31-08-2021, 21:30
Happy Birthday to Roger Dean, who was born in Kent, England, in 1944. His name is synonymous with album cover artworks, primarily those of Yes and Asia although there are plenty more besides.
He hit upon a highly successful fantasy-based formula for painting organic landscapes, especially, which was very well suited to the bands of the day, and which has endured, in more ways than one, as I have found, to my bewilderment. I usually go and look at the website of whoever it is and landed on Roger Dean’s home page only to find it dominated by a YouTube video of a Valentino men’s catwalk fashion show https://www.rogerdean.com/. I thought perhaps this was not the Roger Dean I was looking for, but nooo – it’s him alright. Now there is no way to say it other than this; there are some utterly embarrassing men’s clothing lines being paraded at these things – honestly – call me a pleb but I find them very silly, mostly – what few examples have crossed my line of vision, that is. Curiosity got the better of me though, as it usually does, so I watched a bit to see what on earth was going on. Turns out they’re using his paintings/designs on the fabric of some of the clothing and accessories. I don’t know what to say. Oh well – his work is absolutely distinguishable from anyone else’s I’ll give him that (even if James Cameron won’t!).
I chose to listen to David Greenslade’s Cactus Choir as I’d never heard it before despite sharing a flat with some friends, what now seems like a lifetime ago, who had a poster of this album artwork on the wall … huh – not a bad album, at all although I totally fail to grasp the connection between the painting and the album concept which is about the wild west – most puzzling!! Anyway … interestingly Simon Jeffes of Penguin Café Orchestra does some of the arrangement and none other than Simon Phillips is on drums … I particularly like the track at 16.37 and the one after that, the title track, if anyone wants to get a feel and cut to the chase …
He hit upon a highly successful fantasy-based formula for painting organic landscapes, especially, which was very well suited to the bands of the day, and which has endured, in more ways than one, as I have found, to my bewilderment. I usually go and look at the website of whoever it is and landed on Roger Dean’s home page only to find it dominated by a YouTube video of a Valentino men’s catwalk fashion show https://www.rogerdean.com/. I thought perhaps this was not the Roger Dean I was looking for, but nooo – it’s him alright. Now there is no way to say it other than this; there are some utterly embarrassing men’s clothing lines being paraded at these things – honestly – call me a pleb but I find them very silly, mostly – what few examples have crossed my line of vision, that is. Curiosity got the better of me though, as it usually does, so I watched a bit to see what on earth was going on. Turns out they’re using his paintings/designs on the fabric of some of the clothing and accessories. I don’t know what to say. Oh well – his work is absolutely distinguishable from anyone else’s I’ll give him that (even if James Cameron won’t!).
I chose to listen to David Greenslade’s Cactus Choir as I’d never heard it before despite sharing a flat with some friends, what now seems like a lifetime ago, who had a poster of this album artwork on the wall … huh – not a bad album, at all although I totally fail to grasp the connection between the painting and the album concept which is about the wild west – most puzzling!! Anyway … interestingly Simon Jeffes of Penguin Café Orchestra does some of the arrangement and none other than Simon Phillips is on drums … I particularly like the track at 16.37 and the one after that, the title track, if anyone wants to get a feel and cut to the chase …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson