Customer Reviews

Views

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The architypal album cover artist of the early seventies period, Roger Dean produced covers for seventies album artists such as Yes, Gentle Giant, Greenslade and even Osibisa. This, his first of a number of publications, contains his early and best work. For fans of the progressive rock group "Yes" it also contains a number of photographs from their ambitious "Tales from Topographic Oceans " tour. This book should be reprinted NOW and is a must for all ardent "Yes " fans.

This should have been better. While I've never seen this book as groundbreaking I've always loved the artistic ambition of illuminating these otherworldly landscapes and visually wonderful efforts put forth by Roger Dean. They may not have a lot of meat to them but the paintings collected are windows opened to lost world landscapes have always struck a chord with me. Here, magic and science are equals, jockeying for dominance or co-habitating on vistas culled from our dreams and nightmares. Suprisingly the insights made almost 35 years ago are still stirring and oddly relevant today. The language of the creative wit has changed but this still has that sense of creative wonder and a sharp edge, cleanly and effectively spanning both the illustrative world of design and fine art.
Some might wonder why I complain about this not being the best it could be. It boils down to this, the image quality is little improved from the original book, which I still have. With the reworking of the image on the cover this really should have been a gorgeous collection with today's print technology.
Some of the work looks like it is mildly improved upon but that is likely due to better printing technology and not a digital overhaul of the images featured. I'm not referring to any of the actual paintings being retouched or changed, just noting that there isn't any considerably better image quality in evidence.
I will say bravo for losing the white font on black pages that was employed in the old edition. These days my eyes continue to be imprinted by that black background long after I've tried to read that illuminated script.
Regardless of my comments this book is still a very nice edition to own for old and new followers of Roger Dean's art.

Groundbreaking when it was first published, this unique book has remained a benchmark in both art and publishing. Dean founded his own Paper Tiger imprint to release this collection of his designs. The book is sized the same as an old vinyl album, and contains dozens of his architectural/fantasy world renderings, know best as the covers of the majority of the YES albums, along with many other rock projects. Essential for the fans of Dean, it covers his schooling, 2D and 3D design projects, and an amazing array of full color, high quality reproductions of his ink and watercolor paintings.

Is it just me, or is the movie Avatar simply "Dances With Wolves" set in a Roger Dean landscape using the latest 3D technology? Buy Views, and decide for yourself...

The book is just as I remembered as a young man and I ordered it to allow my children the pleasure of experiencing a true artists work.

Roger Dean is best known for his groundbreaking work in LP cover art, including Yes, Uriah Heep, Osibisa, and other names from the 1970s music world. This great collection pulls together Dean's early work, including sketches, student work from his time at the Royal College of Art, and set design for the Yes tour stages.

I usually think of Dean as a visual artist, so his furniture, sets, and architectural interests were a pleasant surprise. It would have been helpful to have better identification of year in which each piece done. That's a small enough complaint, though. This is an outstanding collection of his work, and an interesting reference point for comparing the 70s culture to todya's.

//wiredweird

Roger Dean's artwork has been featured on the record and CD coversof Yes, Aisa, and Pink Floyd. He has displayed his artistic talent since Yes' "Fragile" LP in 1972. His work belongs in a museum display (I did see a print of the Fragile cover in the Hayden Planetarium) and this book (if you're lucky enough to get your hands on it) is recommended to avid Yes fans! It features the covers of "Topographic Oceans", "Beginnings", "Relayer", "Yessongs", and the inner gatefold of "Close to the Edge". Simply breathtaking! And in need of a reprint soon!

Coming out in 1975, this was the first formal introduction to the world of Roger Dean as artist. As you might expect, it is a real 70's treasure trove.

Known as Views or Roger Dean Views or Roger Dean Views Dragon's Dream (the title appears in various ways in different parts of the book) it was immediately seized upon by tens of thousands of rock and rollers in Britain and the U.S. where all the copies were then stepped on, had bong water spilled on them, or were left in the back seat of the Ford Maverick where the sun faded the cover.

This oversized, square trade paperback -- appropriately album-like -- is composed almost entirely of Roger Dean color art, with many full-page or two-page images. Smaller illustrations show sketches: Dean in progress. 155 pp.

The text which, obviously, takes a back seat to the images in intelligent and wide-ranging. The tone here is admiring without being fawning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction by Donald Lehmkuhl
Some Notes on Roger Dean's Technique by Dominy Hamilton
Furniture
Record Covers
YES
"Retreat Pod"
Architecture
List of Principal Pictures

If you like the covers of classic Yes albums, then you appreciate the art of Roger Dean. This is a beautiful book, with clear sharp prints of well know and unknown works by this artist.