The cover picture of 'On Your Radio' (1979) has Mrs Summer perched on top of a 1930s style cabinet radio made in wood to imitate older and more solid pieces of furniture, ambitiously framed against a background of the New York skyline, seen by night with a pink glow which matches the dominant flower motif on her rather enviable cotton print dress covered with tropical blossoms. After deep thought, we feel that the conceit is that she is "on the radio" and her songs are broadcast "on the radio", causing the visible pink glow of excitement to spread out over the city. The composition of the picture clearly focusses on the Summer derriere; first because the pose on top of the radio stresses how svelte she is and makes you wonder exactly how svelte; but mainly because all the gravitational thrust of her body is going down through the named body part, and the lines of thrust are focussed at it. You can't see it, of course. So the pose is quite saucy but also perfectly respectable: there she is, knees raised but together, legs crossed at the ankle, dress demurely pulled down. The proverb is that, the richer you get, the more clothes you are allowed to wear on your album sleeves. Both front and back pictures are (vaguely) in period clothes, as an allusion to the track 'I remember yesterday', which is a pastiche of early 30s pop orchestration with Donna prattling scat. Summer could in fact remind you of an art deco mascot, which you might find on a car bonnet, or as a light fitting, although not on a radio; she looks very pretty, very streamlined, slightly glazed. The dress pattern reminds me slightly of designs for silk prints which Patrick Heron did, possibly in the 1940s; I am wondering if it is silk, and some reviewers would probably be wondering at the same time just what Summer's skin feels like. The pose makes her look nimble and weightless, because of course it is dance music.
Author: unknown
:D 
September 11th, 2004, 08:13 PM
Describing a sleeve: 'On The Radio' 
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