Artistic beauty in music

The second chunk of three comes from the world of musical magnificence.

Although iconic imagery will inevitably feature, I never intended this to escalate into a compilation of great album covers, as I'm sure many would struggle to qualify.

While I'll always mention artist, title may be on sick leave...

You'd think that Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques or even Bernard Bresslaw would get the nod but 'oh hello', Charles Hawtrey beat off all Carry On competition.

George Best + appeared later as an enhanced cash cow.
The Manchester United and Northern Ireland legend featured in satirical track So This is Great Britain? by The Holloways.
"The prince of pleasure lost his crown by getting high and getting down"
He is also referenced in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting when Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), reminds Renton (Ewan McGregor) of his unifying theory of life.
"Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: George Best, for example. Had it, lost it."

Yeah.  And?

Well as you don't 'watch' the back of a TV, the reverse reveals all.

Channel 1 (if you like) features Ian 'Beefy' Botham but switching over to Channel 3 displays surely one of the most instantly recognisable images in sport as shortly after defeating Ray Reardon 18-15 to be crowned World Snooker Champion in 1982, a tearful Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins beckons his wife and baby to come and share the moment.

His last great hurrah was coming back from 7 zip down to beat Steve Davis 16-15 in the 1983 UK Championship.

However, the infamous exclamation of "I'm fucking back" didn't go down at all well with the WPSBA.

He had the chance to become the Master in 1987 but blew a big lead against Dennis Taylor.

Nobody can argue his flamboyant and unpredictable style made snooker what it is today.

On 15 November 1957 at Madison Square Garden, Neal Rivers connects with an absolute pearler of a punch on Gene Fuller.
Fuller eventually won by majority decision at the end of the tenth.

Head of Jym - Frank Auerbach

Eliran Kantor

Breakthrough Dreaming - Jennifer Hathaway

Mila Furstova
Coldplay - Ghost Stories

Isonicotinic Acid Ethyl Ester - Damien Hirst
Like I've previously said, this also appears in the original Kick-Ass.

David Harouni

Tida Bradshaw claims a visual reference of the personal nature of the album itself.
East India Youth - Total Strife Forever

Paul Normansell demonstrates what can be achieved by using gloss on aluminium.

A dreamy and idyllic effort by John Craig.

Paul Ryan

My Great Heart - Peter Howson

Pilot 2 - Michael Kagan

Usually associated with Yes, Asia and Psygnosis, Blue Desert is one of the many sublime pieces by Roger Dean.
Just don't mention Avatar, it may piss him right off...

Sajime Sorayama created many Sexy Robots to oil many crotches.
Aerosmith fancied this shiny example.

Untitled - Gregory Euclide
This wonderful landscape complements Bon Iver's eponymously titled follow up to their debut For Emma Forever Ago.

Winston Chmielinski

Hannah Hooper

The Beatles had John Lennon, T-Rex had Marc Bolan, Nirvana had Kurt Cobain and The Doors had Jim Morrison.

As for Freddie, God save the Queen.

Anyway, before mysteriously disappearing and officially pronounced dead in 2008, the Manics boasted Richey 'James' Edwards.

Under UK law, if the missing person has not been known to be alive for a period of at least 7 years, an application can be made to declare or presume death.

Cheerful stuff.

I hope for their sake that new album Futurology will be better than the utter shite Rewind the Film.

(Sorry lads).

Anyway, Jenny Saville serves two slices of warm apple pie.

Stare

Strategy (South Face / Front Face / North Face)
Music written by James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore.
Lyrics written by Nicky Wire and Richey James.

All songs in Everything Must Go were recorded between Autumn 95 and Winter 96.

Long-term lyrical partner Nicky Wire assisted with Elvis Impersonator Blackpool Pier and The Girl Who Wanted To Be God but Kevin Carter, Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky and Removables were composed entirely by Edwards.

In cult 90s BBC flat-sharing comedy Game On, the fantastic From Despair to Where from Gold Against the Soul is used in episode Matthew - a Suitable Case for Treatment.

After Chaplin buggered off to Hollywood, Neil Stuke assumed the role of self-confessed, agoraphobic macho man.

Using what he left behind, Journal for Plague Lovers illustrates posthumous and poetic genius.

We all know about Sgt. Pepper and his Lonely Hearts Club Band but Peter Blake also designed sleeves for Paul 'Modfather' Weller's Stanley Road and Oasis Greatest Hits album Stop the Clocks.

Reggie Pedro

Bye Bye Badman (Detail) - John Squire
It's good that he freely admits to ripping off Jackson Pollock.

King Crimson used the talent of P.J. Crook on several occasions.

However, this painting by Barry Godber is beyond striking.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

The album title may have been a purposeful variation of Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Burzum's upcoming album cover is taken from Merlin and Vivien, courtesy of an engraving by French artist Gustave Doré for Alfred Tennyson's poem Idylls of the King.

After Queen contacted Frank Kelly Freas, the cover was repainted to include the bloody demise of band members.

It's used as a running gag in Family Guy episode Killer Queen.

The bloodlust continues inside the booklet, as widespread panic understandably ensues among the human contingent.

Aerosmith were not the first to use Sajime Sorayama's Sexy Robot, as Autograph's That's the Stuff demonstrates.

Numerous works from the late and great fantasy artist Frank Frazetta were appreciated by the likes of Molly Hatchet, Nazereth, Dust and Wolfmother.

Berserker

Brain

Dark Kingdom

Snow Giants

The Sea Witch

Death Dealer 1

Brought in 1973, a further five variations followed with a certain evil brick shithouse from Golden Axe looking suspiciously similar.

