ALBUM COVER HALL OF FAME’S ALBUM COVER NEWS RECAP FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER,WITH PREVIEWS FOR NOVEMBER, 2017.
BY MIKE GOLDSTEIN, ALBUMCOVERHALLOFFAME.COM
Greetings once again to you all on this post-Halloween sunny-but-crisp early November day, 2017. The month of October proved to be a VERY busy one with regards to articles you’ll want to read that reveal new information about those active in the world of album cover art and packaging and, in the summaries I’ve written and via the links provided, you’ll learn more about the latest efforts – as found in exhibitions, via new books and products and featured in interviews in profiles and other related reporting – of some of the most-talented album cover art creators and promoters that I’ve found in my reviews of stories from around the world.
Of course, nothing could be more important than the work going on right now to select the nominees and, after close consideration, voting on a new class of inductees, for the Album Cover Hall of Fame. Over 200 people are being considered for this year’s Class (2017), with the winning names revealed to an eagerly-awaiting public just prior to Thanksgiving (which takes place here in the U.S. this year on November 23rd), so watch this space closely as I’m sure you’ll want to know who “made the cut” this year…
As always, I ask that you please share this info with everyone you know who are fans of great album cover-related talent and, of course, your comments and feedback are quite welcome.
1) Upcoming, recently-launched/currently running and just-closed show/exhibitions –
a) As a follow-up to the article I posted last month about Malcolm Garrett and the Design Manchester show he organized (which included a panel on his work along with a special exhibition devoted to displaying the results of a Buzzcocks Orgasm Addict-related challenge he posed to scores of artists – i.e., according to the info posted by writer Aimee McLaughlin in her review on the Design Week site, “to ‘fuck up’ his original artwork and create “reframed” versions of the record sleeve. Designers that have taken part include established names such as Craig Oldham and Michael C Place, along with young and up-and-coming talent”
Another favorite display at the show was another one focused on Garrett’s entire portfolio of work for the Buzzcocks called Fizzing At The Terminals. While the show ended its run on October 22nd, you can get a decent feel for what was on display at https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/16-22-october-2017/design-manchester-2017-favourite-exhibitions/
b) Another follow-up to a previously-reported item – you’ll recall that photographer and gallery owner Guido Harari has been working with fellow shooter Frank Stefanko to help publish and promote his new limited-edition book (Bruce Springsteen: Further Up The Road, set to be published on November 1st) and related art prints. Well, the two talented artists have also announced a tour and exhibition that will have stops both in the U.S. – November 1st at the Morrison Hotel Gallery at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles, then on to Morrison Hotel’s gallery in the SoHo area of New York City for an opening on November 9th – and in Italy at Harari’s Wall Of Sound Gallery in Alba, where they’ll be for an afternoon (3PM local time) opening on Saturday, November 18th.
According to Guido’s promo emails, the show at his gallery will be the only one in Europe in 2017, but there will be several other scheduled book signings and Q&A/presentations, including one later in the day (5:30PM local time) on November 18th at the nearby Coro della Maddalena, via Vittorio Emanuele 19 (as part of the “In Poetica” festival) followed by a similar event the next day at 6PM at the Circolo dei Lettori, via Bogino 9, in Turin, Italy, (produced in collaboration with Libreria Luxemburg).
More details at http://www.wallofsoundgallery.com/en/bruce-springsteen/
c) Artist Roger Dean and his chums at the U.K.’s Trading Boundaries gallery have announced the launching of a new exhibition that fans of Dean’s mind-bending imagery will most-certainly enjoy. According to the gallery, the “2017 Breaking Cover Exhibition”, which premieres at 7PM on Friday, November 3rd at the beautiful Sheffield Arms development (Sheffield Green – Nr Fletching – TN22 3RB), “This will be a wonderful opportunity to see a number of new paintings never before exhibited, and an amazing collection of Fine Art Watercolours and Sketches that are rarely shown in public.”
