Posted December 1, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
Greeting to you all – nice to see you all again!
Once again, I have to apologize for leaving you without an update for the month of November, but my wife and I decided to brave the travel scene to complete a vacation trip we’d started in late 2019 that had to be truncated a) by a death in the family and b) that crazy COVID-19 thing that shut things down a bit for a year or two. This journey, which took us to NYC and then over to the U.K. and Ireland, was quite restorative and, I must admit, was timed so that we’d be out of the country on November 8th so we’d be able to have some distance between us and the pre-and-post-election media madness for a while. Of course, there was no escaping the news, but at least it was offset by all of the excitement that took place in the UK’s government while we were there, and we enjoyed the scenery/people/food there so much that it kept us in the right frame of mind, allowing us to return after a month with some degree of sanity and appreciation of life’s better things in tact.
Of course, during our travels we came across a number of album/music art-related things that added to the overall enjoyment of the experience, including a visit to the site of the new (set to open in its entirety in 2024) Universal Hip-Hop Museum in the Bronx Marketplace (NYC), with a tour provided by the museum’s director, Rocky Bucano; a visit to Liverpool, England (our first) that included an escorted overview provided by designer/author/all around great guy Andrew Dinely (of the Soft Octopus design studio there) that also included a stop at the British Music Experience – an “immersive exhibition” that takes attendees through an illustrated (via memorabilia, videos, etc.) review of the immense and diverse pop music scene in the U.K., from its beginnings in the 1950s through the most-recent BRIT Award-winning artists, and several other finds along the way (such as a memorial sculpture dedicated to the late Irish rock guitarist Rory Gallagher). I’ll be including brief articles about that as I unpack the info gathers and photos taken over the course of the next month or so.
Of course, while I was away, the first ACHOF Reader’s Poll took place, and the results of the voting will be shared a bit later in this newsletter. At the same time, another major album art-related poll – Art Vinyl’s Best Art Vinyl Awards – began gathering votes on its site (see more on this a little later as well) and the Recording Academy here in the U.S. released the names of the nominees for their upcoming Grammy Awards voting, with results to be announced early next year. Lots of great art and artistry on display, so it’ll be interesting to see how the voters/voting public responds to the announcements of the top vote-getters in all of these competitions.
This month’s newsletter gets us back to the basic format of news in all of the main topic areas, with lots of new news about museum/gallery exhibitions, auctions and sales and a large number of art and artist-related articles (including excerpts from an article by Ken Orth regarding the host of great album covers we’ve been treated to over the years by The Beatles), so I’d like to once again say “thanks” for your help and your patience while I work to get this site/newsletter back on track. Now, on with the (somewhat-abbreviated) newsletter.
Mike G
Special Award Show updates:
a) ACHOF 10th Anniversary Reader’s Poll results –
In order to shake things up a bit (in part to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first class of inductees into the ACHOF), in mid-October I asked you all to participate in a poll that would serve to track and the report on your feelings about who of our past inductees deserved special commendation. The poll allowed you to look over the past winners in each of the active award categories and then asked you to select those who are your most-admired art directors, illustrators, designers and photographers, with the top vote-getters ultimately receiving a special commendation for their work in this space.
Voting ended on the 13th of November, and I’m pleased to see that well over 100 of my readers chose to participate and share their favorites with the rest of us. Based on the results, it’s pretty clear that many of the best known (and loved) artists and production folks who’ve contributed their talents over the years have had quite an impression of those of us who follow the topic, with many of the top vote-getters enshrined into the ACHOF’s virtual hallowed halls early on (in 2012 and 2013). Whether they are broadly familiar names or those perhaps better-known to fans of a particular musical act, I think you’ll all agree that the talent who were tagged for this special commendation are a genuinely worthwhile bunch.
I’ll invite you all now to link on over to the special page on the ACHOF site where you’ll find the listing, along with detailed information about each individual, studio, record label and musical act found in each category.
b) Grammy Nominations (announced 11/15/22) –
While it seems that it has only been a few months since the last Grammy Awards were handed out (it was, in fact, in early April, 2022), it’s that time again – time for the announcement of the nominees for the next Grammy Awards presentation, slated for early February, 2023 (see details, below) and this year including a host of nominees from all over the world that are new (to me, at least) and, by the looks of them, carrying on the legacy of fine packaging design and imagery that’s been on display since the first Grammy was handed out 65 years ago.
