Musiquarium

January 14 2025

BEING MEIKO

Kaji keeps it casual.

Japanese actress Meiko Kaji wasn’t just one of her era’s foremost action stars, appearing in epics such as the Female Prisoner Scorpion series and the Stray Cat Rock franchise, but was also a prolific recording artist who released more than a dozen albums and an equal numbers of EPs and singles. Even if you haven’t sought her out you’ve probably heard her. Her song “Flower of Carnage” was prominently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1.

Above you see a promo poster made by Teichiku Records, for whom Kaji recorded a 1974 album titled Sareyo Sareyo Kanashimi No Shirabe, or Go Away, Go Away, Melody of Sadness. The above shot was used for the rear cover. The softer focus look of the poster compared to the CD is the printing, not the scan (actually hi-rez photo). We’ve included the crystal clear poster text below as proof. Feel free to seek out everything we have on Meiko by clicking her keywords at bottom.

Japan, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Teichiku Records, Meiko Kaji, Qunetin Tarantino, pinku, pinky violence, cinema, album art

Musiquarium

November 9 2024

ETERNAL FASCINATION

Still going round at 33⅓ after all these years.

Neil Boyle is an illustrator whose work we hadn’t gotten aaround to yet until today. He’s responsible for several nice paperback covers that we’ve seen, but this album jacket for U.S. singer Jane Morgan’s 1957 LP Fascination is the effort we like the best so far. It was orginally made for Australia, but was used in a Stateside reissue in 1962. We’ll probably see more from Boyle later.

Morgan, like many mid-century pop stars, is a bit forgotten now, but she was a top performer of her day, generating six gold records over a long career of singing classics, songs from musicals, and romantic orchestral tunes. Though American, she first became famous in France and the UK before breaking through in her home country. You can find her music online, so feel free. And when you do, send her a good vibe or two—she’s still around today, aged 100.

Australia, Jane Morgan, Neil Boyle, album art

Musiquarium

October 4 2024

LIMBER UP

How low can you go?

Have you ever limboed? Don’t take the album sleeve above as a suggestion—we wouldn’t want anyone to end up in traction. The imagery just struck us as interesting. The limbo originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the late 1800s, but was popularized during the 1950s largely by a single person—Trinidadian dancer Julia Edwards. From being a dance that was originally performed at wakes, it gained popularity until in the U.S. it became a party game.

Its adoption by the suburban masses helped fuel the limbo record craze. There are probably hundreds, most of them hopelessly obscure today. In the U.S. the releases peaked during the 1960s, when even musical luminaries like Chubby Checker got into the act with platters like Limbo Party, Limbo Rock, and Let’s Limbo Some More. We found ten limbo albums from 1962 alone. You really weren’t anybody if you didn’t limbo.

The vogue of the dance and accompanying music (often steel drum and calypso) is especially interesting to us as readers, because in the pulp literature of the time none of the private or and tough guys listened to anything other than jazz bands, classical, or crooners. Wouldn’t it have been great if Mike Hammer had brought a woman to his apartment and said, “Care to listen to a little calypso music? We could limbo.”

We’ve never limboed ourselves, but we’ve seen it happen at a wedding. We stood there bemused, but we’ll admit that the idea of a party where the hosts organize a limbo session is sort of appealing. It falls into the category of good clean fun that’s actually a little dirty due to the whole spread leg aspect. You wouldn’t want to do it in a short skirt. Or maybe you would. To each their own.

Anyway, we’ve shared a small collection of limbo album sleeves today. Take special note of Let’s Limbo!, which had a cover that wasn’t initially authentic enough, so to bring down the white glare the record re-issued the disc and added a clumsily layered in, presumably Trinidadian dancer. Weirdly, he seems to have gone under the limbo bar sideways, which as far as we know is cheating. Our advice: if you limbo, go hard.

Trinidad and Tobago, Chubby Checker, album art

Musiquarium

January 4 2024

L’GRECO

La Muse de l’existentialisme et Miles.

This striking music brochure promo art for French singer Juliette Gréco and Disques Fontana (a subsidiary of the Dutch label Philips Records) was created by the famous illustrator O’Kley in 1956. The art was reused for record covers, as you see below.

Gréco, an actress as well as singer, was a fixture in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris, and her acquaintanceships with such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty earned her the nickname La Muse de l’existentialisme—the existentialists’ muse. She was also, according to Miles Davis, one of the great loves of his life, and the feeling was reciprocated, so that wins major points right there because Miles was the bomb.

