Elvis imagined by Philip Castle

I picked up (another) copy of one of my favourite books about rock music at a car boot sale at the weekend. I love Nik Cohn’s ebullient writing, but I also love the cover of his seminal 1969 book – Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom – with its florid illustration of Elvis by the brilliant English airbrush artist, Philip Castle. Castle was born in 1943 – and he’s still working today. There’s a great article here about his work with Stanley Kubrick – he designed the iconic posters for both A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket; and you can pick up used copies of  Airflow, a dazzling (if you like that sort of airbrushed thing) collection of Castle’s work, published in 1980 and edited by Stephen Bayley, on Amazon for virtually nothing here…

Post by David.