Here are the nominees in each of the three Packaging categories:
In the “Best Recording Package:” category, the nominees are –
Beginningless Beginning – Chun-Tien Hsia & Qing-Yang Xiao, art directors (Tamsui-Kavalan Chinese Orchestra)
Divers – William Stichter, art director (Soporus)
Everything Was Beautiful – Mark Farrow, art director (Spiritualized)
Telos – Ming Liu, art director (Fann)
Voyeurist – Tnsn Dvsn, art director (Underoath)
In the “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package” category, the nominees are –
Artists Inspired By Music: Interscope Reimagined – Josh Abraham, Steve Berman, Jimmy Iovine, John Janick & Jason Sangerman, art directors (Various Artists)
Big Mess – Berit Gwendolyn Gilma, art director (Danny Elfman)
Black Pumas (Collector’s Edition Box Set) – Jenna Krackenberger, Anna McCaleb & Preacher, art directors (Black Pumas)
Book – Paul Sahre, art director (They Might Be Giants)
In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81 ’82 ’83 – Lisa Glines, Doran Tyson & Dave Van Patten, art directors (The Grateful Dead)
In the “Best Album Notes” category, the nominees are –
The American Clavé Recordings – Fernando González, album notes writer (Astor Piazzolla)
Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Gareth Murphy, album notes writer (Andy Irvine & Paul Brady)
Harry Partch, 1942 – John Schneider, album notes writer (Harry Partch)
Life’s Work: A Retrospective – Ted Olson, album notes writer (Doc Watson)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Bob Mehr, album notes writer (Wilco)
You can read through the list of ALL of the nominees in each of the 91 categories as it’s posted on the Grammy site at https://www.grammy.com/news/2023-grammy-nominations-complete-winners-nominees-list
The 2023 Grammy show – the 65th annual and taking into account music/packages that were released between the first of October, 2021 and the last day September, 2022 – will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA Sunday, February 3rd, 2023. The show will be broadcast/webcast again on the CBS TV network and their sister organization – Paramount + 0 beginning at 5:00PM Pacific Time, 8:00PM Eastern, with the show slated to run 3.5 hours. The three awards in the packaging category are typically handed out at a special “Premiere” show that takes place before the big shindig and I’ll be sure to share information regarding those activities as soon as they’re made available.
c) Voting for this year’s Best Art Vinyl Awards is now open and, as we’ve seen in every year these awards have been handed out (beginning in 2005), the album covers up for your consideration represent a wide swath of both musical and fine art/graphic talent. As always, a group of noted judges from the worlds of art and music sift through the hundreds of packages submitted and their favorites are then voted on by album art fans from all over the world. Voting is underway now, with the winners announced at a ceremony to be held on the 5th of January 2023 at the Hari London Belgravia.
This year’s award efforts are being augmented by the fact that, in addition to a publich display of the 50 nominated covers, the team at Best Art Vinyl (in conjunction with The Civic Barnsley) has curated an exhibition now on display (running through the 22nd of January, 2023) at The Collection and Usher Gallery in Lincoln (Lincolnshire), U.K., a museum of art and archaeology located about 150 miles north of London and about 110 miles east of Manchester.
This display will travel later in the Spring to other venues to be announced. According to the Best Art Vinyl press crew, “Last year, Best Art Vinyl 2021 saw over 12,000 public votes for the best in art, photography and graphic design in modern music culture. The public vote awarded first place to Brighton artist, Paul Phillips for his work on Villagers’ fifth studio album cover for Fever Dreams. Phillips received the coveted designers’ prize at a presentation event held at the Hari in Belgravia London in January 2022.
This year’s preliminary judging panel included – Matthew Cooper, Designer mrcooper – cover art credits include Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Noel Gallagher. Best Art Vinyl 2016 winner for Last Shadow Puppets – ‘Everything You’ve Come to Expect’; Alison Fielding, Head of Creative at Beggars Group; Andrew Heeps, Founder of Art Vinyl; Rob O’Connor, Stylorouge Creative Consultants – cover art credits include Blur, Squeeze, Morrissey; Paul Phillips, True Spilt Milk Designs – Winner of Best Art Vinyl 2021 for Villagers ‘Fever Dreams’ and Bill Smith, Author of Cover Stories: Five decades of Album Art – cover art credits include The Jam, Genesis and Kate Bush”.
