I have been planning a series of posts on the sources of Andy Warhol’s record cover art. Here comes the first of what I hope to be many. And I have chosen to start with some bootlegs – the source of the Mick Jagger portraits used on the “Emotional Tattoo” and “Mick Jagger in Japan” albums.
In 1975 Andy Warhol released a portfolio of ten silkscreen portraits of Mick Jagger. The portfolio was initially shown at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and Castelli made a folder of the ten portraits in postcard size (approximately 15 x 10 cm) for the launch. The portraits for the mini set were obviously photographed before Warhol or Jagger had signed them. After the launch, most of the mini portfolios were destroyed but a few were kept in Castelli’s safe and were sold at auction in 1999. A few have turned up signed by Warhol – but these all seem to have been signed later.
The Castelli mini portfolio of Warhol’s 1975 portraits of Mick Jagger.
At least six bootleg LPs have used versions of these prints as their cover art. These are four versions of “Emotional Tattoo”, the “Mick Jagger in Japan” set and the latest, “Lonely at the Top”, released in late 2014. I have already discussed the various incarnations of The Stones’ “Emotional Tattoo” LP, which was first released in 1983 on black vinyl. Sometime later copies on orange vinyl began to appear in an sleeve identical to that of the black vinyl version. The sleeve was of fairly thin card and the Jagger portrait was slightly blurred, pale and lacked either Jagger’s or Warhol’s signature.
The reverse of the sleeve had the initials E.T. and a picture of the Extraterestrial. I had to kick myself for my stupidity when fellow WCCC member, Guy Minnebach, enlightened me as to why E.T. came to figure on the cover. E.T., of course, are the initials of Emotional Tattoo! So obvious! E.T. was popular in 1983, but rather “old hat” in 2014 when the album was reissued in a sturdier cover with a clearer version of the same Jagger portrait on the front (top row, right in the above picture), but this time with Warhol’s signature.It is interesting to compare both covers. Some important differences appear in the portrait which make me suspect that the portrait on the 1983 version is comes from another source.
The 1983 (left) and 2014 (right) issues of Emotional Tattoo.
The image on the 1983 version is coarser, paler and somewhat smaller than that on the 2014 reissue. The red colour on Jaggers face is missing and the brown area on the left is paler. The whole picture is “grainier” as if almost pixellated. Could it be a early scan or a photo of a photo? Further, there are two bluish colour bars over Jagger’s eyes in the 1983 version but only a turquoise bar over the bridge of his nose in the 2014 version. Warhol’s drawing of Jagger’s hair is missing in the 1983 version and the whole image is paler than the original print. Up to now, I have not been able to trace a source for the 1983 version of Jagger’s portrait.
The rear cover of the 2014 version shows all ten prints.
The rear of the 2013 re-issue album. Cleaner and better designed than the original.
Here the portrait used on the cover is second from the right on the lower row of prints.
So, there are four versions of the Emotional Tattoo bootleg; two that use the 1983 portrait (black and orange vinyl issues) and two that use the 2014 portrait (black and green vinyl issues).
However, there is a fifth bootleg that uses another of the Warhol Mick Jagger portraits – the Suntory D.R.Y. beer promo “Mick Jagger in Japan, released in 1988.
Mick Jagger in Japan – The Suntory D.R:Y. Beer promo from 1988.
This portrait can be seen in the upper row on the rear of the 2014 Emotional Tattoo cover, second portrait from the right. On the Mick Jagger in Japan LP the portrait is in black and white and is boldly signed by Mick himself.
Last, but not least, there is the “Lonely at the Top” LP apparently released in Germany by Cat Records in a numbered edition of 55 copies. Cat Records seems to specialise in releasing Rolling Stones bootlegs.
Lonely at the Top album cover.
This image of Mick Jagger is identical to that included in the original portfolio of Jagger portraits and is identical to that used on the 2013 reissue of “Emotional Tattoo”. The image is crisp and has correct colour balance. The printers’ marks are visible on both sides of the image, which must have been taken from the signed portrait rather than from the mini cards as it shows Warhol’s signature at lower right.
I shall have to do some further research to try to find the original of the portrait used on the 1983 version of “Emotional Tattoo”. With a bit of luck, I shall return to this post with an update.
Readers of this blog will by now know that it deals with collecting record cover art by five designers
Andy Warhol
2. Peter Blake
3. Klaus Voormann
4. Damien Hirst
5. Banksy
When I sat down to put my thoughts together on the past year’s collecting I could not immediately recall any real high points. Then I started to look through my list of acquisitions and soon saw that 2014 had been another successful year. Let’s take things in order.
Andy Warhol
Well, I’ve managed to add twenty-one covers to my collection of Andy Warhol sleeves – surprisingly, the majority by The Rolling Stones. I have added three variations of the “Emotional Tattoo” bootleg cover. Frank Edwards very kindly sent me his extra copy of the 1983 version on orange vinyl in exchange for a set of “Giant Size $1.57 Each” covers and I bought the two variations of the 2014 numbered reissues of the album, one on black and the other on green vinyl.
Early in the year I had decided to go for the Rolling Stones singles with variations on the “Sticky Fingers” cover art. I had previously not been interested in singles or EPs but the wonderful RCA and RCA Camden covers with Warhol art have changed my mind. Anyway, fellow Warhol Cover Collectors Club member Guy Minnebach had tipped me off about the Mexican “Brown Sugar” singles (entitled “Azucar Morena” in Spanish). One was a two-track single and the other a three-track EP that happened to pop up on Ebay soon after he had told me about them.
The Rolling Stones “Azucar Morena” single in a fold out cover.
Rolling Stones “Azucar Morena” EP.
Then I had to add the original “Brown Sugar / Bitch / Let It Rock” single and a German pressing of the single, both of which used the “Sticky Fingers” rear cover photo on their rear covers. I also found a copy of the “Brown Sugar” shaped picture disc single to complete the set.
