Tag Archives: Paul McCartney

Uncategorized

Ed Ruscha’s Record Sleeve Art.

Leave a comment

Here’s another artist whose record cover art I don’t really collect. But as you probably know by now I do have a penchant for Pop Art and I put Ed Ruscha in that class. However… I did pick up the Beatles’ Now and Then / Love Me Do single on seven- and twelve-inch vinyl, so I have the beginnings of an Ed Ruscha collection.

Yesterday (18th May, 2025), I went to Stockholm’s Wetterling Gallery to see the Ed Ruscha exhibiton Figure It there and was honoured to be given a guided tour by Björn Wetterling himself. He also dug around for a copy of the exhibiiton catalogue which is housed in a twelve-inch record sleeve. Thus I have two Ed Ruscha record covers, so I decided to see what other covers he has made.

First off, there’s Paul McCartney‘s 2020 album McCartney III, which wasn’t designed by Ruscha but he provided the typography on the front cover. Photography was by Mary McCartney, so Paul kept that in the family.

  1. The first cover Ruscha painted was for Mason Williams ‘1969 album Music.

2. Ruscha did the title on the cover of Talking Heads‘ 1992 compilation album Sand in the Vaseline. The cover art, however, is credited to Frank Olinsky and Manhattan Design.

3. Van Dyke Parks released a seven-inch single in 2011 called Dreaming of Paris / Wedding in Madagascar (Faranaina) and used a photo of Ruscha’s Paris print on the cover.

4. The two remaining memebers of the Beatles, with the help of AI reworked John Lennon‘s demo of Now and Then and in 2020 released it as a single on seven-, ten-, and twelve-inch vinyl coupled with a Giles Martin remastered version of the Beatles‘ first single Love Me Do. This time Ruscha designed the cover.

5. In 2023, Interscope Records celebrated its thirtieth anniversary and invited several “fine” artists to reimagine the cover art of many of the label’s back catalogue. Damien Hirst reimagined twelve of Eminem‘s covers and Richard Prince reimagined Nine Inch Nails‘ The Downward Spiral cover. Ed Ruscha reimagined 2Pac‘s All Eyez on Me album from 1996. There were two versions; a picture disc version in a ‘limited’ edition of 500 copies and a black vinyl edition of 100 copies that included a giclee print of the cover art signed by Ruscha. The picture disc edition sold for USD 100 and the 100 copy edition for USD 2,500!

6. Dead End. This is the cover from the Wetterling Gallery‘s recent Ed Ruscha exhibition. The Dead End print looks like it’s made of metal but it is actually a multi-layered print on hand-made paper. The typeface is Ruscha‘s typical Boy Scout Utility Modern with its squared off, geometric letter forms. Insted of a record, there is a card insert along with the actual catalogue.

I haven’t been able to find any more Ed Ruscha covers so I might be tempted to try to collect the few that I don’t actually have.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles

The 50th Anniversary Box Set of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” – a set I didn’t think I needed.

Leave a comment

Sgt Pepper box ad
The deluxe 50th anniversary box set of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with all the ‘goodies’.

It seems I’ve been writing a lot about “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” since it’s 50th anniversary on June 1st. In March, I heard about the projected release of an upgraded version of the stereo version of the album together with a variety of previously unreleased alternative takes of the songs (including “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane“, which had not been included on the final album) on double vinyl, double CD and a four CD, Blu-ray and DVD box set which included a 144-page LP-sized book, and 2 posters as well as a reproduction of the original cutout from the LP.

I decided that I already had the original LP (actually TWO copies) and didn’t think I needed to shell out £30 for the double LP or over £100 for the box set as I am not particularly interested in hearing alternate takes. And I felt I didn’t need to listen to a third re-mastering of the original, though I listened to the new stereo version on Spotify and definitely heard a new, clearer mix. My main interest in “Sgt. Pepper” extends to the cover design.

But on a visit to my favourite record store I saw a copy of the box. What first caught my eye and made me take it off the shelf was the lenticular version of the cover image, which made it appear three dimensional. Now, that was a version of Peter Blake’s & Jann Haworth’s cover that I hadn’t seen before. Then, on opening the clamshell inner box I found what I thought was a copy of the LP–but the box clearly stated that it didn’t include the LP only 4 CDs, a Blu-ray and a DVD. There were three posters and the book which had a chapter devoted to the story of how the cover came about. Now, THAT did interest me. So I decided I’d try it and the offer of a 10% discount clinched the deal!

When I got home, I removed the plasticwrap from the LP sized album and from the book. On opening the gatefold I saw the CDs, Blu-ray and DVD were housed in separate LP-style covers. Only when I started to upload the CDs onto my computer did I notice that each CD had a different version of the classic “Sgt. Pepper” photo, with the Beatles in different poses in front of the Blake/Haworth montage.

fullsizeoutput_48be
Four different variations on the original “Pepper” cover. The one at top left is is the standard photo.

The book tells Paul McCartney’s version of how the cover art came to be. He tells that he had the idea of the “Sgt. Pepper” theme while on a flight back from America. He says that Mal Evans asked for him to pass the salt and pepper and he misheard it as Sgt. Pepper, which immediately inspired him to create an alter ego for The Beatles. He says that he mad some sketches for a possible cover scene and took them to his friend, gallery owner Robert Fraser, who proposed Peter Blake and Jann Haworth as artists to realise his ideas.

Paul’s first “Pepper” sketch.
Another of paul’s design suggestions.

There is no mention of John Lennon’s discussions with design group “The Fool”, though the chapter ends with an interview with Marijke Koger who tells of the visits by The Beatles to their home, which inspired them to commission a design for the planned “Sgt Pepper” album cover. However, only The Fool’s design for the red, pink and white inner sleeve was used.

I have also now listened to the re-mastered stereo version included in the set as well as the original mono version. There really is a new clarity in the stereo version. But–I have lived with the original stereo version for just over 50 years and it still remains the one I probably will listen to on vinyl.

Anyway, now I can add the lenticular cover of the Blake/Haworth design and the alternative Michael Cooper photos of the “Sgt. Pepper” set to my cover collection.