Making the evening extra-special – besides having the chance to meet one of the album art world’s most-respected artists – will be the official launch of a new limited-edition print of Dean’s 1973 artwork for Badger (with its winter motif just perfect for this time of year!). More info on this event and its setting can be found via these links – https://therogerdeangallery.smugmug.com/Exhibition-Dates and https://www.tradingboundaries.com/pages/roger-dean-gallery. As a bonus, there’s a short video on the second page in which Dean talks about his first commercial assignment as a designer (doing the interiors for the famed Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London) and then his first album art commission for a band called The Gun in 1967 (you might recall their hit song “Race With The Devil”).
Last-minute update – Just announced, Prog Rock fans – get ready for a great opportunity to meet Mr. Dean and one of his most-famous clients – guitarist Steve Hackett – at a special event that will be held at Trading Boundaries on November 18th. Per their announcement – “we are excited to announce a world first… an evening with Roger Dean in conversation with guitarist Steve Hackett discussing the creative process. This is a rare opportunity to witness two legends of both music and art coming together for an evening where anything could happen!” Choose between tickets just for the conversation or, for just a few pounds more, enjoy a special 2-course dinner along with the presentation – ticket info at – https://www.tradingboundaries.com/collections/tickets/products/steve-hackett-roger-dean?
d) While not exactly an album art-specific show, the people who are putting on the upcoming Making Vinyl trade show in Detroit are folks with a lot of history in the area, and the fact that they’re both featuring a number of album packaging experts on panels and the re-launch of the ALEX Awards, which includes prizes for album cover-related projects, leads me to share the details of the show with you this month.
Keynote and panel speakers include a number of names well-known to folks like you who are paying keen attention to developments in the music-related art world, including Jack White (musician and owner of Third Man Records), Jack Stoughton (President of Stoughton Printing), Gail Marowitz (Grammy-winning album art director), Jennifer Freund (CEO of Dorado Packaging), Craig Braun (famed album art director and host of this year’s Alex Awards show), 344 Design’s Stefan Bucher and many others. The Alex Award presentation ceremonies will take place on Monday, November 6th at 7PM local time at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit. With hundreds of designs submitted for review this year, it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top – of course, the information will be announced here on the ACHOF site as it’s made available.
Basic show info and a line-up of events can be found at https://makingvinyl.com/ , while specific info on the Alex Awards has been posted here – https://makingvinyl.com/alex-awards/
e) The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live recently launched a new show that presents an impressive collection of exhibits that present a career retrospective of the seminal LA punk/rockabilly band X and its trend-setting members – Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebrake. With a career that began back in 1977 (with their first, Ray Manzarek-produced album Los Angeles released in 1980) and, after break-ups and reunions, still tours on occasion today, the band both represented and influenced the local music scene via both their music/lyrics and visuals – in fact, Cervenka was such an accomplished mixed-media artist that the Santa Monica Museum of Art assembled a solo exhibition of her work (titled America The Beautiful) back in 2005.
According to the Museum, the show (which will be on display until next March) will put on display original instruments and gear played by the band, original concert flyers, photographs, clothing and personal items, handwritten lyrics from Exene and John Doe and a collection of Exene’s photographs and artwork. They’ll also be showing the 1986 documentary film X: The Unheard Music, which includes a number of interviews as well as studio and live performance footage.
More info on this show is available at http://www.grammymuseum.org/exhibits/current-exhibits/x
I seem to remember that the burning X cover on the band’s debut LP Los Angeles was credited to “J. Ruby Productions” – so very punk, no?
f) The David Bowie Is exhibition continues on its successful world tour with a stop at the Brooklyn Art Museum in NY early next year (opening March 2nd and running through July 5th). This slightly-premature article by Andrew Chow for the New York Times was posted in mid-October on the paper’s web site, so if you’re looking to take a special trip into the city and need something special to build it around, here’s a nice intro to the show about everyone’s favorite musician/actor/art collector – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/arts/design/david-bowie-exhibition-brooklyn-museum.html
g) If you hurry on over to the Lucy Bell Gallery (on Normans Road, in St Leonards on Sea) before November 4th, you’ll still be able to catch what sounds like a really-intriguing exhibition of “rare and iconic” photos of Pink Floyd. Working with the auite-accomplished rock photographer – and owner of the Rockarchive gallery – Jill Furmanovsky and her crew, this show (titled Shine On) includes the works of a number of respected music-industry shooters, including Tony Collins, Colin Prime, Storm Thorgerson, Andrew Whittuck and, of course, Ms. Furmanovsky herself.
