Welcome to the Neighbourhood artwork origins

evil nickname · 12 Sep 2012, 00:26

As you might know, the artwork for the songs in the Welcome to the Neighbourhood booklet is taken from movie posters and pulp fiction magazines from (roughly) the 1940's and 50's. For example, the art for "Where Angels Sing" is from a poster of Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita"

As I'm looking for ways to improve my website and I'm currently not motivated to work on the pending redesign, I thought it would be a nice idea to compile a gallery of the original WttN-artwork, since, as far as I know, no such thing exists.

If I'm not mistaken, there are a total of 11 pieces of reused art, as the liner notes of the US edition of the album led me to believe that the front cover and "Martha"'s artwork were especially created for the album by Ricky Di Tomasso (who doesn't seem to have any presence on the internet). So far, I've managed to track down the originals for eight of the songs, and the back cover.

The two I've not yet manage to identify are "Not a Dry Eye in the House" and "Amnesty is Granted". I've tried Google's similar image search and every other trick I could think of, but to no avail. So my question is, does anyone know what the origin of these two pieces are?

Cult Of Byron · 12 Sep 2012, 01:26

First thought that occurs is they are also by Di Tomasso, they are images that don't seem to be very posterly.

The further thought occurs that they are public domain images, which obviously makes tracing the artist more difficult.

Either way, if the mysterious Mr Di Tomasso was also the artistic director, he may know.

I'll keep my peepers peeled. Another thought just occurred: the mysterious Mr Fireball...?

Good luck with your search sir.

B.

Sarge · 12 Sep 2012, 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by evil nickname

The two I've not yet manage to identify are "Not a Dry Eye in the House" and "Amnesty is Granted". I've tried Google's similar image search and every other trick I could think of, but to no avail. So my question is, does anyone know what the origin of these two pieces are?

Meat did an interview with VH-1 Germany in 1995 or 1996 in which he talked about where the WTTN artwork comes from. Unfortunately, you could hardly hear his original statements due to the German translation, so I can't guarantee that this is 100% accurate:

Back cover - cover of True Detective (1945)
Front cover - cover of Mystery Tales (1944)
Martha - cover of Love Stories
Amnesty Is Granted - True Crime cover (?)
Left In The Dark - cover of some SciFi tale
Not A Dry Eye In The House - poster of a Joan Crawford movie*
I'd Lie For You - The Fighting Rangers poster
Original Sin - Gun Crazy poster

*The title wasn't mentioned or drowned in the German translation. I'm a huge Joan Crawford fan but I don't know which movie that poster belongs to.

evil nickname · 13 Sep 2012, 01:07

Thank you. That gives me something to search for. You don't happen to know if that interview is available on YouTube or something, do you?

What I found so far:

Front cover: credited to Ricky Di Tomasso
Rubber: True Detective magazine cover Jan. 1955
Lie for You: The Fighting Ranger movie poster
Original Sin: Gun Crazy movie poster
45 Seconds: No Hands on the Clock book cover (Geoffery Holmes)
Red Light: Hot Car Girl movie poster*
Fiesta: no art
Left in the Dark: The Canary Murder Case movie poster
Not a Dry Eye: from a Joan Crawford movie (?)
Amnesty: True Crime magazine cover (?)
Last Kiss: Stromboli movie poster*
Martha: either created by DiTomasso for the album, or from a Love Stories cover (?)
Where Angels Sing: Lolita movie poster
Back cover: New Detective Magazine, Mar 1946 by Rafael DeSoto

* Incidently, there are Stromboli and Hot Car Girl edits of "I'd Lie for You" on some promo singles.

*AndyK* · 13 Sep 2012, 20:33

The front cover is an original piece of art.

evil nickname · 30 Mar 2018, 13:09

The latest update of my website now includes sources for all the images used in the booklet: https://mljs.evilnickname.org/meatlo...ghborhood.html

AndrewG · 30 Mar 2018, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by evil nickname

The latest update of my website now includes sources for all the images used in the booklet: https://mljs.evilnickname.org/meatlo...ghborhood.html

Thanks!
Very cool to see the originals. I was sure I had seen several of these before elsewhere.

12 Sep 2012, 00:26	#1
evil nickname Guest Join Date: 19.04.2003 Posts: 2,238	Welcome to the Neighbourhood artwork origins As you might know, the artwork for the songs in the Welcome to the Neighbourhood booklet is taken from movie posters and pulp fiction magazines from (roughly) the 1940's and 50's. For example, the art for "Where Angels Sing" is from a poster of Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" As I'm looking for ways to improve my website and I'm currently not motivated to work on the pending redesign, I thought it would be a nice idea to compile a gallery of the original WttN-artwork, since, as far as I know, no such thing exists. If I'm not mistaken, there are a total of 11 pieces of reused art, as the liner notes of the US edition of the album led me to believe that the front cover and "Martha"'s artwork were especially created for the album by Ricky Di Tomasso (who doesn't seem to have any presence on the internet). So far, I've managed to track down the originals for eight of the songs, and the back cover. The two I've not yet manage to identify are "Not a Dry Eye in the House" and "Amnesty is Granted". I've tried Google's similar image search and every other trick I could think of, but to no avail. So my question is, does anyone know what the origin of these two pieces are?

12 Sep 2012, 01:26	#2
Cult Of Byron Super Loafer Join Date: 30.11.2002 Location: nr Ilkley, West Yorkshire Posts: 277	First thought that occurs is they are also by Di Tomasso, they are images that don't seem to be very posterly. The further thought occurs that they are public domain images, which obviously makes tracing the artist more difficult. Either way, if the mysterious Mr Di Tomasso was also the artistic director, he may know. I'll keep my peepers peeled. Another thought just occurred: the mysterious Mr Fireball...? Good luck with your search sir. B.

13 Sep 2012, 01:07	#4
evil nickname Guest Join Date: 19.04.2003 Posts: 2,238	Thank you. That gives me something to search for. You don't happen to know if that interview is available on YouTube or something, do you? What I found so far: Front cover: credited to Ricky Di Tomasso Rubber: True Detective magazine cover Jan. 1955 Lie for You: The Fighting Ranger movie poster Original Sin: Gun Crazy movie poster 45 Seconds: No Hands on the Clock book cover (Geoffery Holmes) Red Light: Hot Car Girl movie poster* Fiesta: no art Left in the Dark: The Canary Murder Case movie poster Not a Dry Eye: from a Joan Crawford movie (?) Amnesty: True Crime magazine cover (?) Last Kiss: Stromboli movie poster* Martha: either created by DiTomasso for the album, or from a Love Stories cover (?) Where Angels Sing: Lolita movie poster Back cover: New Detective Magazine, Mar 1946 by Rafael DeSoto * Incidently, there are Stromboli and Hot Car Girl edits of "I'd Lie for You" on some promo singles.

13 Sep 2012, 20:33	#5
AndyK Relentless Join Date: 21.11.2003 Location: Over the top..... seeing what's on the other side Posts: 18,694	The front cover is an original piece of art.

30 Mar 2018, 13:09	#6
evil nickname Guest Join Date: 19.04.2003 Posts: 2,238	The latest update of my website now includes sources for all the images used in the booklet: https://mljs.evilnickname.org/meatlo...ghborhood.html