A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
My record collection
[335] Luna - California Blue / Rock Yr Baby
This is my second copy of Luna’s California Blue / Rock Yr Baby seven inch released by Feral Child in 2017, last time out I spent most of the post talking about the AA-side.
So, while I had a full post about the AA-side the A-side is just going to get one sentence!
The A-side is Luna’s cover of Roy Orbison’s California Blue which was recorded in the sessions for A Sentimental Education - the original dates from Roy’s late period and was written by Roy with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.
When this single arrived the thing that grabbed me most wasn’t the A or the AA side but the sleeve which looked very familiar and then I realised why - the picture used on the front was the same used on my paperback copy of Geoffrey Fletcher’s The London Nobody Knows.
Geoffrey Fletcher was an artist and author whose drawings, mostly of London, appeared in many books, magazines, and newspapers during the 1960s and 70s. The London Nobody Knows is his best known work because in 1967 it was made into a short film featuring James Mason walking around some of the locations featured in the book and is a glorious look at disappearing London. The film was released on a DVD in 2008 which was my introduction to the work of Geoffrey Fletcher (although I suspect he had long been seeping into my unconscious).
I have still been known to take visitors to see the sewer lamp in Carting Lane. In this pic on the left is Fletcher’s sketch from the book, in the middle is James Mason from the film, and on the right is my boy posing with it a few years back.
Around that time I had gone back to drawing, something I hadn’t done much of in years, and Geoffrey Fletcher’s style and choice of subject matter was a great inspiration to me. My second book by him was his Elements of Sketching which became my sketching bible - even if I didn’t really follow its rules and I’m not sure I improved as a result of it. I then followed it up with quite a little library of his books - here are some.
… and here are a few examples of me desperately trying to be like him!
I suspect the choice of sleeve was made by whoever is behind Feral Child?
Here’s Luna playing California Blue for Paste in 2019:
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/068
- Artist: Luna
- Title: California Blue / Rock Yr Baby
- Format: 7”
- Bought via Great Pop Supplement in 2017
Previously in my record collection: