2003
45. Blur — Think Tank — CD promo — handprint stamp Parlophone THINK 1 –2003
46. Blur — Think Tank — CD promo – no Petrolhead stamp — Parlophone — THINK 1 —-2003
47. Blur — Out of Time — 7” single — Parlophone — 2003
48. Blur — Out of Time — DVD single– Parlophone DVDR6606 2003
49. Blur — Crazy Beat — 7” single — Parlophone — R6610 — 2003
50. Blur — Crazy Beat — CD — single — Parlophone — CDRS 6610 — 2003
51. Blur — Crazy Beat — DVD single — Parlophone DVDR 6610 — 2003 52. Blur–The Observer — CD promo — Observer — 2003
53. Blur–Crazy Bea– CD single promo–Parlophone–CDRJ 6610–2003
54. Blur–Good Song–7” single–Parlophone–R6619–2003
55. Various Artists–Off the Wall–10 Years of Wall of Sound–CD promo–Wall of Sound–7,24359E+11–2003
56. Various Artists — Off the Wall–10 Years of Wall of Sound — Gatefold triple LP — Wall of Sound — WALLP033 — 2003
57. Peanut Butter Wolf — Badmeaningood, Vol 3 — Gatefold double LP — Ultimate Dilemma — UDRLP 020 — 2003
58. Scratch Perverts — Badmeaningood, Vol 4 — Gatefold double LP — Ultimate Dilemma — 5,05047E+12 — 2003
59. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us Three — CD — Wall of Sound — AMOUR8CD — 2004
60. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us Three — CD — Wall of Sound — 2004
61. Various Artists — We Love You… So Love Us Three — Promo 12” — Wall of Sound — AMOUR171X — 2004
62. Fallout — What Is Past Is Prologue — CD — Longshot — LSCD30 — 2004 —
63. Product.01 — The Loud EP — 12” EP — Bow Wow — BOWWOW 0 –2004
64. Buckfunk 3000 — 2 Much Booty — 12” — Bow Wow — BOW WOW 2004
65. Girl Nobody — The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be — CD — Girl Nobody Music — HTA 16331 — 2004
66. Kefran & Guigoo–Kisde… Forme–12″–Kisde Recorrds–KISDE01–2004
67. Kefran & Guigoo–Kisde… Branche–12″–Kisde Recorrds–KISDE06–2004
68. Kefran & Guigoo–Kisse… Compose–12″–Kisde Recorrds–KISDE02–2004
70. Kefran & Guigoo–Kisde…Chire!–12″–Kisde Recorrds–KISDE CHIRE–2004
71. Kefran & Guigoo–Kisde… Fonce–12″–Kisde Recorrds–KISDE01–2004
72. Benjamin Zephaniah — Naked CD promo — One Little Indian –TPLP403CDP –2005
73. Bass Kittens — Rise of the Machines — 12” — Bow Wow — BOWWOW 0 — 2005
74. Speed Baby — Taken / Lurker — 12” — Bow Wow — BOWWOW — 2005
75. Frog Stupid — Love and Ambition Won’t Get You a Payrise — CD — Not on label — none — 2005
76. Kein Signal — Mit diesem Land ist Irgendetwas nicht in Ordnung… — CD — Not on label — none —2 005
77. Linchpin — Jesus Had Long Hair — CD — Sleeper — Sleeper CD2 — 2005
78. Antibazz vs. Deep Melange — Wonderful Life — CD — Double Dance Records — DD221130 — 2005
79. Citizen Keyne--Ungreat Britain –CD–DRB Records–DRB001–2005
80 Mother Samosa* –The Fairground of Fear –CD Digipak–Not on label–2006
81. Mother Samosa*–Oh My God It’s Cheeky Clown–CD Digipak–Not on label–2006
82. Dirty Funker–Let’s Get Dirty–Printer’s proof cover–irst pressing –Spirit Records–DF006–2006
83. Dirty Funker–Let’s Get Dirty–12” single-–First pressing–Spirit Records–DF006–2006
84. Dirty Funker–Let’s Get Dirty–12” single–Second pressing–Spirit Records–DF006–2006
85. Hoxton Whores–Im Not Your Friend–12”–Not on Label–None–2006
86. Banksy / DJ Danger Mouse–Paris–CD-rom–First pressing–Not on label–9362-44138–2006
87. Mr. Bird–Know Your Rodents–CD–FreqyentSoundz–FZCD04–2007
88. Final Prayer–Right Here, Right Now–LP & CD–IC Records–2006
89. Banksy / DJ Danger Mouse–Paris CD–Second pressing–Not on label–BANKSY 001–2006
90. DJ /Rupture vs. Filastine–Shotgun Wedding–Volume Six–CD–Violent Turd–turd 19–2007
91. Trent (UK Vineyard Worship)–Unfailing Love–CD Vineyard Records–VRUKCD05–2006
92. SL-27–SL-27–7” EP–Mashnote Records–Ma005–2007
93. Talib Kweli & Madlip–Liberation–Orange vinyl–12” LP–Blacksmith–90266316018–2007
94. Me&You–Floating Heavy Edits–12” EP–Not on label–REBTUZ 027–2007
95. One Bad Son–Orange City–CD–Versailles Records–6,8924E+11–2007
96. The Well Wishers–How I Won The War–CD–Not On Label – –None–2007
97. DJ Danger Mouse–From Man to Mouse–Double LP–DMZ–DMZ-002–2007
98. Dirty Funker–Future (white/pink)–12”–Spirit Records–DF007–2008
99. Dirty Funker –Future (white/red)–12” Spirit Records–DF007–2008
100. Dirty Funker–Future (white/orange)–12”–Spirit Records–DF007–2008
101. Dirty Funker–Future (brown)–12”–Spirit Records–DF007–2008
102. Dirty Funker–Future (grey)–12”–Spirit Records–DF007–200
103. Dirty Funker–Future –CD promo–Spirit Records–DF007–2008
104. Banksy–The Banksy Years–12” LP–Not on label–BANKSY001–2008
105. Queen & Cuntry–Don’t Stop Me Now–12”–Not on label–QAC 1–2008
106. Kate Bush / Ashley Beedle–Running up That Hill (Remix)–12”–Not on label–RUTH 001–2008
107. Miami Vices–Sin Da Da Da / Anarchy 2008–12”–Not on label–MVEP2–2008
108. Henchman / Majistate & Nicol –Street Art–12”–Bow Wow –BOW WOW–2008
109 Warrior Soul--Destroy the War Machine–CD–Acetate Records–ATE7038–2008
110. Various Artists--Songs Across Walls Of Separation–CD–Kyrkelig Kulturverksted–FXCD336–2008
111. Le Pakkt–Vestige d’un art–CD/Digital–Not on label–None–2008 112. Citizen Keyne–Ungreat Britain–CD–DRB Records–DRB 001–2008