Be sure to cast your votes for your three favorite designs now through December 12th at https://artvinyl.com/best-record-cover-design-competition/
Exhibitions and Gallery Show Info (new and upcoming soon):
a) Pink Floyd’s travelling immersive exhibition – Their Mortal Remains – moves to Montreal, Canada for an extended run at the Arsenal Art Centre there. Coverage of the show – which included an appearance by the band’s drummer Nick Mason on opening night – can be found at https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/pink-floyd-founding-member-inaugurates-montreal-exhibit-featuring-band-s-history-1.6138603 On a related note, a podcast hosted by Andrew Carter recently included a short interview with Hipgnosis/Pink Floyd designer Aubrey Powell regarding the show, which he was involved in organizing and whose works are included in the displays – https://www.iheart.com/podcast/962-the-andrew-carter-podcast-62506089/episode/pink-floyd-like-youve-never-experienced-104122733/
b) A new Cey Adams exhibition – actually, a 40 year career retrospective – is now on display at the Boston University Art Gallery – https://www.bu.edu/art/cey-adams-departure-40-years-of-art-and-design/ thru December 11. This page also includes a handy 3-D tour in case you can’t attend the show in person. As the gallery describes it, “Cey Adams’ roots as a graffiti artist laid the foundation for his creative vision. Over the next four decades, Adams would go on to create visual identities for some of Hip-Hop’s foundational acts as the founding Creative Director of Def Jam Recordings and establish a robust contemporary fine art practice. This exhibition highlights Adams’ extensive practice, including paintings, mixed media collage, graphic design, typography, logo design, and branding for Hip-Hop album covers, fashion apparel, books and magazines, large-scale murals, and global brand collaborations.” This exhibition is curated by Liza Quiñonez, co-founder of the Street Theory creative agency .
On a related note – Mr. Adams is also involved in a project I’ve participated in – building content for the Universal Hip Hop Museum – and is the subject of a video about hip-hop album cover design which will be available for your viewing soon. As I mentioned in my intro, I had the pleasure of touring the current “pop-up” exhibition and the construction site for the UHHM NYC at the Bronx Terminal Marketplace with the museum’s executive director Rocky Bucano and will be reporting on that visit soon. In the meantime, I’d like to share a link to a video in which the mayor of NYC shares the good news regarding the city’s partnership with Rocky and his team as part of a city-wide initiative to promote its history as the hotbed for hip-hop music and culture – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js6QGtlV5Dw
At a recent press conference at NYC’s City Hall Park where they mayor and the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs announced a $5.5 million capital funding program for the 52,000 sq. ft. space currently under construction, Rocky said, “The creation of the $50 million endowment ensures our dedication to the celebration and preservation of the Hip Hop culture, and to our daily operations for generations to come. We will continue to pay homage to hip hop icons and pioneers as we celebrate the yearlong 50th anniversary of Hip Hop culture in 2023 and beyond.” The current show on display at the museum’s pop-up location is called Revolution of Hip Hop: 1986 – 1990, The Golden Era and timed tickets can be purchased on the UHHM’s site at www.uhhm.org
c) Now at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles – the organization is currently staging a show (now through Summer, 2023) built around the late photographer Jim Marshall’s portfolio of shots he took of the Rolling Stones back in 1972 and described in a recent posting on the Billboard.com site – https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/grammy-museum-rolling-stones-1972-photo-exhibit-1235165692/
According to the museum’s promo text – “In early 1972, the Rolling Stones were putting finishing touches on Exile on Main Street, one of their greatest albums that lead to one of the most raucous, star-studded, and drug-fueled tours in history. The Stones’ trips to Los Angeles – to both record and later perform the album – had one thing in common: photographer Jim Marshall was there to document them. Now you can see never-before-released photos from that period of the band’s history, going behind the camera lens as Marshall’s masterful eye and unlimited access allowed him to capture The Stones’ wild rock and roll energy at their best.
