Now that I’ve admitted that Toto is one of my guilty pleasures, it’s time to explore an odd connection between Toto and the good old Grateful Dead. It’s in the artwork of Philip Garris who designed covers for both bands as well as concert posters for The Dead.
I wasn’t able to learn much about Garris other than he’s one of the Bay Area poster artists with roots in the Sixties. The information I unearthed is so sketchy that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was behind other skeleton related Grateful Dead art but I’m sticking with the known knowns.
We begin with the marvelous skeleton fiddler on the cover of Blues For Allah:
I dig the back cover almost as much. The Dead look like Old Testament prophets or some such shit. Here’s a cropped version thereof:
Garris also did the cover for the first album by Bob Weir’s side project, Kingfish:
Garris designed and executed the cover for Toto’s eponymous debut album too:
The album’s Wikipedia entry has an interesting description of how the cover came to be:
Drummer Jeff Porcaro explained that Philip Garris, known for painting many Grateful Dead album covers, created the album’s emblem inspired by lyrics from the fourth track, “Manuela Run”, which referenced the Sword of Damocles: “Don’t look now, you better watch that sword that’s hanging over you”. The sword symbolized the band’s powerful, hard-edged sound, with its double-edged design reflecting their versatility across music genres. The iron ring represented the construction of the record itself, while the ribbons tied into the Year of the Child theme.”
The Sword of Damocles? How hifalutin is that? The sword image recurs on other Toto album covers.
Garris also designed the poster for a concert that brought together two of my favorite rock bands:
I wish I knew more about Philip Garris, but I know enough to post songs from Blues For Allah and Toto:
