Hang him on my wall…
No, that’s not a scene from a kind of rock ‘n roll Land Of The Giants above, it’s artist Morgan Howell and his sons, Isaac and Aidan, holding up bloody great big 45s by The Who, The Beatles and David Bowie.
Morgan has hit upon the idea of reproducing old 45s and annuals as artworks in their own right, continuing the idea that Andy Warhol first suggested almost fifty years ago with his Campbell’s Soup Cans paintings.
The artworks are twice the size of an album cover, plus a couple of inches, and the Bowie 45 that Morgan singled out for special treatment is Ziggy Stardust. Here’s the online description from
?Ziggy Stardust? by David Bowie
Print construction of original painted model.
Printed canvas sleeve, fixed inner disc with printed label
Complete with chrome wall mount fitting
Signed and numbered by Morgan Howell
Size: 680mm square
It’s a great idea and the records look very impressive mounted on walls on a spindle to give the effect of sitting on a turntable.
The only problem for a pedant such as myself is the fact that Ziggy Stardust was never an RCA A-side.
As I’m sure you know, the studio version of Ziggy Stardust only ever appeared on 45 as the B-side of The Jean Genie, and even then it was issued in the RCA green/orange and white sleeve in the UK, (as illustrated above) and not in the later black sleeve as used by Morgan.
As I say, I’m probably being too picky for the casual fan that just wants something a bit different decorating their walls…But conversely, I’m sure if you’re the sort of person willing to spend £375 on one of these, then you probably want it to be as accurate as possible too.
I spoke with Morgan about this and he was grateful for my input though he did know that Ziggy Stardust was the B-side…despite all the other examples in his store being A-sides.
Anyway, after seeing the green and orange RCA sleeve he thought it looked better and suggested that future versions would have that sleeve instead. He was also keen to see the result of our poll, whatever information that might bring. (See below)
Either way, you should check out
Win a spare signed 35th anniversary Rebel Rebel card and 45…
I have thought for a while that it would be cool to have a Bowie 45 label on a T-shirt, not a new idea, I know, but I’ve not seen an actual Bowie one yet.
So, if you had to choose a label that you would have preferred to Ziggy Stardust as one of Morgan’s artworks, and that you think would work on a T-shirt too, what would it be?
Let’s stick to UK and US 45 labels for official releases from Liza Jane to Cat People, the earliest and most recent Bowie 45s.
If you’re a current BowieNet subscriber, send your choice to me here and you could win the spare signed card and Rebel Rebel 45 pictured above…though the spare won’t be numbered 001 for obvious reasons.
Entries in by midnight NY time Sunday, March 7th, please.
Non-members can send in their suggestions too, but they won’t be eligible for the contest.