Moving on to the art, O’Kley was a pseudonym for Nantes-born Pierre Gilardeau, the man behind some of the most collectable Folies Bergère posters. He also illustrated many book covers and movie posters, and after a long career died in 2007. We’ve seen some good examples of his art, so we’ll try to get back to him a bit later—but we make no guarantees. You can see another Fontana post here.

France, Netherlands, Paris, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Fontana Records, Disques Fontana, Philips Records, Pierre Gilardeau, O’Kley, Juliette Greco, Miles Davis, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Folies Bergère, cinema, album art

Musiquarium

July 4 2023

SUPER BRIGITTE

I've shattered censorship barriers and redefined French cinema! My work here is done!

French cinema luminary Brigitte Bardot is easy to recognize even in a wig and wild costume, as shown here in an image from 1967. It was made when she appeared in singer Serge Gainbourg’s music video (yes, a few visionaries were making them that far back and ever farther) “Comic Strip.”

Serge went the literal route for his clip, which is why Bardot is dressed as a superhero and echoed by a comic strip-like version of herself. The song is literal too, with lyrics that include fight sound effects: “J’distribue les swings et les uppercuts. Ça fait VLAM !Ça fait SPLATCH! Et ça fait CHTUCK!” That all translates as, “I distribute swings and uppercuts. It’s VLAM! It’s SPLATCH! And that go CHTUCK!” You can hear the tune and see the video at this link.

Bardot made other videos in 1967 and 1968. We think “Contact” is particularly interesting. But only a few years after achieving something as cutting edge as helping to popularize the most important promotional tool used by music artists even today, she retired from performances on both the small and large screen to focus on other pursuits. Below, you see her with Serge.

France, Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg, album art

Musiquarium

June 13 2016

MONROE FOR A SPIN

If only the music were as flawless as the cover art.

Here’s little curio from the former Yugoslavia—a record sleeve from Serb pop-rock artist Boris Bizetić with a Marilyn Monroe cover motif. We’ve seen her image rather poorly used on album covers, but this one is nice, we think, if almost certainly unlicensed. And the music? Hah hah. We dare you.

Yugoslavia, Serbia, Boris Bizetić, Marilyn Monroe, album art, exyu

Musiquarium

June 14 2015

NAI MOVES

It must be jelly ’cuz jam don’t shake like that.

We got curious about Nai Bonet, who we’d never heard of until last week, and after taking a stroll around the internet discovered she was pretty famous in her day and even released a 1966 single for which you see the sleeve above. The song is called “Jelly Belly,” with “The Seventh Veil” on the flipside. Bonet teaches fans to do her trademark Jelly Belly dance, which we can only imagine led to many sprained backs in mid-century America. But maybe you want to try. The instructions are in like Danish, but here’s the gist:

1: Clap your hands together and gently bow…

2: Put your hands over your head and I’ll show you how…

3: First you inhale (pull your tummy in)

4: Then you exhale (push your tummy out)

5: Hips go up…

6: …and down

7: Tummy round and round…

8: Shoulders shivering…

9: Everything a-quivering.

And presumably it’s rinse and repeat at that point. For extra inspiration you can hear “Jelly Belly” here. Just remember—if you pull something, rest it, apply ice, and dream up a much better story about your injury than you were trying to get everything a-quivering.

Vietnam, Denmark, Nai Bonet, burlesque, album art

Musiquarium

October 16 2014

SEXUAL HEARING

Spread-eagled Aslan art helped cure the guilt of buying pirated music.

We said we were done with France for the moment, but we’re veering back there briefly today to show you this Cure album sleeve featuring art from the French painter Aslan. Live at Paradiso is a bootleg, same as the other Aslan-fronted Cure record we showed you back in January. The people who pressed this weren’t messing around, either—they opted for one of the artist’s more explicit paintings. No complaints here, but we bet Aslan was a bit annoyed when he saw his work appropriated yet again. It wouldn’t be the last time. We’ll get to more bootleg sleeves a bit later.

France, Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Cure, Aslan, Alain Gourdon, album art

Musiquarium

January 12 2014

GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOU

Aslan art makes unlikely appearance on Cure album sleeve.

