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Over the course of his 40-year career, Alan Aldridge has been the design guru for the Beatles; a designer of gigs and album covers for the Rolling Stones, Elton John, the Who, Cream, and Led Zeppelin; the target of police prosecution for his notorious Chelsea Girls poster; the author of the bestselling children's book The Butterfly Ball; and a graphic designer for the Hard Rock Cafe, the House of Blues, and the New York Times.
Here is the definitive visual survey of the art of Alan Aldridge, whose signature style came to define the Psychedelic Era for a generation, and for generations to come. The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes charts Aldridge's extraordinary life with extraordinary images, giving the complete portrait of a graphic genius who fully expressed the spirit of his time.
Brimming with the very best tripped-out, pulsating illustrations and designs culled from all corners of his varied body of work, the resulting visual feat will astonish and delight fans of all ages.

This book lives up to its title, capturing the lyrical and visual pop of Aldridge's signature psychedelic poster art, which made him a favorite artist among the Beatles, the Who, Cream, Elton John, and Incubus. Readers also get a good sense of the 1960s generation that best defines Aldridge, who is still producing art today. An "illustrated autobiography," this work excels at presenting the amusing anecdote and scrapbook aesthetic rather than a historical or critical approach, particularly in terms of other artists working in a similar vein. Aldridge accompanies his loose, personal narrative with illustrations and explanatory captions, as if readers were sitting with him and chatting about his life while looking through an overflowing box of pictures. Escapades and encounters with famous figures drive the story, but more than anything, this is a book for casual browsing, outside of time and traditional art historical trajectories. Every page offers a vibrant image that, like a kaleidoscope, is a striking, surreal, and momentary perspective on the world. Recommended for specialized art collections.—Prudence Peiffer, Cambridge, MA

[Page 74]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

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Mr. Love Pants, the Gnole and England's Conservative cabinet led by Ted Heath have one thing in common: they provided fertile ground for the bizarre imagination and singular artistic sensibility of British artist Alan Aldridge. This book showcases both Aldridge's art and his larger-than-life personality. Aldridge lied his way into his first job, but eventually became the fiction cover art director for Penguin Books. But it was his concept to illustrate the lyrics of the Beatles that sent his career into the stratosphere. Vignettes from a charmed life crawl their way through 421 four-color illustrations—a mlange of psychedelic album covers, racy advertisements, boisterous children's books and memorable logos. In a series of brief autobiographical sermons, Aldridge describes extraordinary encounters with every kind of prophet, from Paul McCartney to an Indian guru. In one particularly vivid tale, Salvador Dal challenges him to a drawing duel in an airport bar. The book's cacophonous design complements Aldridge's wildest creations and is suitably constructed to inspire newly minted designers, wannabe pop-art apprentices and fans of psychedelia. (Mar.)

[Page 45]. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.