ARTBOOK SPOTLIGHT: Illustrations of Rock

JAPAN ONLY
various artists – Hakusensha – 1979 – 82 pgs

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this book.  It’s a collection of illustrations by 70s shoujo mangaka of their favorite rock songs.  I won’t lie, this is one of the coolest artbooks I own.  It’s also pretty rare and valuable, I paid quite a bit for it and it’s the only copy I’ve ever seen for sale.

I scanned a little more of this than I would have liked to, but it’s unusual, and this is likely the only place most of these illustrations appeared.  I do feel bad featuring artwork like this though, so if I’m asked to take it down, I will.

It is worth looking at.  Even if only to see that Keiko Takemiya is/was a Bee Gees fan.

(click on the illustrations to see much larger versions)

Yumiko Oshima did the cover illustration.  She’s a member of the Year 24 Group whose has yet to be translated to English, but she’s one of my favorites.  Her works include Banana Bread Pudding, a 1-volume story so weird that it absolutely defies description, and her most famous series, the 7-volume The Star of Cottonland.  The Star of Cottonland is a story for another day, but is basically about a small kitten having various kitten-like adventures through thunderstorms and markets and whatnot.  She thinks she is a person, and is illustrated as such.  All the cats in the series are illustrated as people dressed as what they think they look like.  It is ADORABLE.

Despite the fact Oshima’s name is listed with the others on the cover, she only contributed the cover illustration and frontpiece.  All the other artists in the collection contributed four illustrations for four different songs.  Each illustration is accompanied by… what I was told was a Japanese translation of the lyrics, but I think some may be essays about the songs.  It’s hard for me to tell.

In case the front cover had you a little worried about how hard this collection of illustrations would, in fact, rock, Queen is featured on the back cover to reassure you.

Jumping Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones

Young American, David Bowie

Akemi Matsuzaki kicks the volume off.  Matsuzaki is another artist who hasn’t been translated into English, and I hadn’t heard of her before I picked this book up.  She’s worked with the writer Kyoko Mizuki, of Candy Candy fame, but it looks as if the majority of her books may have been shoujo horror.  The only work of hers that’s still in print are her contributions to various “dark” fairy tale collections.

Anyway, back to the Illustrations of Rock.  Sometimes the illustrations are of the musicians, as you see here.  The other two songs she chose were Temple of the King by Rainbow and God of Thunder by Kiss.  Of all the artists in this collection, her taste in music is closest to my own.

Night Fever, The Bee Gees

Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harem

Next up is Keiko Takemiya, another member of the Year 24 Group.  Her work has been translated into English, including To Terra and Andromeda Stories.  Untranslated still is her lovely Song of the Wind and Trees.

Wouldn’t have pegged her as a Bee Gees fan, myself.  Her other two songs are Twenty Days and Twenty Nights by Elvis and Summertime by Janis Joplin.  I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

You can see that some of the other approaches to song illustration were to illustrate actual scenes from the song, or do something more abstract.  Then again, Whiter Shade of Pale is a pretty abstract song.

Know that I sang every single one of these songs as I scanned this book.

I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick

‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers, Jeff Beck

Next is Nachi Mikami.  I was unfamiliar with her until I looked her up just now.  She is married to Akira Toriyama, something that I was not expecting.  Her comics seem to have faded away, but apparently she was famous for including rock musicians in her work.  She also spells her name professionally in hiragana, which is a little unusual.

Her other song choices were Imagine by John Lennon and Dream On by Aerosmith.  I wanted to scan Dream On so badly, since it is one of my favorite songs ever and was an illustration of Steven Tyler, but I had to limit myself to two per artist, and I can’t tell you how relieved I was to see the Live at Budokan album represented in this book.  I would have been very disappointed otherwise.  And that Jeff Beck illustration was far too pretty to leave off.  It’s the only illustration without an essay.

Baby I Love Your Way, Peter Frampton

Get It On, T-Rex

Tomoko Naka is the next lovely lady in the lineup.  Her illustrations here look very Mucha-esque.  I’ve heard her mentioned, but have never seen her work.  According to Matt Thorn, she frequently draws stories about society-type Europeans.  It seems like her usual illustration style isn’t quite as heavily outlined as this (or I’m looking at later work), but the vintage stuff does look gorgeous all the same.  Quite a bit of her work is still in print, it seems.

I love that T-Rex has inspired many mangaka through the years.  The other two songs that Naka chose are Venus and Mars by Wings and Black Queen by Queen.

Hotel California, The Eagles

Some Weird Sin, Iggy Pop

Umin Sumida.  I can’t really find anything about her, other than the fact she won a Hakusensha new artist award in 1976 and… Shinji Wada is a 70s mangaka?  Really?  I probably should have guessed that, but even so.

Sorry, Umin Sumida.  I can’t even seem to find a collection of her work, I only turn up lists of LaLa stories.

Anyway, her illustrations look very similar to Yumiko Oshima, ie very pretty and dreamlike, with soft colors, which is why it’s awesome she chose an Iggy Pop song to illustrate.  The other songs she chose for this collection are Perfect Day by Lou Reed and Girl by the Beatles.

Slow Dancer, Boz Scaggs

Life is a Minestrone, 10cc

Kumi Morikawa, another artist who has not appeared in English.  She is fond of historical settings, and has covered Shanghai, Venice, France, et cetera.  Her most famous series is Nanking Road ni Hanafubuki, a spy story set in Shanghai in the 1940s.  These illustrations don’t really do her artwork justice, some of her period settings are amazing.

The other songs she chose for this collection were Sailing by Rod Stewart and Black Magic Woman by Santana.  But seriously, when was the last time you thought about Boz Scaggs?  He’s apparently touring with Michael McDonald this summer, if you’re interested.  Also, I hadn’t heard Life is a Minestrone until I pulled it up after seeing it in this collection, and it’s a really delightful song.  Thank you, Kumi Morikawa.

Rejoice, Emotions

You’re My Best Friend My Love, Jackson 5

And here we have Minako Narita, author of Cipher, available in English from CMX.  Her obsession with The Pet Shop Boys and The Thompson Twins is still years off when this was printed, but I was disappointed that I was unfamiliar with most of her choices (the other two were Thank You Mr. DJ by Silver Convention and Ipi-n-tombia by Three Degrees).

Achilles’ Last Stand, Led Zeppelin

Epitaph, King Crimson

Yasuko Aoike.  She’s also collaborated with Kyoko Mizuki, and…let me think… what else…

Much like all my coolest books, I found this one while looking for stuff Yasuko Aoike had done.  Year 24 Group, author of From Eroica With Love, blah blah blah.

I liked that her first illustration not only incorporated a kind of fantasy scene from the song, but also the singer of the band and the main character from her most famous series.  Also, King Crimson.  Her other choices were Pirates by Emerson Lake and Palmer, and ME262 by Blue Oyster Cult.

I was most familiar with her, so it was easiest for me to see the influences the songs she chose had on her work.  Led Zeppelin is obviously deeply tied into From Eroica With Love (the main characters were modeled after and named for the band members), but she also named one of the early chapters after that song specifically.  “Pirates” is a theme for the spinoff work, El Halcon, featuring ancestor characters who are indeed pirates (the Pirates illustration did look like “The Man in Purple”).

Meh, I could keep going all night about Yasuko Aoike and Minako Narita, but it was good that the collection ended with Aoike, because it gave me a better idea just how important these bands were to the mangaka.  It’s an interesting collection, not only because of all the pretty pictures and contributors, but also as a look into what was popular in Japan.

I mean… Boz Scaggs.