Tag Archives: Damien Hirst

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A Review of 2015 – Covers by Warhol, Blake, Voormann, Hirst & Banksy

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My collection of record cover art by my favourite five artists continues to grow. 2015 provided almost fifty new covers on record and CD. The statistics show there were:
– Twenty-seven covers with Andy Warhol‘s art (eleven on CD) and four covers that were Warhol related – more of those later.
– Five covers (well three really) with Klaus Voormann‘s art,
– Five covers with Peter Blake‘s art
– Three covers with Damien Hirst‘s art
– Two covers with Banksy‘s art
– One cover with Nat Finklestein‘s portrait of Andy Warhol
– One cover with images of diverse pop artists works.

ANDY WARHOL COVERS
There were four really rare covers that I got hold of in 2015. These were:
1. Ultra Violet‘s 1973 album “Ultra Violet“, which I bought in April,
2. A copy of The Rolling Stones‘ “Sticky Fingers” nicely autographed by Andy Warhol,
3. A copy of The Rolling Stones‘ “Love You Live” autographed on the inner spread by Andy Warhol and
4. Carlos Chavez‘ “A Program of Mexican Music” with the rarer blue cover.

Other vinyl releases that I found during the year included.
“Tennessee Williams reading from The Glass Menagerie” with the alternative colour variation, I also bought two copies of The Rolling Stones‘ “Sticky Fingers“, an original US release with the title printed over the belt at the top left of the cover and the 2015 reissue with the working zipper, but with the brass drawpull in the shape of John Paiste’s “tongue” design.
Other LPs included The Velvet Underground‘s “Psychedelic Sounds From the Gymnasium” and two versions of The Velvet Underground‘s “Velvet Underground & Nico” – one a picture disc and the other the limited edition “45th Anniversary edition” with the original torso rear cover picture and a peelable banana on the front. I found a UK pressing of Artie Shaw‘s “Any Old Time“. There was also another bootleg, “In 1966 There Was…“, a double album on red vinyl and the official release “The Velvet Underground Live – With Lou Reed“. I also got hold of a Rolling Stones bootleg “Lonely at the Top“, purported to be a limited edition of only 55 copies. I happened upon a modern box set of Margarita Madrigal‘s “Magic Key to Spanish” with the original book and two LPs in a custom box that, however did not use Warhol’s art anywhere.

I also bought some vinyl singles and EPs: John Lennon‘s “Imagine / It’s So Hard” and “Jealous Guy / Going Down on Love” 7-inch singles, Debbie Harry‘s “In Love With Love” 12-inch picture disc, Diana Ross‘s “So Close / Fool for Your Love” and Paul Anka‘s “Happier / Closing Doors” 7-inch singles.

The CDs included both the Q Magazine various artists releases entitled “Lennon Covered #1” and “Lennon Covered #2“. Other official CDs were The Museum of Modern Art‘s various artists release “Open Ends: Musical Exploration in New York 1967 to 2000“, a first CD re-issue of Moondog‘s “The Story of Moondog” on the Prestige label and David Jones & Bill Shute‘s collection of children’s songs “Widdecombe Fair” with beautiful Warhol art on the gatefold cover and the CD booklet. There was also a promotional CD-r collected by MPHO (MPHO Skeef) with DJ Beware called “MPHO and the Art of Pop, Vol 1” with cover art including pictures of record covers and art works by a variety of American Pop Artists.
Sinner that I am, I also bought six bootleg CDs, three by The Rolling Stones: “Marquee ’71 + Sticky Out“, “Rare Tracks +” and “Stereo Baby“. The latter a three CD set in a foldout cover.

The Warhol-related issues included the bootleg LP of Lou Reed’s & John Cale’s “Songs for Drella” LP featuring Nat Finklestein’s Warhol portrait with tambourine and John Cale‘s live recording of “Two Songs for Drella” with cover portrait of Warhol by Robert Mapplethorpe. I also found a cheap sealed copy of “15 Minutes – Homage to Andy Warhol“. This various artists release includes four LPs, three CDs and prints by the artists featured. I am not really clear as to exactly what relationship, apart from the title,  this box set has to Andy Warhol, though.

PETER BLAKE COVERS
This was the area where I expected least and found more than I had ever expected. 2015 turned out to be an exciting year! While there was only one official release with Peter Blake‘s art I found four bootleg CDs. The official release is Mark Knopfler‘s “Tracker” LP which has a picture of Peter Blake‘s painting “I Love You” on its inside spread.