Ax Battler's mother, Tyris Flare's father and mother, together with Gilius Thunderhead's brother were all killed by Death Adder.

What a complete and utter asshole.

For the exclusive 1991 Mega Drive sequel, Sega used a piece by Boris Vallejo, who is largely compared to Frazetta.

Zdzislaw Beksinski tweaks the strings of my referencing violin.

Nobody knows when this or any other macabre piece came about because he refused to assign year or title to anything, but I would guesstimate sometime in the late 60s to early 70s.

Of course it's different to the above Death Dealing bad-ass but the principle lingers.

Sticking fast with Beksinski.

That has a feel of this, right?

The Face of War - Salvador Dali

Surreal.

Let's get back to making beautiful music because it's the turn of Philip Lawvere.

If death metal sleeves displayed fluffy clouds, bashful bunnies or playful pussy cats, they'd be definitely unsuitable for children.

Wes Benscoter artwork activated.  Selection follows.

Instead of cattle, humans are herded for imminent slaughter.

That is indeed grim but when compared to my bud Zdzislaw, Benscoter's subject matter is brighter than a rainbow. 

The corpse swilling monster reminds of Ralph Fiennes transformed as Lord Voldemort.

Stop me if I'm wrong...

A 'doodle' from Courtney Barnett

This is either fantastic coincidence or a barefaced rip-off of...

...Great Wave off Kanagawa - Katsushika Hokusai 

Okay, I don't know if she 'defends' herself in the sleeve notes but I'm betting against it.

The Crimson Projekct must have sought official permission.

Be my guest to have a bite of Swiss roll H.R. Giger.

Skewering the stunning Debbie Harry like a kebab may offend the meek. 

Emerson Lake Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

Mordor VII

Vlad Tepes

Satan I

As things are looking Hunky Dory, Andy Warhol looks a scream, hang him on your wall.

On this occasion, The Velvet Underground & Nico advise against trying to unzip and eating the white bits.

And now for something rather strange.

Time - Gediminas Pranckevicius (2009)

New Age Manhattan - Jacek Yerka (1993)

Now don't those exceptionally detailed structures look largely alike?

You can't even say that Pranckevicius took inspiration, and/or simply followed in Yerka's Polish footsteps because he's Lithuanian.

Taken directly from the album notes:
Cover image - 'Lebe, Das Leben' from the collection of Susan Nicholson

While that doesn't particularly help, it seems The Dali Skull legacy unofficially continues...

Elizabeth Peyton

Her contemporary style immediately shouts of Edvard Munch's most celebrated work.

The Scream

There's a reason why Dan Porter's artwork stands out.

I know it, and now, the world knows it.

Roy Lichtenstein 1964 pop art

Busted.  Big time.

Even discount chain Home Bargains had the lips to rape The Kiss.

Yeah, I noticed.

OMC - How Bizarre.

This unrelated and earlier example had the same but different idea.

Chromatics - Night Drive

Mark Kostabi was responsible for something unbelievable.

Use your Illusion II became very blue.

I sai Raphael, what do you think?

About what?
Yer' know, Guns n' Roses, the illusion of innovation and all that jazz?
What the FUCK are you talking about?

Oh never mind.  No wonder you can't bed April with an attitude like that.

Mr Kostabi indiscriminately 'borrowed' the excerpt from The School of Athens. 

Should timeless masterpieces be doctored, reenacted or parodied?

Regardless of opinion, these album covers deemed it necessary to do so.

Bacchus and Ariadne - Titian
Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet

Raft of the Medusa - Theodore Gericault
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash

Luncheon on the Grass - Claude Monet
Bow Wow Wow - The Last of the Mohicans (EP)

Bal du moulin de la galette - Renoir
Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town

The Death of Marat - Jacques-Louis David
Cold Chisel - East

Welcome, Bonny Boat! - James Clarke Hook
Saint Etienne - Tiger Bay

Nighthawks - Edward Hopper
Chris Rea - The Blue Jukebox

The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci
Steel Panther - All You Can Eat

This was perversely subject to desecration.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps - Jacques-Louis David
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! - Pardon My French

Is the band's name referencing Jeff Cohen's character from The Goonies?

(Shrugs shoulders).

Featuring efforts by Caravaggio, Johannes Vermeer, Gustav Klimt and Van Gogh, the music video 70 Million by Hold Your Horses! has band members recreate famous paintings.

Cover art by John Van Hamersveld for The Best of Grateful Dead - Skeletons from the Closet, includes Venus's head from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

Apart from including artist and album title (or sometimes not), the following are left perfectly preserved.

If only they'd do the same with films...

Liberty Leading the People - Eugene Delacroix
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

The Garden of Earthly Delights: Hell (detail from the right wing) - Hieronymus Bosch
Deep Purple - 3

Netherlandish Proverbs - Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Basket of Roses - Henri Fantin-Latour
New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies

The Ghost of a Flea - William Blake
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) - Salvador Dalí
Thought Industry - Songs for Insects

Study of a Seated Nude with Long Hair - Gustav Klimt
Simone Felice - Strangers

The Chinese Girl - Vladimir Tretchikoff
Chumbawamba - Slap!

The Garden of Earthly Delights: Earth (detail from the centre panel) - Hieronymus Bosch
Dead Can Dance - Aion

Specifically...

Brilliant, right?

Another wondrous journey ends but as video games and more will eventually be installed, that's cause for premature celebration.