According to the gallery’s press release, the show will include images from the “band’s earliest photo shoots in Ruskin Park & Hampstead, to the recording studio at Abbey Road and on the road during the Dark Side of The Moon Tour.. the exhibition includes these and other classic images that capture Pink Floyd’s energy and unique, eclectic style both on and off stage.” Also on display will be several of the late, great Mr. Thorgerson’s alternative takes on album cover art for the band.
https://www.lucy-bell.com/exhibition/pink-floyd
g) While the 12th annual Best Art Vinyl Awards won’t be handed out until after the New Year, it requires the public’s vote to determine the winner and, in order to allow the public to see examples of the nominated covers up close, a show is being staged at The Civic in Barnsley (U.K.) beginning on the 11th of November called “12 Years On 12 Inches” that not only allows attendees that opportunity, but also to participate in several related events, including a “make your own record cover-based linocut workshop”!
With the Barnsley show curated by Jason White, the show will also be duplicated in two other European cities starting with the letter “B” – Bologna and Budapest – thus allowing album art fans from all over the Continent the chance to review the works and then go online to cast their votes for their favorites. Mr. White is also going to be staging a related display at the multi-media event center that will be called “Best Art Vinyl Barnsley” and will show off the album packaging talents of local musical acts and album art producers.
To read more about these exciting happenings, visit – http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/events/best-art-vinyl-barnsley and http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/events/best-art-vinyl-12-years-on-12-inches
For more information on how to participate in the album art workshop on Saturday, November 11th, please click on over to – http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/events/record-cover-lino-cut-workshop
This isn’t the first album cover show staged at The Civic. After a re-development project was finished in early 2009, an album art show called “Gatefold to Download” drew large crowds to the new space, with contributors to the show including Malcolm Garrett (Buzzcocks, Duran Duran, etc.), Mark Farrow (Pet Shop Boys, Spiritualized, etc.) and Rob O’Connor/Stylorouge (Blur, George Michael and others).
h) In late October in Lagos, Nigeria, a career-spanning show built around the 26 album covers designer/illustrator Lemi Ghariokwu crafted for Afro-Beat superstar and human rights activist Fela Kuti before Kuti’s untimely death in 1997 was staged, with Lemi on hand to speak to attendees about his art and his friendship with the beloved and mystical entertainer (when you get a million people showing up at your funeral, I think you can say that you were “beloved”. Lemi was the principal artist for Polygram in Africa for 11 years, also creating stunning packages for stars including Lucky Dube, Miriam Makeba and Bob Marley.
You can read more about the man, his art, his friend Fela and more on the 360nobs.com web site – https://www.360nobs.com/2017/10/lemi-gharioku-temple-management-presents-afro-artbeat-exhibition/
2) Artist interviews/profile articles –
a) It’s nice to have friends in the business…As is so often the case, many musicians have had advanced training in design and the other visual arts, so when the popular band The National wanted to prepare a host of goodies to go along with the release of their latest record (Sleep Well Beast), they turned to friends to help them conceive and then produce not only “the regular stuff” (i.e., album art, t-shirts, posters, etc.) but also a host of other goodies and promotional materials – including billboards and video shorts – that would bear the record’s logo, color scheme and other design cues. Turns out that the band’s bassist, Scott Devendorf, had worked for the noted NYC design firm Pentagram, and so a collaboration with one of that firm’s partners – designer Luke Heyman – was bound to create something unique and impressive.