113. Sky Architects–Sky Architects–CD–Not On Label–skycd001–2008
114. Stylus Rex–Cops on Coke–12” single–Bow Wow –BOW WOW–2008
115. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–7” (cover only)–Spirit Records–PC1 2008
116. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–12”–(Gold)–Spirit Records–PC2–2008
117. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–12” (Silver)–Spirit Records–PC2–2008
118. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–12” (Green) –pirit Records–PC2 –2008
119. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–12” (Brown)–Spirit Records PC2 2008
120. Danger Mouse–Keep It Real / Laugh Now–12” Test pressing–Spirit Records–PC2–2008
121. Dirty Funker–Flat Beat–12”–Spirit Records-DF 08 2009
122. Rosie Thomas--All the Way from Michigan Not Mars–Ltd white vinyl LP & DVD–Factory 25–FTF-006–2009
123. Carsten Daerr Trio--Wide Angle–CD–Traumton Records–TRAUMTON4537–2010
124. Cat and Sock–Cat and Sock–CD–Powertool Records–PT096–2010
125. The Lonely Kids Club–When the Time Comes–CD & Digital–Not on label–none–2011
126. Timothy Carroll–For Bread & Circuses–Digipak CD–Not on label–TLC6291–2011
127. Kid Barbados–Sundays –Promo CD–Not on label None 2011
128. Kid Barbados–Sundays–Digipak CD–Not on label–None –2011
129. Anathema–The Feeding Of The 5 Knuckles Shuffle–CD–Love of Life–L.O.L.1–2011
130. Young Haitti–Graffiti CD-r–Mixtapes–211499–2011
131. Recliner–Fake Love Songs–CD–Not olabel–7,00261E+11–2011
132. Desy Balmer–Beyond Belfast Digital– None None 2012
133. Rayko & Get Down Edits–Old Skool–Promo–12” EP–Glenview–GVR1201–2012
134.. Blur–Think Tank (remasttered)–2LP–Parlophone–THINKLPX1–2012
135. Blur–Think Tank–2CD box set–Parlophone THINKX1 2012
136. Mitch Benn And the Distractions–Breaking Strings–CD–Laughing Stock–LSM01–2012
137. Dexzy Balmer–Beyond Belfast–Digital–Nice & Nasty–NONO100–2012
138. Embalming Theatre / Tersanjung 13–Mommy Died – Mummified / Hellnose–7” split EP test pressing–Rotten to the Core–RTTC–2013
139 Saverria Margiola–Stellae Minima–7” single–HR.002–2013
140. Monique DiMattina –In New Orleans:–Nola’s Ark CD –azzhead –HEAD170–2013
141. Machine Gun Kelly–Black Flag–CD–Bad Boy Entertainment–EST19xx–2013
142. Blanco And The Jacka–Misfits–CD–Guerrilla Entertainment–none–2013
143. Angry Brigade–Ten Years Of Anger–CD Emergency Records None–2013
144. Junichi Masuda–Pokémon–12” test pressing–Moonshake Records–Moonshake 005–2015
145. Boys in Blue–Funk tha Police–12”–Not on Label–BIB001–2015
146. Agathocles / Haggus–Don’t Forget to Eat Your Lunch and Make Some Trouble /Minecore Provocateur–Split 7-inch–Fuck Your Life Records–FYL #22–2015
147. Minraud–Vox Populi–CD–Hidden Stone Records–None–2016
148. Warrior Soul –Destroy the War Machine–Ltd edn 12” LP–Night of the Vinyl Dead–NVD229–2016
149. Hot 8 Brass Band–The Life and Times of–CD–True Thoughts–TRUCD262–2016
150. Destrellados–La lucha continùa–CD–Rock CD–RCDR1116–2016
151. TV-Age–The Player EP–12” EP–Not on label–2016
152. Saga & Thelonious Martin–Molotov–12” LP–Coalmine–CM066–2016
153. Pogoverdächtig & Kopfkran— Deutschpunk Sampler Vol. 2–CD –Puko Musik–None–2016
154. Pogoverdächtig & Kopfkrank–Deutschpunk Sampler Vol. 5 CD Puko Musik None 2017
155. Downers–Uptown–CD–The Temptation Department–Te.mpt 011–2017
156. Диагноз-27–Беспредельный террор –CD–Discomfort–DSCMFRT 01–2016
157. Barney McAll /TQX–Global Intimacy–Digipak CD–Not on Label — 2018
158. The Climate Change Project–Season’s Greetings–CD–Not on Label–RFD80M–2020
158a. The Climate Change Project–Season’s Greetings–Autographed CD–Not on Label–RFD80M–2020
159. Stormzy–Heavy Is the Head–Ltd 2LP picture discs–Merky Records–1,90295E–2020
160. Stormzy–Heavy Is the Head–2LP (black vinyl)–Merky Records–1,90295E+11–2020
161. Boys in Blue–Strawberry Donut /Thick as Thieves–12-inch single–Not on Label–None–2020
162. Black Note Graffiti--Fall & Rise Volume III–12” LP & CD–BNG–V1274689B–2020
163. Scenius–Enough Fears–CD–Self released–None–2020
164. The Promise–Believer–Purple vinyl LP–Deathwish DW124 2022
165. The Promise–Believer–CD (Europe)–GSR Music–GSR035 –022
166. The Promise–Believer–green/blue vinyl LP–Deathwish–DW124–2022
167. Talib Kweli & Madlip–Liberation–White vinyl 12” LP–Blacksmith 90266316018–2022
168. Flat Earth–High on Lies–Ltd edn LP –SE002–2022
169. Ekrement Beton / Assel Terror–Rattendisco–Ltd yellow vinyl LP+CD–Anarchy of Sound Records–AoS 007b 2022
170. Ekrement Beton / Assel Terror–Rattendisco Ltd purple vinyl LP+CD–Anarchy of Sound Records–AoS 007b–2022
171. Ekrement Beton / Assel Terror–Rattendisco–Ltd yellow splatter vinyl LP+CD–Anarchy of Sound Records–AoS 007b–2022
172. Danger Mouse –From Man to Mouse–2LP– 2022
173. Hans Otto Thomashoff –Versuchung des Bösen–CD–cc-live–SE002–2022
174. Paddelnohekanu –20 Years–Cassette–Entre Anonicos–KP-016-M6–2023
175. Blur–Think Tank–Reissue–2LP–Parlophone–THINKLPX1 (5099962484817)–2023
176. The New York Folk Music Hall of Fame–Eternal Bridges: Songs of Peace, Hope & Freedom–CD–NYFMHoF–8,88296E–2023
177. Fist2Fist–Hold the Gun–CD EP–Not on label–none–year?

