Mandrill "Just Outside of Town" booklet (LP cover photos-R)
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
This seems up the Strut alley...
I've been working on a series of small stories about LP covers shot in Los Angeles and one of the ones I looked at was Mandrill's "Just Outside of Town."
#1: I didn't realize this was shot in L.A. and I've owned this album for *years*. Then again, the place where they shot it (Century City) doesn't look a damn thing like the cover photo; massively transformed since the '70s.
#2: Until I spoke to Ric WIlson, I didn't realize this LP had a separate, 8 page, full color booklet inside of it, highlighting each member of the group (at the time).
#3: I went to my copy of the LP, which I've owned for probably 10+ years, and looked inside and duh, there it was. Doh.
In case you are like me but don't have a copy of the LP with the booklet, here you go: http://soul-sides.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Just-Outside-of-Town-booklet.zip
Quite a few Strut LPs made my list of albums to investigate: War's "All Day Music," The D.O.C.'s "No One Can Do It Better," and Charles Wright's double LP, "Doing What Comes Naturally." At some point, I'll have to share my obsessive search for the graffiti-lined corner where N.W.A. shot the "Panic Zone"/N.W.A and the Posse cover.
REP YOUR FAVORITE CITY-SPACE LP COVER.
I've been working on a series of small stories about LP covers shot in Los Angeles and one of the ones I looked at was Mandrill's "Just Outside of Town."
#1: I didn't realize this was shot in L.A. and I've owned this album for *years*. Then again, the place where they shot it (Century City) doesn't look a damn thing like the cover photo; massively transformed since the '70s.
#2: Until I spoke to Ric WIlson, I didn't realize this LP had a separate, 8 page, full color booklet inside of it, highlighting each member of the group (at the time).
#3: I went to my copy of the LP, which I've owned for probably 10+ years, and looked inside and duh, there it was. Doh.
In case you are like me but don't have a copy of the LP with the booklet, here you go: http://soul-sides.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Just-Outside-of-Town-booklet.zip
Quite a few Strut LPs made my list of albums to investigate: War's "All Day Music," The D.O.C.'s "No One Can Do It Better," and Charles Wright's double LP, "Doing What Comes Naturally." At some point, I'll have to share my obsessive search for the graffiti-lined corner where N.W.A. shot the "Panic Zone"/N.W.A and the Posse cover.
REP YOUR FAVORITE CITY-SPACE LP COVER.
Comments
Yeah, I had already begun work when I saw NME's story on this site. Really impressive insofar as the number of shots they were able to recreate. That created a false expectation that I could do the same with my LA LPs but in some cases, shit is impossible. That Mandrill cover, for example, isn't physically even possible given the number of new buildings that'd block sight lines (and that hill has long been leveled). Same goes for the NWA cover - the building where they shot the cover has long been torn down.
That said...
I like Curtis, down by the lake with the young youths, a bottle of Cutty, and mustard-colored slacks that show you everything but the breakfast. Moose-knuckle on up.
That, or the cover of the Break Down Academy twelve-inch, which was shot at/around my high school (alma mater of your man Cuba Gooding's onetime Oscar-season meal-ticket, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy). If I'm remembering right, the front cover has them in their Van Grack tracksuits or whatever, while the back cover shows them flossing their ROTC uniforms at the exact same spot right outside the Math building where this sawed-off dude named Calvin called me a racist for wearing Diadoras and then tried to make me kiss his glove. Kinda ill.
I'd like to know where that was shot. I'm guessing Oak Street beach in Chicago.
There's a whole series of Chicago covers from the 60s and 70s I've wondered about, including these:
Two Chicago groups from 1967 on labels distributed by Cameo-Parkway.
Local collector Bob A. has heard that the Stairsteps cover may have been shot on the South Side's Washington Park.
NC6 member Ray Graffia has confirmed that Colonization was shot at the North Side's Oak Street beach, although that stone facade had to have been torn down at some point. In recent years, I've seen nothing out that way that looks like it.
