Howard Davies

@howdavies.bsky.social

524 Followers 1412 Following

Husband, father, archivist, information manager, cricket umpire, sunny optimist. Not necessarily in that order...

360 degree scan of a near empty Guildhall Yard with church bells ringing out.
Case from the David Bowie archive exhibition at V&A Storehouse East. Pictured is a union flag frock coat, a red v-guitar, documents, photos and prizes.
À Brian Eno oblique strategy card designed to help creativity in the studio. This one reads: “Destroy - nothing; - the most important thing “ seen at the David Bowie exhibition at V&A Storehouse East.
Black and white photo of John Peel enjoying a session by Ivee Gedell and the Ferrets.
Captain Waggett berates the Captain of the mails about his refusal to carry ammunition back to the mainland - Whiskey Galore!
Mr Bland takes the first of two steps up to a gridded entrance on this, the cover of his first lp.
Joyful Art Blakey in yellow wash behind his kit.
Blue washed John Coltrane deep in thought with his sax as a third limb.
Peter hiding in plain sight. Says very clearly it’s not about me’!
Joe Henderson on Joe Henderson on Joe Henderson, freeze frame of drawing on his cigarette.
A close up shot of Astro’s Gilberto’s beautiful half lit face and a single tear caught in the lashes of the lower lid of her left eye. Offers an explanation of the album’s title “I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do” which sits undemonstratively tucked away top left.
Tina Brooks as a limited colour chart.
The iconic zippo lighter cover to Bob Marley’s “Catch A Fire” album.
Hancock poised at the piano looks up into the camera. The names of his band mates are black keys, one depressed, against the white keys of the background. There’s that cropped forehead again.
Harry’s coat is slung over his shoulder as he walks away from the camera. Something happens over to his left, as if he is a dog in a landscape by Constable. The street is herringbone brick.
Black on red, LKJ in DUB.
Lee Morgan classic lp envisioned by classic Reid Miles design.
Red and black seems to have been the design brief for the man machine album. And angles.
Over designed, or under designed? This looks like how Brian Eno sounds.
A house alone under a massive, lowering sky.
Mustard Monk.
Just a title, that’s it.
A single tubular bell, horribly twisted, hovers unsupported against a blue sky over crashing waves. There ought to be a second bell. Nightmarish.
A cartoon-style print of Nick Lowe who holds a cup of tea and slouches, hand in trousers pocket. That plant is mother-in-law’s tongue, which probably means something.
Fiercely literal rendering of the title of Jennifer Warne’s album of Leonard Cohen’s covers.
The mysterious cover art for Paul Simon’s “Graceland”. A naive painting of somebody in tribal dress on a white horse. My reading is that Simon is the horse.
Chill Out by the KLF features many sheep laying down in a field. Could have put a train, or Elvis, but no, sheep.
Van Morrison wears massive, I mean really massive, flares over his Chelsea Boots as he sits wistfully strumming his guitar outside the denim blue doors at the top of the steps. You could land a light aircraft on the flares, they are so wide.
The cover of 20 Explosive Hits is just dreadful. Some comfort if you can’t see it.
Clip of a like notification from Pink Floyd drummer and sometime producer Nick Mason. Nick Mason!
Words, words, words. XTC’s essay on how album covers are used to sell records. It is emphatically not “designed to get you to read it” despite saying that.
Shows what a fire at is.