Tag Archives: Bryan Ferry

More Kate Moss on Record Covers.

I really felt as though I had exhausted the subject of record covers showing Kate Moss‘ portrait in my previous post. No sooner had the proverbial ink dried than two more covers appeared. The first is a 7-inch single-sided EP by American punk/hardcore/grunge band Vomit, entitled “Kate Moss” on the Give Praise record label.

Now, a search of Discogs will reveal more than ten bands that have used the name Vomit. The Vomit in question seem to only have released this one “Kate Moss” EP.

Vomit-Kate-Spread
The gatefold cover of Vomit’s 7″ single-sided EP “Kate Moss” with at least thirteen portraits of Kate.

Then I was reading about the two CD and one DVD set of Bryan Ferry‘s 2010 “Olympia” album. I already have the limited edition Vinyl Factory LP version of this, that includes the cover portrait of Kate Moss but without the text–obviously intended to be framed and hung on a teenager’s wall. I hadn’t considered the box set as I felt it probably wouldn’t add anything to the LP version. Well, I was wrong. The 40-page book that houses the discs contains many more photos from Adam Whitehead‘s sessions for the album. The DVD has an interview with Bryan Ferry on the making of the “Olympia” album and the “You Can Dance” video as well as a video of behind the scenes activity in the making of the “You Can Dance” video.

Olympia box-fr complete
The box set of Bryan Ferry’s “Olympia” album contains a 40-page book and 2 CDs and a DVD.

The pictures are stunning. Here are a selection:

The CDs and the DVD included in set come in card covers, two of which have different cover photos from the LP and deluxe box.
Olympia Box CD1-frOlympia Box CD2-frOlympia Box CD3-fr

CD1 has the album cover photo, while CD2 and the DVD cover have different photos. You will have to examine the covers of the CDs to spot the very subtle difference (hint look at Kate’s right hand).

And just when the thrill of finding the box set sort of settled, I came across an Ebay ad by my least favourite seller Majestic Music & Art. I consider this seller to be quite ruthless in his (I presume it is a “he”) price-setting. Many years ago, I bought a couple of albums from Majestic Music & Art that were poorly packaged and arrived damaged. They would not discuss a return or a refund and I promised myself never to buy from them again. But in mid-March 2017 they posted this ad for a copy of the Luke Fair remix of Primal Scream‘s (and Kate Moss‘) “Some Velvet Morning” (the old Lee Hazlewood classic). This single normally comes in a plain black generic cover, but Majestic Music & Art advertised a copy with Kate Garner‘s famous 1992 portraits of an 18-year-old Kate Moss affixed to front and back covers.

Despite my promise to myself never to buy from Majestic Music & Art, I did buy the 12″ single to add to my collection. I knew of Kate Garner‘s Kate Moss portraits from an exhibition of Russell Young‘s recent screen prints at London’s Halcyon Gallery. Russell Young’s portraits are really wonderful–some are as big as 200 x 200 cm and covered in diamond dust, so they really sparkle!

Kate Moss‘ name crops up in music as a songwriter and artist–several tracks by other artists/bands are entitled “Kate Moss“. Examples include Arab Strap‘s 1996 album “The Week Never Starts Around Here” that contains a track entitled “Kate Moss“, but there is no picture of her on the record cover. German rocker Maximilian Hecker‘s 2003 CD “Rose” also has a song called “Kate Moss” as its first track. Again, there is no portrait of her on the cover. I don’t suppose these will be the only songs called with this iconic title.

Icon Worship – Kate Moss on Record Covers

My blog is usually about record design and some of my favourite cover designers. This post is about an icon who appears on record covers.

According to a dictionary an icon is either: a devotional painting of Christ or another holy figure, typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches, OR
a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.

I don’t suppose anyone would argue that supermodel Kate Moss is a 21st Century icon. Her face is on the covers of fashion magazines and there are coffee table books of photographs of her. She has even appeared on record sleeves. The first one that I have been able to identify is Dirty Funker‘s “Let’s Get Dirty” which used Banksy‘s Kate Moss portrait from 2005

Banksy's Warhol style Kate Moss portraits (2005)
Banksy’s Warhol style Kate Moss portraits (2005)

Apparently Kate Moss bought one but it was stolen in 2010 together with other Banksy works that she had bought.

Dirty Funker‘s use of Banksy‘s Kate Moss’ portrait on his record sleeve was not authorised by Banksy. But hey ho, who cares? A first pressing showed only Moss‘ face with no title or other text, while a second (more common) had a black Dymo tape with the record’s title across Moss‘ eyes on the front and across her mouth on the rear.

LetsGetDirty_1st_150

First and second pressings of Dirty Funker's "Let's Get Dirty" 12-inch single.
First and second pressings of Dirty Funker’s “Let’s Get Dirty” 12-inch single.

The February 2008 number of TAR Magazine contained a photographic essay of Kate Moss. And the magazine’s cover was adorned with Damien Hirst‘s portrait of Kate, with the right side of her face dissected down to the muscles.

TAR Magazine cover and the record sleeve.
TAR Magazine cover and the record sleeve.

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The following Year Hirst released a single-sided 12-inch single in an edition of 666 copies pressed on white vinyl that used the TAR Magazine picture on its cover.

Bryan Ferry released his thirteenth album “Olympia” on 25th October 2010. The album was released as a CD, CD with DVD, a collectors’ edition with extra tracks as well as a limited edition LP. He seems to have been besotted with Kate as the album and five singles’ covers taken from it all bear Kate‘s portrait. There is a video of the photo shoot for the cover photo

The Olympia cover.
The Olympia cover.

The Vinyl Factory in London released five limited edition 12-inch singles from the album in 2010 and 2011. All with cover photographs of Moss. These are “You Can Dance” (2010), “Shameless Remixes” (2010), “Alphaville” (2011), “Heartache by Numbers” (2011) and “BF Bass (Ode to Olympia) (Remixes)” (2011). The portraits of Kate Moss on these covers are by british photographer Adam Whitehead (born 1973).

You Can Dance cover.
You Can Dance cover.
Shameless Remixes cover.
Shameless Remixes cover.
Alphaville cover.
Alphaville cover.
The limited edition version of Alphaville.
The limited edition version of Alphaville.
Heartache By Numbers cover.
Heartache By Numbers cover.
BF Bass (Ode to Olympia) Remixes cover.
BF Bass (Ode to Olympia) Remixes cover.

Thus I have been able to find ten covers with portraits of Kate Moss released in less than 10 years. I think this fulfills the second definition of an icon. Perhaps I have missed a cover or two. Readers are very welcome to let me know of any I have missed.