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VAGABONDS OF THE WESTERN WORLD ALBUM COVER Link to print
My very first Thin Lizzy artwork! Philip’s best friend and tour manager Frank Murray introduced me to Philip in Neary’s pub in Dublin and we hit it off straight away. We had a love of American comic books, poetry, Ireland and all things Irish and a shared fatherless upbringing.
I was absolutely delighted when Philip asked me to do the cover and poster for the upcoming ‘Vagabonds’ album and I had a couple of roughs over to him in London the following week. He loved the gatefold rough I prepared but the record company knocked it on the head so we went for the best part of the design and worked it up.
The logo was based of Tim Booth’s design –I just glossed it up a little –and the Marvel comics influence is very much in evidence.
‘Vagabonds’ has so many happy memories for me and I wish Philip was still around to share them one last time.
THIN LIZZY NIGHTLIFE ALBUM COVER Link to print
The cover for Nightlife was a slightly odd one: I was very influenced by Roger Dean at the time (I still love his artwork) and it shows in the lettering, the rest is a photo montage influenced by the collages of comic book artists like Jim Steranko and Jack Kirby which were appearing in Marvel comics -and myself and Philip were huge fans. Both of us knew what we wanted and Philip was very sure of the direction he wanted to go, hence the sullen, moody, almost threatening cover. It was intended as an almost subliminal political statement. But we dared not say so.
What no one knows -up until right now –was that the black panther was a silent tribute by both of us to great African Americans like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Bobby Smith and John Carlos, Black Power and the Black Panther movement.
We would have had a real job of explaining that one to the record company!. Anyway they took my name off the cover which annoyed me so eff them.
THIN LIZZY JAILBREAK POSTER Link to print
I was always proud of the ‘Jailbreak’ cover art but the poster was even better – it combined the front and back artwork very effectively and gave added emphasis and meaning to the whole futuristic ‘warlord’ theme that myself and Philip came up with for the album.
Myself and Philip were both very influenced by H.G.Wells ‘War of the Worlds’ and American Marvel comics; Philip wanted something that reflected these influences and this artwork was the result. Together we worked on the imaginary story of ‘The Warrior’ that Philip had in his mind and I reworked the roughs to reflect this idea until it all held together. The influence of another great American comic book artist we both loved, Neal Adams, is all over this one.
I loved the use of silver and we had to fight for it as an extra print run though the record company were up for it anyway so it got through.
This is my favorite Lizzy poster – I got it right and it works.
JOHNNY THE FOX ALBUM COVER Link to print
I had the artwork finished without a title waiting to hear from Philip while the record company were screaming for the artwork. With only a few days left before the release date Philip rang me and gave me the title. ‘Eh, Philip, There’s no such title on the track list…’ I volunteered, pointing out the obvious.
‘No one will notice, Jim, the album will be massive.’ He said. He was right. It was and no one ever said a word.
I thought I had better put the fox in after they rejected the ideas of a cut-out with the foxes head showing through. Echoes of the ‘Nightlife’ panther are here too but we always felt the central image reflected the idea of the ‘outsider’ -something that appealed to both of us.
The original design had the neo-Celtic metallic border with a warrior figure in the center. Philip just loved the border and was determined to use so I got the go-ahead to proceed to final artwork. It took ages but it was worth it. He wanted something very Irish and Celtic without any twee ‘diddley-oi’ connotations. There is just enough Celtic knotwork in there to do the trick while the rest of the border is sheer madness. I enjoyed every moment of it’s creation!
BLACK ROSE ALBUM COVER Link to print
Philip wanted me to try to create, quite literally, a ‘black rose’ for the cover of the album of the same title. It was really difficult as I wanted more than just a rose, I wanted something that reflected Philip’s love of the poem ‘Dark Rosaleen’ by James Clarence Mangan: ‘Oh, there was lightning in my blood, my Dark Rosaleen!’
This was a song about the yearning for liberty from English rule and Philip knew it by heart (well, almost) and I added the final touch just as I was about to finish.
By the way: Roísín Dubh translates as Dark Rose (aka Dark Rosaleen)’
Another poem was the inspiration for the blood coming from the rose; it was a famous religious poem by one of the leaders executed in 1916 after the Easter uprising titled’ I see his blood upon the rose’, by Joseph Mary Plunkett.
Philip was electrified when he saw the final result and he rang me: ‘Jaysus, Jim, you have me sussed! It’s just like I imagined it but better. Effin brilliant!
THIN LIZZY. CHINATOWN. ALBUM COVER. 1980. Link to print
The original artwork for this album was stolen back in 1980 –I was told it was on it’s way back to me and it never arrived so the only record I have of this, one of my very best works, is a treasured proof copy of the original cover. This proof copy is replicated by the print.
Here it is in all it’s former glory, exactly as I painted it.
I always remember Philip and Scott examining it after I flew over to London with the artwork. Philip was delighted, admiring the power of the imagery; Scott had his face right into it, scrutinizing every detail and said ’Jeez, Jim, you’ve painted every F***** scale on that dragon’.
That made my day. I was delighted too with the final printing -the record company really pulled the stops out.
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