The bootleg CDs were all of concerts by Eric Clapton, who’s 70th birthday was on 30th March 2015. To celebrate this Clapton performed two concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 1st and 3rd – he had intended to play the second concert on May 2nd, but the venue was booked for the New York Rangers playoff. A bootleg tripple CD was released on the Mid Valley label with the complete playlists from both nights entitled “Eric Clapton–Madison Square Garden 2015 – 70th Birthday Celebration” with a cover picture of Eric Clapton painted by Sir Peter Blake earlier in the year. Clapton followed up with seven concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall between 14th and 23rd May. These concerts were also recorded and released in a 14 CD called “Eric Clapton–Royal Albert Hall 2015” set by Mid Valley using the same cover portrait of Eric Clapton. I managed to find the programme from both concerts on Ebay and Blake’s portrait of Eric Clapton is on both front and rear covers.
Finding these two bootlegs inspired me to look for other bootlegs of Eric Clapton’s live shows. I was amazed to find that what appears to be all of his live appearances – at least since the 1980s – seem to be available on bootlegs. However, only two of the hundreds available appeared to use Peter Blake‘s art. These are CDs of the first and fourth nights of Clapton‘s 1991 “24 Nights” series of concerts at The Royal Albert Hall. So I had to chase those, too.

KLAUS VOORMANN COVERS
I have several times thought that I had collected all of Voormann’s covers but I am continuously proved wrong. 2015 was no exception. The first cover I discovered was Harry Nilsson‘s 1982 LP “Flash Harry“, which has a 5 x 5 cm line drawing of Harry by Klaus Voormann on the rear cover. Then towards the end of the year I saw a copy of 10″ EP by Paddy, Klaus & Gibson called, not unsurprisingly “Paddy, Klaus & Gibson“. These three were the remaining members of Voormann‘s group The Eyes when guitarist/vocalist John Frankland left the band. The trio recorded three singles and it is these six songs that make up this EP. The record is a private pressing organised by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Dieter Hoffmann and only 300 copies were pressed, 100 on red vinyl, 100 on clear vinyl and 100 on back vinyl. In order to support this great effort, I ordered one copy of each vinyl colour! There is Japanese glamrock band called GLAY and Klaus drew the cover image for their 2015 CD “Music Life“.

There was, however, some not so good news – Thorsten Knublauch, from whom I had bought one of the copies of the Paddy, Klaus & Gibson 10″ – told me about a record with cover art by Klaus Voormann that I had never heard of. The record is a recording of a jazz radio programme. The cover picture is of a man lying in a hospital bed connected to drip bottles. The title is “Wer nie im Bett Programm gemacht“, or something like that. So far I haven’t been able to find a copy… So my Klaus Voormann collection is still not complete!

DAMIEN HIRST COVERS
I was surprised to see two promotional folders for Dave Stewart‘s 1992 “Heart of Stone” single appear on Ebay at ridiculously inflated prices. They didn’t sell and eventually the price came down to affordable levels when I hopped in. The CD singles came in A5 folders with slightly different texts and different catalogue numbers – explaining why I had to have both. In addition I found a promotional copy of the The Hours “Narcissus Road” CD with a cover that I had not seen before.

BANKSY’S COVER ART
There do not seem to have been any new record or CD covers that use Banksy’s cover art since 2008. I did manage to get hold of one version of Blur‘s “Think Tank” CD in a box set with postcards. Then in the last days of December I saw a copy of a test pressing of Junichi Masuda’s LP “Pokémon” with a hand sprayed image of Banksy’s “Flower Thrower” but with a coloured ball substituted for the flowers. There are purportedly on 100 copies of this test pressing and I managed to get one relatively cheap-

So, another successful year’s collecting. But I still guess that none of my collections are complete yet. So I look forward to 2016.

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Icon Worship – Kate Moss on Record Covers

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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.

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A review of 2014 – my collections grow

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Readers of this blog will by now know that it deals with collecting record cover art by five designers

  1.     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.

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At last I have completed my collections of Klaus Voormann’s and Damien Hirst’s record cover art.

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Most of my posts on this blog have been about Andy Warhol’s record cover art. However, I also collect record cover art by other designers. Currently these include Sir Peter Blake, Klaus Voormann and Damien Hirst and Banksy. I have sold my collection of Vaughan Oliver/V23 and most of my Martin Kann collection to be able to concentrate on these five designers, who have one thing in common – their production is fairly limited, which makes collecting all the record covers designed by each of them possible. Thus Andy Warhol is known to have designed almost 100 covers – although many records and CD use Andy Warhol’s art on their covers in addition to the ones he had a hand in. Klaus Voormann has thus far designed or illustrated sixty-two commercially released covers. Banksy has designed twenty covers and a further twenty-nine have used his images without his authorisation. Sir Peter Blake has thus far produced only 23 covers and Damien Hirst has just passed this total with twenty-four covers.

