New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #30: AC/DC "Safe In New York City" CD Single (2000)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)



Artist: AC/DC

Title: Safe In New York City (CD Single)

Released: 2000

Art direction and design: Alli

Statue concept and photography: Mista Dean Karr

Statue sculpted by: SMG Effects - Mark Alfrey & Stan Lok



If you'd like to hear the song and see the official promo video for it, make sure you click on over to The New York Nobody Sings and check out our most recent post there (from last Saturday) which also gives some background bio information on the track.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #29: The Raunch Hands "Let It Burn" 7" (1991)

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)



Artist: The Raunch Hands
Title: Let It Burn
Released: 1991
Artwork by: Chandler

I spotted this cool piece of vinyl at a used book/record store a few weeks ago and knew immediately it was gonna come home with me and take up residence on my "Albums with New York City Artwork" shelf. This particular item is a double 7". Side 1 and 2 are pressed on red vinyl, while side 3 and four are pressed on yellow vinyl. Both singles are housed in the beautiful sleever shown here, which folds open to reveal a poster of the band inside.

The Raunch Hands' sound has been described as "a lethal cocktail of punk, garage, soul, R&B, 50's , country, and rock." You can read a circa-2001 interview with Raunch Hands guitarist Mike Mariconda HERE.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #28: The East Village Opera Company (2006)

This week's pick for NYC Image as Album/CD cover, the self-titled 2006 release from a group called The East Village Opera Company, features a cover photo of some of the bands gear sitting on the sidewalk in front of the (recently closed) Mars Bar at 25 East 1st Street.


(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: The East Village Opera Company
Title: The East Village Opera Company
Released: 2006
Photographer: Ken Schles

The East Village Opera Company are a multi-talented group of New York City based musicians who combine the sounds and vocal stylings of classical and opera music with the instrumentation, time signatures and attitudes of more current forms of popular and rock music.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #27: Various Artists "Summer In The City" (1999)

With high temperatures for today forecast to be 100* in Minneapolis/St. Paul and in the high 80's in NYC (with a forecast high of 96* there tomorrow) this 1999 Various Artists CD seems to be the perfect choice for today's NYC Album/CD cover art image. This is a various artists compilation featuring, what else, songs about summer in the city. Not quite sure how "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" and "Rock On" made it on here, but whatever. The CD was produced in 1999 by Sony Special Products exclusively for the Pottery Barn store chain. The CD booklet feature not just one but three(!) great NYC images...


CD Booklet - Front Cover


CD Booklet - Inside


CD Booklet - Back Cover
(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Various Artists
Title: Summer In The City
Released: 1999
Photography by: Chris Conroy


...stay cool out there, city people. And drink lots of liquids.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #26: Cyndi Lauper "At Last" (2003)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: Cyndi Lauper
Title: At Last
Released: 11/18/03

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #25: Garland Jeffreys "The King Of In Between" (2011)

Artist: Garland Jeffreys
Title: The King of In Between
Released: 2011
Cover photo by: Anton Corbijn

The New York City oriented album/CD cover art we feature in this series is usually at least a few years old and in some cases several decades old. Today we feature something brand new from a man who is no stranger to singing the praises of the Big Apple: the latest from Garland Jeffreys. Not only does the CD feature a stark b&w cover photo taken at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard & Malcom X Boulevard in Harlem, the CD also features two very New York City flavored songs: "Coney Island Winter," and "Roller Coaster Town." You can read a recent, praise-filled review of the disc from the New Yorker HERE.

Of course, you can check out samples of each track on the CD and then, if you choose, purchase a copy for your own music collection over at Amazon.com, or better yet, you can listen and purchase a copy directly from Garland's website at Garland Jeffreys.com.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #24: Lou Reed "City Lights" (1985)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives - courtesy MJG196 Collection)

Artist: Lou Reed
Title: City Lights
Release Date: 1985

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #23: Buck Owens And His Buckaroos "I Wouldn't Live In New York City" (1971)

Artist: Buck Owens and his Buckaroos
Title: I Wouldn't Live In New York City
Released: 1971 - UK ONLY release on Capitol Records

