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right-track · 06-23-2008, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

I was reading up on that cover.

Apparently it was a painting in Frank Zappa's house

"Yes, I am the same person who did the painting used on the Alice Cooper album, Pretties for You. Actually, that was the title of the painting, which Frank Zappa then used for the album. Frank, a friend of mine, was visiting my studio one day, bought two paintings he wanted to used for album covers, one for Alice Cooper, another for the Mothers of Invention. The two paintings purchased: 'Pretties for You' and 'The Four Apostles'. Both ended up in Frank's home, 'Pretties for you' in the main livingroom, and 'Apostles' in the downstairs music studio. Who knows what happened to them after Frank's death. I'm still in touch with his brother, Bobby, but not his wife or kids.
The idea behind the painting are the dreams and regrets of old men on the occasion of their death. It was inspired by the funeral of an Italian movie director who died in '68 or '69. There was a photo layout in Life magazine, I think it was, detailing the funeral. They had photos of the old director, and I liked his look, especially his hat. I tried to imagine his thoughts at his own funeral. Death is the fate of us all, of course, and I suppose the moment defines us as human beings... given the reality, however absurd it may seem to us, that we are born only to die."

OK, the above post in the 'Crap Album Covers...' gave me the idea for this thread.
Find out the background story to the album cover art of an album you love.
Even if this thread doesn't run and run (which it probably won't) at least it'll be interesting.