Guy Peellaert (1934-2008) Belgian Painter/Illustrator

It has only just come to my notice that the legendary Guy Peellaert died last November at the age of 74. For those of you unaware of Guy and his work click the link below and browse his website.

I first became aware of Guy's work as a result of his front cover art for the 1974 David Bowie album Diamond Dogs - the first cover produced caused outrage at the time because of Guy's inclusion of the dog's genitalia - it was later airbrushed out from all future covers. These original risque covers are highly sought after now and incredibly difficult to find - I've never seen one and I was an avid Bowie fan up until Scary Monsters (1980) - he also designed covers for the Rolling Stones and became well known for his work with rock stars and the more colourful artists and characters of the 1960s and 70s.

I have one of Guy's books - The Adventures of Joelle - published in 1967 it's a slightly racy pop-art cartoon book.

http://www.guypeellaert.com/

The dog's... bollards... did get reinstated for the mid-1990s CD rerelease (when they went through Bowie's back-catalogue and appended previously unreleased bonus tracks from the same period as the albums were produced).

I've got it on LP too, but sadly it's a later airbrushed one.

Did they? Ah well you see as a Bowie purist and a bit of a music snob at the time I went off his output bigtime when 'Let's Dance' came out (urgh!!!!) I have all his LPs up until and including Scary Monsters on vinyl - I haven't bothered trying to replace any on CD since we have a great deck with a flipping ridiculously expensive needle!