Martin Popoff here, to tell you about the yummiest, swankiest book I’ve
ever done. The cover is made out of RUBBER and it’s called…
OK, so yes, it is a rubber-bound hard cover, 9 1/2” x 12 1/4” large
format, on premium gloss stock, full colour throughout and it weighs 3 3/4
pounds.
What is it? Well, it’s a book of hard rock ‘n’ metal cover art, picked by
myself and cover artist Ioannis, and then what I’ve done is critiqued,
reviewed, raved about, interpreted, reminisced over... each one.
Emboldening some of my most feverish writing is lots of quotes ‘n’
comments from the cover artists themselves, the photographers, and in many
cases the bands (and even the odd manager), about the thought process
behind the cover at hand.
So without getting into names, you’ve got commentary from the guys who
did covers for Uriah Heep, Diamond Head, Budgie, Ted Nugent (Weekend
Warriors – yeah!), Kiss, ZZ Top, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Gamma (II of
course!), Iron Maiden, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Motley Crue... and dozens of
rockers from all walks of the ‘70s and ‘80s having a laugh over some of
their greatest wrappers. And it’s not all mainstream either—you’ll see
some Quartz, Manowar, Legs Diamond, Angel, Boyzz and Starz celebrated here
as well.
Also included are a couple of reminiscing introductions from myself and
Ioannis (who also helped with design) and list of both of ours’ Top 100
Hard Rock Album Covers Of The Vinyl Age. Each cover is fully credited, and
then cross referenced by a couple of indexes in the back, and the shots of
each sleeve are sumptuously top-notch, taken from pristine sources.
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