I drive by this all the time when I'm digging out on the Island.
not an album cover per se but was featured in Too $hort's "In The Trunk" video
i recently saw someone post a picture of this nyc club/restaurant but forget exactly what it was
Wait, what? That's a real place, not some kind of set they built for the photo shoot??
It was on the blog Flaming Pablum, they do a lot of posts about locations of famous music related photos in NYC
http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2012/06/walk-into-the-light.html
110 westbound
Watts:
LACMA:
Eagle Rock:
Colles:
Commerce:
Redondo:
MOTHERF*** YEAH!:
110 Southbound (PEDRO!!)
What block did you and DK shoot the OST cover on?
I'm trying to find any Pasadena or SGV locales outside of East LA. I heard there was a Jackson Browne cover from South Pasadena but it was actually Hancock Park.
this location was talked about at length in the LA Weekly article - should be easy to find.
OST:
Corner of Cambridge and Oxford streets of western and venice, BLQ or Harvard heights depending on who you ask.
2228 Cambridge was where I lived for 9 years and where we recorded and mixed 4 of our albums.
http://goo.gl/maps/hWEoj
which is in the street in front of this:
Completely! I would have never guessed that was an actual place (in the Financial District no less).
Great thread. Keep em comin'.
Actually, it's not mentioned once. For real, go back and look: there's nothing there. I thought that kind of strange but I did try to write Martin Cizmar and haven't heard back from him. Let me be clear: I thought Cizmar's article was really great - must have taken a lot of footwork to track down some of the more obscure members of the photo. But I was surprised that 1) it wasn't mentioned that this cover first appeared on "Panic Zone" and only later was re-used for the "NWA and the Posse" comp and I'm also surprised there was nothing in there about the photographer or the location. By the time I went to read the piece, I had already tracked down photographer Phil Bedel (using the white pages, no less) and he couldn't have been more gracious and generous with his time. He actually knew about the Weekly story before I mentioned it but I don't know if that's because Cizmar had spoken to him or if he had come across the story on his own (he does still live in So Cal).
In any case, I have the right lot in Hollywood. The question is *where* on the lot is the actual location. I think I finally narrowed it down, with the help of Arabian Prince, Bedel, and Rex Harte, whose dad, Roy Harte, used to run Drum City on Santa Monica. That store's back door is where the shot was supposedly taken, according to Rex and more or less supported by Roth's memories.
I'm guessing the location was where "1" is. However, I did find a brick wall that matches the right style and height that you see on the cover at "3". That could be a leftover wall from the missing building but that the actual wall you see is now gone. What makes this harder is that the loading dock-like platform Posse members were standing on isn't there anymore. So save the brick wall, there's absolutely no visual cues I could draw on. I wrote Rex Harte again this morning to see if he could lend final confirmation and Bedel said this story has him curious himself so he's going to head back down to Hollywood in a few weeks and look around to see if any of it jogs his memory.
What an insane block that was though: Gold Star Studios (long gone) was on the corner, Macola across the street, and Drum City in the middle of the block. Tabb Rex used to run his company on the same block as well and might have shared building space with Drum City at some point (though the only address I could find for him put him at the El Centro corner.
I could have swore they talked about that but alas, i might have added that bit of information in my private press mind garden.
On the 6200 block? G&M used to be at 6211, which would have been the Macola side of the block. Was that his operation?
No, but very importantly, G&M printing was where everyone made their center labels. Rosa is the front desk lady there, they have moved now over by the scientology center but i still use them and they still use the same press all those labels were done on. Richard was across Vine. Coast Recording was next to G&M where we all got our tape reels, but the owner was a racist dick.
Richard cut all of the records for Macola, cut everyone's show dub plates, etc etc. He is one THE most important persons in the history of LA hip hop who is never ever mentioned.
There is an amazing Hall and Oates inner that, I'm pretty sure, was shot at the same location. I don't have access to it right now??? but if you have this record (the album with "Sara Smile") you know what I'm talking about