Want to see and hear Buck and his Buckaroos performing the song "I Wouldn't Live In New York City" on "Hee Haw" ?!? Of course you don't. But you'll watch it anyway because you have a morbid curiosity. You can see the video in my most recent post over at The New York Nobody Sings. And don't complain to the management over there...it'll do you no good.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #22: Ramones - Subterranean Jungle (1983)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Marky looks forlornly out the window of a New York City subway car as his bandmates distance themselves from him, Johnny defiantly hanging out by the open sliding door. Didn't he know that's dangerous? Anyway, why was Marky set in the window by himself in this shot? The answer comes on page 1 of the liner notes for the 2002 remasterd CD:

"Marky Ramone knew the jig was up. He'd been stashing his vodka bottle in one of the recording studio garbage cans, and Dee Dee, no stranger to the dark side himself, was holding it up and waving it around for the rest of the band to see."

"He spilled the beans," Marky says. And that was that. After four albums with the Ramones, former Voidoid Marky (born Marc Bell) had to leave the band to cure his drinking problem. The 80's were starting out rough for the first family of punk..."

More details of the deteriorating situation within the band at the time can be found of page 5:

The strain...shows in the cover photo, taken a week befor Marky's departure. "I had an idea it was coming because they weren't calling me, and I was hearing things," Marky says. "I'd had enough."

When the group met for the cover shoot at the 57th Street stop on the B train - the last stop befor entering Queens - Marky felt the distance growing. His placement in the photos says it all..."

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #21: Gordon Jenkins "Manhattan Tower" (1956)

Artist/Composer: Gordon Jenkins
Title: Manhattan Tower/Complete Manhattan Tower
Released: 1956

From Wikipedia:

Manhattan Tower was a multi-disc LP album by Gordon Jenkins, released by Capitol Records in 1956, as "Complete Manhattan Tower." It is a development of the first side of Jenkins' 1948 Decca Records LP Manhattan Tower/California Suite, which was characterized as "Two Musical Narratives" and featured Elliot Lewis, Beverly Mahr and Lee Sweetland. The 1948 Manhattan Tower/California Suite combined mood music, original songs, spoken narration, dialog, and sound effects to tell the story of a young man who moves to New York City to take a job. The tower referred to in the title is the apartment building he lives in. The album chronicles his rise in both business and society. Although the original introduces the theme of love, it is more thoroughly developed in the 1956 recording. (The flip side of the 1948 Decca album consisted mostly of short, impressionistic songs of historic California.)

Gordon Jenkins performed part of Manhattan Tower on the Ed Sullivan Show. At the time of its release, it was considered quite innovative. Patti Page released a monaural recording of Manhattan Tower on Mercury Records in 1956. In 1964, a new recording of Manhattan Tower featuring vocalist Robert Goulet was released in stereo by Columbia Records. It was marketed as the first recording of the Jenkins' work in stereo. The album was reissued in compact disc format by Sepia Records on March 19, 2007.

Here are a few more variants of the cover art that have been issued over the years...









Let's have a listen, shall we? Best not to watch the video though - it just distracts from the purity of the audio track. Just sit back, close your eyes and listen...

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #20: Paul Simon "Still Crazy After All These Years" (1975)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: Paul Simon
Title: Still Crazy After All These Years
Released: October 1975

*The original inner sleeve is missing from my copy of the album, and so far I am unable to locate the name of the photographer who shot the photo that appears on the cover. But I'm 99% sure the photo was shot on a fire escape someplace in New York City...

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #19: Simon & Garfunkel "Wednesday Morning, 3AM" (1964)

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
Title: Wednesday Morning, 3AM
Release Date: 10/19/64 - Re-Released: January 1966
Photo: Henry Parker for Columbia Records Photo Studios

Art Garfunkel has related the story several times that during the photo sessions for the album cover, several hundred pictures were taken that were unusable due to the "all-familiar suggestion" on the wall in the background, which inspired their song "A Poem on the Underground Wall," which appeard on their October 1966 LP "Parsley, Sage, Rosemarry & Thyme."

Here's one about New York from the "Wednesday Morning, 3AM" LP, titled "Bleecker Street."



...it's been quite a long time since $30.00 paid the rent on Bleecker Street.