A couple of weeks ago we said we’d get back to more Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan album sleeves, so above is a rather eye-catching one for a collection of Cure songs entitled The Spell’s Unbroken. It’s a live release that was recorded in Birmingham, England in 1985 and pressed in Germany in 1986, and it’s got such Cure goodies as “Kyoto Song,” “Let’s Go to Bed,” and the excellent “In Between Days,” as well some more obscure tracks. The album is unofficial—or a bootleg, if you prefer that term—so in theory it was pressed and sold without the band’s participation. We also assume Gourdon hadn’t a clue about the art. And wouldn’t you know it—the record sells for exorbitant amounts of money, routinely over a hundred dollars. We don’t know about you, but that’s enough to cure us of any urge to buy it.

Germany, England, Birmingham, The Cure, Aslan, Alain Gourdon, album art

Intl. Notebook, Musiquarium

November 8 2011

JOE DIRT

If you go, you have to stay gone.

Above is a photo of American heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier between rounds of an early 1970s sparring session, and at right is a 1971 shot of Frazier having a training run along with his dog. Frazier won the heavyweight title by defeating WBA champ Jimmy Ellis in 1970. Little known fact about Frazier: in 1967 when then-champ Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces during the Vietnam War, the WBA held a tournament for Ali’s vacated belt. Frazier refused to take part in that tournament though he quite possibly could have won. Whether he refused to fight as a gesture of solidarity with Ali, or only with his anti-war stance, we don’t know.

Anyway, Ellis had won that tournament, and in their 1970 bout Frazier pounded him mercilessly, knocking him down for the first two times in his career. Frazier held the belt through several title defenses until 1973, when he faced a colossal figure named George Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica. Foreman destroyed the tough, gritty Frazier, knocking him down six times in two rounds to win the title by TKO. It was a devastating beating, and the imagery of knockdowns number two and four are indelible. Still though, during an era that included several rare boxing talents, Frazier showed that he more than belonged. Another little known fact, at least to casual boxing fans: Frazier was a singer as well as a fighter, releasing several singles during the 1970s, including “If You Go, Stay Gone” and the very good “Try It Again.” Frazier died yesterday in Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Jamaica, Kingston, Philadelphia, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, album art, boxing, deaths

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

March 25

1957—Ginsberg Poem Seized by Customs

On the basis of alleged obscenity, United States Customs officials seize 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” that had been shipped from a London printer. The poem contained mention of illegal drugs and explicitly referred to sexual practices. A subsequent obscenity trial was brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who ran City Lights Bookstore, the poem’s domestic publisher. Nine literary experts testified on the poem’s behalf, and Ferlinghetti won the case when a judge decided that the poem was of redeeming social importance.

March 25

1975—King Faisal Is Assassinated

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia dies after his nephew Prince Faisal Ibu Musaed shoots him during a royal audience. As King Faisal bent forward to kiss his nephew the Prince pulled out a pistol and shot him under the chin and through the ear. King Faisal died in the hospital after surgery. The prince is later beheaded in the public square in Riyadh.

March 24

1981—Ronnie Biggs Rescued After Kidnapping

Fugitive thief Ronnie Biggs, a British citizen who was a member of the gang that pulled off the Great Train Robbery, is rescued by police in Barbados after being kidnapped. Biggs had been abducted a week earlier from a bar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by members of a British security firm. Upon release he was returned to Brazil and continued to be a fugitive from British justice.

March 23

2011—Elizabeth Taylor Dies

American actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career began at age 12 when she starred in National Velvet, and who would eventually be nominated for five Academy Awards as best actress and win for Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, dies of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. During her life she had been hospitalized more than 70 times.

March 22

1963—Profumo Denies Affair

In England, the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, denies any impropriety with showgirl Christine Keeler and threatens to sue anyone repeating the allegations. The accusations involve not just infidelity, but the possibility acquaintances of Keeler might be trying to ply Profumo for nuclear secrets. In June, Profumo finally resigns from the government after confessing his sexual involvement with Keeler and admitting he lied to parliament.

March 22

1978—Karl Wallenda Falls to His Death

World famous German daredevil and high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, founder of the acrobatic troupe The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death attempting to walk on a cable strung between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda is seventy-three years old at the time, but it is a 30 mph wind, rather than age, that is generally blamed for sending him from the wire.

March 22

2006—Swedish Spy Stig Wennerstrom Dies

Swedish air force colonel Stig Wennerström, who had been convicted in the 1970s of passing Swedish, U.S. and NATO secrets to the Soviet Union over the course of fifteen years, dies in an old age home at the age of ninety-nine. The Wennerström affair, as some called it, was at the time one of the biggest scandals of the Cold War.