“Brown Sugar / Bitch” picture disc single.
When it comes to “classic” Warhol covers, I – like most collectors of Warhol’s cover art – had been looking for a cheap copy of the Lew White “Melodic Magic” EP. Well, I found the single on Discogs for $3.86 plus $12 shipping. Unfortunately, the record had no cover, but I bought another RCA Camden EP with the same rear cover list of other artists on the Camden label and peeled off the cover slick and stuck a Lew White cover slick in its place and – wonder of wonders – I have the Lew White EP, indistinguishable from the real thing – as it IS the real thing (almost) and all for about $40!
The next “classic” cover I managed to get hold of was the “Alexander Nevsky” re-issue sleeve with the green colour blocks. I already had both the original “blue” and the re-issue “orange” covers. Now all I need to find is the “pink” cover variation.
My three “Alexander Nevsky” covers.
When I first started to seriously collect Andy Warhol’s record cover art I saw Wilhelm Loibner’s “Ballet From Vienna” listed as a Warhol cover. The cover is a solarised photo credited to William Hughes. The rear cover has no image. Guy Minnebach informed me that the original copies of this LP had an inner sleeve with Warhol’s drawing of part of an orchestra, the same image as used o the cover of “4 Divertimenti”. The “Ballet From Vienna” cover appears on Ebay with monotonous regularity, but almost NEVER with the inner sleeve. However, one did turn up advertised from Spain in mint condition so I added it to my collection.
“Ballet From Vienna” Front of inner sleeve and front cover.
The other Warhol covers I managed to find included Diana Ross’ “Muscles” and “So Close” seven-inch singles and Billy Squier’s “Everybody Wants You” single.
And then there was an unusual CD that came up on Ebay in August. It was a Japanese promotional double CD with a line drawing of an ear and some arrows with the sole word “ear” beside the drawing. The handwriting was so like Andy Warhol’s that I took a chance and bought the set. Guy Minnebach immediately recognised the drawing as one of a series in a Warhol portfolio entitled “Playbook of you S Bruce 2:30-4:00”.
The other covers with Warhol art were two Velvet Underground bootlegs; “NYC” and “Orange Disaster” which both had pictures from Warhol’s Deaths and Disaster prints.
Peter Blake
There were no new record sleeve designs by Sir Peter Blake in 2014 but one old one did surface – the rejected cover for the group Landscape’s 1982 album “Manhattan Boogie-Woogie”. I saw an art gallery advert for a 2009 silkscreen of the cover image. I managed to find a high-resolution copy of the image and could resize it to LP-format and get several slicks printed. I stuck one slick of the front cover to one of the rear cover from the issued album and there was (my version of) the original cover restored.
Klaus Voormann
2014 saw many additions to my Voormann collection. The first cover I found was the last cover needed to complete my set of all twenty “Pioneers of Jazz” EPs. I had managed to find nineteen previously and been searching the Internet for Volume 18, the only one I lacked. In February I finally found it.
The next cover I found was George Harrison’s “When We Was Fab” promo box with the seven inch single. I already had the twelve-inch version and this was a nice addition. I felt I had just about completed my Voormann collection when I found some purely German releases: “Stinker” LP and seven inch single “von Drüben” by Marius Müller-Westernhagen.
Klaus Voormann’s first official cover was for a band called The Typhoons about which I have failed to find any information. Klaus has informed me that he never met the band and could only say that it was a German combo active in the early sixties. Heliodor records had released their cover of “Walk… Don’t Run”, the old Ventures hit. I had made a copy of the cover from an image on Klaus Voormann’s portfolio and I have seen a cover in poor condition sell on Ebay for over €100 but never seen the record until one turned up without the cover. So, true to form I bought the single to live in the cover I had made. I’m still looking for a proper cover…
I had already bought Klaus Voormann’s album “A Sideman’s Journey” on LP with a limited edition poster and eyed the limited edition box set, which included the album on CD, a DVD of the making of the album, a book of drawings and the poster – signed by Klaus. The box was expensive and I felt I did not really need it until a second-hand copy came up for half the normal price.
My friend, gallery-owner Daniel Brant found two copies of Voormann’s poster of John Lennon and Paul McCartney eating breakfast in the Abbey Road canteen during the “Revolver” sessions and he let me have a copy.
The last item needed to complete my Voormann collection was the CD of covers entitled “A Guide to Modern Country Living” by The Twang. There is, however, one cover that has only been released as a digital download and that is “Picasso’s Party” by a band called The Dogs of Bali. I have the download.
So, with the exception of a proper cover for the “Walk… Don’t Run” single, my Klaus Voormann Collection seems complete – at least until Klaus produces more cover designs.
Damien Hirst
This has probably been the year when I have obtained the largest number of Damien Hirst covers. There were three covers for Babyshambles, including the LP “Prequel to the Sequel” and the two singles from the album, “Nothing Comes From Nothing” and “Fall From Grace”.
Next was The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ LP “I’m With You” with the cover picture of a fly on a medicine capsule. Then Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros promo CD “Tony Adams (The Morning Sun)” and the very rare twelve inch EP “Yalla Yalla”. Somehow, Thirty Seconds to Mars had been allowed to use one of Damien Hirst’s spot paintings for the cover of their CD “Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams”. I got hold of the limited edition box set of the album thinking the box and LP cover were also designed by Damien Hirst – but they aren’t! However, the box set did include a book with the spot painting on the cover. I had to get the CD as well for completeness. A seller in Germany advertised a twelve-inch EP of Dave Stewart’s “Heart of Stone (The Dance Mixes)” which I had never heard of. I could not find a copy elsewhere so I bought his expensive copy. Then I found out there was another remix EP of “Heart of Stone (The Sure Is Pure Remixes)”. That one was easy to find and did not cost an arm and a leg.
My final Damien Hirst find for the year was the USB promotional version of The Hours’ “See the Light” album. A nice little skull-shaped USB stick.