This month I completed both my Klaus Voormann and Damien Hirst collections. I found that when I sold my record collection one year ago I parted with my copy of Harry Nilsson’s “Sandman” LP which has Klaus Voormann’s maritime drawing on its inner spread.

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I found a replacement copy for SEK 80 (about USD 11) at a record store a short bus ride from my home. Accross the road was another secondhand record shop where I found a copy of Billy Squire’s “Emotions in Motion” single with cover design that uses a detail of Andy Warhol’s Squier portrait (for SEK 10, or about USD 1.50). So now I have all of Klaus Voormann’s sixty-two commercially released covers. I recommend readers to view his official site (www.voormann.com) to see some covers that he designed for his own amusement.)

I know I should have bought it when it first came out in 2011, but I didn’t; so I have been looking for a copy of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s album “I’m With You” and various record shops in Stockholm have told me that it no longer available. But Stefan at Pet Sounds said he could order me a copy and promptly did so. It cost me SEK 450 (USD 62) but I had to have it to complete my Damien Hirst collection. It is one of Hirst’s best covers, combining his love of pharmaceuticals with his early fixation with death and decay. The front of this gatefold cover pictures a house fly (Musca domestica) resting on a coloured medicine capsule.

 

The record labels have the fly feeding on a blue tablet (on two labels), and the fly on a white tablet (on one) and (on the fourth label) the fly lies on its back, apparently dead. The inner spread shows only a very faint splodge on the right hand side, that suggests where the fly had been swatted. I like this cover!

This week I returned to Stockholm’s Spritmuseum to revisit the ArtPop exhibition and took my camera with me. There is a wall of Damien Hirst’s record covers including Babyshambles’ “Sequel to the Prequel” LP, a couple of singles by The Hours and Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ “Art Pop & the X-ray Style” album together with Dave Stewart’s “Heart of Stone” 12″ single cover.

 

 

Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, rare records, Record collecting, Record cover art, Uncategorized

Damien Hirst’s record cover art 1994 – 2013

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Damien Hirst in August 2008. Photo by David Bailey.
Damien Hirst in August 2008. Photo by David Bailey.

On October 25th 2013 Damien Hirst’s 22nd record cover for Babyshambles’ “Fall From Grace”, the band’s second single from their “Sequel to the Prequel” album was released on September 2nd 2013. The album cover as well as both singles had cover design by Hirst, who with this latest cover passed the number of covers designed by Sir Peter Blake. Depending a little on how one defines a Peter Blake cover, Blake has produced 21 covers in the 47 years since Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967. This cover was, of course, designed by Blake and his then wife Jann Haworth – and so should be regarded as a joint effort. The cover for Madness’ limited edition CD version of “Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da” has him pictured on the cover, but the design is by Paul Agar with photography by Perou.

I do not suppose many would argue with me if I suggest that much of Damien Hirst’s art is ugly. Dissected animals or fish in formalin tanks, skulls (even when encrusted with diamonds) do not appear beautiful to these eyes. And Damien Hirst’s record covers fit the mould. His first record cover art was for Dave Stewart’s “Greetings From the Gutter” released in 1994. Hirst’s first covers are really unremarkable – the six variously coloured gas tubes with tubing attached on the Dave Stewart album and the dissection of an egg by two rubber-gloved hands on the “Heart of Stone” single from Stewart’s album are hardly design masterpieces. These are followed by Hirst’s ugliest covers; the CD for Fat Les’ “Vindaloo” with foldout poster and “Yalla Yalla” the single from Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ album “Rock Art & The X-ray Style” from 1999. For the album, Hirst drew a series of matchstick men reminiscent of stone-age cave paintings or aboriginal art and these figures appeared on the “Bankrobber 99” promotional single as well.

Joe Strummer & The Meascaleros' "Rock Art & the X-ray Style" LP cover.
Joe Strummer & The Meascaleros’ “Rock Art & the X-ray Style” LP cover.

In 2006, Hirst became manager for the band The Hours and designed the covers for their first album “Narcissus Road” and the singles taken from it; “Ali in the Jungle” and “Back When You Were Good”. These were released on the A & M label.
Hirst made a limited edition of 210 spin-painted skulls as holders for the CD retailing at a cool £4,500 each!
the-hours0035

Damien Hirst's spin-painted skull holder for The Hours' "Narcissus Road" CD.
Damien Hirst’s spin-painted skull holder for The Hours’ “Narcissus Road” CD.

