Bring Them On Back Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I've got the CD version that's just got the bar scenes all over it, my favourite album artwork, does anyone know what bar it is? Or who the people are on there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZepFanatic Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 There are 6 different shots of that scene...too bad on the CD only 4 of them are on there...it's not like it would have killed them to add one more fold to the insert to have the last 2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chap Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I believe it is the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpat Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I've got the CD version that's just got the bar scenes all over it, my favourite album artwork, does anyone know what bar it is? Or who the people are on there? The bar is loosely based on the Old Absinthe House, at 400 Bourbon Street, in New Orleans, just around the corner from the Royal Orleans Hotel (“Royal Orleans” being a song from their Presence album). It was Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant, brainstorming with Jimmy Page, suggested that six distinct covers should be hidden in identical brown paper bags, stamped with Led Zeppelin's name, the album title and the track listing. Storm Thorgerson, of the renowned art design company Hipgnosis, took the idea from there. He suggested that each of the covers should be a variation on the theme of a man in a bar who has just received a "Dear John" letter. Aubrey Powell built a set to replicate bars in New Orleans. Peter Christopherson handled the lighting. Richard Manning transformed the images shot in the bar into prints and colored them, giving them a sepia tone so that they looked like vintage photos. The six different album covers are all of nearly the same scene but from the points of view of the six people in the bar, other than the heartbroken man who was the centerpiece of each shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZepFanatic Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 It's really awesome artwork... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chap Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Once I was in NO and it was VERY late. I was walking by the closed Old Absinthe House and looked in the window. There were rats on the bar the size of small dogs. The next day I went by there and asked the bartendet about it. He said that they have to lock up all sugary liqueurs up each night in a refrigerator or the rats will knock them off the shelf and drink it all. Even the rats know how to party in the Big Easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninelives Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Once I was in NO and it was VERY late. I was walking by the closed Old Absinthe House and looked in the window. There were rats on the bar the size of small dogs. The next day I went by there and asked the bartendet about it. He said that they have to lock up all sugary liqueurs up each night in a refrigerator or the rats will knock them off the shelf and drink it all. Even the rats know how to party in the Big Easy. That would freak me out to see. Not sure I'd be able to go in there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoobah Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Here's another titbit about that cover. The heartbroken man in the hat is a guy called David Henderson who used to share a flat with Syd Barrett of the Pink Floyd and was one of the Floyd's old buddies from Cambridge. David is a painter now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The bar is loosely based on the Old Absinthe House, at 400 Bourbon Street, in New Orleans, just around the corner from the Royal Orleans Hotel ("Royal Orleans" being a song from their Presence album). Correct. I was last there in October 2007 and took these photographs: Photo Credit: Steve A. Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The Royal Orleans hotel in New Orleans: Photo Credit: Steve A. Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZepFanatic Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Rats the size of small dogs? Remind me to NEVER go there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeppelin_2008 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Here's another titbit about that cover. The heartbroken man in the hat is a guy called David Henderson who used to share a flat with Syd Barrett of the Pink Floyd and was one of the Floyd's old buddies from Cambridge. David is a painter now. Interesting fact Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docron Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... The original LP's also featured water-colorable artwork on the inner album sleeve... I've got 4 of the 6 versions of the cover... 2 of them are un-opened in original paper bag 2 are opened, though only one of those has been played Personally, I don't have the guts to color any of mine... Anyone know what it looks like, or if it's worth doing... or how much it hurts the value of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZepFanatic Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I believe if you look at the inside of the CD insert and the writing on the letter in the ashtray...it's the writing that became visible when the sheet was contacted with water (someone correct me if I am wrong)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docron Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I believe if you look at the inside of the CD insert and the writing on the letter in the ashtray...it's the writing that became visible when the sheet was contacted with water (someone correct me if I am wrong)... You're probably right... The artwork on the inner sleeve on the LP (before you color it) is a black outline of like a dollar bill and some change, a cigar/ashtray, and some pistachios (if I remember correctly)... You referenced an ashtray, so you're probably talking about the same thing. Bummer I don't have the CD to compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireOpal Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Rats the size of small dogs? Remind me to NEVER go there... I'm glad I didn't know that BEFORE I went there. Lovely photos, Steve - thanks for sharing. That marble tap, as you know, in the middle of the bar is where the real absinthe used to be served from. I'd like to try a bit of absinthe some day, brain cells be damned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZepFanatic Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 You're probably right... The artwork on the inner sleeve on the LP (before you color it) is a black outline of like a dollar bill and some change, a cigar/ashtray, and some pistachios (if I remember correctly)... You referenced an ashtray, so you're probably talking about the same thing. Bummer I don't have the CD to compare. I'm pretty sure I'm right about this...I used to have the Japanese mini-LP reproductions of all the LZ albums and the insert for ITTOD was the same as you describe, the black outline. I'm almost positive when you dip in water, the writing on the "Dear John" letter becomes visible...not that you can read most of it since the dude burned it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... The original LP's also featured water-colorable artwork on the inner album sleeve... I've got 4 of the 6 versions of the cover... 2 of them are un-opened in original paper bag 2 are opened, though only one of those has been played Personally, I don't have the guts to color any of mine... Anyone know what it looks like, or if it's worth doing... or how much it hurts the value of them? Me neither, but my a stroke of luck, I happened to find one at a record store that was coloured. I'm short one cover, but I have like 8 copies of the album. I'm looking for B. The letters are on the spine of the album. Interesting fact: The cover of the album is also set up like the bar Jimmy met a girlfriend in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Them On Back Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Thanks for all the info I've gotta go there one day. and Bron-yr-aur Cottage. Yeah I don't know why they didn't put all 6 shots in the album sleeve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cecil. Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I remember the inlay being able be coloured, where was the Dear John part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Yeah, that's the part that you can colour. It jsut takes water but I reccommend just brushing it one and not putting the insert under the faucet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cecil. Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Thanks Lz715 cannot find the letter part anywhere.nuts yes Money. yes Cigar. yes No Note? no wonder he is sat at the bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargroves Tangie Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Thanks Lz715 cannot find the letter part anywhere.nuts yes Money. yes Cigar. yes No Note? no wonder he is sat at the bar. The "Dear John" note is in the ashtray. It's only on one side of the LP insert. When I bought the album in '79 I did what lzfan715 did and used an old watercolor brush to color the insert. I only did one side though (the side without the "Dear John" note). As a kid I used to have these books that had lots of these type of pages that would turn color when water was brushed onto them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pblaster Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 A July 2008 article about a New Orleans collector of absinthe memorabilia, with a little bit of absinthe history. Interesting read. http://blog.nola.com/stephaniestokes/2008/...delon_ma_1.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireOpal Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Interesting fact: The cover of the album is also set up like the bar Jimmy met a girlfriend in. Jimmy met his wife Patricia at the Old Absinthe House, but that was years after the album had come out. Romantic, no? Like a touch of destiny there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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