Banksy
I have not been able to find any new records with Banksy images in 2014. My collection of Bansky records has been touring Sweden throughout the year and I sincerely hope that they will return home in 2015.
Meanwhile, I wish all my readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year – and wish you all success with your collecting in 2015.
I must have gone bonkers! I have wasted a couple of days compiling a list of seven inch 45 RPM EPs on the RCA Camden label. “Why?”, I hear you ask. Well, Andy Warhol designed covers for a couple of them and some collectors have submitted some other Camden EP covers, wondering whether they could also be by Warhol – usually they are not. So, I began to go through all the RCA Camden EPs that I could find to see if there could be any so far unrecognised Warhol covers among them.
The RCA Camden label was/is a budget subsidiary of the Radio Company of America (RCA, to you.) RCA invented the seven inch 45 RPM format and tried to introduce it as an alternative to 78 RPM discs in about 1949 – the year after Columbia Records introduced the LP. Ultimately, RCA was also forced to adopt the LP format, but continued to release seven inch EPs throughout the 1950s and 1960s. As far as I can ascertain Camden EPs were given catologue numbers starting at CAE 100 and the last that I have been able to identify is CAE 448.
I have scoured Discogs and Ebay and made Internet searches and I have thus far been able to find and list 105 Camden EPs and will continue to add more as I find them. I have been able to find pictures of the majority of their covers, too. But so far no new Warhol designs. But, not wishing to waste my hard work, I will share my list with you here.
Cat No—–Artist———————–Title—————————————–
CAE 100 The Cosmopolitan Orchestra – World Wide Favorites
CAE 101 Warwick Symphony Orchestra – Sibelius: Finlandia / Wagner: Die Walküre
CAE 104 Festival Concert Orchestra – Vienna Jubilee
CAE 106 Festival Concert Orchestra – Johann Strauss, Jr. / Josef Strauss – Loves of the Poet Waltz, Opus 38.
CAE 108 Kenny Baker – Beloved Songs
CAE 110 The Goldman Band – Sousa Marches
CAE 113 Ray Kinney & His Coral Islanders – Blue Hawaii
CAE 114 Texas Jim Robertson – Home on the Range
CAE 115 Joe Reichman with Rhythm Accompaniments – Make Believe Piano Moods
CAE 118 Capitol City Four – Let’s Harmonize (Barber Shop Ballads)
CAE 124 Caroleers & Yuletide Choristers Caroleers & Yuletide Choristers
CAE 125 Carollers & Yuletide Choristers Christmas Day
CAE 126 Lew White – Christmas Time
CAE 127 Richard Crooks with Orchestra – Vintage Blue Ribbons
CAE 131 Harold Coates & His Orchestra – Waltzes You Love
CAE 133 Donald Dame Lonesome – That’s All / A Little Love, a Little Kiss / Kathleen Mavourneen / I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen
CAE 135 Festival Concert Orchestra – World Wide Favorites
CAE 142 Festival Concert Orchestra – Favorite Encores
CAE 143 Lew White – Organ Cameos
CAE 151 Festival Concert Orchestra – Aïda Ballet Suite/ Coppelia Ballet Suite
CAE 158 Johann Strauss Jr – Waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr
CAE 159 Harold Coates’ Orchestra – Top Show Tunes
CAE 162 Festival Concert Orchestra – Viennese Concert Waltzes
CAE 163 George M. Cohan / Harold Coates Orchestra – George M. Cohan Hits
CAE 164 Ray Kinney & His Coral Islanders – Hawaiian Favorites
CAE 166 The Goldman Band – Manhattan Beach / Semper Fidelus / Fairest of the Fair / High School Cadets
CAE 172 Harold Coates’ Orchestra, Chorus & Soloists – Song Hits from Frank Loesser’s Guys & Dolls. Vol 1
CAE 179 Globe Symphony Orchestra – Handel: The Faithful Shepherd Suite
CAE 185 Richard Crooks – Songs of Faith
CAE 187 Warwick Symphony Orchestra – Tchaikovsy: Dances from the Nutcracker Suite
CAE 188 Warwick Symphony Orchestra – Debussy: Clair de Lune / Sibelius: Valse Triste / Schubert: Moment Musical
CAE 193 Lew White & His Orchestra – Melodic Magic
CAE 208 Richard Crooks – Christmas Songs
CAE 209 Charles M. Courboin – Ave Maria / Ave Verum / Silent Night / Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
CAE 214 Festival Concert Orchestra – Strauss Encores
CAE 223 Cosmopolitan Orchestra / Harian Ramsey – Latin Rhythms for Dancing
CAE 224 Mindy Carson with Orchestra – The Touch of Your Lips / Together / The Best Things in Life Are Free / You Are the Cream in My Coffee
CAE 244 William Primrose – Encores by William Primrose
CAE 225 Don Cornell with Orchestra – Don Cornell Sings
CAE 227 Morton Downey – Sings
CAE 229 Harold Coates Orchestra – Show Tunes That Linger, Vol 1
CAE 231 Dick Liebert – Musical Dreams
CAE 251 William Primrose William – Primrose Plays
CAE 256 Warwick Symphony Orchestra – Eight Russian Folk Songs
CAE 259 Xavier Cugat – That Latin Beat!
CAE 260 Johnny Desmond with The Page Cavanagh Trio – Guilty / I’ll Close My Eyes / Just Plain Love / If It’s True
CAE 263 Snooky Larson with Johnny Guarnieri & His Orchestra – Earth Angel / Sincerely / Tweedle Dee / Unsuspecting Heart
CAE 265 Guy Lombardo & His Canadians – Guy Lombardo Plays
CAE 268 Tommy Dorsey – Plays, Vol 1
CAE 271 Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra – Easter Parade / Baby Face / Begin the Beguine/ Pretty Baby
CAE 279 Frank Parker – Sings for You
CAE 280 Lena Horne – St. Louis Blues
CAE 284 Frank Parker – Great Religious Songs
CAE 285 Jack Haskell / Jeannie McKeon with Johnnny Guarnieri – Today’s Hits
CAE 288 Fran Warren – Sings Harold Arlen Songs
CAE 289 Giselle MacKenzie – Today’s Hits
CAE 291 Paul Wing – Favorite Stories for Children
CAE 299 Kukla, Fran & Ollie – Here We Are
CAE 301 Charlie Spivak & His Orchestra, Honey Drippers & Audrey Morris – Today’s Hits
CAE 304 Bob Carroll with Alvy West & His Orchestra – Today’s Hits
CAE 305 Jack Haskell / Jose Melis &His Trio – Today’s Hits
CAE 308 Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians – Guy Lombardo Favorites
CAE 310 Jesse Crawford – Plays for You
CAE 312 Wayne King – The Waltz King
CAE 315 Frank Parker – Sings Songs of Easter
CAE 320 Freddy Martin & His Orchestra Dance – Party with Freddy Martin & His Orchestra
CAE 321 Wayne King – Let’s Dance!
CAE 323 Chopin – Josef Lhevinne Plays Chopin
CAE 327 Wayne King – The Wayne King Style
CAE 329 Tex Beneke & His Orchestra – Today’s Hits
CAE 330 Earl Sheldon The Honey Dreamers
CAE 332 Polly Stevens – Today’s Hits
CAE 337 Johnny Guarnieri & His Group with The Townsmen – Friendly Persuasion / The Bus Stop Song / Just Walking in the Rain / Blueberry Hill
CAE 345 Xavier Cugat & His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra – That Latin Bea!
CAE 346 Tony Mottola & His All-Stars – Cocktail Time
CAE 348 Henri René & His Orchestra – Pretend
CAE 350 The Delta Rhythm Boys – Dry Bones / September Song / My Blue Heaven / St. Louis Blues
CAE 352 Freddy Martin & His Orchestra – Make Believe
CAE 354 Tex Beneke & His Orchestra – Star Dust / Lazy Bones / Georgia On My Mind / Rockin’ Chair
CAE 354 Dick Liebert at the Organ – Musical Reflections
CAE 358 Ralph Flanagan & His Orchestra – Dancing Down Broadway
CAE 372 Domenico Savino & The Rome Festival Orchestra – O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis)
CAE 375 Jack Say & His Orchestra – The Best from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella
CAE 376 Dinah Shore – Dinah Shore
CAE 377 Tex Beneke & His Orchestra – Swinging Marches
CAE 380 Lena Horne – Lena Horne Sings The Blues
CAE 388 Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra – Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland
CAE 400 Tex Beneke & His Orchestra – Petticoats of Portugal / Hey! Jealous Lover / Singing the Blues /
Tra La La
CAE 403 George de Witt – Today’s Hits
CAE 410 Perry Como – Dream Along With Me
CAE 411 Little Richard – Every Hour / I Brought It on Myself / Ain’t Nothin’ Happenin’ / Why Did You Leave Me?
CAE 416 Little Richard – Little Richard
CAE 417 Red Callender – The Red Callender Sextet
CAE 419 Art Tatum – Art Tatum
CAE 423 Buddy Morrow & His Orchestra – Let’s Have a Dance Party!
CAE 429 Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra – Ripplin’ Rhythm
CAE 431 Johnny Guarnieri & His Group – Side by Side
CAE 433 George de Witt /Earl Sheldon & Orchestra – Young Blood / Love Letters in the Sand / Bye Bye Love / White
Sports Coat
CAE 434 Peter Ricardo & His Calypso – Take Her to Jamaica
CAE 441 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Jivin’ the Vibres / Drum Stomp / Piano Stomp / Muskrat Ramble
CAE 442 Al Goodman – South Pacific
CAE 443 Perry Como – Perry Como
CAE 446 Little Richard – Little Richard Rocks!
CAE 448 Dave Martin & His Group with The Strollers – The Stroll
————————————————————————————————————-
To date, only two Camden EPs have been identified that have cover art by Andy Warhol. These are: CAE 158 “Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr.” and CAE 193, Lew White – “Melodic Magic”. The “Waltzes” EP has already been included in Paul Maréchal’s cataogue raisonné öover Warhol’s record covers and the Lew White will appear in the second edition, which will be published in 2015.
Currently, there is a copy of CAE 188 “Debussy – Clair de Lune / Sibelius – Valse Triste / Schubert – Moment Musical” on Ebay as a possible Warhol cover at an asking price $199. It is obviously NOT by Warhol. CAE 214 “Strauss Encores” has also been suggested to have been illustrated by Warhol, but combined expertise has concluded that while the shoes and boots are very much in the Warhol style, the heels are not right.
Camden CAE 158 – Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr.
I wish readers much joy from this list – although I cannot imagine why anyone would be interested! Merry Christmas to all my readers
Although Andy Warhol designed or illustrated over sixty record covers during his life, his reputation as a cover designer is mainly based on his two best-known sleeve designs: the “banana” cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico and the zip cover for The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” album. Of course, Warhol also designed The Stones’ “Love You Live” cover and a greatest hits cover that Mick Jagger apparently rejected and which seems to have be lost. When it comes to bootleg albums The Stones are second only to The Velvet Underground when it comes to the number that use Andy Warhol’s art.
There are at least four Stones bootlegs that use Warhol’s art. These are “Emotional Tattoo”, “Live at Laxington”, “Mick Jagger in Japan” and the box set “El Mocambo 1977 +”. The first three of these all use one of Warhol’s Mick Jagger portraits originally sold in 1975 in a folio of ten silkscreens signed by both Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger. I had the opportunity to buy one of these sets at that time but turned them down as I thought the prints were ugly! A miss as gross as Patricia Caulfield’s refusal to accept two sets of Warhol’s “Flowers” as compensation for him using her photo as the basis for the paintings/prints . She demanded money instead!
Emotional Tattoo
This bootleg was originally released in Germany in December 1983 and included tracks recorded during sessions in 1981 and 1982 for the albums “Emotional Rescue” and “Tattoo You”. The cover was rather poorly printed with Warhol’s portrait of Mick Jagger on the front and a picture of ET on the reverse. Guy Minnebach tells me that ET was chosen for the cover as from an abbreviation of the record’s title and the fact that the film was very popular at the time the record came out.
The rear of the 1985 cover with ET.The original 1985 front cover with the unsigned portrait.
The 1983 release was originally on black vinyl but sometime later copies appeared on orange vinyl housed in a cover identical to the black vinyl release and with the same catalogue number ID 1266.
Late in 2013, or perhaps early in 2014, a new version of the album appeared. Copies on green vinyl appeared on Ebay first from Portugal. This new pressing is a numbered edition of 350 and has the catalogue number RST-ST 01. The cover printing is of much better quality and the front cover portrait of Mick Jagger is now signed by Andy Warhol. ET has been banished from the rear and all ten of Warhol’s portraits of Jagger are pictured. There are also copies on black vinyl also in a numbered edition of 350 with an identical cover to the green vinyl issue. There is no indication on the cover as to which vinyl colour is included.
The front cover of the 2013 album. Note the improved colouring and Warhol’s signature at the bottom.The rear of the 2013 re-issue album. Cleaner and better designed than the original.
It is possible that there are two editions of 350 copies each; one each for the green and black vinyl releases. I have not been able to ascertain whether there are, in fact, 700 albums in the new series or only a single series of 350. As I write this (December 2014) copies of these new pressings have been selling for around €200 each for both the green and black vinyl versions, but prices seem to be coming down. Copies of the 1983 issue have been priced at $300-500, which, in my opinion, is ridiculous.
2008 – Forrest, Richard -“Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol” – Exhibition catalogue . Piteå Museum.
2008 – Maréchal, Paul – “Andy Warhol: The Record Covers, 1949-1987. Catalogue Raisonné” – Prestel. pp 236.
2008 – Forrest, Richard – “His Art on His Sleeve” – Record Collector, December 2008.
2011 – Martinelli, Bianca – “Andy Warhol Music Show”. Castelvecchi, pp 256 (in Italian).
There were two record shops selling albums imported from America in central London from the late sixties on; One Stop Records in South Moulton Street and Musicland in Berwick Street. Well, it all started for me in the summer of ’67 when I went into One Stop Records – behind HMV’s Oxford Street store. I was a regular visitor there but never did learn the names of the extremely knowledgeable guys who worked there. They sort of knew me as a regular customer, and one summer’s day showed me an album with a banana on the cover. The album was by a band I’d never heard of apparently (according to the record cover) called Andy Warhol. I was corrected that the band was The Velvet Underground & Nico and that the record was something completely psychedelic. So I bought it. My copy was, I was to find out much later, a second pressing – with Eric Emerson’s features on the rear cover airbrushed out. I really did not enjoy the music at first, it was way too jangly and difficult and I was definitely not enamoured of the druggy sound. The next year I was given a US import copy of The Velvet’s album “White Light/White Heat” with the skull cover.
Fast forward four years to April 1971. The pre-release hype for The Rolling Stones’ new album, Sticky Fingers – the first to be released on their own Rolling Stones label – made me dash down to Musicland in Berwick Street to buy a copy in the first week after it was released. The cover, with its working zip, was revolutionary. So, I had three records with cover art by Andy Warhol. In 1971 the Tate Gallery (now The Tate Britain) had an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s art. My particular memory of this retrospective is the Flowers paintings, which I fell in love with.
I moved to Sweden in the autumn of 1971. Ten years later in October 1981, Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum hosted an exhibition of record cover art, entitled simply “Skivomslag” (Record Covers). The exhibition had been put together by Aarhus kunstmuseum and included (assuming I have counted correctly) 717 covers. In the exhibition catalogue, Bo Nilsson wrote what I read as the first description of Warhol’s record cover art and his essay included pictures of seven covers; two by Kenny Burrell, Johnny Griffin’s “The Congregation”, The Velvet Underground & Nico (in colour) and The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” and “Love You Live”. Nilsson also mentions “The Nation’s Nightmare” and the Count Basie album, which he says was entitled “Portrait”. Those were, apparently, all the covers known to be by Warhol at that time. There is an alternative catalogue entitled “Ytans innehåll” (approximately: The surface’s content), with a similar “banana” cover but with the banana’s stem peeled bact to reveal the top of the pink banana beneath. I have the exhibition poster beautifully autographed by Warhol.
On Father’s Day (in Sweden, celebrated in November) the following year (1982) I was given a copy of Diana Ross’ LP “Silk Electric” with it’s Warhol cover. My fourth Warhol cover. Now I had a collection! From then on I decided I would collect every record cover with Andy Warhol’s art. After all, I did not think it would be too difficult – there could not be too many – or so I thought.
There were several more records with cover art by Andy Warhol released in the 1980s, Paul Anka’s “The Painter”, Aretha Franklin’s “Aretha”, John Lennon’s “Menlove Ave” and it was easy to collect these. I even managed to collect all four colour variations of Debbie Harry’s “Rockbird” album, thinking that it had been designed by Warhol. I assumed that the photo of Debbie was one of those Warhol had taken for his Interview magazine. It was only much later that I found out the photo was by Canadian couple “Guzman” (Constance Hansen & Russell Peacock) and that the cover was really designed by Stephen Sprouse.