I know you would like to see pictures of each release but there just isn’t time to add them. If I have missed any important releases, please feel free to cotact me in the Comments and I’ll try to add them.

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Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground & Nico.

April 14, 2025 rockdoc999 2 Comments

My series of paintings of records covers continues. I’ve now done seven: The Ramones, UFO’s Strangers in the Night, Kraftwerks’s Die Mench Maschine, Ian Dury’s Juke Box Dury, Led Zeppelin I, The Clash, and most recently the Sex Pistol’s Never Mind the Bollocks and the Velvet Underground & Nico with its removeable banana.

While I was busy painting these, I was reading Andy Warhol’s & Pat Hackett’s Popism: The Warhol ’60s and I came to 1966 when Warhol describes his first meeting the Velvet Underground in late 1965 and his interest in “getting into the music scene”. Warhol and Paul Morrissey had planned a Velvet Underground concert in early 1965, but the locale turned out to have been previously booked, and desperate, Paul and Andy overheard a conversation that the Polish Dance Hall, the Dom, on St Mark’s Place, was free during April and so Warhol rented it to put on what he intitially called the Erupting Plastic Inevitable—it wouldn’t be called the Exploding Plastic Inevitable until later.

Warhol put a half-page ad in the Village Voice:

Come blow your Mind
The Silver Dream Factory Present
ERUPTING PLASTIC INEVITABLE
with
Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground
and
Nico

It was at the Dom, at one of the Plastic Inevitables, that Warhol met Eric Emerson who would later come to influence the Velvet Underground & Nico’s album release. At the end of April ’65, the Velvets along with other bands played at the opening of The Cheetah Club on Broadway and 53rd Street.

Warhol describes how he put up the money to rent a couple of days’ studio time at “one of those little recording studios on Broadway”. He was, of course, referring to the Scepter Studio run by Norman Dolph. According to Popism, Warhol, Paul Morrissey, Tom Wilson and Little Joey (whom Warhol describes as “The Factory gofer) were the only people in the control room (though I would guess Dolph was there, too.)

I think “put up the money” is something of a euphemism. Rumour has it that he paid Dolph with a Campbell’s Soup Can painting! Another of Warhol’s ways of settling accounts without having to dip into his pockets. According to Blake Gopnik, author of the definitive Warhol biography, Warhol “paid ” Giuseppe Rossi, the surgeon whon saved his life after he was shot by Valerie Solanas in June 1968, with seven Soup Can prints—apparently Rossi wasn’t worth the full set of ten prints!

Warhol says that the Velvets hadn’t included Nico originally as they didn’t want to be seen as a “back-up band for a chanteuse.” Warhol says “ironically, Lou had written the greatest songs for her to sing. Her voice, the words, and the sounds the Velvets made all were so magical together.”

When the lease on the Dom lapsed at the end of April, Warhol says they “only had time to record half the album in that Broadway studio” — “All Tomorrow’s Parties, There She Goes Again and I’m Waiting for the Man“. However, thanks to the discovery of the Scepter acetate, we now know that almost the full album was recorded. Dolph, in aaddition to owning the studio, was a sales executive at Columbia Records and sent the tape to Columbia but they declined, as did Atlantic Records (objecting to the drug references) and Elektra Records.

In May ’65, Warhol & the Velvets went to Los Angeles where Tom Wilson rerecorded I’m Waiting for the man, Venus in Furs and Heroin. The final track, Sunday Morning was recorded in Mayfair Recording Studios in Manhatten, in November 1966. MGM’s subsidiary company Verve Records agreed to release the album.

In Popism, Warhol describes his initial ideas for the cover design were a series of plastic surgery images, and Warhol had “sent Little Joey (the gofer) and his friend Dennis to medical supply houses for photographs and illustrations of nose jobs, breast jobs, ass jobs etc.—they brought me back hundreds!” Luckily, Warhol ditched that idea in favour of the now famous banana.

Warhol goes on to tell how he watched “a tall guy with dark curly hair step out of the elevator carrying a big manila envelope under his arm. … The guy didn’t know who to talk to and he just started wandering around, looking at the canvases, the screens, the vunyl, the plastic, the crumbling walls. If anybody “received” people at the Factory, it was Gerard (Malanga), but he’d just gone out to mail invitations to one of his poetry readings. The guy walked three-quarters of the way through the Factory till he saw me sitting in my corner and almost jumped—it was so hot, I hadn’t moved for an hour. He handed me the envelope. It was the from the artwork department at M-G-M records.“

Warhol doesn’t say any more about the contents of that envelope. Did it have the famous rear cover picture with Eric Emerson’s head? When the album was eventually released in March 1967, Emerson demanded payment for the use of his picure, forcing Verve Records to recall as many albums as they could and sticking a black label over the back cover photo. They re-released the album with Emerson airbrushed out of the frame.

The rear cover with the sticker covering Emerson’s face.

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March 27th 2025–kent’s Final Concert.

March 31, 2025 rockdoc999 5 Comments

Is there anyone outside of Scandinavia who has heard of kent, the band from Eskilstuna, which, in my estimation, has probably sold as many–if not more–albums than ABBA in Sweden?

A little historical background. kent was formed in Eskilstuna in 1990. There were five members: Jocke Berg (vocals and occasional guitar), Martin Sköld (bass, keyboards), Markus Mustonen (drums, backing vocals, keyboards, piano), Sami Sirviö (lead guitar, keyboards), Harri Mänty (rhythm guitar, programming, percussion; 1996–2006), and
Martin Roos (rhythm guitar; 1992–1995).

I first heard about kent when I went to Skellefteå festival in June 1995. I pulled a festival poster (as per usual for me) off a wall hoping to get some autographs. The real reason I went to the festival was to see two other bands; Suede and the Ramones. Also the Wannadies (a Skellefteå band) were playing and I liked them. At that time kent had only released a first CD entitled simply kent. I had an early copy and I made an LP-sized enlargement of the booklet cover, which I hoped to get signed along with two Ramones LPs and three Suede albums.

My poster signed by kent, Ramones, Wannadies

kent were playing on the smallest stage and after their show I asked Jocke Berg to sign my CD and the LP-sized enlargement. He got excited and asked if their album had been released on vinyl (which wouldn’t happen until 2015!)

I have seen kent at least ten times to date:
— Skellefteå festival — 23rd June 1995
— Hultsfredsfestival — 1996, 1998,
— Roskilde festival — 1998*
— Pontushallen, Luleå — 25th February 2000
— Kalas2000, Umeå — 22nd July 2000
— Hultsfred festival –15 June 2001
— Kalas2002, Umeå — 31st July 2002
— Skellefteå travbana — 4th June 2005
— Piteå Dansar o Ler — 31st July 2010
— 3Arena, Stockholm — 27th March 2025.
*I was at Roskilde but I can’t swear I saw kent there.

kent autographs from Pontushallen, Luleå, February 2000.

I was part of the the security crew at the Piteå Dansar o Ler festivals from 1999 to 2010 and together with the festival organisers Jan Wimander and Anna Carin Johansson, I curated three exhibitions of record cover art. In 2008, with assistance from Guy Minnebach, I organised an exhibition of Andy Warhol‘s record cover art. The following year we put on an exhibiton of Peter Blake‘s record cover art and in 2010 we did a major exhibition of kent’s record and poster art called kent – på nära håll (kent close by). Here’s pictures of the catalogue, made to look like a record cover with a paper record inside. All my kent record and CD covers are pictured on the inner spread. The “record” describes the exhibition and kent’s discography and some additional works from a previous kent exhibition in Linköping.

Like everyone else, I thought we’d never see kent again. There were regular reissues of their albums but no one expected the band to reunite. But in August 2024 they announced a final set of three concerts scheduled for MArch 21 st, 22nd and 23rd March 2025. Tickets went on sale on October 26th and the three concerts sold out within hours so three more dates were added 25th, 26th and 27th March and I was lucky to get tickets for the final date. 3Arena in southern Stockholm has a capacity of 40,000 and each of kent’s six concerts was sold out, meaning that 240,000 tickets had been sold! Each ticket cost SEK 999 plus a service charge of SEK 200 and a basic fee of SEK 130. So my two tickets cost SEK 2318 (about €201 or GBP172)!

So the concert on March 27th, the last of the six, would (potentially) be kent‘s last stand. During the concert Jocke promised twice that this really would be kent’s final concert. Well, they are all in their mid fifties now. It’s not like they were still 20-somethings.
Now for some pictures from the concert.

And here’s the setlist from the final, final concert. 24 songs in two hours and seven minutes:
— Stenbrott
— Ingenting någonsin
— En timme en minut
— Om du var här
— Kevlarskäl
— Hjärta
— Socker
— Romeo återvänder ensam
— Pärlor
— Var är vi nu
— Utan dina antetag
— Musik Non Stop
— Kärleken väntar
— Ingenting
— Dom andra
— Stoppa mig juni (lilla ego)
— Innan alting tar slut
— Sundance kid
— La belle epoque
— Förlåtelsen
Encore1:
— Sverige
— 999
— 747
Encore 2:
— Mannen i den vita hatten (16 åe senare)

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Richard Prince Does It Again! His Dylan Paintings.

March 12, 2025 rockdoc999 Leave a comment

You all know I love appropriated art and apart from my own works, I really like Richard Prince’s stuff. I have a few of his record covers. His latest exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills shows three giant “paintings” of Bob Dylan culled from Jerry Schatzberg’s famous portrait used on the cover of Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde album cover. The Gagosian exhibition that opened on February 27th, 2025 was tied to the release of the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Prince has cropped the original image and blown it up to ten feet by ten feet (3 x 3 m).

Prince says in the exhibition blurb that “sometimes, when I walk into a gallery and see someone’s work, I say “gee, I wish I’d done that.“” So, he must have admired Schatzberg’s cover picture. The works are titled “Untitled (Dylan)” 2014.

My reproductions of album covers are puny in relation to these Dylan portraits–only 45 x 45 cms but I draw/paint mine; Prince has used an inkjet printer to make his. Quite impressive, though, given the size of the portraits.

But I sympathise with Richard Prince in that I also can walk into a gallery or museum and see someone’s work say “Gee, I wish I’d done that!”

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From Warhol to Banksy — A Trip Through Record Covers.

January 25, 2025 rockdoc999 Leave a comment

Try to imagine a shy twenry-year-old, who is conviced he is ugly (his nose is bulbous and his hair is already thinning) who leaves art college in his home town of Pittsburgh and, in the summer of 1949, moves to New York to seek his fortune. Andy Warhola is determined to find work and hawks his portfolio to the offices of glossy magazines and record companies.

He goes to the offices of Columbia Rrecords, who the previous August, had begun reieasng long playing records and was in the process of reissuing many of their best selling classical albums previously available as 78 rpm sets in the new medium that allowed a whole symphony to fit on one side of a twelve-inch LP.

In 1938, the company hired a 21-year-old Alex Steinweiss as its art director. Steinweiss felt that the company’s record albums with their plain covers were dull and suggested adding pictures to the covers. His superiors were sceptical, but allowed him to make a few trial cover. These were successful, increasing sales. Steinweiss first cover was for an album of Smash Hits by Rodgers and Hart.

The young Warhol was commissioned to illustrate two covers.

Andy Warhol’s first cover for Columbia Records, 1949.

In 1951, Warhol was commissioned to illustrate a newspaper advertisement for radio programmes called The Nation’s Nightmare and Crime on the Waterfront to be broadcast by CBS Radio that autumn. CBS decied to release the programmes the following year on an LP.