Via this link, you can take a look at the results of this partnership via this nice article by contributor Gunseli Yalcinkaya on the Dezeen.com site –
https://www.dezeen.com/2017/09/08/pentagram-designs-corporate-visual-identity-national-sleep-well-beast-album-cover/
3) Sales/Auctions –
a) John Lennon’s personal copy of a prototype – complete with Lennon-drawn artwork on the back – of the infamous The Beatles Yesterday And Today “Butcher Cover” is just one of the several album art-related items up for bid as part of the Heritage Auction house’s November 11th Entertainment Auction – https://entertainment.ha.com/c/auction-home.zx?saleNo=7164&ic=breadcrumb-entertainment-071515-interior
In addition to that rarity (which, incidentally, had an opening asking bid of $100,000), there’s an alternative shot – a 12” x 15” B&W, fully-autographed print – taken by photographer Robert Whitaker in late 1964 from the album cover photo session for The Beatles ’65 (opening bid of $10,000). There are several other album cover-related items being offered, including one item that brought back memories. Remember, back in the 70s, the popular custom of taking a gatefold album cover and lining it with aluminum foil for use as a cheat towards a quick sun tan (i.e., those of you who weren’t using the same cover to separate the sticks and seeds from your favorite smoking materials)? Well, Elvis Presley selected his favorite Seals & Crofts LP – Summer Breeze – from his collection to make his own reflector, and for a starting bid of $750, you can works towards making it your own!
Happy bidding, everyone!
4) New Print/Book/Product RELEASES –
a) Noted design authority Steven Heller and writer Greg D’Onofrio have just published a new book on mid-century design masters, including some that worked in the album art field, such as Saul Bass Robert Brownjohn, Neil Fujuita, Reid Miles and the man credited as “the father of the album cover”, Alex Steinweiss (all members of the ACHOF list of “Original Influencers”)
Titled The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design, the 336-page, profusely-illustrated book introduces the reader to the people that created and molded “modern” graphic design beginning in the middle part of the 20th century, bringing their unique takes to designs for print publications, advertising and other forms of promotion, typography and packaging of products of all types. According to the publisher’s (Abrams Books) web site, the book “is the first comprehensive survey of this phenomenon that shaped our visual environment, presenting the work and lives of sixty-three graphic designers. Some were émigrés (including five Bauhaus students and faculty) who brought the gospel of Modernism to America from its sources in Europe. Others were homegrown talents who encountered Modernism in schools and offices at home and abroad. Together, they formed a multigenerational community, learning from one another and forging their individual practices through rigorous engagement with the esthetics of the movement.”
See who’s included – https://themodernsbook.com/ and, to read a review offered up by Theo Inglis on The Creative Review (UK) site, click on over to – https://www.creativereview.co.uk/making-moderns-midcentury-american-graphic-design/
b) Photographer Brian Griffin’s long-awaited music industry career-covering book, titled POP, was finally (and gratefully) released on October 26th, with a special release party and exhibition of over 30 of Brian’s best-loved images being staged both at, and to coincide with, the 2017 Soundedit Festival (for music producers and sound designers) that ran from the 26th through the 29th in Lodz, Poland.
Brian’s been a long-time supporter of this festival (in fact, in 2014, he presented John Cale with the event’s “Man With The Golden Ear” award) and is excited to be able to begin delivery of this book, which features essays by acclaimed music writers Terry Rawlings and Paul Gorman and comes to life after a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. Limited to 1000 copies, the 392 pages contain many of Brian’s best-known album cover images for acts including Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop and many others. Learn more about the book via the publisher’s web site at http://gostbooks.com/books/69/pop …
…with those of us unable to make it to the event being able to read nicely-illustrated articles about the book via these links – https://genesisimaging.co.uk/brian-griffin-pop-book-launch-exhibition-soundedit-2017/
c) Speaking of crowd-funded art projects, there’s a new endeavor on Kickstarter that’s looking for support that I thought you might want to learn more about as it includes opportunities not only to receive a specially-produced collection of music as a reward but also to take home one of several very-unique works of art by famed designer Cey Adams. The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip Hop & Rap is, according to the site, “a landmark collection of music, stunning visuals, and powerful stories collected in a 300-page book and 9 CDs.”