The advent of the Internet made searching for record covers easy: no more dragging round secondhand record shops in the hope of finding the odd cover I needed. I soon found out that there were many covers designed or illustrated by Warhol from before The Velvet Underground & Nico album. By about 2005 I had found the Kenny Burrell and Johnny Griffin albums with Warhol’s drawings as well as the “Cool Gabriels” LP. Somehow I got to know Guy Minnebach via the ‘Net. He tipped me off on a number of covers such as the Smetterling recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes, Carlos Chavez’s “A Program of Mexican Music”, “Alexander Nevsky” and even sold me his duplicates of “The Nation’s Nightmare”, “WIlliam Tell Overture” 10″ LP. Guy also told me about Klaus Gier’s 2001 German thesis entitled “Andy Warhol’s Record- und Cover Design. I managed to get a copy in May 2008. The covers pictured in the thesis came from collector Klaus Knop’s collection, which included a copy of “Giant Size $1.57 Each” numbered 21/75 pictured on the book’s front and rear cover.
The next book I bought was the giant 320 x 420 x 55 mm “Andy Warhol: Giant Size” published by Phaidon in January 2006. This was the first book that I had come across that included some record covers in a review of Warhol’s art. The book’s title, while confirming the original editions huge dimensions, it also alludes to Warhol’s famous 1963 record cover “Giant Size $1.57 Each”. There was, of course, a picture of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” and also Nico’s “Chelsea Girl” cover and the Count Basie cover.
Andy Warhol’s Giant Size, published in a giant format.
Though originally published in 2003, I did not buy Nick de Ville’s beautifully researched, large format book “Album – Style and Image in Sleeve Design” until February 2007. Nick de Ville is, of course, a famous cover designer having been involved in designing many of Roxy Music’s covers. His is one of the best books to document great record cover design in a chronological manner, from the beginnings of record production via Alex Steinweiss and his protegé Jim Flora up to the 1990s with a double spread devoted to Andy Warhol. The Left hand page shows “The Velvet Underground & Nico” almost full size while smaller pictures on the right hand page show Kenny Burrell’s “Kenny Burrell”, John Lennon’s “Menlove Ave”, The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” and Diana Ross’ “Silk Electric”. De Ville also mentions Aretha Franklin’s “Aretha, Paul Anka’s “The Painter” and the Stones’ “Love You Live” but seems unaware of Warhol’s record covers from before the “The Velvet Underground & Nico” cover.
The catalogue from Moderna Museet’s exhibition “Andy Warhol: 706 Items in 2 Hours 56 Minutes”.
Stockholm’s Moderna Museet hosted the Warhol retrospective that I had seen at The Haywood Gallery in London in May 2008 and I bought the catalogue “Andy Warhol – A Guide to 706 Items in 2 Hours 56 Minutes”. If I remember correctly, there were 26 album covers shown at the exhibition and the catalogue shows twelve of them. By that time I already had more than twenty six in my collection!
From 1999, I had been associated with the Piteå Dansar & Ler city festival held on the last weekend of July each year. Jan Wimander, for a time the festival’s CEO, and I had discussed putting on an “art exhibition” to broaden the festival’s appeal. Jan knew about my collection of Warhol covers and we discussed showing them at Piteå’s museum, which happened to be just outside the festival area. So, we planned to put on the exhibition to coincide with 2008’s festival. There were several important covers that I did not have to make the list of covers complete and I explained the project to Guy. He was reticent at first, as he had been told of the upcoming “Warhol Live!” exhibition to open in Montreal, Canada, in October 2008. But he agreed to help Jan and me and sent several rare covers to me to be photographed for inclusion in our exhibition. I wrote a catalogue text and catalogues were printed. The exhibition was to run from 23rd July to 31st August 2008. Andy Warhol’s birthday was 6th August and in 2008 he would have been 80, so the exhibition was called “Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!” Guy Minnebach not only lent me the missing covers, but came to help with the hanging of the covers and to be at the exhibition’s opening.
After the festival I rewrote the catalogue and submitted an article to Record Collector Magazine which was to be published in the December number. However, a month after the “Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!” exhibition closed, a friend told me about a Swedish band called RATFAB (Roland and the Flying Albatross Band) that had had a single released with cover art by Andy Warhol! A sensation! I found two copies quite quickly and sent one to Guy as a “thank you” for his help with the exhibition. I managed to add the cover to the Record Collector article – and the news was out. Early in 2009 I managed to find a third copy but the price had already escalated. This I donated to The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Later, Matt Wrbican, Chief Archivist at the museum wanted a copy of the “Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!” exhibition catalogue, which I also sent.
Paul Maréchal had published his catalogue raisonné of Andy Warhol’s record covers to coincide with the “Warhol Live!” exhibiiton at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts which ran from 25th September 2008 to 18th January 2009.
Paul Maréchal’s book “Andy Warhol – The Record Covers”
Maréchal’s book was a watershed. Although I had a good overview of Warhol’s known record covers, Maréchal had discovered at least one that no one else had seen. He included the promotional box set “Night Beat” – a recording of a pilot radio show about the nighttime activities of a fictitious Chicago reporter. But the RATFAB cover was not included as I had not found out about it until after the book was published. So, there were obviously more Warhol covers yet to be identified.
About this time I found another book that pictured twenty six of Andy Warhol’s record covers. This was Valerio Deho’s “Sound Zero”, from 2007, which had a 3-D picture of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” cover on its front. View the book full on and you see the cover picture with the banana skin on; hold it at an angle and you see the peeled banana! This book was the catalogue of an exhibition held in Merano, Italy, between 9th September 2006 and 7th January 2007 entitled “Art and Music from Pop to Street Art”. The exhibition included Klaus Knop’s collection of Warhol covers (the same collection that Klaus Gier had access to when writing his thesis) as well as a great selection of psychedelic posters from San Fransisco and some street art (though no Banksy).
Sometime around 2006 I bought a copy of a recording of a “Program of Mexican Music” on a 10 inch LP from 1949 illustrated by Andy Warhol. Fellow Warhol Cover Collectors Club member Niklas Lindberg had found a booklet published by the Museum of Modern Art in New York where the concert was held to coincide with an exhibition of “Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art”. The booklet provided an introduction to the works played at the concerts and, surprisingly when considering that it was published in 1940, was easy to find on Amazon and very cheap. So I decided to buy a copy. On page thirteen, was a picture of Aztec musicians playing traditional instruments that had been drawn in the Spanish conquistadors’ Codex Florentinus. Warhol must have used this picture as the basis for his record cover illustration.
