Design | The Unravelling Of Al Cook...

Rejected Album Artwork: David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World”.

This is how we all know and recognise David Bowie’s album “The Man Who Sold The World”:

Ah, but things could’ve been very different…

The original 1970 US release of “The Man Who Sold The World” employed a cartoon-like cover drawing by Bowie’s friend Michael J. Weller, featuring a cowboy in front of the Cane Hill mental asylum.

The first UK cover, on which Bowie is seen reclining in a Mr Fish “man’s dress”, was an early indication of his interest in exploiting his androgynous appearance. The dress was designed by British fashion designer Michael Fish, and Bowie also used it in February 1971 on his first promotional tour to the United States, where he wore it during interviews despite the fact that the Americans had no knowledge of the as yet unreleased UK cover.

It has been said that his “bleached blond locks, falling below shoulder level”, were inspired by a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

The 1971 German release presented a winged hybrid creature with Bowie’s head and a hand for a body, preparing to flick the Earth away.

The 1972 worldwide reissue by RCA Records used a black-and-white picture of Ziggy Stardust on the sleeve which remained until 1990 when the Rykodisc reissue reinstated the original UK “dress” cover. It also appeared on the 1999 EMI remaster.

“Oh By Jingo!” indeed.

Published in:

on November 16, 2012 at 14:57 Comments (2)
Tags: 1970, 1971, 1972, Album Artwork, Artists., Artwork, David Bowie., Design, EMI, Graphic Design, Illustration., Michael J. Weller, RCA, Rejected Album Artwork: David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World", Remastered Albums, Rykodisc, The Man Who Sold The World, Vinyl Records, What Could Have Been

Stop-Motion Animation …On A Vinyl Record!

By Danish designer Michael Hansen, this is one of the greatest ideas for vinyl record design I’ve ever seen!

“An album cover for the modern classical composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen. My idea was to translate Allan’s sensorial music into a visual experience with elements of sensuality. The two pieces of music is separated on the records two sides. There is not an A- or B-side. Each piece has its own front page; Waves is a visualisation of the music performed by nine trompets. I made it as simple as possible with nine circles on a line. Crystal Tapestry is a pattern of crystals that has no front or back end, it refers to a crystal that merge into it self. Inside I made a visualisation that combines the two sides, a crystalized wave. On the record i created patterns that gives the design a visual sensuality. I made an analog animation with a 50 Hz strobe lamp and made it interact with the music.”