With packaging designed by Adams, the founding Creative Director of Def Jam Records, it’s certain to be an eye-and-ear-pleasing package, with special promo items including a limited-edition (one of just 5) fine art print of an alternate album cover from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, signed and numbered by artists B.E. Johnson and Adams, as well and PE’s Chuck D himself (at the $5000 level). Already sold out (at the $1500 support level) was a prize package (5 total were made) that included a pair of Adidas sneakers that had been hand-painted (no two alike!) by Adams. The goal is to raise $250,000 before the Nov. 16th cut-off date for funding. As of this date, over 1300 supporters have pledged over $165K, so they look to be on their way to a successful funding effort.
Reserve yours today at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smithsonian/smithsonian-anthology-of-hip-hop-and-rap
Here’s a recent ArtDaily article on this project as well – http://artdaily.com/news/99623/Smithsonian-launches-drive-for-major-hip-hop-anthology
d) Also in late October, I received an email with a reminder that there was to be a big book launch party in London for author/historian/all-around nice person Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s new book (previously described in my news feed) titled Why Vinyl Matters. It all took place at the Rough Trade East record shop in Brick Lane, with Jen bringing some friends along to liven up the launch party, including Julia Ruzicka of Future of the Left and Terry Hall of The Specials and Fun Boy Three. A great time was had by all, and you can take a look at what’s inside Jen’s new book via the following link – https://www.roughtrade.com/us/books/why-vinyl-matters
e) My alert feed brought two items on the Absolute Sound site regarding album cover art books to my attention – one we’ve covered (Art Record Covers by Francesco Spaminato and Julius Wiedemann, published by Taschen – read my March, 2017 interview with Mr. Wiedemann on the ACHOF site at https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/interview-with-taschens-julius-wiedemann-about-his-newest-book-art-record-covers/ ) and one we have not, Visual Vinyl, produced by Heerlen, Netherland’s Schunk Museum and published this past May by Verlag Kettler (and ACC Publishing here in North America), that documents the 2015-16 show at the Museum curated by Harry Prenger built around the collection of vinyl record fan and design guru Jan Van Toorn (AKA “JvT”).
According to the museum’s promotional materials, Visual Vinyl was “a major exhibition devoted to record cover art. This unique collection of LPs, singles and other vinyl rarities will be exhibited at SCHUNCK* from November 2015 onwards. The records form part of the collection of vinyl aficionado and collector, Jan van Toorn, and have never been on public display before…Records and sleeves spanning four decades, with designs representing the work of over a thousand visual artists (with or without the collaboration of “pop” musicians) will be on show.”
This exhibition included many examples of album covers and packages that were created by well known names from the fine art world, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dali, Damien Hirst, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Mark Ryden, Raymond Pettibon and Jeff Koons, among others.
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/where-art-meets-music/
http://schunck.nl/agenda/visual-vinyl/
f) LA-based photographer Afshin Shahidi has released a new book titled Prince: A Private View, created after plowing through his portfolio of exclusive photographs of the late rock star – shot in his home, studio and on stage – with many of the pictures never seen before their inclusion in this book. Shahidi is credited for his work on the covers/packages of Prince records including One Nite Alone…Live!, Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas, Planet Earth, Musicology and 3121 (and has shot covers and/or directed music videos for acts including Nas, Rob Thomas, Herb Alpert, The Afghan Whigs and Bare Naked Ladies), but it was his long-standing relationship with Prince that enabled him to capture the musician in a host of intimate and candid photos.
According to Shahidi, as he explained to the folks at ABC News in a feature they recently produced on Afshin and his book, “The album covers for me … are what I was most proud of,” Shahidi said. “I still, to this day, when I see the album cover, I think, ‘Wow … I took that picture.’ Makes me really happy.” “For me, each time I was with Prince, I was still, like, ‘Wow, I’m standing here with Prince!’”
