Books & Records

June 3, 2015 1:45 AM

Simon James is an artist who turns record albums into Penguin-esque book collections. He also has a handful of half-forgotten classics & recession books.

Blur's "Parklife"
Depeche Mode's "Music for the Masses"
R.E.M.'s studio albums
Led Zepplin's "Physical Graffitti"
The Pixies' "Doolittle"
Depeche Mode's "Violator"

Gravity's Rambo
The Grapes of Roth
Keep the Aspidistra Grounded

More at: Simon James' tumblr

Bonus: Moanin' About Everyone by the Phillip Larkin Quartet

posted by chavenet (12 comments total)

These are very nicely done. I suppose it would be asking too much to have (for those images representing individual albums) the thickness of the volumes correspond to the duration of the constituent tracks.
posted by misteraitch at 2:05 AM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

This is the kind of thing I'd put up in my house bittersweetly - knowing that by virtue of already having seen this online, I myself will never get to have the delightfully mind blowing experience of going into someone else's house, noticing their decorations, and saying "Oh, you have a photograph of vintage book spines on your wa- HELLO what's this? All these books are the titles of songs from Van Morrison's Astral Weeks! Why I AM impressed!"
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 2:06 AM on June 3, 2015

This is the kind of thing I'd put up in my house bittersweetly - knowing that by virtue of already having seen this online, I myself will never get to have the delightfully mind blowing experience of going into someone else's house, noticing their decorations, and saying "Oh, you have a photograph of vintage book spines on your wa- HELLO what's this? All these books are the titles of songs from Van Morrison's Astral Weeks! Why I AM impressed!"

One does not put such a poster up for oneself. One puts it up in the hope that someday, quietly, somebody else will have that experience.
posted by solarion at 4:59 AM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Absolutely agree, though that would require inviting people to my home.

These are great, and I don't just day that because "Violator" and "Parklife" are probably in my Top 5 albums by number of listens.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:03 AM on June 3, 2015

This is fucking brilliant. Absolutely, fucking brilliant.
posted by SPUTNIK at 5:22 AM on June 3, 2015

People would have unglue themselves from their smartphones and turn on their brains to appreciate that. I do wilder stuff than that in my house...and no one sees it, let alone get it.

But it is a wonderful wink, all the same...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 5:51 AM on June 3, 2015

Missed meta-opportunity: Penguin Cafe Orchestra discography.
posted by davebush at 6:22 AM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

If anyone needs this treatment, it would be Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, Although there wouldn't be room on the spines for any more than his name.

Or someone could do a compilation album of songs named after books. That would be... uh...
posted by Devonian at 6:46 AM on June 3, 2015

One does not put such a poster up for oneself. One puts it up in the hope that someday, quietly, somebody else will have that experience.

No no, see, I put up this kind of poster so that one day someone else can have this experience and I can loudly shout "Ha ha! See! I knew it would work!"
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:01 AM on June 3, 2015

This London Calling print sums up about everything I know to be true about recorded music.

"You'd have to buy ten of the best albums to carry as much as this one. At least."
posted by steinwald at 8:52 AM on June 3, 2015

My finger is twitching over the "Add to Cart" button. I mean...

Van, Velvets, Springsteen, Patti Smith and Dylan and oh god I'm going to need to shut all the tabs down right now and step away from the laptop...
posted by maupuia at 1:26 PM on June 3, 2015

Came across this that's kinda related and I thought neato.
posted by neilbert at 6:31 PM on June 11, 2015