GET ON DOWN : A DECADE OF ROCK ROLL AND POSTERS

Edited by Mick Farren

Published by Futura Publications & Dempsey & Squires

London, England & Big O Posters, Charlottesville, Virginia

1977 American First Edition (with Subtitle cover lettering in White)

Cover Painting of JIMI HENDRIX by British Psychedelic Artist Martin Sharp

This book is a large format soft cover in very good condition (few light crease marks on covers & corners, not affecting inside pages) with 95 pages with beautifully reproduced mostly full page profusely illustrated collection of rock and roll posters with bright bold psychedelic day-glo colors, posters from the 1960's hallucinogenic psychedelic LSD hippie scene into the mid-1970's arena rock era.

Size is 15 inches by 10 inches. 

Excellent Selection of Rock Concert Posters many from the United Kingdom, beautifully printed with a historical introduction on the first 20 years of rock music.

A wonderful psychedelic art book.

SEE BELOW FOR LIST OF PSYCHEDELIC ARTISTS AND THE LIST OF ROCK BAND POSTERS THEY CREATED.

CONTENTS

The Who  = Maximum R&B at the Marquee

Love Bob Dylan = designed by Marijke Kroger   

Peace = based on the drawings of E. H. Shepard

The Purple Gang : Granny Takes a Trip = designed by Michael English

Love Festival = designed by Michael English      

Human Be-In = designed by Stanley Mouse

Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Avalon Ballroom = designed by Rick Griffin

Jim Kweskin at the Avalon = designed by Rick Griffin    

The Doors and Captain Beefheart at the Denver Dog = designed by Schnepf

Sun Ra at the Community Arts Centre = designed by Gary Grimshaw

Jimi Hendrix = designed by Michael English

The Doors at the Avalon = designed by Rick Griffin

Tomorrow = My White Bicycle = designed by Michael English

UFO = designed by Michael English

Jefferson Airplane at San Francisco State College  = designed by Stanley Mouse Studios

Hapshash and the Coloured Coat = designed by Michael English

The Rolling Stones at Cardiff and Pembroke Castles: designed by K. Burness:

Bob Dylan-Mr. Tambourine Man: by Martin Sharp:

Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

CIA UFO: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

UFO at the Roundhouse: designed by Martin Sharp:

Fifth Dimension, Leicester: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

UFO Coming: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

Arthur Brown: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

The Soft Machine: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

Arthur Brown: © Track Records:

Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Avalon : designed by Rick Griffin:      

Move at UFO: designed by Michael English:

Paupers at the Grandee Ballroom: designed by Gary Grimshaw:

Middle Earth designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

MC5 at the Grand Ballroom designed by Matthew

Bob Dylan: designed by Vytas:

Rome Festival: designed by Michael English and Nigel Weymouth:

Oz Police Ball: designed by David Wills:

Grande Ballroom: designed by Gary Grimshaw:

Aragon Ballroom: designed by Jayzey Lynch:

Freakshow: © Mean and Filthy Productions:

Back to Comm: designed by Gary Grimshaw:

Leonard Cohen — Live Songs: © CBS Records:

Detroit Rock Revival: designed by Gary Grimshaw:

All Good Clean Fun: © UA Records,

Frank Zappa Mothers of Invention at the Albert Hall: designed by Michael English:      

Phun City: designed by J. Edward Barker: © Barker: from the collection of Felix Dennis

Grande Ballroom: designed by Carl Lundgren:

Gasoline 3: © CBS Records:

Brian Eno : © E.G. Music: courtesy Island Records

Osibisa,Osibirock: © Warner Bros:

Blood Sweat & Tears , designed by Shulenberg

The Who = Quadrophrenia , designed by Graham Hughes

Bob Dylan : © Island Records:

Be Bop De Luxe designed by John Holmes  

Hawkwind, 1969 Show: designed by Barney Bubbles

Cat Stevens, Buddah and the Chocolate Box: © Island Records

Mahavishnu Orchestra : © CBS Records:

Leon Russell, Carney: designed by George Snow

Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits: designed by Drew:

Man: designed by Rick Griffin:

Nutz: © A & M Records:

Bryan Ferry:© E.G. Music:

Beck, Bogert and Appice: fron. the collection of David Goodman

Mahavishnu Orchestra = Visions of the Emerald Beyond: CBS Records

Roxy Music = Country Life: © E.G. Music: courtesy Island Records

Blue Oyster Cult = Secret Treaties: ©CBS Records: courtesy CBS

Hot Wires: © Warner Bros.: courtesy Warner Bros.

Tokyo Kid Brothers = The City: designed by George Snow:

The Doobie Brothers: © Warner Bros.: courtesy Warner Bros.

Hawkwind = Roadhawks , designed by Barney Bubbles

Mott The Hoople , designed by Roslav Szaybo

Warner Brothers Music Show © Warner Bros.: courtesy Warner Bros.

Rolling Stones European Tour: designed by John Pasche:   

Bob Dylan = Blood on the Tracks: photo Paul Till:       

Rolling Stones = It's Only Rock and Roll: © Rolling Stones Records:

Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix , Courtesy of Douglas Smith

The Who , UK Tour , designed by David King    

The Who , USA Tour , designed by David King

MORE ABOUT Psychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences.

The word "psychedelic" (coined by British psychologist Humphry Osmond) means "mind manifesting". By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic". In common parlance "Psychedelic Art" refers above all to the art movement of the late 1960s lsd counterculture.

Psychedelic visual arts were a counterpart to psychedelic rock music. Concert posters, album covers, lightshows, murals, comic books, underground newspapers and more reflected not only the kaleidoscopically swirling patterns, but also revolutionary political, social and spiritual sentiments inspired by insights derived from these psychedelic states of consciousness.

Features

Fantastic, metaphysical and surrealistic subject matter

Kaleidoscopic, fractal or paisley patterns

Bright and/or highly contrasting colors

Extreme depth of detail or stylization of detail. Also so called Horror vacui style.

Morphing of objects and/or themes and sometimes collage

Phosphenes, spirals, concentric circles, diffraction patterns, and other entoptic motifs

Repetition of motifs

Innovative typography and hand-lettering, including warping and transposition of positive and negative spaces

 In 1960s counterculture = Leading proponents of the 1960s Psychedelic Art movement were San Francisco poster artists such as:  Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Bonnie MacLean, Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley, and Wes Wilson. Their Psychedelic Rock concert posters were inspired by Art Nouveau, Victoriana, Dada, and Pop Art.

The "Fillmore Posters" were among the most notable of the time. Richly saturated colors in glaring contrast, elaborately ornate lettering, strongly symmetrical composition, collage elements, rubber-like distortions, and bizarre iconography are all hallmarks of the San Francisco psychedelic poster art style. The style flourished from about 1966 - 1972. Their work was immediately influential to album cover art, and indeed all of the aforementioned artists also created album covers.

Although San Francisco remained the hub of psychedelic art into the early 1970s, the style also developed internationally: British artist Bridget Riley became famous for her op-art paintings of psychedelic patterns creating optical illusions. Mati Klarwein created psychedelic masterpieces for Miles Davis' Jazz-Rock fusion albums, and also for Carlos Santana Latin Rock. 

Pink Floyd worked extensively with London based designers, Hipgnosis to create graphics to support the concepts in their albums. Los Angeles area artists such as John Van Hamersveld,  Warren Dayton and Art Bevacqua and New York artists Peter Max and Milton Glaser all produced posters for concerts or social commentary (such as the anti-war movement) that were highly collected during this time. Life Magazine's cover and lead article for the September 1, 1967 issue at the height of the Summer of Love focused on the explosion of psychedelic art on posters and the artists as leaders in the hippie counterculture community.