Fellow Warhol Cover Collectors Club members Niklas Lindberg and Guy Minnebach tipped me off about an Italian book purporting to be “La prima “discografia” illustrata dedicata al genio della Pop Art” (the first illustrated discography of dedicated to the genius of Pop Art, my translation) by Bianca Martinelli. This book contains photos of Warhol’s covers, many of which are take from Paul Maréchal’s book. It also contains many errors. How does The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” come to be included. I suppose one could excuse the inclusion of Grant Green’s “Matador” cover, as it DOES look like a Warhol blotted line drawing, but it is by Japanese artists Tanaka and Fujiyama. And Martinelli thinks the “Night Beat” box is by Sam Cooke (admittedly, Sam Cooke DID release an album called “Night Beat”, but it WAS NOT this one)! She also suggests that “The Nation’s Nightmare” came in two colour variations, one brown and one grey. The grey cover is probably only a bleached version of the original brown.
The Museum of Modern Art’s booklet “Mexican Music” published to accompany the concerts held there in May 1940.
The most recent Warhol cover that I picked up is an unusual CD released in Japan in 1996. It is a double CD with two Mozart recordings on one CD and Mahler’s 5th Symphony on the other. The cover illustration, also printed on each CD, is of an ear, several arrows pointing to the ear and the single word “ear” in Warhol’s handstyle. Guy Minnebach immediately recognised the drawing as coming from a book drawn by Warhol in the 1950s entitled “Play Book of You S Bruce 2:30 – 4:00”. This was a drawing block which Warhol drew at Steven Bruce’s cafe/restaurant Serendipity III in New York, which Warhol often visited. One afternoon he filled his drawing block with portraits of Bruce, the iceman who happened to make a delivery while Andy was there and various features of Bruce’s anatomy, including one ear. The drawing lock had been sold at Sotheby’s for £111000 in 2008 and the drawings had been shown in an exhibition in Germany in 1989 and a book published with all the drawings to accompany the exhibition.
“Play Book of You S Bruce 2:30 – 4:00”. Edition Auerbach 1989.Drawing of Steven Bruce’s ear in “Play Book of You S Bruce 2:30 – 4:00”.
I’m not the jealous type. I really don’t need any more stuff. But sometimes when I’m doing some Ebay searches I come across something that arouses desire within my normally cool and collected breast. This time I was looking through some books by the art critic Rainer Crone as a friend had expressed an interest in his book of Andy Warhol’s early art, entitled “A Picture Show by the Artist – Early Works 1942-1962”.
Imagine my surprise – and excitement – to see that the book was not only signed but dedicated – and to ME! Well, not actually to ME but to my namesake. “Thou shalt not covet…” says the Commandment. But, i’m sorry ti have to admit that I do. I wonder if the seller would accept an offer of $45.00?
Both the Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones hve been well served by Andy Warhol art. And not only on official releases but even on numerous bootlegs. When it comes to The Stones there was the 1985 “Emotional Tattoo” LP with one of Warhol’s portraits of Mick Jagger on the cover and the “Live in Laxington” LP (1979).
There are several Velvet Underground bootlegs that use Warhol’s art on their covers, ranging from the “Screen Test: Falling in Love With the Falling Spikes” (with three different colour variations on the colour), “More Bermuda Than Pizza” (1987) the “Paris 1990” album (1991), “Unripened” (2007) and “Live at the Gymnasium” (2011).
This year (2013) Red Tongue Records in Germany have released a lavish box set with soundboard recordings from the two Stones concerts at Toronto’s El Mocambo Tavern on 4th and 5th March 1977 and the concerts at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium on 22nd April 1979 as well as some studio tracks by Keith Richards recorded at Sound Interchange Recording Studios, Toronto, 12-13 March 1977. The two concerts at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium in Ottowa were put on as a charity show in aid of the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) as a condition after Keith Richard’s trial for possession of 5 grammes of heroin.
The box contains 36 tracks on both four 180 g vinyl records (3 white vinyl with some marbling and one red vinyl LP) and on 2 CDs. The box cover has a montage of Mick Jagger poking his tongue out at a girl – probably his daughter Jade* – who reciprocates. The box contains a folder with the same image. On the reverse of the box and the folder is a compoisite picture of two Mick Jaggers facing each other, over which the track titles are given.
These portraits come from a series of prints. Here are the originals:
It is perhaps quite logical that the album aret uses images like those on he Rolling Stones’ “Love You Live” album as four tracks, “Mannish Boy”, Crackin’ Up”, Little Red Rooster” and “Around and Around” recorded at El Mocambo were mixed down and released as side 3 of that album.
The box is released as a limited edition of 700 copies and costs around SEK 1000 – which I don’t consider too exorbitant.
*Thanks to Guy Minnebach for information on these images.
Followers of this blog will be happy to learn that I silkscreened T-shirts with the RATFAB design in sizes from ‘S’ to ‘XXL’. I’m pretty happy with the results. I also managed to print a couple more shirts with the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” design.
I have now packed the sets of “Giant Size $1.57 Each” covers, the “Night Beat” boxes, the t-shirts and diverse other goodies and sent them off to my fellow Warhol Cover Club members. I hope the packages arrive in time for Christmas and that everyone is happy with my work!
I have also completed my “Progressive Piano” ten inch LP and seven inch EP set. My first attempts at making a cover for this unreleased record were for a ten inch cover and a single seven inch sleeve. All I had were copies of the lithographs of the cover images for both ten and seven inch versions, but no liner notes for the ten inch or reverse for the seven inch cover.
So I set about writing liner notes and making a layout for the reverse of the ten inch. I had to find, copy and add RCA logos, catalogue numbers and place them as they would have appeared had the record actually been released. My elementary Photoshop skills were not really up to doing a one hundred percent perfect job. But after much reworking I was satisfied and printed up slicks to glue to my already made card sleeves. Then all that remained was to fix the cover slick over the front of the cover. Voilá, a complete cover.
