R. Crumb

This collection, newly released and expanded from a 1994 Dutch edition (Oog & Blik), brings together underground cartoonist Crumb's (The Book of Genesis) many record covers, created after the success of his art for Big Brother & the Holding Company's 1968 album, Cheap Thrills. The book's brief introduction is a song (in French) by Dominique Cravic, and the 267 entries include nothing descriptive beyond a title. While the publisher's promo mentions the inclusion of "works related to these covers," it is unclear on first browsing whether such entries as the "Superbatone" record label or the trading cards of mainly obscure musicians are Crumb's creations or others' works that inspired his record covers. In fact, all of the works in the book appear, on close examination, to be Crumb's, and the illustrations, including caricatures and portraits of well-known figures as well as flyers, sketches, and record labels, give valuable perspective on his skill.