ABSOLUT
ALBUM COVERS
The
Artists, The Art and The Albums
ABSOLUT
PRIEST>>>
In
the late 60's and 70's, cover art became more elaborate; Major
artists such as René Magritte, whose Visions painting was
utilized on the eponymous cover for Gladys Knight and The Pips,
and Andy Warhol, who painted legendary portraits of Aretha Franklin
for Aretha and Diana Ross for Silk Electric, in addition to The
Velvet Underground and Nico, put their mark on the music scene.
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ABSOLUT
ALBUM COVERS. ABSOLUT MILES.
Bitches Brew, 1970
Few recordings in any musical genre had both the immediate impact
and far reaching effects of Bitches Brew. With this sprawling
masterwork, Miles Davis jump-started the fusion jazz era by combining
jazz solos with rock rhythms.
Although
he had begun using elements of R&B and rock in earlier recordings,
Bitches Brew was a radical departure even for Davis and the expansive
nature of the project set the tone for his innovative recordings
of the 1970's. In a 1970 article in Rolling Stone, Langdon Winner
wrote, "The record is yet another step in the unceasing process
of evolution Miles has undergone since the Forties. Driven forward
by a creative élan unequaled in the history of American
music, he incorporates each successive triumph into the next leap
forward."
"This
music," added Winner, "is so rich in its form and substance
that it permits and even encourages flights of imagination by
anyone who listens
Miles is an invaluable companion for those
long journeys you take into your imagination." Graphic designer
John Berg and painter Mati Klarwein echo Davis' novel approach
to music on the record's distinctive sleeve.
Davis
encountered the studio of Mati Klarwein, a friend and protégé
of Ferdinand Leger and Salvador Dalí in 1969 and became
a fan of his surrealist paintings. Though he was well known among
artists such as Carlos Santana, Timothy Leary and Jimmy Hendrix,
Klarwein was brought into the mainstream when Carlos Santana chose
one of his paintings for the cover of his LP, Abraxas. Soon after,
Davis selected one of Klarwein's psychedelic paintings for the
cover of Bitches Brew. Like many of his contemporaries, Davis
saw Klarwin's paintings to be the visual embodiment of his musical
expression.
Throughout his career, John Berg was responsible for the design
of more than 5,000 album sleeves for legendary artists such as
Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen,
Bessie Smith and Miles Davis, among other. A 1998 article written
about Berg for the East Hampton Star said of his covers, "They
bring back the past almost as clearly as the music itself, and
together with the comforting heft of those warm, black vinyl disks
- they are satisfying as collectible objects in a way that CDs
will never be."
"The
best covers grab the attention and stay on the mind, I tell stories.
I'm almost always telling a story... The art is to tell the story
legibly," John Berg, 1998.
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