Books: R. Crumb – The Complete Record Cover Collection
Available now from W.W. Norton, R. Crumb – The Complete Record Cover Collection compiles hundreds of record covers for both new artists and largely forgotten masters done by the famed illustrator. Fascinated with record covers, particularly for the legendary jazz, country, and old-time blues music of the 1920s and 1930s, Crumb’s first record cover came when Janis Joplin, a fellow Haight Ashbury denizen, asked him to provide a cover for her album Cheap Thrills. his early collaboration proved so successful that Crumb went on to draw hundreds of record covers for both new artists and largely forgotten masters. So remarkable were Crumb’s artistic interpretations of these old 78 rpm singles that the art itself proved influential in their rediscovery in the 1960s and 1970s.
