A certain cover art illustrator known as Barney Bubbles did a variety of colourful covers of L.P. record albums in the 1970s. In particular, he designed some amazing cover work for the acid-Prog-rock band ‘Hawkwind‘. Here we have the artwork for Hawkwind’s  Space Ritual  live double album fold out sleeve of psychedelic splendour from 1973. It was the band’s fourth album, which reached #9 in the UK album charts.  Barney (born Colin Fulcher, on 30 July 1942), also worked on some album covers for Elvis Costello, Ian Dury & the Blockheads and Billy Bragg.

• Another ‘informal’ member of Hawkwind was its ‘interpretive’ dancer – Stacia (pictured in the Space Ritual fold out sleeve). So who exactly was Stacia? Born Stacia Blake on 26 December 1952 in Ireland,  Stacia, (now an artist); joined the band c.a. 1971 and was most frequently seen around the ‘Space Ritual‘ years of live performances.
• There are some varied stories as to how she became a member of Hawkwind’s live shows. One version told by the band’s Nik Turner was printed in Mojo Magazine, where he recalls… “I met Stacia for the first time at the Isle of Wight…  She said, “Can I dance with you?” and I said, “Yeah, but you must take off all your clothes and paint your body.” She took all her clothes off but unfortunately I didn’t have any body paint. That was like her audition“.

Crazy audition!  |  Great concerts  |  Humongous band  |  Great artwork Barney!

For further examples of Cover Art, see my Cover Art page.

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