June 16 – Turntable Talk 27 : Gaye Checked All The Boxes

Welcome back to Turntable Talk! This is our 27th round, believe it or not. By now all our regular readers know how this goes, but for any new readers, first off, welcome! I hope you find it interesting and check back from time to time here – new posts go up daily and we run the ‘Turntable Talk’ feature usually once a month. And second, briefly, on Turntable Talk we have a number of guest columnists from other music sites, sounding off on one particular topic. We have an index of past topics, with the final one of each in the link, others could be found going back day by day from each of those.

This month, our topic is a little different – Art Rock. No, we’re not digging into obscure rock that somehow seems a tad too experimental for the masses, but the actual art of music. In specific, album art and packaging. Of course, that was a bigger deal when vinyl ruled… that big 12” square canvas that was a record cover let a lot of imaginations and artistic talents run wild! It created an initial impact. Even the Grammy Awards noticed that; since 1959 they’ve given out an annual award for Best Album Cover or Recording Packaging. Frank Sinatra won the first one; since then The Beatles Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, Chicago’s X, Supertramp’s Breakfast in America, Linda Ronstadt’s Get Closer and the Rolling Stones Tattoo You are among the many winners. Thus, we’ve asked our contributors to highlight an album which had packaging they found exceptional.

Starting us off today we go across the ocean to Paul, from Once Upon a Time in the ’70s. Given his website’s focus, we’re figuring he’s not going to highlight Dua Lipa… but what record did jump out at him?

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Well, it’s that time of the month again when Dave rounds up the troops for another Turntable Talk and this month we’re focusing on a different type of creative (unless your Joni Mitchell of course). This time it’s not about the music makers, it’s about the cats who put the art into artists.

I have a theory about record sleeves – you can appreciate and admire any album artwork but to genuinely love it you need to cherish the vinyl enveloped in that decorated cardboard.

For example, my favourite band is Steely Dan, no surprise there, but much of their artwork is pretty dreadful, something Messrs.’ Fagen and Becker readily admit to, although I do hold a special place for the artwork of 1980’s Gaucho.

The artwork for Gaucho was inspired by a mural created by Argentinian artist Israel Hoffman entitled “Guardia Vieja – Tango” (Old Guard – Tango). The original art is displayed on a public wall in a street museum known as Caminito in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. I have so much love for this artwork (and album) that I bought myself a framed print of Hoffman’s original, which proudly hangs in our downstairs toilet, so every time I go to the loo, I come out whistling ‘Gaucho’ or ‘Hey Nineteen’.

On the flip side, whilst I’m no lover of prog rock and tracks that last for 20 minutes (unless it’s a Tom Moulton 70s disco mix!), I can still appreciate the creativity of a guy like Roger Dean and the fantasy landscapes he created for bands like Yes, Uriah Heep and Osibisa in the 70s.

Many of us had Roger Dean artwork plastered on our bedroom walls in the 70s (next to the tennis girl in the short skirt) even though we weren’t big fans of the music. Another Brit who shone in the world of album art was Storm Thorgerson, a giant within the industry and a splendid example of being in the right place at the right time. Not only was Storm a talented graphic designer, he also had the good fortune to hook up with a couple of college mates who would go on to form a little band in the 60s called Pink Floyd.

Along with partner Aubrey Powell, Thorgerson designed 20 album covers for Floyd including the iconic Dark Side of The Moon sleeve which propelled their design company, Hipgnosis into the limelight.
Constantly in demand, Hipgnosis created some of the most iconic album sleeves of the 70s for Led Zeppelin, 10cc, Genesis, T-Rex, ELP, Bad Company, Wings and Queen. Coming back to the task in hand, nominating a single album cover is indeed a tough gig.

For example, I love the early Roxy Music covers for their glamour, I’m also a huge fan of Neon Park’s distinctive artwork as displayed on Little Feat’s 70s albums and Joni Mitchell with her artistic eye and bold brush strokes knew how to turn out an original album cover.

However when it comes down to it, there’s one album that for me ticks all the boxes – Marvin Gaye’s I Want You (as seen above).

In terms of boxes ticked, there’s several when it comes to this album.

Firstly, I love the artwork itself, so much so that my wife commissioned a painting of it for my 40th birthday and it has had pride of place in our home ever since.

Secondly, I love the album as much as I love the artwork and whilst it has never enjoyed the critical acclaim of ‘What’s Going On’ or ‘Let’s Get It On,’ it is my all-time favourite Marvin release.

Lastly and perhaps more importantly I have an emotional connection to this record. I purchased it on July 2nd, 1978, the same day I met my wife, and it became the soundtrack to our early relationship. The cover art for I Want You comes from an original 1971 painting by Ernie Barnes called “The Sugar Shack”.

When Gaye requested permission to use the painting, Barnes, who was a fan of Marvin’s, personally recreated it for the album by replacing some of the hometown references he’d included on the original painting with references relating to Gaye’s album.

The original 1971 “Sugar Shack” painting is now owned by Eddie Murphy who bought it for $50k from Marvin Gaye’s estate. A duplicate created by Barnes in 1976 recently sold at Christies for over $15 million so God knows how much Murphy’s original is worth now.

Noel Gallagher made the point recently that album artwork can be seen as being “the poor man’s art collection”, which kinda rings true…. unless you’re Eddie Murphy of course!