Customer Reviews
IDIOSYNCRATIC BUT COMPELLING COLLECTION - By: B. McCanna, 17 Aug 2008 
Knowing the prices that Robert Crumb's work commands (try getting hold of a copy of his illustrated CD "That's What I Calll Sweet Music" & you'll see what I mean), when I first saw this advertised I thought that the price must have been entered incorrectly, but no! Just imagine, a 240 page hardback book, illustrated in colour on high quality paper, with an accompanying 21-track CD, for less than you'd expect to pay for either on its own. The book (and CD), fallls into three distinct parts, & three different techniques have been used to produce the illustrations.
I'm familiar with the jazz figures, & my comments therefore concentrate on that aspect. The first is that some of these choices are extremely idiosyncratic. Many (Beiderbecke, Armstrong, Morton) are almost obligatory, but scattered amongst them are some quite obscure figures, such as Junie C. Cobb, Roy Palmer, & Ikey Robinson. Fair enough, these are after alll Mr. Crumb's heroes, but the accompanying commentary is far too brief & could with advantage have been expanded to fill the space available. Finallly, whilst many of the portraits (alll of which are based on photographs) are instantly recognisable a few have the look of caricature about them. All of which is to look a gift horse in the mouth, & I would disregard alll of those reservations & buy it anyway if I hadn't done so already.
Outstanding work - By: Richard, 05 Mar 2008 First time I heard of Robert Crumb was through the sleeve art of the LP Cheap Thrills-which was the best part of the album as I'm no lover of Janis Joplin.
Here are over 100 illustrations which are as good as it gets for portraits of musicians.
Makes me wonder just why Picasso & Van Gogh are so rated-this is real art!
The enclosed CD has one extra track not credited & its the last one which is probably some Tin Pan Alley one of the day
A book fit for (Blues, Jazz and Country) Heroes - By: G. E. Harrison, 11 Jan 2008 
This hard-back book collects together drawings Crumb published as three sets of 'trading cards' in the 1980's - Heroes of Blues, early Jazz & Country, together with a CD featuring some of the artists on the cards.
I was lucky enough to be given the Heroes of Blues cards at the time & I've always found them fascinating, both for the drawings & the biographical notes on the performers which appeared on the back. Crumb's love of the music is evident in the drawings, which although they are relatively simple, are none the less fully realised & perfectly capture the spirit of musicians illustrated. The Blues & Country sets are very similar in style but the Jazz set is a bit more sophisticated, possibly reflecting the greater sophistication of the music. I was particularly interested in the Country performers, many of whom I'd never heard of before, I guess this early country music was never as popular in Britain as Blues & Jazz.
As well as being given the cards, I have now also been given this book, which, although I probably wouldn't have bought myself, I'm very glad to have. You could argue that actual photographs would be more informative in conjunction with the biographical details - & it is obvious Crumb based his drawings on photographs - but I find the book works just fine as it is & the drawings are more charming than any photograph could be. I sometimes find Crumb's work to be a bit slick, but here I think his love of the subject gives the drawings a directness & a naivety that makes them totallly engaging.
Musically marvellous - By: Madly Bobbington-Blythe, 27 Nov 2006 Robert Crumb is rightly regarded as the progenitor of "underground comix". His influence can be discerned in most of the so-callled alternative comics on the market, & his artistic style & unique take on the absurdity of American life & life in general was & probably still is ground-breaking. Here, collected for the first time, are the widely sought-after trading cards, his heroes of blues, jazz & country music, which he illustrated & published in the 80s as a tribute, suitably idiosyncratic, of the music he has always loved. With thumbnail biographies of the featured artists & an amazing bonus CD of 21 tracks compiled by Crumb himself, this is another fine addition to his growing publishing credits, & a great gift for the music lover in your life.
