Category Cover Art
INNER RADIANCE
Edward Larry Gordon was a part-time actor and occasional zither player who supplemented his thespian income by busking in New York. In possibly one of the finest synchronicities in popular music, Brian Eno—in the Big Apple to work with avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell—placed a note in the busking Larry’s hat that read, ‘Would you like […]
ARE YOU THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE?
It opens with a delicate piano piece, an ambient overture. “The struggle of the magicians, part three”. Credited to composer Thomas De Hartmann and mystic cum guru Gurdjieff (1866 – 1949), this is a lovely neo-classical piece that seduces with a gently pastoral beauty suggesting the magicians aren’t straining too hard. Next is a wispy […]
VARIOUS ARTISTS GO DECADE DIVING
1957 Folk, Pops ‘n Jazz Sampler [Elektra SMP-3] Country tunes rub shoulders with calypso jazz in this time capsule from the early days of long-playing records, when tracks were known as ‘Bands’ and the previous volume was available for $2 from your dealer. At $17.50 in today’s money, that seems quite expensive. Love the album […]
THE RINGWRAITHS RIDE IN BLACK
Peter Jackson’s famous films were not the first cinematic journeys into Middle Earth. American animator Ralph Bakshi visited back in 1978 with rather mixed results. Clearly holding the J.R.R. Tolkien books in high esteem, Bakshi adopted such a respectful approach to the epic fantasy that the result is, despite the adventurous content, quite slow-moving and […]
COVER PAIRS COLLECTED [PART THREE]
Give the people what they want. Or as the wonderfully named Roman, Juvenal, put it: give ’em “bread and circuses”. Good advice for popularist leaders everywhere. A couple of requests arose from the last cover pairs post. So today we have doctors and naughty bits. * Three Dog Night “Hard Labour” [Dunhill/ABC 1974] National Health “National Health” [Esoteric […]
BEARDED RAINBOWS
Eric Clapton and girlfriend Charlotte Martin were at London musician’s club The Speakeasy in Spring 1967. It was the same club where, not long previously, Eric had his first taste of LSD in circumstances that were probably not your average first trip, even in that much mythologized year. The way Eric tells it, ‘the Beatles came in […]
2016 — SOME ALBUM COVERS*
* ARRIVING AT VINYL CONNECTION THIS YEAR Continuing an end-of-year tradition by sharing ten album covers that made an impression. Electronic music, particularly that made on analogue instruments, remains a favourite genre at Vinyl Connection. There have been a few releases that have made an impression, particularly this fascinating archival release by Suzanne Ciani. The cover art, part […]
