de hoezen #23 - door Patrick Roefflaer

25 - Empire Burlesque

Uitgebracht:10 juni 1985

Fotograaf: Ken Regan

Tekening binnenhoes: Bob Dylan

Art-director: Nick Egan

De foto’s op de voorzijde en binnenhoes

In de tweede helft van 1984 scoort Bruce Springsteen hit na hit met dance-mixen van nummers uit zijn Born in The USA. Al die remixen zijn het werk van Arthur Baker. Een paar hitsingles ziet Bob Dylan ook wel zitten, dus geeft hij de hip-hop producer vrij spel met de opnamen voor zijn volgende elpee. De opdracht is bondig, maar duidelijk: "Ik wil een pak platen verkopen!"

Ook de verpakking moet modieus: voor de hoesfoto trekt hij een grijs-wit yuppie vestje aan, compleet met schoudervullingen. De kraag van het hemdje netjes over de revers en de mouwen opgestroopt à la Michael Jackson… Onze held kan zo de set op voor een bijrol in de populaire Eighties serie Miami Vice.

Vaste tourfotograaf sinds de Rolling Thunder Revue, Ken Regan, klaart de klus in een fotostudio. Het schetst een heel ander beeld van de zanger dan de andere foto’s die Regan maakte voor de hoezen van Desire en Hard Rain.

De mysterieuze dame op de achterzijde

Op de achterzijde van de hoes staat nog een portret van Dylan. Dit keer draagt hij een stro hoedje, een zwarte lederen vest en een open hemd met een druk motief. En hij is in mooi gezelschap. Opvallend is dat het gezicht van de exotisch ogende, jongedame half verborgen gaat achter de omkadering.  Er is veel gespeculeerd over haar identiteit. Zou ze Bobs vriendin zijn? Of een van zijn zangeressen?

Wanneer men er naar informeert, antwoordt hij vaag dat ze “toevallig naast hem stond op een feestje”.

In januari 2010, beweert ene Nicola Menicacci op het forum van expectingrain.com dat hij het meisje kent: “Ze is een Italiaanse uit Rome, met Libisch-joodse roots.” Hij verwijst naar een foto op pagina 25 van het boekje bij Biograph, waar ze te zien is, gezeten vlak naast Dylan. Die draagt bovendien dezelfde kledij als op de hoesfoto. Nicola voegt er aan toe dat de foto is gemaakt “in het huis van haar neef, tijdens de tournee van 1984.“ 

“Ik mag haar naam niet onthullen, maar ze heeft geen sterrenstatus. Ze komt uit een familie van handelaars en antiekdealers. Ze ontmoette Bob op straat, in de buurt van het station van Rome.”  Na enig aandringen verklapt hij haar voornaam: Tina.

Dylan speelde van 19 tot 21 juni 1984 drie concerten in Palazzo dello Sport in Rome, Italië. Ken Regan was daarbij aanwezig als officiële tourfotograaf. Het verhaal zou dus waar kunnen zijn.

Overigens is er nog een mooie anekdote over het hemd dat Dylan draagt op deze foto’s. Ian McLagan, die de toetsen beroerde tijdens deze Europese tournee van 1984, vertelt het in zijn boek All The Rage (1998). 

"'Mooi hemd.’ [Dylan] wees naar mij. Dit was mijn kans om me solidair te tonen met mijn held. ‘Wil je het hebben? Hier,‘ zie ik. Ik knoopte het los en gaf het hem. […]
Na die nacht in Verona [25 mei 1984],had Bob mijn hemd nooit meer aan. Maar om de een of andere reden hield hij het bij en droeg het elke avond over zijn schouder op weg naar de bus of het vliegtuig. […]
Het gekke was: het volgende jaar zag ik een foto waarbij hij het hemd droeg, op de achterzijde van de hoes van zijn volgende plaat, Empire Burlesque.’

De vormgeving

In 1978 is Londenaar Nick Egan zanger bij de punkband The Tea Set. Als student grafische vormgeving aan het College of Art and Design in Watford, ontwerpt hij natuurlijk de hoesjes van hun singles zelf. De manager van The Clash ziet wel wat in zijn werk en vraagt om enkele hoesjes voor die band te verzorgen. Egans eerste albumhoes is voor Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, het debuut van Dexys Midnight Runners.

Een toevallige ontmoeting met Malcolm McLaren leidt dan weer tot ontwerpen voor diens nieuwe groep Bow Wow Wow. De befaamde parodie op Déjeuner sur l’herbre van Édouard Manet, met een poedelnaakte minderjarige zangeres is een schandaalsucces. Via Malcolms vriendin Viviane Westwood rolt hij het modewereldje in.

Omstreeks 1984 verhuist Egan naar New York om het daar te gaan maken. Zijn eerste grote opdracht is voor Bob Dylan: Empire Burlesque. Zijn meest in het oog springende bijdragen zijn een grijze rand om de voor-en achterzijde van de hoes, opgeleukt met een blauwe en een gele cirkel met daarin een ster, plus een blauwe vlek aan de linkerzijde, als tegengewicht voor de titel aan de rechterzijde, uitgevoerd in een lettertype met computerachtig stippen.

Op de stofhoes van de vinyluitgave staat Dylan opnieuw te pronken met zijn Eighties jasje. Op de achterzijde hiervan staan de teksten afgedrukt, aangevuld met een zwart-wit portret, getekend door Dylan, van een glimlachende jongedame die met gesloten ogen schijnt te genieten.

Omdat ik het opmerkelijk vond dat Egan, zo kort na zijn aankomst in de States, een opdracht binnenhaalde voor zo’n belangrijke  klant, vroeg ik hem hoe het contact tot stand kwam.

Zijn antwoord is zo boeiend dat ik het hier integraal weergeef.

Dylan had been interested in working with Malcolm McLaren, the man who helped orchestrate the British Punk scene in 1976. Which made perfect sense,  to me at least, Dylan had a genuine punk attitude, in fact I think he is, in many ways,  the Godfather of punk. From the beginning he didn’t give a shit about what people thought, going electric at the 1964 [sic] Newport Folk Festival for example, is total punk.

‘Dylan's 1964 performance were accompanied by criticisms of Dylan's antics and dismissive nature;’

 ‘Dylan made a spontaneous decision on the Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band.’

          

‘His attitude was,“Well, fuck them if they think they can keep electricity out of here , I'll  do it”

Just like Punk later on, he didn’t care about petty rules, he wasn’t a singer, in fact I believe, in the beginning record labels considered him as only a songwriter, they wanted him to write songs for other artists. He created a very unique ‘non singer’ vocal sound just like Punk did, immediately breaking down everything before him. I  think he saw Malcolm as being cut from the same cloth, both were Jewish, both questioned the status quo, both were creative geniuses. I always think it’s a mistake to lump Dylan in with anything else that happened in the 60’s, the only similarity was, he was there, but he was forging his own path,

He wanted Malcolm to make a music video for one of the tracks off Empire Burlesque, something Malcolm was not the least bit interested in doing.  Malcolm had asked me to check it out while I was in New York working on the album cover for his first solo record Duck Rock and report back with my thoughts. So I met with Jeff Rosen who ran Davasee Entertainment, Dylan’s publishing company. Now Jeff is a truly fantastic human being and really was the only person Dylan trusted to speak on his behalf. Jeff was an amiable no bullshit guy and without him, I wouldn’t have got as close to Dylan as I did. After the initial contact Malcolm told me to pass, on his behalf, on the video idea.

This is something that rarely happens to Dylan, being turned down, I could feel their surprise. So when I offered to do the album cover if they needed it, their answer was  “yes!”.  They saw my close creative relationship with Malcolm and how he obviously trusted me to get on with the Duck Rock album cover while he was in London. Trust is a big thing with Dylan,  he kept a close nit collection of people around him, who could vet any outsiders as well as  hold CBS at bay, without Dylan ever having much to do with them, just like Malcolm. It always blew my mind when I was up at CBS, when these seasoned veterans of the record industry, who had dealt with every major artist on the planet, would be in awe that I worked directly with Bob himself, asking me what he was like and did he remember them from one meeting five years earlier.

In fact the reason I felt so comfortable around him was, he reminded me of a really good friend of mine, photographer, Bob Gruen, who was from the same generation. Bob was always really laid back, rarely got angry and was always really appreciative of anything you did for him, plus his name was also Bob.

When I look back on it, I really was quite privileged to have such an icon of popular culture be interested in my ideas and opinions. He found, in me, a connection into a new generation.

One surreal moment happened when my phone rang at 3:00am, my girlfriend at the time answered it ready to have a go at whoever was calling at such a late hour. I guess the caller asked if I was there and when she said “yes, who is it?”, he said “Bob Dylan” I think she thought it was a prank call, as I did,  when she told me. I Could hear this distant voice say “hi Nick, it’s Bob” and I recognized the voice immediately, trying to comprehend that Bob Dylan was calling me from Moscow  at 3:00 am  New York time, just to chat.

It was those off the cuff and unconventional moments I had with Bob that, I now look back on, as being part of his character the one that makes him Bob Dylan.  I experienced quite a few of those ‘genius at work’ moments in the time I worked with him.

From a marketing point of view he must have been a nightmare, he wasn't interested in having a dialog with anyone at the label and I think the idea of doing interviews were painful to him.

That whole promotional aspect was something that he knew was important, but it wasn't something he wanted to spend a lot of time over.  I think the birth of MTV had made him reconsider his approach a little more, hence the reason he contacted Malcolm McLaren, when a lot of people didn't know who Malcolm was. Dylan was in touch and knowledgeable but again, I think the process was what bothered him the most.

After I had agreed on working on the Empire Burlesque album cover I was actually quite shocked about the photo. I had moved into being an  Art Director as opposed to being just a designer, for this very reason. I wanted to begin the creativity from scratch and that meant choosing and working with a photographer who I thought would get the best look for a concept. I was tired of dressing up bad publicity photos into album covers but I made an exception in this case. I had no involvement whatsoever in the photoshoot or even the selection of what photo to use and if it was up to me I would never have used it. No disrespect to Ken Regan, who is a very good photographer, it just wasn't a front cover for me. The back cover photo was even stranger, the photo was some kind of snap shot by a friend, I think. I was specifically told to cut half of the girls face out of the photo, not all of it, just half.

 I think a lot of great artists like to push boundaries to see how far they can get, almost daring someone to question it - ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ philosophy, which made it all the more interesting for me, a kind of creative subversion. So that's why I framed it with those illustrative kitsch burlesque style sketches but just to keep people guessing I added the Matisse cut outs which are artistic, hoping to get visually, what Bob was subversively saying.

So, I guess it was your punk attitude  that attracted him. Perhaps to counter-balance the slick photograph he wanted to use with the Miami Vice style jacket?

This is the interesting thing about a lot of artists, although the whole process is something many are not interested in, when it comes to the final approval that’s something they  nearly always obsess about. The minutia, the things you wouldn't think they would care about, How big the type is, the color of the type, placement of the album title, how big and where the production credits go. Ironically those are the things I care least about, if there were no credits or lyrics at all, I’d be happy, but that’s where all the problems always occur. I’ve wasted more valuable time discussing whether the producers name should be bold and bigger than the engineers name and where the publishing and copyright lines go, than I ever have about what photo to put on the cover.

I remember being called by Jeff Kramer (part of Dylan’s management team) to meet Bob and show him the finalized ideas for Empire Burlesque at  the Power Station Recording Studio, in New York,  before we went to print.

I casually made my way across the City, not able to find a cab, I ended up walking about 40 blocks from my apartment to the studio. I arrived about 30 mins late and when I got to lobby  the receptionist looked at me and said “they've been waiting for you for ages”  We didn't have cell phones then so there was no way I could let them know I was going to be late and besides, I’d  been in studio’s with dozens of bands all over the world and never remember it ever being a big deal, whatever time you arrived.

Generally bands back then worked all night and I would show up sometime during the evening and even then I’d still have to wait around for two hours while someone was recording a vocal. Studios are like Las Vegas casinos, you have no sense of time as there are no windows and people could be drinking vodka at 6am like it was 6pm.

I was led into one of the studios, as the door opened I saw about 15 people all sitting around the edge of the room, most sitting on the floor, I couldn't see Bob, but I could see an empty chair in the middle of the room next to the producer, I figured that was Bob’s chair and he must be in a recording booth, until I heard his voice coming from in front of the mixing desk saying  “High Nick, take a seat” I realized that everyone had been waiting for me and that the pride of place was this empty chair, which is where I was meant to sit. I noticed a couple of people I recognized, Jan Wenner, editor and founder of Rolling Stone Magazine, Phil Ramone a big rock’n’roll producer, so I figured everyone in the room was some kind of VIP.

People were obviously intrigued as to who I was but Bob didn't say a word to anyone. He didn't introduce me or ask why I was late. He waited for me to sit down and then the recording engineer pressed play and began playing the Empire Burlesque album from start to finish.

I could feel everyone in the room looking at the back of my chair and wondering who the hell I was and why I was so important that they waited for me to arrive before playing the album. To this day I think they still wonder who I was and why I was given the center of attention. I just knew that it made me extremely nervous to the point that I didn't remember hearing a single note, made more so, by the fact that  between each song, Bob would turn around and look at me for approval, I just nodded each time. When the playback finished the people in the room were ushered out quickly  Bob apologized for the awkward situation I found myself in and, as if nothing had happened, we went through the final artwork.

This was Bob’s way of telling those sitting in that studio that he didn’t care what they thought, I just happened to be a useful prop, to illustrate that he was more interested in what some mysterious character’s opinion was, than he was theirs. The fact he knew they wondered who I was, was all part of it and as I said, to this day not one of them is any the wiser. Even though I felt a little uncomfortable about being put on the spot like that, I totally get why he did it. It was another “fuck you!” to the music establishment.

