WOEBOT

David Em.

Midst all this Prog-Blog reverie (and the joke's turned sour as I've started to salivate at the thought of having a number more of these records, anyone heard of Paladin?) it's worth noting that Prog was probably the apex of the LP sleeve as self-conscious "art-form." As a teen I had Roger Dean posters on my walls, indeed without knowing what they were, simply cos at the school I was at these kind of things (drapes etc) would be sold from one boy to another for generations. Which in a round about way brings me to these.

Early 3D art has something really fantastic about it. There's a feeling that the practitioners were reaching out into an unknown world, exploring the possibilities of the form, delighting at their discoveries. All the while their offerings are kept in check by the technical limitations of the medium, kind of like a proficiency cap (the sort Jazz Funk should have had. "No Pastorius! You can only use 3 fingers!"). David Em was one of the masters of the form, and I'm cur-azy about his stuff, particularly the three sleeves he did for digital-era Herbie Hancock.

From 1983. One of Bill Laswell's better things. Not just "Rockit" but "Earthbeat" on this.

From 1984. Don't have this one. But what a splendid cover!

Which was originally entitled "Transjovian Pipeline", here is a close-up from Cynthia Goodman's excellent book: "Digital Visions: Computers and Art."

From 1988. Not so keen on this one. But forms the trilogy.

In fact Herbie's covers are a pretty good guage of the flavour of the day. I believe the good Kirk Degiorgio was making the same point in connection with Hancock's sartorial taste with his LP named "The Message in Herbie's Shirts."

Posted by Woebot at October 7, 2003 09:25 AM