Writing for The Source site, J. Quinones provides us with a bit more detail about the book and the relationship that it was built upon – http://thesource.com/2017/10/24/414889/, and the photographer also adds to the conversation via a special site that’s been set up to let fans review the book and its contents – https://princeaprivateview.com/
5) Other articles of interest –
a) Every once in a while, we’re all given the opportunity to show off just how much we know about famous album cover art and the musical acts that support it, so I was eager to test my chops on NME’s most-recent album cover quiz – one that’s differentiated from many others by the fact that they’re showing “less popular” bits of these covers’ overall image. Well, I got 17 out of 30, which is shameful, but I admit that I don’t know a lot about some of the newer international acts included in the survey. I can only hope and assume that many of you will do much better than this old(ish) man.
http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/album-detail-quiz-2146415
One bone to pick with the quiz’s creators – I do really wish that they would have showed the entire album cover when the answer was revealed – how am I supposed to have learned anything from this exercise (beside that I was wrong nearly half the time)? Turn it into a “teachable moment” next time, people…
b) So while we’re carefully perusing covers from now on for “the less popular bits”, will we also be on the lookout for all of the hidden messages and clues that are built in to the works of art? Purple Clover’s Kevin Hayes will be, that’s for sure, as he seems to see things where others might not. Recently, he posted an article that presents 14 album covers in which he asserts there’s more than meets the eye, such as Paul McCartney’s hand-lettered message of love to his wife Linda found on the cover of his 1971 solo release Ram, the multiple faces and a hula skirt that are found in artist Lee Conklin’s “Lion” drawing done for Santana’s 1969 debut album and, one of my favorites, Mouse & Kelley’s really hard-to-see “We Are Acid” sub-text found in the lettering for the Grateful Dead’s 1969 release titled Aoxomoxoa.
Bring your Visine and take the tour at – http://www.purpleclover.com/entertainment/8048-album-covers-hidden-message/
c) Not one but two detailed “making of” articles about Rolling Stones album covers hit the web recently, with staffers from the UK’s Far Out Magazine site digging deep to provide the straight poop about how the cover for the band’s The Satanic Majesties Request (which offered us a 3-D “lenticular” image shot by Sgt. Pepper’s photographer Michael Cooper) – http://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-cover-uncovered-their-satanic-majesties-request-the-rolling-stones/ , while over on the LA Weekly site, writer Matt Wake interviews two of the most-respected album cover contributors of all time – designer John Van Hamersveld and photographer Norman Seeff – about what it took to produce the highly-detailed gatefold cover for Exile On Main Street, which also included a back cover shot taken in downtown Los Angeles (on Main Street, of course) by famed photographer Robert Frank.
http://www.laweekly.com/music/how-the-rolling-stones-exile-on-main-st-was-finished-in-los-angeles-at-sunset-sound-8594714
d) Appearing this month to provide the keynote address at this year’s Society for News Design (SND) conference in London will be a designer who’s left lasting impressions on all aspects of the graphic design business – designer, creative director, typographer and currently the Dean of the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art (UK), Neville Brody. Album art fans will instantly recall Brody’s work on album covers for the Stiff Records label and others – The Slits – Return of the Giant Slits; Cabaret Voltaire – Red Mecca, 2X45, Johnny YesNo and The Original Sound of Sheffield 83/87; 23 Skidoo – Seven Songs, The Culling is Coming, Urban Gamelan and Just Like Everybody; Depeche Mode – Singles Box, Vol. 1 and Throbbing Gristle’s Five Albums, among others.
