R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection Details
From the Inside Flap In this collection of interviews that spans from the late 1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century, the comic artist proves to be iconoclastic, opinionated, and impervious to the commercial moods of the public Read more About the Author Born in Philadelphia, R. Crumb is the author of numerous comic works and one of the pioneers of underground comics and arguably one of the most famous cartoonists in history. His books include The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb, and many more. He lives in the south of France with his wife, the artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb. Read more
Reviews
The book itself is a relatively small (10"x10" approximately) coffee table-style book, with 267 images by R. Crumb. The book slips inside a fairly thick cardboard slipcase, which is covered in Robert Crumb's graphics in an overall tan color. Tying in with the album cover theme, there's a record label sized hole punched through the back and front covers, which show more color graphics (the front is a portrait of Crumb's group/the back is from the album "Harmonica Blues" on Yazoo Records) from Crumb-a nice touch. The book itself is a substantial hardcover, the paper is a slick almost matte surface-perfect for reproducing Crumb's artwork. On the endpapers are reproductions (from a European set), in color, of trading cards Crumb produced-more about those later.For music/album cover fans (like me) this is one of Robert Crumb's finest books. There are a so many examples of his style that picking favorites is very hard. The graphics are a mixture of color, b&w, and mono color-a number of them are reproduced almost full page. Included are most of Crumb's album covers, stand alone portraits (Frank Zappa, Bo Diddley, James Brown, Gus Cannon, George Jones, Woody Guthrie, etc), posters, calling cards, record labels, CD artwork, and advertisements. There's also several pieces of Crumb's work that were never used-hence unseen by most people. It's difficult to say with any real accuracy if this book collects all his work in this area-probably not. Somewhere, stashed away and forgotten, are other examples of Crumb's work in the music field. But that's okay, because what's here is worth pouring over and enjoyed many times. The bigger the Crumb fan you are the more you'll like what you see in this collection.If you like books devoted to album covers and/or record labels (and related work), this fine book can sit alongside other collections of similar artwork. I still own (and cherish) the albums with Robert Crumb artwork. There's nothing like seeing his work on a full sized album cover, but this great book will give you a good look at his wonderful, quirky, reverential take on music and musical artists. If you're a Robert Crumb fan-purchase this now or in the near future. Also check out his book "Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country", for more fine portraits of many musicians in those genres.And if you happen to run across Crumb's trading card sets, purchase it (them) immediately. The three most well known are-"Pioneers of Country Music" (difficult/impossible to find), "Early Jazz Greats", and "Heroes of the Blues" (which has two different box tops-one in color (the earliest), one in black/red/white. These, too, are portraits of musical greats-some well known some not. There are several plates (#101, #88, #74) included in the book devoted to these sets. There's also another set of cards-this time featuring characters from Crumb's various publications-released in 2010. If you like posters, check out the three available on Amazon-they're 2' X 3' (1 poster is 24" X 30"), and they're Crumb in full glorious color. And there's also a soundtrack from "Crumb", a film by Terry Zwigoff-it's pretty cool too if you like recreations (except for 2 original Geechie Wiley tracks) of old 78 RPM tunes. And finally, check out Crumb's book on the blues-with biographies of some well known bluesmen and other pieces. It's Crumb's idiosyncratic look at the music and artists. For some unknown reason, looking at this book reminded me of the book "Dead Letters", a collection of envelopes with some fine to crazed artwork, sent in by fans, hoping to get noticed in order to get tickets ("a miracle" in the Dead world) to upcoming concerts. Check it out-in it's own way it's pretty cool too.