Hirst then started his own record label “Is Good” and The Hours’ second album “See the Light” was released on the label, again with cover art by him. The album was released on gatefold vinyl and a double 12″ single “See the Light” was also released. And, as had been for the singles from “Narcissus Road”, each was decorated with more of Hirst’s skull designs.

In February 2008 the cover of TAR Magazine used Damien Hirst’s portrait of Kate Moss where the right side of her face was dissected down to the muscles. The following year, Hirst released a white vinyl, one-sided 12″ single with the same image on the cover. Hirst’s given name was misspelt on the record label: “Damian”. The single was released in a numbered edition of 666 copies and is currently very sought after.

Damien Hirst's portrait of Kate Moss from TAR Magazine to his "Use Money, Cheat Death" 12" single cover.
Damien Hirst’s portrait of Kate Moss from TAR Magazine to his “Use Money, Cheat Death” 12″ single cover.

Hirst’s next cover “I’m With You” for The Red Hot Chili Peppers (2011) revisited two of his earlier subjects, drugs represented by a coloured capsule and decay, represented by a single fly on the capsule.
Red Hot Chili Peppers' album "I'm With You".
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album “I’m With You”.

Hirst designed the cover for the band 30 Seconds to Mars’ fourth album “Love Lust Faith & Dreams” in May 2013 and used his polka dot pattern. The album was released on CD and vinyl and in a limited edition boxed set with the LP, a double CD, a book and four prints.
30 Seconds to Mars' super de luxe promo box set of Love, Lust & Faith
30 Seconds to Mars’ super de luxe promo box set of Love, Lust & Faith

Later the same year Hirst designed the covers for Babyshambles’ “Sequel to the Prequel” album and the two singles released from it that autumn; “Nothing Comes From Nothing” and “Fall From Grace”. According to Babyshambles’ bassist Drew McConnell reported in NME: “It happened kind of naturally and in the spirit you’d hope for. We asked Damien to suggest someone to put something together, then to our amazement he offered to do it himself. The fact that he used a pic taken by Pennie Smith, who shot all those iconic photos of The Clash (Damien’s old pal Joe Strummer’s band), just makes it make even more sense.”
So those are Damien Hirst’s first 22 covers from his first twenty years of record cover design 1994 – 2013.

And, as is my wont, I’ll list one cover ascribed to Damien Hirst that is not by him. According to Wikipedia Hirst did prepare a design for the cover for the Band Aid 20 single “Do They Know It’a Christmas?”. His design showing the grim reaper and a starving child was considered too scary and was dropped. Mat Maitland at Big Active, a designer in his own right who has designed covers for Michael Jackson and others was commissioned to design the replacement. Rumour has it that Hirst released a limited edition print of his design for the cover. But I have, thus far, not been able to find one.

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New covers and things by Klaus Voormann, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons

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Most of my posts have been about record covers bearing Andy Warhol’s art. But, just as a reminder, I also collect record cover art by four other artists. I have an almost complete collection of Damien Hirst’s record covers, including the highly collectible “Use Money, Cheat Death” one-sided single released on his own label.

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This image first appeared on the cover of the February 2008 number of TAR Magazine. The record was released on white vinyl in a numbered edition of 666 copies. Damien Hirst’s most recent covers are for the British band Babyshambles’ 2013 releases “Sequel to the Prequel” (LP) and (so far) the two vinyl singles from the album “Nothing Comes from Nothing” and “Fall From Grace”:

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These covers all show examples of Damien Hirst’s spin paintings.

My friend Daniel Brant at the A and D Gallery in London, knows I collect Klaus Voormann’s record cover art and he recently induced me to buy a poster by Klaus Voormann that I had never seen before. It is a print of a drawing of Paul McCartney and John Lennon in the canteen at Abbey Road during the recording of “Revolver”:

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While on the subject of Klaus Voormann – I have a 12″ single of George Harrison’s single “When We Was Fab” from 1988. And just a few days ago I stumbled on the promotional issue of this release which comes in a limited edition box with a poster and a card, which I had not seen before, so I snapped it up! The illustration of the front of the box, and on the single itself, is another fine Voormann drawing – somewhat in the “Revolver” style.

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Fellow Warhol Cover Collectors Club member Kevin Kinney suggested I get hold of Lady Gaga’s 2013 album “ArtPop”, whose cover was designed and photgraphed by Jeff Koons. Now I do not collect Koons’ covers but – because of the ArtPop exhibition currently on show in Stockholm – I decided I would buy this album.

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This is the cover’s inner spread with photographer Koons photographing Lady Gaga.