The Road To Ruin (1970) by John & Beverley Martyn. Art: Un Semaine de Bonté (1934).
Having already looked at cover art featuring the work of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, a similar post for Max Ernst seemed inevitable. I did search for Ernst cover art after the Dalí post but at the time there were fewer examples. As usual there may be more than these since Discogs is the main search tool and they (or the albums) don’t always credit the artists. Despite having several books of Ernst’s work I’ve not been able to identify all the artwork so the Ernst-heads out there are welcome to fill in the gaps.
The Road To Ruin was John Martyn’s fourth album, and the second he recorded with wife Beverley. I’m surprised that this is the earliest example, I’d have expected a classical album or two to have predated it.
Martinu’s Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies Symphoniques) / Vorisek’s Symphony In D Major (1971); New Philharmonia Orchestra, Michael Bialoguski. Art: Bottled Moon (1955).
Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók (1976); Tatiana Troyanos, Siegmund Nimsgern, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez. Art: The Eye of Silence (1943–44).
Bluebeard’s Castle is my favourite opera, and The Eye of Silence is my favourite Ernst painting, so this is a dream conjunction even if the match doesn’t work as well as it did for the cover of The Crystal World by JG Ballard. One to seek out.
Le Sacre Du Printemps by Igor Stravinsky (1983); Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky.
Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky (1983); Jessye Norman, Thomas Moser, Alexandru Ionita, Michel Piccoli, Chor Und Sinfonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Colin Davis. Art: Oedipus Rex (1922).
Kammermusik Für Bläser Und Klavier by Darius Milhaud (1984); Aurèle Nicolet, Heinz Holliger, Eduard Brunner, Oleg Maisenberg. Art: Napoleon in the Wilderness (detail, 1941).
Ten Thousand Days From Now… (1987) by Morel.
The Result (1989) by White Stains. Art: Un Semaine de Bonté (1934).
Not an album but a single by a Psychic TV-related group whose name is taken from Aleister Crowley’s book of erotic poetry.
The Release (1990) by Malhavoc. Art: Un Semaine de Bonté (1934).
An industrial/metal band whose album includes a few Lovecraft references including a track entitled Dunwich Horror.
Soliloquy For Lilith (Six Songs For Lilitu) (1993) by Nurse With Wound.
Nurse With Wound’s multi-disc drone epic.
Cosmodrome EP (1994) by Grass Harp. Art: The Eye of Silence (1943–44).
Barefoot In The Head (1996) by Jim Sauter / Don Dietrich / Thurston Moore. Art: La Femme 100 Têtes (1929).
An improvised album by Thurston Moore with two people from Borbetomagus. The album title is from Brian Aldiss’s hallucinogenic SF novel.
Omro (1998) by Omro.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The album covers archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Maximiliana oder die widerrechtliche Ausübung der Astronomie
• Max and Dorothea
• Dreams That Money Can Buy
• La femme 100 têtes by Eric Duvivier
Curiously enough, I’ve recently revived Eye Candy for Bibliophiles and have been putting up covers of old Penguin Modern Classics.
Quite a few of them have cover art by Max Ernst.
Hi Anne. Yes, I posted a couple of mine here:
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2007/04/28/penguin-surrealism/
The Genet one has always seemed an odd choice.
A great selection in your posts, I have a few of those myself. I’m tempted to by an old copy of the Capek book just so I can place it next to the Genet one.
Yes, that Capek image is remarkable. You are welcome to my copy of the book – in unread condition – as I doubt I’ll ever get around to reading it. It does however have my name and year of acquisition on the front page. I used to put my name in all my books back then, not realising that they would be collectable in the future.
Result, White Stains cover is from Une Semaine de Bonte, 1934,
(but with colour added).
Barefoot in the Head cover is from The Hundred Headless Woman, title ‘Mata Hari’, 1927, published 1929.
Anne: I’d be happy to take that book if you don’t mind posting it. Not sure I’ve ever read any Capek.
herr doktor bimler: Excised as requested.
Paul Rumsey: Thanks, I got the White Stains one although I labelled it First Visible Poem when it should really be given the title of the book to which it belongs. I guessed Barefoot in the Head might be from Ernst’s other collage series but I don’t have a complete set of those.
John, I’ll post the book to the address you’ve got in your contacts if that is still valid, ie c/- Savoy Books, unless you’d prefer me to send it elsewhere.
The Savoy address is still the one. Thanks!
Posted the book this afternoon. You may get it by Christmas with any luck.
Thanks, Anne. I’ll see if I can send you something in return.