flipped / false photos
and other   oddities
on LP/CD covers
photo vertically mirrored by Stefan Wirz
photo shows Big Joe Williams in a position
as if he plays his guitar left-handed
(he actually was a right-handed guitarist
see discussion / proof below)
#year
of release
titlelabel # / notes
11962Snuffy Jenkins (with Homer Sherrill)
Carolina Bluegrass

 

cover photo flipped - reissued CD corrected

click to enlarge !
Arhoolie 5011


reissued on Arhoolie
CD 9027 "Pioneer Of
The Bluegrass Banjo"

www.arhoolie.com

21964Albert King
The Big Blues


Albert King was a left-handed guitarist
source: http://www.wattstax.com/pressroom/photothumb.html


King 852
31964Blues Classics
by Kokomo Arnold / Peetie Wheatstraw


picture on front cover does not show Peetie Wheatstraw, but Herman / Harmon Ray ("Peetie Wheatstraw's Buddy")
from Paul Garon: The Devil's Son-In-Law - The Story of Peetie Wheatstraw and his Songs.- Studio Vista, London 1971, p. 63:

Herman / Harmon Ray photograph; source: Paul Garon: The Devil's Son-In-Law - The Story of Peetie Wheatstraw and his Songs.- Studio Vista, London 1971, p. 63; click to enlarge
Herman / Harmon Ray




Blues Classics BC 4

Blues Classics
discography

41968Lightning / "Lightin" Hopkins: Free Form Patterns

Lelan Rogers (International Records executive, brother of country music star Kenny Rogers) wrote some real funny liner notes:

"Lightin Hopkins - The Hippie? No not really - Just plain LIGHTIN - Loved by the Hippies - and non Hippies - A symbol of freedom to everyone who loves music. All my life in the recording world I have heard of Lightin Hopkins - A real legend of music.
Last year while visiting the Haight-Ashbury District, San Francisco, I picked up three boys that were hitching a ride downtown. In the conversation with one of them he told me he had come from Boston, sold everything he owned to go to San Francisco. Everything he had except his Lightin Hopkins albums. He played Guitar with a band and had learned blues listening to all the Lightin Hopkins albums he could buy.
Recently while in New York City at a club in the village I listened to antoher singer - guitarrist preform. Halfway thru his act he broke into his version of Lightin Hopkins blues - guitar licks he said that he had studied at the foot of a master - "Lightin Hopkins".
It is no wonder, having never met Lightin, that in January this year when Mansel Rubenstein, one of Lightin's closest friends called me and asked if I would like to record him- I literally jumped at the chance to go to the studio with the legend LIGHTIN HOPKINS.
The contents of this album are truly Free Form Patterns of Lightin Hopkins - and as Lightin said to me when I questioned him about a few notes I thought were played wrong from his side men "MAN THAT IS THE BLUES - THAT'S LIGHTIN BLUES"
Lelan Rogers

"When I played the command Performance for the Queen of England. I said, QUEEN LADY, I'm sure glad to meet you. and if you'll just sit down over there you'll hear something you ain't never heard before. and I backed up and sit down on a stool and hit that first note so hard, you could hear it clean across the water".
Lightin

[OCRed by Alan Balfour; spelling mistakes are not as a result of poor OCRing but exactly as is!]

click to enlarge !

click to enlarge !
International Artists IALP 6
51972Funny Papa Smith
The Original Howling Wolf 1930-31


photo-flipping as a means of (Nick Perls') artistic expression

from back cover of Yazoo L 1031
from back cover of Yazoo L 1031

 

Yazoo discography   Funny Papa Smith discography

... and yes, I know that this actually isn't J.T. 'Funny Papa' Smith, but more likely 'Black Ace' Karo/Kyro Lemon Turner ;-)

click to enlarge!

read liner notes !
Yazoo L 1031
61973Shirley Griffith: Mississippi Blues

liner notes by Stephen Calt have nothing to do whatsoever with Shirley Griffith

 

Blue Goose discography   Shirley Griffith discography

click to enlarge !

click to enlarge !
Blue Goose 2011
71976Albert King
Travelin' To California


Albert King was a left-handed guitarist
source: http://www.wattstax.com/pressroom/photothumb.html


King KSD-1060
81977Bob Baxter's Guitar Workshop

 


detail from back cover - (red = commentary SW) click to enlarge !

click to enlarge !

click to read liner notes !
Kicking Mule KM 136

read liner notes

Kicking Mule
discography

91987Chris Bouchillon
The Original Talking Blues Man


cover painting of LP wrong way round - Bouchillon obviously wasn't left-handed

from Tony Russell: Blacks Whites and Blues; p. 18

click to enlarge !
Old Homestead OHCS-181

Chris Bouchillon
discography

101991Jimmy Witherspoon
Cry The Blues


 

Has a Muddy Waters photo on front cover


Fat Boy CD 184


later issue

11 

1991

 

 

 

 

1996

 

Big Joe Williams
Somebody's Been Worryin

Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Vol. 2 (1945-1949)

 

 

 
Big Joe Williams & Friends
Have Mercy!

Session for original photo obviously has been arranged so that Big Joe - a right-handed guitarist - is holding his guitar 'upside down' (bass strings at the bottom !!!). Some album covers show the photo 'flipped' (as if he was actually playing - which he isn't - see also finger position); such as the Document CD. Some leave it as is (e.g., the Rykodisc CD), even if it looks as if Big Joe was left-handed

click to enlarge !

Why this photo is NOT reversed; click to enlarge !

source of photo: L. Cohn: Nothing but the blues.- p. 71
(red = commentary Stefan Wirz)

click to enlarge !
Document BDCD 6004
(original 1991 issue
had different cover)

click to enlarge !
Tradition/Rykodisc
TCD 1014

click to enlarge !
Fremeaux

click to enlarge !
JSP 7719

click to enlarge !
Silver Line 752

click to enlarge !
Grammercy

Big Joe Williams
discography

121993Big Joe Williams
Blues From The South Side


 

Front cover of first issue had photo of Joe Williams (former Count Basie vocalist), not Big Joe Williams

click to enlarge !

click to enlarge !
Pilz CD 449320-2
(Golden Legend Series)

Big Joe Williams
discography

13 Sonny Boy Williamson I and II

There were two blues artists by the name of Sonny Boy Williamson:

I   John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson (1914 - 1948)

II   Sonny Boy Williamson (1899 - 1965; real name: Rice Miller)

Some record companies don't seem to be able to distinguish between those two artists and place pictures of the 'false one' on album covers containing the music of the other one. The right column shows a few of those covers (no claim to be exhaustive).

SBW I cover
with SBW II content:


Collectables CD 5537

 
SBW II covers
with SBW I content:


Nostalgia CD 17


Mastersong CD


Drive 3216


Eagle CD


History 20.1933

141997Lightnin' Slim
King of the Louisiana Swamp Blues


Lightnin' Slim was a right-handed guitarist (as shown below)

cover photo flipped:


Aim CD 2008 (Australia)

thanks to Bert van Oortmarssen, Byron Foulger and 'Doc Brainerd' for additions

 

 
Oddities that didn't make it to an album cover
#odditiessources
1Hound Dog Taylor's left hand

Hound Dog Taylor's left hand; click to enlarge !
Guitar Player # 275 (November 1992), p. 37 (article by Tom Wheeler: Tube That Finger. How to play slide)

"An unretouched photo of a master's hand"

 

'Polydactyly' at en.wikipedia.org

. . . oops
it did make it to an album (back) cover:
Alligator ALCD 4855
back cover of Alligator ALCD 4855; click to enlarge !

2Mance Lipscomb's 'teethiz'

Mance Lipscomb's 'teethiz'; click to enlarge !
I Say Me For A Parable: The Aural Autobiography of Mance Lipscomb, Texas Bluesman, as told to and compiled by Gley Alyn.- New York, London (W.W. Norton & Company) 1993, p. 444

 

Mance Lipscomb discography
3Walter Wolfman Washington
without 'fronties'

Walter 'Wolfman' Washington without 'fronties'; click to enlarge !
. . . in case someone is asking, where
his stage name originally came from . . .
Blues & Rhythm The Gospel Thruth # 5 (1984), p. 60 (photographer: Paul Harris)

 

Walter 'Wolfman' Washington with fronties; source: www.walterwolfmanwashington.com
Walter Wolfman Washington
at the King Biscuit Festival
Helena, AR October 3, 2005
www.walterwolfmanwashington.com

 

Stefan Wirz


Please feel free
to complete,
to correct
or to comment
my writings



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Stefan Wirz
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© responsible for contents: Stefan Wirz
(latest date of editing: 04/11/2009)

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