Deviations from Select Albums 2: british

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

46. The Who - Tommy

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This work is based on the cover of the soundtrack album Tommy although I really intended to devote this page to Tommy, the 1969 rock opera album
by The Who from which the 1975 film was based. The story centres on Tommy, a deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes a wizard at pinball.

On this work I really wanted to explore my visions of Tommy or any deaf, dumb and blind boy who had extraordinary abilities.
I wanted to depict two sides of his face, in contrasting colours and in opposite angles too. I liked to imagine what
if I looked at myself in the mirror and saw myself like Tommy.

I think all people have a Tommy in them one way or the other. Some may be more deaf than blind. Some
may be more dumb than Tommy. It's really hard to find people with extraordinary abilities.

Here's Tommy.

Photo by Richard Barnes. Movie produced by Ken Russell and Robert Stigwood. Design by Fred Marcellino.
Art Direction by Bill Levy. Columbia Pictures 1975.

Here's The Who's Tommy

No. 52, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000; No. 84, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time;

No. 96, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

No. 32, Rolling Stone, The 100 Greatest Album Covers.

Art direction by Mike McInnerney. Photo by Barrie Meller. Album produced by Kit Lambert. Track 1969.

(Pete) Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music.

Recording on the album began in September 1968 and took six months to complete. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics, who hailed it as

The Who's breakthrough. Its critical standing diminished slightly in later years; nonetheless, several writers view it as an important and influential

album in the history of rock music. Full article

(A) Overture - It's a Boy - 1921 - Amazing Journey - Sparks - Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)

(B) Christmas - Cousin Kevin - The Acid Queen - Underture

(C) Do You Think It's Alright? - Fiddle About - Pinball Wizard - There's a Doctor - Go to the Mirror! - Tommy Can You Hear Me? - Smash the Mirror - Sensation

(D) Miracle Cure - Sally Simpson - I'm Free - Welcome - Tommy's Holiday Camp - We're Not Gonna Take It (with See Me, Feel Me)

Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" from Tommy the Movie from shilenoconese on YouTube.

thewho.com

Previous: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Next: Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

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Friday, August 28, 2015

43. Cream - Disreali Gears

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On this work, a portion of the left and right sides were pasted twice each in order to help the original square image fill the whole 18 x 10 canvass. This was easy.

Now, the original album cover art was designed in the age of psychedelia. That was something new in my high school days and to me it was both hip and chic.
But something went wrong in the early 21st century. What was once electric is now unplugged; what was once picked was now strummed. In between
there was minimalism in art and music and psychedelic art never seemed to make a comeback. I decided to reverse it. I think I succeeded in
turning the poster colour and ink canvass into a metallic plate. The gears are now indestructible.

Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup power trio consisting of bassist/singer Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist/singer Eric Clapton.

The title of the album is based on a malapropism. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie
named Mick Turner commented, "it's got them Disraeli gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears", but instead alluding to 19th-century British Prime Minister,
Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious, and decided that it should be the title of their next album. More

This is the original album cover art design.

No 34, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 114, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 182, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000.

No. 82, Rolling Stone, The 100 Greatest Album Covers.

Art design by Martin Sharp. Album produced by Felix Pappalardi. Reaction (UK), Atco (US), Polydor (Germany) 1967.

Created for the psychedelic super-group by Australian artist Martin Sharp, the cover of Disraeli Gears is an icon of the swirling fluorescent fever of the late 1960s.
For the front cover, Sharp combined a publicity photo he’d been given by Eric Clapton with some Victorian elements and plenty of flower power roses and
feathers. Drawn in black and white, Sharp then coloured-in the design with fluorescent colors to make the iconic (and eye-stinging) sleeve for the
band’s second album. Sharp was attempting to capture the sound of the music in the cover, which he describes as a “warm florescent sound.” More

(A) Strange Brew - Sunshine of Your Love - World of Pain - Dance the Night Away - Blue Condition

(B) Tales of Brave Ulysses - SWLABR - We're Going Wrong - Outside Woman Blues - Take It Back - Mother's Lament