I seem to have tapped into the Zeitgeist when I posted about Desperado last Wednesday. Henry Diltz, the photographer who shot that cover, was the subject of a very flattering profile on CBS Sunday Morning. That’s why I decided to do another post featuring his work; when you catch a wave, it’s a good idea to ride the fucker for all it’s worth. Let’s start with the profile as reported by Lee Cowan:
Desperado is not the only iconic album cover shot by Diltz. This week’s ACAW is something of a sampler of Diltz’s early work. Lets begin with CSN’s eponymous first LP:
If you notice, the trio is out of order. The story is that it was shot on the porch of a ratty old house. They tried to reshoot but the house was torn down. Oh well, what can ya do?
More Diltzian covers after the break.
One of the most enduringly popular album covers shot by Diltz was for Morrison Hotel by the Doors.
That cover made such an impact that Diltz uses the name for his galleries. To quote Eagle Joe Walsh, life’s been good for Henry Diltz despite his last name evoking a pickle. You know, a Diltz pickle…
Here are two more album for artists you might have heard of:
It doesn’t get much bigger than shooting Macca and Wings, especially since Linda was a fine photographer in her own right.
Since Morrison Hotel has had such an important impact on Henry Diltz’s long and distinguished career, here’s the album in its orignal form:
I don’t see why they’d need to find the house again, why couldn’t they just flip the negative? Seems more likely it was an artistic choice.
Diltz is a perfectionist and something of a purist. He liked the image as it was. It’s really more amusing the way it is anyway.
Honestly I never noticed them being out of order until you pointed it out, all these years! Ok, all these decades.
Please excuse my research laziness, but wasn’t there an album cover from that era with a horse’s ass in the place of a band member or former band member? I seem to recall that it was some permutation of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, or CSN(Y?).