Warhol won his first design award for the designs.

In the fifties, Warhol cooperated with Reid Miles, the legendary art director at Blue Note and Prestige Records, producing a numner of classic jazz covers. He also continued to get commissions from Columbia Records subsidiaries and designed several classical covers.

Other Pop artists would later design record covers: Robert Rauchenberg designed the limited edition cover for Talking Heads’ Speaking in Tongues (1983), Robert Indiana’s LOVE image appeared on a recording of Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony and Ed Ruscha, who has become Paul McCartney’s buddy, has designed several covers for the ex-Beatle as well as the cover for the Beatles’ last single Now and Then.

And England’s Pop artists were also designing record covers. Peter Blake together with his wife at the time, Jann Haworth came up with the famous cover for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and Blake has continued to design record covers — now over forty! Richard Hamilton was invited to design the Beatles next full album The Beatles (the white album) and chose a minimalitic cover to contrast with the Sgt. Pepper design.

Other British artists who have designed record covers include Damien Hirst, David Shrigley, Tracy Emin as well as design groups such as Hipgnosis.

Andy Warhol, announced in 1965 that he was giving up painting to concentrated on his other projects — film and the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, featuring the Velvet Underground and performances and dancers including Gerard Malanga, who would assist Warhol in his printmaking. He took the Velvet Underground to Norman Dolph’s Scepter Studio in New York to record the band’s first album. Warhol insisting that Nico, a German singer, sing on three songs. Warhol offered the record to Columbia Records, who turned it down, suggesting it needed beter production and Warhol let Tom Wilson re-record the album, which Warhol then offered to Verve Records who released it in March 1967. Warhol designed the Banana cover and the front cover just had the banana (with ‘peel me and see’ beside the neck) and Andy Warhol’s name at the bottom.

Warhol was a “mover and shaker” in 60s and 70s New York travelling to parties and discos always with an entourage of beautiful people. He loved being with celbrities. He met Mick Jagger who asjed him to design the cover for the forst Rolling Stones album to be released on the Stones’ own label. Warhol came up with the zip cover for Sticky Fingers (released April 1971).

There has been a debate about whose jeans Warhol photographed for the Stocky Fingers cover. It wasn’t Joe d’Allesandro, as many have suggesteds. It may have been Warhol’s parrtner Jed Johnson’s twin brother Jay who was the model.

Warhol was also asked to design the cover for the Stones’ Love You Live album. He had invited the band to hs Long Island home at Montauk wherer he photographed them biting themselves or each other. He selected a picture of Mick Jagger biting his daughter Jade’s hand for the cover. Warhol dis not want any writing on the cover but Mick Jagger added the band name and the record title, which annoyed Warhol. He would normally sign anything he was asked to sign but refused to sign the front cover of the Love You Live album, usually choosing instead to sign the inner spread.

The Front cover of “Love You Live” showing Mick biting a child’s hand (Jade Jagger). .

Later Warhol began a cooperation with Jean-Michel Basquiat, a New York street artist turned fine artist. Basquiat would only outlive Warhol by little over a year, dying in 1968 of a drug overdose, but nor before he had managed to produce a few record covers.

That brings me to other street artists, including the enigmatic artist who calls himself Banksy. Banksy started as a street artist in his native Bristol in the late 90s and produced designs for record covers from then. His first major albel design was for Blur’s Think Tank album in 2003.

Bansky’s art has appeared on over two hundred records and CDs, the majority unofficially.

Other street artists have designed record covers. Mr. Brainwash designed Madonna’s Celebration compilation from 2009.

Hellstrom, a Swedish street artitst, designed a limited edition cover (40 copies) for his namesake Håkan Hellström’s Illusioner album (2019) with a silkscreened portrait of the artist.

Other Swedish designers and artists have designed interesting ecord covers. Martin Kann has designed the covers for bob hund’s records and CDs and — as far as I know — produced on the second cover to give the cover designer’s name on the front of a release: Omslag Martin Kann by bob hund.

The Swedish designer who has sold the most ercords in Swedden is probably Helen Sköld, who has desgne dthe covers for kent, Sweden’s biggest band since ABBA.

Karin Mamma Andersson is a Swedish artist who has made an international career. She has designed covers for the alternative poet and songwriterr Mattias Alkberg as well as providing paintings for three of Beck’s releases.

Cundy Sherman is another worrld renowned photographer who has used her photos on record covers. The latest is for her friend Jenni Muldaur’s (daughter of singer Maria Muldaur) and Teddy Thompson’s (son of Richard Thompson) Teddy & Jenni do George & Tammy EP.

There are other ways of collecting record cover art. Anyone remember bubble gum packaged in small copies of record covers? They are quite collectable. As we are at Spritmuseum, hoem of the Absolut Art Collection, I wold also mention the Absolut Cover adverts that use Bowie’s Aladin Sane image, Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew cover image and others in adverts.

Just recently, I discovered an invitation to an exhibition of the Absolut Vodka record cover adverts in New York in the form of a seven-inch single.

This article is a somewhat expanded version of a lecture given in Swedish on Sunday January 26th 2025 at Spritmuseum, Stockholm, as part of the Money on the Wall– Andy Warhol Exhibition that runs until September 14th 2025.

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A New David Shrigley Cover and Some Thoughts About Collecting Record Cover Art.

January 6, 2025 rockdoc999 6 Comments

I’m in a contemplative mood. I collect, I make lists, and recently people have been asking for copies. I try to help and get compliments. How unusual. I’m not really used to those.

DB wants a list of Cindy Sherman and David Shrigley covers, Felix wants a list of Damien Hirst covers and I send them with explanations. A friend casually asks “how many Banksy covers are there?” And I answer “Well, I have about two hundred.” I check my curent list, that doesn’t have them all.

DB gets back to me and wonders if I’ve missed one Shrigley cover and sends me a picture of the Velvet Undergrund & Nico album released by Castle Face Records with its Shrigley rendition of Warhol’s Banana on the cover and his portrait of Andy on the rear. I check my list and note number 37–listed as a Various Artists compilation. It’s the Castle Face album. I remember that I asked David Shrigley to sign it when he visited Spritmuseum in Stockholm a few years ago.

Then, in late November 2024, Paul emails that there is a new record being released with a cover designed by David Shrigley. Another to
a. add to my collection, and
b. add to my Shrigley list.
Paul says it’s a limited edition and I better hurry. By the time I get his mail I’ve already ordered it. Then the following week he emails me again about what I assume is the same release, only it isn’t. It’s a second version of the record, this time pressed on red vinyl. The first version came on yellow vinyl. I rush to order a copy but find it has already sold out. Ouch! I check Ebay. There’s a copy for sale there and I manage to grab it.

So now my Shrigley list has sixty-six titles, although that includes a few doubles.

And, another little compliment–Spritmuseum, in Stockholm, where their current exhibition Money on the Wall: Andy Warhol is a critically lauded success has eighteen of my Andy Warhol designed record sleeves on display, want me to give a talk about record cover art at the end of January 2025.

I’ve called it Record Cover Art from Warhol to Banksy. Now all I need to do is put it all together. I’m making a new list of important covers.

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Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Forty Years on. Peter Blake Returns.

December 2, 2024 rockdoc999 Leave a comment

Band Aid’s single Do They Know It’s Christmas? was concieved on November 2nd 1984 by Bob Geldorf who contacted Midge Ure and together they wrote the song on the following day. The song was recorded at SARM West End studios on Sunday, November 25th by a collection of artists enlisted specially for this recording.

Peter Blake was approached to design the cover and was give one week to come up with the design. A classic Peter Blake collage:

The record was released on 7th December 1984 both on seven-inch and twelve-inch vinyl, and went on to sell millions of copies resulting in GBP 8 million for the charity. I went out and bought several copies to give to friends as Christmas presents.

The record was re-released in November 1985 with a new B-side One Year On (Feed the World), again as a seven-inch and a twelve inch.

Do They Know It’s Christmas? was first released on CD in 1989 together with a cassettee and new seven-inch versions. The cover was a disappointing black or green cover designed by David Howells.

The next release was for the record’s twentieth anniversary in 2004. Released only as CD single, the cover was initially to be designed by Damien Hirst but his design was rejected as being too harrowing and Mat Maitland made the cover image A Disney-ish winter scene with a superimposed image of the back of a starving child.

For the thirtieth anniversary in 2014, Tracy Emin was selected for the cover design and she produced one of her neon signs.

And now it’s 2024–forty years after the original release and Bob Geldorf has once more asked Sir Peter Blake for a new design. It was released on 29th November, this time, only available as a 12″ maxi EP and a CD. Trevor Horn, the producer of the original 1984 version of Do Thy Know It’s Christmas has produced a new remix for this fortieth anniversary release.

Blake has reused his red heart on a yellow background as the main image and selected a range of collagese placed along the top. Front cover design is, however, credited to Mark Cowne with layout and design by Darren Evans. I get a bit muddled by all these designers. All I know is the images on the front cover are by Peter Blake.

This isn’t the first time Blake’s red heart motif has appeared on a record cover. It turned up on the inner spread of Mark Knopfler’s Tracker LP in 2015.

Stay tuned for my report on the fiftieth anniversary version. I hope I’m still around then.

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Two New Klaus Voormann Titles Added to My Collection.

November 16, 2024 rockdoc999 3 Comments

I don’t need to work too hard to keep up to date with record releases that have cover art by Klaus Voormann. Thorsten Knublauch–expert on all things about the Beatles in Germany–is also an expert on KLaus Voormann’s art and has tipped me off about a couple of Voormann’s books as well as most of the Voormann covers I’ve collected in recent years. He tippped me off about Wolfgang Bernreuther’s 2023 Still a Fool album when it first appeared as a CD and a quick search of Discogs allerted me to a limited edition vinyl version that I finally got hold of this week.

The deluxe vinyl version includes a fourteen-track 180g LP, a bonus 12″ four-track maxi EP, a large poster of the cover art as well as a Klaus Voormann print. Apparently the deluxe album is limited to 1000 copies.