The Rolling Stones 1972: Photographs By Jim Marshall is on display on the museum’s Fourth Floor Mike Curb Gallery until June 4th, 2023, with more info and tickets available via the link – https://grammymuseum.org/event/the-rolling-stones-1972-photographs-by-jim-marshall/
Notable examples of Marshall’s album cover work – Allman Brothers Band – Live At Fillmore East; Moby Grape – Moby Grape and Commander Cody’s Country Cassanova, among others. Born in 1936 in Chicago, Illinois and spending his early years in the pro photo business shooting memorable images for record labels such as ABC, Columbia and Atlantic Records and also The Saturday Evening Post newspaper, ehe 1970s found Jim continuing his streak of award-winning images, many of which graced the covers of Rolling Stone and LIFE magazines, including photos of the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, T-Rex, Joni Mitchell, jazz greats Carmen Mcrae and Dizzy Gillespie and Karl Malden and Michael Douglas on the set of the TV series Streets of San Francisco. Jim died in 2010, but you can still page through his portfolio and purchase prints on his “official” web site – https://www.jimmarshallphotographyllc.com/
d) Back in 2017, I had the pleasure of introducing you to designer/author/very nice man Andrew Dineley via an article he’d published on the noted design/photography team Pierre et Gilles, who have applied their talents to album covers for musical acts including Erasure, The Creatures and Marilyn Manson as well as French acts such as Mathmatiques Moderne and Amanda Lear – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/tag/pierre-et-gilles/ . I’d now like to share an ArtDaily intro to a new show (titled “Les couleurs du temps”) that includes some of their latest work, now on display (through December 30th) at the Grenier Saint Lazare outpost of Galerie Templon in Paris, France – https://artdaily.cc/news/151881/Pierre-et-Gilles-open-an-exhibition-at-Galerie-Templon
Learn more about the show at https://www.templon.com/new/exhibition.php?la=en&show_id=708
Ongoing and Upcoming Exhibitions:
a) CONTINUING THROUGH DECEMBER 2022 – On display now thru Christmas, 2022 at a special space created just for this exhibition in St. Andrews Mews, Hastings, U.K. is the newest “immersive” exhibition built around the life and times (specifically, 1969 – 1971) and music and memorabilia of one of rock music’s most-influential bands – The Who. What makes this show even a bit more unique and compelling is the fact that the producers present one of the band’s best-known tracks – “Baba O’Reilly” – as a special “omni-sensory, fully VR experience” that they’re calling the first “Immersive Single” (they’ve registered the name, so I’m guessing we’ll see more of these from them as time goes on).
Tickets to this show, along with info on some specially produced fine art prints produced by the nice people at the Mobile Art Disco/Rock and Roll Wall of Fame organization, who also have curated the exhibition, can be found at https://rnrwof.co.uk/
b) CONTINUING THROUGH DECEMBER, 2022 – Now there’s a bit of extra time to go and tour the timed-ticket “immersive” show built around the life and times of the late great musician Prince. “Prince: The Immersive Experience” – done in cooperation with the Prince Estate and Paisley Park Enterprises, staged in a customized space on Chicago’s north Michigan Ave and produced by “an experience company” based in NYC called Superfly extended its local run through late December -October (check the site for exact dates/times still available) – https://princetheexperience.com/pages/about
As I reported in my last newsletter (after my own tour of the show), one of the ways that a visitor can become more personally immersed into the world of Prince is via a display (one of several) they’ve set up that allows you to sit on a deep purple customized Honda motorcycle just like the one seen on the cover of Purple Rain and be photographed in front of a re-created backdrop of the album’s memorable cover graphics. Some of the other visual elements included in the show a “discography hall” that includes the covers of The Purple One’s recorded output, plus other elements from Prince’s production career, including the props and some original photos from the “Diamonds and Pearls” music video shoot and a re-creation of the “When Doves Cry” music video” along with sketches, renderings and examples from his trend-setting wardrobe.
c) CONTINUING THROUGH DECEMBER 2022 – It’s so nice to see that some collectors are more than eager to share works from their collections with the viewing public, but I have to admit that I was surprised to see a work that was just purchased at a recent auction included in a new museum show! Regular readers will recall that, in last month’s newsletter, I’d shared the info about the intense bidding and final purchase of the painting by the late Ernie Barnes titled The Sugar Shack, an image well-known to both album art fans (it was the cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album I Want You) and viewers of the popular comedy show “Good Times” (where it was an integral part of the show’s opening credits sequence). Houston, TX-based hedge fund guru and entrepreneur Bill Perkins shelled out over $15 million at a mid-May auction at Christies for the second, larger version of the painting (the one seen on Good Times, with the first, smaller version going to crooner Gaye for his use), and on June 15th at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the colorful 1976 painting of partygoers enjoying a night out at a segregated music hall in North Carolina was put on display at the museum, where it will be on loan through the end of 2022.
