@johncoulthart.com
Artist, designer, occasional writer.
• Words: https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/
• Pictures: https://www.johncoulthart.com/
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/johncoulthart
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@johncoulthart.comNo worries. I think they did at last one more song in that manner but I've not heard the whole album.
@johncoulthart.comI didn't say they'd done anything that favourably compares, just that there's an obvious influence.
@johncoulthart.comBritish jazz-rockers listen to Gris-Gris 1000 times before going into the studio.
@johncoulthart.comYeah, a few of the songs are over-exposed. Red Sky At Night by The Accent doesn't really belong on it, and I have the song already on five different psychedelia comps. Licencing also matters; Black Sabbath should be on it but they're not.
@johncoulthart.comYeah, that staircase is marvellous. André Breton used to visit that museum a lot so he must have walked up and down those stairs a few times.
@johncoulthart.comI've sat in front of the original in the Moreau museum. It's a big painting that would fill a large portion of wall from floor to ceiling.
@johncoulthart.comIt's a good one if a bit vague in some of its inclusions. Disc 2 has a couple of tracks I dislike but the other discs are pretty good throughout.
@mlleghoul.bsky.socialReposted by @johncoulthart.comI know I have subjected you to every iteration of my sister’s guest room over the past decade and a half, but it just keeps getting better and better! It used to be the Fairy Wonderland room but I think at this point it’s more like Whimsigothlandia. 🌙
@johncoulthart.comNew blog post: Weekend links 851
@johncoulthart.comMore groovy diablerie from 1970, the gatefold sleeve interior for Sacrifice by Black Widow. Artwork is credited to "Circa" whoever they were.
@johncoulthart.comMr Shea's seasonal card arrived from darkest Connecticut.
@johncoulthart.comProbably something Symbolist by Moreau or Jean Delville to hang in the living room. Eg:
![An exceptionall detailed oil on canvas painting: Jupiter and Semele (circa 1895) by Gustave Moreau.
"[auto-translated description] Semele – daughter of Harmonia and Cadmus, the founder of Thebes – is depicted here struck down, annihilated by the vision of the transfigured Jupiter. This is the consequence of heeding the words of the treacherous Juno, the god's legitimate wife. The jealous Juno, having assumed the features of her nurse Beroe to gain Semele's trust, had suggested that she demand this metamorphosis from her lover, a transformation she knew to be fatal to a mere mortal.
At the base of the throne are two allegorical figures: Death, who, having completed her work, carries a bloodied sword, and Sorrow, who, crowned with thorns like Christ, holds a lily, a symbol of purity. For the painter, they "form the tragic basis of human life ." Near these two figures, one can distinguish, on the one hand, the Eagle with outstretched wings, an attribute of Jupiter; and on the other, Pan, a deity with goat's feet, on whose thighs a multitude of small beings writhe, trying to free themselves from their bonds.
The earth deity Pan establishes the link between the celestial world and the underworld, ruled by Hecate, the Night. She appears at the bottom of the painting, her head surmounted by a crescent moon. Near her are "the dark phalanx of Erebus's monsters, hybrid beings […] who must still await the life of light, beings of shadow and mystery, the undecipherable enigmas of darkness ." The two sphinxes at the bottom of the painting symbolize the past and the future and are the guardians of this infernal flock."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:siyol53kzwu5f4tsylrcwc32/bafkreienva4nd2qpxcvyd4cphhfb6g4idfbetz5dqguriyg4qsl66gr4ku@jpeg)
@johncoulthart.comThere's a lot of that stuff around circa 1970, not always easy to pin to an artist unless there's a signature or printed credit.
@johncoulthart.comIndeed. Like supermarkets selling bread from rough wooden shelves like you're in an old shop not a huge modern building.
@johncoulthart.comI've never seen him do anything in quite that style, he's usually much more finished and detailed. He generally fills out the whole cover as well.
@johncoulthart.com
@johncoulthart.comHa. I don't know what the "sine" is about. Reading the story no doubt answers the question.
@johncoulthart.comBeyond only managed a few issues but they had a nice collection of cover art:
@johncoulthart.comOne of Gunn's stories first appeared as SINE OF THE MAGUS [sic] in an issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction. I think I'll read it later, a detective story that mentions the Clavicula Solomonis is something that grabs my attention.
@johncoulthart.comMore groovy occultism from 1970. Uncredited artwork; looks like Bob Pepper but I don't think he did anything for Dell around this time.
