SHAKARA!!! Oh man, I love this fantastic cover by Neil Roberts! Furthermore, I freaking love ALL his prelims too, I genuinely couldn't choose between them, take a look:
Neil is well known on this blog for throwing himself into his work, be it pulling gangster poses in his dressing gown or gurning like a loony for a Dirty Frank cover, so I was looking forward to seeing him posing on a child's scooter or tricycle for this, unfortunately it's not to be. Neil says "No silly pics of me pulling daft faces this time, this was a nice quick one with little need for gurning!" I'm so disappointed!
The design team at the Nerve Centre obviously saw something in Neil's work that (he vehemently insists) wasn't there - an homage to erm... classic Meatloaf Album 'Bat Out Of Hell.'
Neil insists "One thing, I wasn't consciously going for a Bat Out Of Hell thing - and I can totally see the similarities now - it was purely coincidence,I just wanted to make a kick-ass Skakara cover!"
Like any sane human being, Neil is obviously a fan of Shakara co-creator Henry Flint, so doing this cover was a real treat for him, he says "Going for the whole Henry Flint-black-white and red vibe was the best thing about doing this cover, making it more graphic than my normal work."
Neil has asked me to, quote "Find a pic of ''Bat out of Hell" and say I WAS IN NO WAY INSPIRED by the image - that'd be great. Still, it's nice to be associated with a great piece of pop (or should that be soft-rock) art ;)" Personally I think he's protesting a little too much!
One artist who obviously was inspired by the album was Jason Brashill in this cracking cover for the Judge Dredd Mega-special of 1996. The issue ran a feature of classic album covers starring 2000AD characters and Jason's obviously made the cover.
Thanks to Neil for sending the images, be sure to check out his site and blog, his work is brilliant!
Neil - WHAT A PRO :O
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