A couple of months ago Thorsten sent me a picture of a CD with Voormann art that I hadn’t seen before.

The CD was produced by the POP Akademie Baden-Würtemburg and released in 2014. It wasn’t listed on Discogs and I couldn’t find any information about it online. So, I googled the Pop Akademie and found their home page but no contact information. I asked Thorsten if he could try to contact them–my German is non-existent–so I reckoned he would have a better chance of finding a way to get in touch with them. Sure, enough, he not only contacted them but weedled a couple of CDs from them, too, and sent me one.

Now my collection of Klaus Voormann covers totals one hundred and one releases, of the largest of my cover collections–only my Andy Warhol cover collection is bigger.

One of the most common questions people ask me when talking about my record cover collection is “How many covers did so-and-so do?” When discussing Andy Warhol’s cover art, people generally know two covers–and are surprised to hear that he was responsible for almost eighty in his lifetime. Few know that Peter Blake has designed thirty seven covers–they might know Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and, perhaps, Paul Weller’s Stanley Road, but few others. And who knew that David Shrigley has been responsible for forty-one covers?

Anyway–Thank you Throrsten for keeping me up to date on Klaus Voormann’s recrd cover art! I’m truly grateful.

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Money on the Wall–Andy Warhol. Exhibition at Spritmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.

October 21, 2024 rockdoc999 2 Comments

What a week last week turned out to be! The impressive Money on the Wall–Andy Warhol exhibition opened on Friday, 18th October at Stockholm’s Spritmuseum. The official opening was preceded by a preview and dinner for those involved in the production on the Tuesday and a massive party for fans of the museum on the Thursday before the opening.

Let me tell you something about Spritmuseum. Absolut Vodka was a Swedish vodka product owned by the Swedish Vin & Sprit company until it was bought by the Pernod Ricard Group in 2008. Absolut Vodka had since 1985 engaged artists to make artworks “celebrating” Absolut Vodka. The first artist to do this was none other than Andy Warhol, who painted two large canvasses featuring the classic Absolut bottle (more about these later.) Warhol suggested that Keith Haring do the following year’s work and the Absolut Art Collection was born. It now includes 850 works.

The Art Collection was not included in the sale of Absolut Vodka to the Pernod Ricard Group and a home was needed for it and the building on Djurgården, between the famous Vasa Museum and what has become the Viking Museum was chosen as the new Spritmuseum, not only housing the Absolut Art Collection but also a permanent exhibition of the hustory of alcohol drinking in Sweden.Spritmuseum’s artostoc director is Mia Sundberg, who has curated many exciting shows and I have been a regular visitor to exhibitions at Sprituseum that she has curated or organised. The Andy Warhol “portrait” of the Absolut Vodka bottle has been a regular feature in many of these exhibitions.

A couple of years ago Mia Sundberg and an associate found the second, “lost” Warhol version of the Absolut bottle in a garage. This find prompted the idea of a major exhibition of Andy Warhol’s art at Spritmuseum to show the new, blue version for the first time.

Mia Sundberg suggested that Blake Gopnik, author of the 2020 definitive Warhol biography curate the exhibition. He suggested “art as business” as a theme for the exhibition starting from Warhol’s expressed interest in money both as a subject for his art and as a business.

Mia Sundberg contaced me a few months ago and asked if the museum could borrow twelve of my Warhol record covers and I provided her with a list of possible covers to choose from. I promised to deliver the selected covers when the time came and three weeks before the opening I took the tram ot to Djurgården and delivered them.

A week or so later, I got an email from Mia asking for six more covers. That caused a problem–all my other Warhol covers are in Linköping, a town two hour’s drive from Stockholm, being stored before travelling to a new Warhol exhibition in Borås next year. So, I had to get on a train and collect the six covers and deliver them ASAP. Here are all the covers I have lent to Spritmuseum:

“Soul Vacation” by Rats and Star signed in 1983 in Japan when Andy Warhol met the band.

In the end, the Rolling Stones promotional seve-inch and the RATFAB seven-inch were not included in the exhibiiton.

I had the honour/great good fortune to be seated beside Blake Gopnik at the preview dinner and we had a fascinating discussion. He kindly offfered to sign my copy of his Warhol biography.

I also asked him to sign the exhibition poster together with Mia Sundberg. Her signature, unfortunately, is difficult to see..

Money on the Wall is an impressive exhibition that runs until 27th April 2025. It’s really one of the better Warhol shows I’ve seen.

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recordart

William Eggleston–Musician and Photographer. Some Record Covers.

A Summary of Record Cover Art by the Artist Known as Banksy.

Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground & Nico.

March 27th 2025–kent’s Final Concert.

Richard Prince Does It Again! His Dylan Paintings.

From Warhol to Banksy — A Trip Through Record Covers.

A New David Shrigley Cover and Some Thoughts About Collecting Record Cover Art.

Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Forty Years on. Peter Blake Returns.

Two New Klaus Voormann Titles Added to My Collection.

Money on the Wall–Andy Warhol. Exhibition at Spritmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.

Record sleeve art by artists I collect