Led Zeppelin II Album Cover Art

Music Talk Radio

    I like Led Zeppelin's "Brown Bomber" album cover for Led Zeppelin II. David Juniper created the artwork. The whole story is at Rock Pop Gallery, but let me summarize it. The artwork was created by taking an authentic 1917 World War I photo of German air force pilots (The Red Baron's crew) and replacing some pilots' heads with the Zeppelin members, famous celebs, and some Zeppelin crew.

    Interestingly, the Red Baron didn't make it onto the Zep II cover. In the original photo, he is sitting in the plane's cockpit. Juniper airbrushed him out. Remember that this art was created before the ability to quickly Photoshop the replacement faces. It was all done by hand. It's not as big a deal to make this now, but it was back in 1969.

    The blond woman was Glynis Johns, the mother of Mary Poppins. I might add that she looks pretty crazy in this! Glynis Johns was a play on the recording engineer's name who recorded their debut album, Glyn Johns. I read this on a Zeppelin forum, and it seems legitimate! You can be the judge.

    Juniper gave the other pilots beards and sunglasses and replaced their faces. Some faces that took the pilots' places were those of Neil Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, Peter Grant (Zeps's gangster-like manager), and Richard Cole, Zeps's tour manager. I also discovered this on the same Zep forum.

    I like the use of sepia brown, and the pink is in stark contrast. The Airbrush technique is fantastic. It's just a cool-looking image. Not only do I love the Led Zeppelin II album art, but it is also my favorite Zeppelin album.

Artwork created by David Juniper, 1969.

Original WW1 Photo, 1917
Courtesy of forums.ledzeppelin.com

Popular posts from this blog

The Rolling Stones Mick Taylor

Music Talk Radio
Image
     Mick Taylor was a great replacement guitarist for Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. His keen sense of melody and ability to jam were fresh for the Stones. Think of the end of "Sway." Taylor joined the Stones in 1969.       Taylor played on the following albums from the Stones: Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970), The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main Street  (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974).       When Taylor was in the Stones, he fostered the best and most creative writing and guitar playing. Mick Taylor challenged Keith. They worked well together.       Keith is one of my favorite songwriters, and he upped his game, as did Mick Jagger when Mick Taylor was in the band. Taylor challenged them and intimidated them a bit. They got bluesy, too. Mick Taylor was a great slide player. If you haven't considered him a Rollin...
Read More - Your Two Cents!

Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath

Music Talk Radio
Image
    Did you know that Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath fame, lost a couple of his fingertips on his right hand? His index and middle fingers, to be exact. Being left-handed, this would have been his fretboard hand. He worked in a sheet metal factory and accidentally cut them off. Ouch! It almost stopped Iommi from playing guitar, but a friend, seeing Iommi's depression from not playing, played Iommi a record of Django Reinhardt.  A guitarist of Jazz fame. Iommi didn't know until after hearing Reinhardt that Reinhardt had severely burned his ring and index finger on his left hand but kept playing. Iommi was impressed by the jazz great. His friend then revealed that Reinhardt could only use two fingers on his fretboard hand.       This got Iommi inspired and back on the saddle again. Tony used light guitar strings and even banjo strings , dropping the string tension to make them looser.  He dropped his tuning to C# Standard and D# Standard...
Read More - Your Two Cents!

Cream's Disraeli Gears Album Cover

Music Talk Radio
Image
     The album art for Cream's  Disraeli  Gears doesn't get any more '60s, does it? 1967, to be exact. Talk about psychedelic! It's always been one of my favorite album covers because of its pure insanity. The artwork was done by a gentleman named Martin Sharp. A fine job he did.   From Wikipedia, " Martin Sharp was attempting to capture the sound of the music in the cover, which he describes as a "warm fluorescent sound"   The colors are outrageous in their combination. This had to be the boldest album cover known to man. To me, it represents the 1960s more than any other album cover. Including Sgt. Pepper and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Peacocks, horses, flowers. Who's the green chick in front of Jack Bruce? Anyone? Oh, and the trio in there too. Gotta love it. Check out more on  Classic Rock Magazine . Album Art by Martin Sharp, 1967
Read More - Your Two Cents!