#79 - True Blue: Madonna (1986)

She’s b-a-c-k … This is actually her third album, coming right after last week’s #80. It was supposedly a major improvement, with more of an “adult sound.” Some critic said it took her from “pop tart to consummate artist.”

Robert Christgau, on the other hand, saw it as “pandering to the lowest common denominator of young listeners with ambiguous lyrics and over-promotion.” I would probably agree, though the only track I can identify on the whole thing is “Papa Don’t Preach.”

The photographer was Herb Ritts, a fashion & celeb type. 

It’s pretty emblematic of his work – black & white, classical, sculptural. He’s got almost 200 credits on discogs.com. Here are some of his more famous ones:

As for True Blue, Jeri Heiden worked with Ritts’ photos to come up with the final design. Here’s her take on it: “It was like she was floating—her clothing was not visible. She took on the appearance of a marble statue—Goddess like.”

Couple of other iconic Madonna covers:

And some general weirdness from the Material Girl herself:

As for parodies, I love this one from Vincent Flouret:

Do you remember him from last week? He actually did a whole series where he substituted his golden retriever for the Material girl (and got covered by the Met). Here's another of his I really liked:

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#80 - Like a Virgin: Madonna (1984)

I honestly can’t stand Madonna, but she did have a couple of cool album covers. Needless to say, they all feature … Madonna.

This one was by Steven Meisel, a fashion/celeb photographer.  He also shot her dreadful book Sex, as well as lots of other rather weird stuff. 

Steven and client

Most of the ideas for this one, though, were Madonna’s. It’s basically just her early look from Desperately Seeking Susan days.

Meisel did a few more of the Material Girl.

He’s got 25 credits total, including a fairly well-known one of Mariah Carey.

Some critic sees Madonna as “not presenting herself just as an object of desire, but also as a desiring female subject.” And here’s the Material Girl herself’s take: “I have always loved to play cat and mouse with the conventional stereotypes. My Like a Virgin album cover is a classic example. People were thinking who was I pretending to be—the Virgin Mary or the whore? These were the two extreme images of women I had known vividly, and remembered from childhood, and I wanted to play with them. I wanted to see if I can merge them together, Virgin Mary and the whore as one and all. The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so.” By the way, can you see the Boy Toy belt buckle?

Wikipedia says that the album “received mixed reviews from music critics, but was a commercial success.” I guess that kind of sums up the Material Girl’s whole career, don’t it? 

This is actually the album where Madonna’s career really took off.  In addition to the title track, it also includes “Into the Groove.” I’m not familiar with any of the others.

Here are a couple of other album covers of Madonna's that I like:

And here's a couple shots of the Material Girl herself:

Cones!

I think this one deserves a parody or two, no?

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#81 - Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd (1975)

Our first Pink Floyd album! Don’t worry – they’ll be plenty more.

So, we seem to be in a back lot of a movie company here. It further appears that two men are shaking hands in front of a storm drain. Lastly, one of those men is on fire!

This rather surrealistic image actually reflects one of the album’s themes – a criticism of the music biz. It was done by probably the best cover designer ever, Storm Thorgerson. 

He did many more for the band, as well as for plenty of other groups. Honestly, I think the man’s a genius, something like a modern Magritte. 

You’ll be seeing more of him here for sure. 

Thorgerson also did the back cover and inner stuff as well, all of which is very interesting in its own right.

The album came out right after Dark Side of the Moon. A second theme on it revolved around former band member Syd Barrett (who, I’m sure you remember, went crazy). The title song and the hit “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” are all about him.

WYWH was David Gilmour’s favorite album, though I always found it a little tame. The artwork, on the other hand, is truly something else.

Nick Mason, Syd, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright

Parodies? Are you kidding me?

BTW, that last one was somebody's Christmas card.

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#82 - Hot Rats: Frank Zappa (1969)

FZ! This guy comes behind only the Beatles on my list of all-time faves.

I tellya, the guy was an effing genius. If all you’re familiar with is novelty stuff like “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow,” “Sheik Yerbouti,” and “Valley Girl,” I’ll have you know that Zappa was also a classical music composer, with his stuff being performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez.

One of my favorite Zappa stories is his making contact with the modern composer Edgar Varese at age 15 (Zappa was 15; Varese was … oh, I don’t know … much older). His mom actually paid for a phone call to Varese (in New York, from California) as a birthday present. 

A very young Frank

(though possibly not 15)

Hot Rats is one of his best. It was the first album after the Mothers of Invention broke up, and is mostly instrumental. There are some real gems on this one, with “Peaches en Regalia” leading the pack.

The cover features a photo by Andee Nathanson, done with infrared photography. She’s only got four other credits , none of which are worth sharing here.

The model was Christine Frka, alias Miss Christine of The GTOs. 

BTW, that group – AKA Girls Together Outrageously – was a creation of Frank’s, who produced their only album. 

And just in case you were wondering about his influence on the band, well just take a look at these song titles:

• "The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes"
• "Wouldn't It Be Sad If There Were No Cones?"
• "Miss Pamela And Miss Sparky Discuss Stuffed Bras And Some Of Their Gym Class Experiences"
• "The Eureka Springs Garbage Truck Lady"
• "Miss Christine's First Conversation With The Plaster Casters Of Chicago"

Christine, who would date Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper, and the Byrds’ Chris Hilman, would be the inspiration for the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Devil in Disguise.” She would also die at age 23 of a heroin overdose.

The pool is on Errol Flynn’s old estate, by the way.

There will be more Zappa album covers in this blog. Indeed, I probably could have included a half dozen more. Here are a few more faves:

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#83 - Are You Experienced?: Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

Now, here’s some high-grade psychedelia. The typography, the colors, the outfits, the fisheye lens. Wow!

Most of this – right down to the wardrobe and hair – was the work of graphic designer Karl Ferris. In addition to using the fisheye, he also shot it on infrared film. The location, by the way, was Kew Gardens, In London.

Interestingly, this one was a second take. The band wasn’t too crazy about the first effort, which was the one released in Britain (and was designed by Bruce Fleming).

For the new attempt, Hendrix asked for Ferris specifically, after seeing his cover for the Hollies’ Evolution:

Ferris, mostly known as a photographer, did only nine other covers, most for the Experience but a few for Donovan as well.

And here’s a cool portrait / montage-of-his-work / tribute by another photog, Vivo Gal Grabby:

The album itself is a kind of greatest hits, and includes gems such as “Foxy Lady," "Are You Experienced?" "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," and "The Wind Cries Mary". Interestingly, it was their debut!

Not sure what more I can say about Hendrix himself. Personally, I’ve always thought he was the best guitarist ever.  Of course I have the CD (somewhere around here).

Can’t think of any other great Hendrix/Experience covers, though Electric Ladyland’s not bad – and the inside cover certainly was controversial:

So, apart from Jimi, who were the Jimi Hendrix Experience? So, we've basically got white guy, Jimi, and other white guy (that’s actually drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, by the way):

A couple of parodies:

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