I thought making the seven inch sleeve would be a doddle. I printed the cover slick for the seven inch and copied the rear from another RCA seven inch EP and put the two together.
But – this seven inch cover listed eight titles. And everyone knows that only four tracks will fit on a a seven inch EP. So this release would have had to be a DOUBLE EP. Oooh! So it was back to the drawing board.
This time I took the cover image from the ten inch version (I still can’t explain my reasoning on this), reduced it to the correct size for a seven inch and used the same rear cover design as I had for the single EP.
I had no inner liner notes so the inner spread was blank.
This, I decided, was totally unsatisfactory. I had to at least add a tracklisting and some liner notes if the reproduction was to be at all convincing. I went through a number of RCA gatefold EP sets and found an Ames Brothers EP from the early fifties that contained a list of other “Popular Long Play and Extended Play” titles, which I felt could be modified to suit my purposes. Said and done! I remade the layout of the liner notes I had already produced for the ten inch version of “Progressive Piano” and scaled them down and replaced the track listing. Then paired the liner notes with the list of popular jazz and classical titles that I had made after the list on the Ames Brothers’ EP.
Then I made copies of the reverse from the seven inch “William Tell” double EP set – a design I have seen used on several of RCA’s gatefold seven inch EP sets and glued that to pre-cut cards in the form of a gatefold. Then stuck the inner within and – hey presto! – a more authentic gatefold “Progressive Piano” EP set.
Finally, this design satisfied my obessional desire for accuracy.
And, as if all this wasn’t enough, I received a copy of the Velvet Underground’s 1993 live album entitled “Velvet Redux – Live MCMXCIII” recorded in Paris on 15th-17th June 1993. The concert was released on double CD, abridged single CD, video and Laserdisc. I bought the laserdisc version as it has a 12″ LP-style cover.
There are not many record or CD covers with an Andy Warhol connection that I am missing. I have saved myself a few thousand dollars by making my own copies of the rarest covers. I have the “Night Beat” box, “Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr.” and “Progressive Piano” covers in addition to all the other early Andy Warhol record sleeve art that I have collected.
Now, I need to think up some new projects to occupy my thoughts over the coming holidays.
Andy Warhol produced the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” sleeve in five variations with the help of Billy Klüver, who had recorded the interviews with the artists involved in the “Popular Images” exhibition at the (now defunkt) Washington Gallery of Modern Art that ran from 18th April until 2nd June, 1963. The exact history is not known. A first edition of 75 sleeves with black image screened directly onto the coated stock record sleeve, each signed and numbered on verso was produced in 1963. He could even have printed the coloured covers at the same time or, having saved the screen, made them in 1971. Editions of 75 copies each, silkscreening the black “Giant Size” image onto sleeves that he had first spray painted. There were yellow, green, red and orange editions. These were sold in 1971.
Many covers have included the record from the “Popular Images” exhibition, possibly because Billy Klüver had a stock of the LPs. The record, comprising interviews with all eleven artists whose works were shown at the exhibition was recorded by Billy Klüver and originally came in a cover designed by Jim Dine. It seems, however, that the “Giant Size” cover was not shown at the exhibition.
Copies of the cover with or without the record have changed hands for anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000, making them unattainable for most collectors of Andy Warhol’s record sleeve art.
However, the technique should be easy to replicate and the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” image is easy to find and reproduce. All that is needed is the right materials. Sufficient 12-inch record sleeves, spray paints, a silk screen and emulsion for transferring the image from overhead film to the screen. Then acrylic paint to screen the image onto the pre-prepared covers.
So, having foraged for all the materials I set to work and spent 2 1/2 hours spraypainting record sleeves in the four colours.
Until all four colours were sprayed.
I had put my name down to go a silkscreen course and was one of six “pupils” to participate on the weekend of October 12-13th. I intended to make ten sets of five covers and silkscreen the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” design onto two T-shirts.
The silkscreen with the “Giant Size $1.57 Each” image in reverse together with the overhead from which the image was taken.
Then I got down to silkscreening the covers, beginning with the yellow ones. Orange, green and red covers followed and finally, when had learned the technique better, I screened the white, unsprayed sleeves. I had ordered 50 covers – so no room for error. Unfortunately there were a few poor screens so I will need more covers to complete the ten sets I had planned.
The five members of our informal Warhol Cover Collectors Club have contributed to the production of these covers and will each receive a set of all five colours,
Silkscreening the first cover.The first yellow sleeves screened.One set of five screened sleeves.
In my recent list of the rarest Warhol record covers, I put the “Night Beat” promotional box of three 45 RPM EPs at number 2. Top of the list is the “Progressive Piano” cover, which was never released. However, there is – as far as I know – only one known copy of the “Night Beat” box; the one in Paul Maréchal’s collection. Not even The Warhol Museum has a copy. Matt Wrbican, Chief Archivist at The Warhol, told me in a recent email, that the radio stations that received the “Night Beat” boxes would, in all probability, have thrown them away once the episode had been broadcast, which probably means that very few have survived. Indeed, I have never seen a copy appear on Ebay or in art galleries.
So what is a poor collector to do if he/she wants to complete a collection? The answer, of course, is to make a copy. Using the picture in Paul Maréchal’s book as a starting point and with the help of my daughter who performed some Photoshop magic and Urban Westling, at Urban Print, who did some further tweeking in InDesign and printed the result, I made a slick that would cover a standard EP box. Once I had the slick it only took about fifteen mintes to glue it over the old, discarded box of EPs and the result was way beyond my expectations.
The “Night Beat” box
My main problem has been finding suitable boxes here at home in order to supply all the members of The Warhol Cover Club with their own boxes. Founder member, Kevin Kinney and his wife have volunteered to find more boxes for me and as soon as they arrive I will make more boxes.
recordart 