It was pretty soon after finishing the artwork for Empire Burlesque that I was invited to a meeting with Jeff Rosen about a special project. CBS were celebrating 20+ years of Dylan on their label by releasing the first Bob Dylan Box Set, Biograph.  I was to be given access to a collection of photos and unlike Empire Burlesque, where Bob’s involvement was minimal, Biograph was completely different, this was very important to him, in every aspect from the sequence of the songs, the sleeve notes to the artwork. He and I spent time discussing the songs and their relevance, he really wanted me to capture the essence of his work and he singled out certain songs that were important. He was very clear that the artwork should be ‘art’ and not just a record cover.

My immediate dilemma was how to portray such a huge and important body of work with a definitive cover, Jeff Rosen added that  the cover of the booklet,  inside the box was just as important as the box cover. The second I saw the black and white publicity photo from around 1961 [sic] I knew that was it, that was the cover, nothing else came close. It had a very Punk Rock quality, his messy hair, the aloof look to the side, the black high collar, it could have been Johnny Thunders, Patti Smith or Mick Jones from The Clash, it was full of rebellion, revolution and attitude. I wanted to take this iconic image and turn it into something contemporary , like Andy Warhol had done with Marilyn Monroe.  I was also influenced by Matisse's  ‘Jazz’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern art and his use of shapes and primary  colors. There was also an artist duo from the UK called Gilbert and George  who took photographs and turned them into  a large colorful  stained glass window style, that were back lit which is where the thick outline idea around the photo came from.

 I also loved the high contrast minimal white background photos that were in Italian Vogue at the time but I also wanted the photo to be the focus so a red overlay was the best way to catch peoples‘ eyes and a very small almost unnoticeable title at the top. I argued at the time that there would be very few people on the planet  who wouldn't immediately recognize it as Bob Dylan. The challenge also was that people didn't think it was just his early music so I ghosted two images on the background of Bob from different eras, one with an electric guitar, the other with acoustic.

The cover of the booklet also reflected the American Pop Art scene that started in the 50’s but was starting to become popular at the very same time Dylan was recording his first record. Artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Hamilton were using photo collage. Dylan fit right into the revolution in American art, more than any other musical artist at the time. So it was fitting that Biograph was launched at the Whitney Museum of Art, in November 1985. Images from the artwork were blown up to giant sizes and were hung on the walls of the Whitney Museum. So, I achieved exactly what I set out to do, to make the images in Biograph works of art.

Bob and Jeff Rosen were blown away by the packaging and Jeff, later on, presented me with a signed copy Biograph as a gift from Bob, it reads

“To Nick Egan, thanks for making this what it is, you’re a star, Bob Dylan”

There have been a few artists who have gone out of their way to show  appreciation for what I’ve done for them, but few went to the lengths Dylan did. Sometime that year I was applying for my Green Card and my lawyer told me I needed to get letters of support from at least three people of exceptional merit and achievement in their field. I asked Jeff Rosen if Bob might consider writing one of these letters. Jeff wasn’t too optimistic about me getting it, he told me the last time Dylan did this for anyone, it was for John Lennon and he hadn't done it since, but that he said he would at least ask.

A few days later I get a call from Jeff telling me Bob had agreed and signed the letter, unbelievable, to have this incredible artist who had helped define American culture and who will go down as one of the greatest artists of all time had written a letter in support of my immigration, me and John Lennon

(the other two people of exceptional merit who also wrote on my behalf were INXS and film Director John Hughes)

The thank you Bob gave me on Knocked Out Loaded was a surprise as I wasn't involved with that packaging at all.

De titel

In hun boek Bob Dylan: All the Songs - the Story Behind Every Track opperen Phillippe Margotin en Jean-Michel Guesdon dat de titel Empire Burlesque “mogelijk verwijst naar Amerika, dat een grootmacht werd in een steeds potsierlijker wereld.”

Op de Engelstalige Wikipedia pagina is dan weer een heel andere mening te vinden: “De titel van de plaat, Empire Burlesque, verwijst waarschijnlijk naar een theater in Newark, NJ, waar strippers en komieken voor het vermaak zorgden. […] Of Dylan er door werd geïnspireerd, moet nog worden uitgezocht. Mogelijk passeerde hij er op weg naar Woody Guthrie in Greystone Park.”

Dat de jonge Dylan er een kijkje ging nemen, is alvast onmogelijk. Het theater sloot finaal de deuren op 14 februari 1957 en in juli 1958 werd het gebouw afgebroken. Wanneer Dylan in januari 1961 de bus neemt naar New Jersey om er Woody te gaan opzoeken, is op die plek enkel een parkeergelegenheid te zien, aangelegd voor kooplustigen van het nabijgelegen winkelcentrum.