His impressive bio includes stints as the art director for magazines such as The Face and Arena, with his more recent work managed via his role as the principal of his design firm brody associates including projects for clients in many industries world-wide, including media companies such as the BBC, D&AD, The Guardian, MTV Europe, Paramount Studios, The Times (London) and Wallpaper* Magazine, venues such as Parco (Japan), The Barbican (London) and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) and retail product firms including Apple, Asics, Bentley, Bonfire Snowboarding, Chloe, Deutsche Bank, Dom Perignon, Homechoice, Microsoft, Nike, Salomon, Sony Playstation, YSL and many others. Fans of print newspapers will most-likely know Brody from the fact that he developed Times Modern for The Times of London newspaper, the first new font for the publication since Times New Roman was introduced in 1932.
Brody’s keynote takes place on November 3rd, with more information about the conference and its related displays and events available at – https://www.snd.org/2017/10/neville-brody-is-keynote-speaker-at-snd-london-2017/
e) The licensing world continues to show the love to The Beatles (just goes to show you – spend a little bit up front on great art for your music products and it could reward you over and over) as you’ll read in this recent Business Insider “Insider Picks” feature about the new socks sets from Swedish socks company Happy Socks bearing some of the artwork used in the making of the band’s 1968 animated psychedelic film Yellow Submarine. http://www.businessinsider.com/happy-socks-the-beatles-yellow-submarine-collection-2017-10/#happy-socks-x-the-beatles-collector-box-set-1
For only $84 for the set (slightly cheaper on Amazon.com), fans of the Fab Four who must own everything ever made featuring likenesses of the band can satiate that hunger and own a customized, LP-sized/shaped box containing six pairs of “limited-edition”, colorfully-decorated, Pepperland-themed socks. While, for $14 per pair, you can purchase four of the six total designs – blue Glove, “monsters”, Pepperland and Chief Blue Meanie/Jeremy – buying the set of six gets you an Apple pair and a Yellow Submarine pair as well, with the box thrown in for free (such a deal!).
https://www.happysocks.com/us/thebeatles/
The company also has assembled a line of socks and boxer shorts featuring designs that came from a collaboration with electronic music star/record producer Steve Aoki… https://www.happysocks.com/us/steveaoki/
f) Having recently watched a new animated Halloween TV special built around Michael Jackson-related music, imagery and unique world view (titled Michael Jackson’s Halloween – not sure if it’ll become a classic, but we’ll see…), it’s clear that the Jackson estate is eager to continue to push into uncharted production territory, as is evidenced by the new Michael Jackson SCREAM AR “augmented reality package” included as part of his recently-released compilation by the same name. A joint-production of Jackson’s team along with Sony and Shazam, customers will be treated to a unique experience when they use the music discover app’s camera feature to unlock hidden content when its pointed at the poster included in the package. Read more about it in Gil Kaufman’s coverage of the product on the Billboard Magazine web site – http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7981733/michael-jackson-scream-compilation-augmented-reality
Personally, I’m going to be happy waiting for the chance to see the Michael Jackson ONE show in Las Vegas someday – no devices (other than my eyes and ears) required.
g) Finally, I wanted to give you an update on “Flying Pigs In Front Of Trump Tower in Chicago” project I reported on a while back. While the installation had been scheduled to be up before the end of the Summer, the organizers ran into a snag or two and, while it has delayed our chance to enjoy some Pink Floyd-inspired (and Roger Waters-approved) shenanigans here in the Windy City, it is giving the organizers some time to raise some additional funds that they’d need to do this properly – https://archpaper.com/2017/07/trump-sign-flying-pigs-delayed/
The inflatable pig icon that was used by Hipgnosis in their efforts to fly one over the Battersea Power Station to create something special for the cover shot for Animals has reappeared many times since its 1977 premiere, at concerts for both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters as well as in the background in several movies, Danny Boyle’s 2012 film shot for the Olympics and even an episode of The Simpsons, so this particular use is not without precedent and would certainly make my day…
That’s all for now – be on the lookout for timely news alerts on our news feed – https://www.facebook.com/AlbumCoverHallOfFame – we’ll be back early next month with another monthly summary for you.
All text and images included in this article are Copyright 2017 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. All of trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.
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