Tag Archives: Easy On The Eye Books

Landscape

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After some pondering we have decided to introduce a larger A4 format series to allow us to tackle a couple of projects which require a landscape format. So after much deliberation this will be imaginatively listed as the Landscape Series (there are only the two of us in the office so the focus group consultation wasn’t too exhausting!). There are two immediate titles planned of which we can show the cover for the first below, covering Barry Plummer’s Deep Purple photo archive. More details will be added to the site in the next few weeks.

Spreads

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We’ve posted another eight pages from the upcoming Blues Photos of Brian Smith title on the site, which give you a good idea of how this is shaping up. Our designer is busy correcting the spreads right now: “I design each page as a single sheet, this allows me to focus on how it looks. Then once the bulk of the pages are laid out, it’s time to turn them into ‘spreads’, so you can see how the left and right hand pages interact with one another visually when they face each other. This then throws up some clashes and you need to love a few elements around, and make it all work visually across the spread. I use two screens for this as you need plenty of digital ‘desk’ space! But the Blues book is coming together nicely, even if I did discover some image duplication today which meant a fair bit of work to correct. But I hope to be done very shortly then it will go out to Brian for proofing and feedback.” The spread below is from the section on Chuck Berry.

Little Richard

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Little Richard Oasis Club 014 copy.jpg

Just a few days on from bemoaning the death of Millie, a proper pop star, than another of the acts Brian Smith photographed in the Sixties passes away, this time a proper rock and roll trailblazer, Little Richard.  Brian was lucky enough to catch a performance at one of Manchester’s most famous venues of the time, The Oasis Club, in 1964.  Just seeing his pictures makes you jealous, as Richard seems in amazing form while the crowd are in awe judging by some of their expressions. Local group The Dakotas got to back him, all under the shadow of a huge Beatles mural decorating the back of the stage.  Which is a tad ironic given how much they owed to Richard amongst others!  Brian also caught the filming of Little Richard by Granada TV for one of their highly regarded pop specials of the time.

This great shot from the Oasis shows Little Richard working the crowd at the height of his set, and would have made the final selection for the book of Brian’s pics we’re wrapping up – except some of the others are even better!

Richard leaves a musical legacy only a few could equal even back in the Sixties, but his contributions to rock music’s development are unlikely ever to be surpassed in the future.

Manufacturer

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It is sometimes all too easy to forget that we’re actually a manufacturer, as you get weighed down by the enormous amount of work involved in actually getting a book to the printers. But sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of the fact when you’re undoing a box of stock. I guess it’s part of the enjoyment of working in a business so closely associated with printing.  So I took a few minutes to snap these copies. There is something very satisfying in seeing a title stacked up like this and wondering where the copies will end up going.  They’ve already travelled almost 1500 miles before they even reach our office.

pile of books in office.jpg

Online Shop

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The Easy On The Eye Books online shop has been “parked” for a few days while we updated links across this site. These are all now working and have been tested. If you do encounter the “parked” error message when you reach the shop please let us know as it means I’ve missed one! And sorry, but the double Green Shield stamps offer is now closed…

old grocery shop.jpg

Pager turner

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Deep-Purple-In-Rock-German-salesThere are flipbook samples of the Deep Purple In Rock book on our library now. There are 20+ pages from the English edition, and 20+ different pages from the upcoming German edition, so you can get an idea of what the book looks like whatever the language!

 

ENGLISH EDITION flipbook:

http://online.fliphtml5.com/msya/hemg/

GERMAN EDITION flipbook:

http://online.fliphtml5.com/msya/nmbd/

 

Under Review

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Reviews for the Graham Bonnet book The Story Behind The Shades continue to arrive, although the latest two are in German from Rock Hard Magazine and Rocks.

“Featuring uncountable never before seen photographs “The Story Behind The Shades”, the biography of one of the greatest living hard rock singers of all time, grabs the reader from the first to the very last page. Essential reading. 176 pages full of information. Author Steve Wright tells the story of ex Rainbow singer Graham Bonnet with total dedication, zeal and almost fanzine-like attention to detail…”

Still if you are better at languages than I ever was, you can read more (and of course the English language reviews!) on the review page. Thanks to Matthias Penzel for sending me the scan and John Tucker for the bit of translation.

Rocks Magazine Germany March 2018

From Greece

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“As is the case with every single book from Easy On The Eye publishing, the quality is incomparable, Graham Bonnet – The Story Behind The Shades is no exception…” Lovely review from one of the biggest Greek rock music sites (rockpages.gr) which can be read in full on our review page. It’s so good when people really get what you’re trying to achieve.

In action!

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Nice photograph sent by Jonathan Fogerty of the spinal-cord injury charity Spirit, presenting copies of the Easy On The Eye book to staff at the Oswestry spinal-cord injury Centre. Jonathan has flagged the story up on the Spirit website.

Nice to see one of our books ‘in action’ as it were! They will be used by staff and patients at the centre.  The book is now being distributed through bookshops and regular online sellers, having been originally mail order only to the medical profession as it were.  There are discounts for NHS orders.

very alternative guide to spinal cord injury, oswestry

Big Mama Thornton

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Here’s another great (albeit it pre-restoration) shot from the upcoming book of Brian Smith’s blue photographs: Big Mama Thornton, who he photographed backstage in Manchester on a Blues package tour in 1965.  We’ve been able to scan this from the original negative. I assumed the others were lost but no; “I only took the one photo, film was expensive as a young lad!” You can read more about the book on the site, and the photo also appears on the book designer’s own site with a sideways look at the outfit!

Big Mama Thornton, Manchester, 1965. Photo Brian Smith