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #18: Michael James Band "Let The Good Times Roll" (1983)

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: Michael James Band
Title: Let The Good Times Roll
Released: 1983

*I guess this band was from Minnesota. I'm not familiar with them or their music, although that doesn't really mean much either - I don't claim to be an expert on the history of Minnesota rock and roll. But, doing a quick Google search turns up very little (read: almost no) information on this particular Michael James Band, but plenty of info on several other outfits going by the same name, both current and past. No videos of this bunch on Youtube either. And I'm running a bit behind this morning so I don't have time to really dig any deeper, so just enjoy the fact that an 80's era band from Minnesota felt strongly enough about the New York City images above to use them on their album cover.

I was thinking it would have been kind of creepy if the artist had duplicated the small airplane with the "Let The Good Times Roll" banner trailing behind it image from the front cover onto the back cover as well...it would have looked as if it were flying straight into the WTC tower on the right of the back cover.

And apparently the album is kinda rare - seems to be fetching pretty decent prices - around $30.00 - on Ebay. I might have to go back to Cheapo Records in Minneapolis and pick up the $5.00 copy I saw there a few weeks ago...

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #17: Steely Dan "Pretzel Logic" (1974)

(Front Cover)


(Back Cover)

Artist: Steely Dan
Title: Pretzel Logic
Released: 1974
Cover Photo by: Raenne Rubenstein

As Ephemeral New York noted about this album cover a few weeks back, "Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic cover was photographed in 1974 just inside Central Park off of Fifth Avenue."

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #16: NYC Subway - Songs From The Underground

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Various Artists including:
Spokinn Movement/Krystle Warren/Sean McCaul/Andes Fusion/Kaiku/Theo Eastwind/Senn Sonderegger/Jason Green/Manze Dayia/Thomas Bailey/Kathleen Mock

NYC Subway: Songs From The Underground
(Song Samples available - click the link)

Released: 2005

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #15: Black Night: A Deep Purple Tribute According To New York (1997)

So we're on week #15 of our "Images of New York City As Album/CD Cover Art" series (click HERE to see previous entries in the series) and now it looks like we've got company! Not that we're the first site to run NYC record cover images or anything, just taking note. Ephemeral New York ran a piece about iconic New York City album cover images this past Saturday, April 30th, featuring Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic" (which we had originally planned to run today, but we'll save it now for a future post) and Simon & Garfunkel's "Wednesday Morning, 3AM". Then, yesterday, Gothamist picked up on the Ephemeral New York piece and ran their own small item on the topic. We're certainly in good company.

Which brings us to today's entry...


(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Various Artists
Black Night: Deep Purple Tribute According To New York
Released: 1997

A few choice quotes about this CD from some reviews on Amazon.com:

John M. Garvin:
This is a first-rate production of INTERPRETATIONS of some choice Deep Purple tunes. The musicians are excellent and the arrangements are great. The gutty and funky rock and roll blasting (actually just one thump short of distortion) from the system is infectious. Each track is distinctive and maintains that NY edge. Perhaps these guys ought collaborate more often to do an "According to New York" series on other legendary and timeless classic rock bands or songs. This is a perfect start.

Frank Beltran:
This CD adds elements of funk, soul, reggae, and the songs are rearranged to make things interesting, yet it still rocks in the right places. Who wants to to hear the old songs done the same way that Purple did anyways! The players include Joe Lynn Turner (ex of DP/Rainbow), Corey Glover (Living Coulour), Ritchie Kotzen,and Tony Harnell sharing the vocals, along with Al Pitrelli, Vinnie Moore, and Kotzen handle the guitars with Lars Y. Loudamp making a special guest appearance as the lead guitarist on "Burn", a.k.a. Yngwie Malmsteen, who actually turns in a decent performance for a change, and a bunch of other great musicians (Will Calhoun,Cindy Blackmon,etc.) TM Stevens, that funky bass player is the guy who put this together. Check it out and if you go into it with an open mind, you just may dig this record it has a cool swagger and vibe. Enjoy.


I've never heard this CD - looks like something I might have to pick up at some point...

New York City Images As Album/CD Cover Art #13: Lorin Hollander Live at the Fillmore East

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Artist: Lorin Hollander
Title: Lorin Hollander Live at the Fillmore East
Recorded: 02/23/69 at the Fillmore East, NYC, NY

From the LP back cover...
"When it was over Hollander got an ovation of mammoth, volcanic dimensions. They would have torn him to shreds if he hadn't played just a little bit more!" - Joel Meltz (East Village Other)