This article on the ArtDaily news site provides us with some additional info about this work, its owner and why he was so eager to share it with fellow Houstonians/art fans – https://artdaily.cc/news/147252/Ernie-Barnes–The-Sugar-Shack-goes-on-view-at-the-Museum-of-Fine-Arts–Houston-June-15
d) CONTINUING THROUGH DECEMBER – Friend of ACHOF Dr. Richard Forrest’s Banksy album art collection is a featured part of a show on the mysterious artist that opened in late May in NYC – “Banksy – Building Castles in the Sky” – (An unauthorized exhibition) – which opened in late May at the former International Center of Photography Museum. 250 Bowery, New York, and is slated to run through December 31, 2022.
This is a continuation of the travelling show sponsored by the Italian Fondazione Metamorfosi and been shown in prestigious exhibition halls in several Italian cities including Rome, Genoa, Ferrara and Parma, and also in Basel and Lugarno in Switzerland. This is a truly-impressive, multi-media exhibition of one of the world’s most-talked-about artists, with more info on the show available at – https://www.newyorkbanksy.com/
Curated by Stefano Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani, the exhibition that includes paintings, sculptures, prints and over 30 record and CD covers from Richard’s amazing collection (which we’ve toured through a bit previously – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/achof-featured-fan-portfolio-a-tour-through-collector-richard-forrests-favorite-album-covers/ ).
e) CONTINUING THROUGH JANUARY, 2023 – There’s a David LaChapelle exhibition at Fotografiska in NYC that opened in September – https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/david-lachapelle-coming-soon/ – that runs through the 9th of January of 2023. A photographer who has made quite a name for himself in both the fine art photography and album cover art/commercial photography worlds (having taken stunning photo portraits of mega-celebs such as Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Elton John, etc.) and built a strong following for his music video work as well, David bowed out of the commercial photography business in 2006 to focus on his gallery/museum work, so this should be a treat for fans of his entire portfolio of work.
The show’s promoters shared this info – “Enter the surreal world of David LaChapelle at our first museum-wide exhibition, opening September 9 2022. LaChapelle’s iconic images have established him as one of the most influential artists of our time, and the exhibition is his first major solo show in North America. With over 150 works, the collection reflects an oeuvre that blurs reality and fantasy while highlighting the artists’ most iconic works and presenting new creations for the very first time.”
With his first assignment being to shoot an up-and-coming new musical act called The Beastie Boys (capturing them in black and white on the streets near Times Square) and quickly becoming part of the NYC arts scene, he befriended artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. As a result, he was commissioned to help illustrate a number of other publications at the time, including Details, The Face, GQ, i-D, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and the Italian and French editions of Vogue, where his subjects included musicians (Eminem, Lil’ Kim, Madonna, Britney Spears, Tupac Shakur and others), actors (Pamela Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elizabeth Taylor, etc.), and other celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, David Beckham, Hillary Clinton, Paris Hilton, architect Philip Johnson, artist Jeff Koons, transgender model Amanda Lepore and actress Uma Thurman.
Tickets are $20-$30 and can be reserved at – https://tickets-ny.fotografiska.com/secret/WjLPYRGfheYYQXjBlX7Q5w28P6345jVP/products/ADM_DLC
Here’s a bit of additional coverage, provided by Paper Mag – https://www.papermag.com/david-lachapelle-make-believe-2657849259.html? and Anothermag.com – https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/14298/david-lachapelle-make-believe-exhibition-fotografiska-new-york-opening-date
f) CONTINUING THROUGH JANUARY, 2023 – A new U.K.-based gallery that promotes art that leans to the Dark Side opened in late June (on the 21st, the day of the Midsummer Solstice) with an exhibition built around the paintings of Berlin-based (but Israeli-born) artist Eliran Kantor, and artist well-known in the heavy metal music world for the covers he’s produced for bands such as Helloween, Kreator, Sodom, Testament and others. This is the first time Kantor’s work has been shown in a solo show in the U.K., and in this article I found on the Braveworlds.com site – https://bravewords.com/news/acclaimed-helloween-and-kreator-artist-eliran-kantor-debut-uk-solo-exhibition-at-dark-earth-to-run-until-january-2023 – you’ll learn more about his background (which included stints as a commercial designer, with clients including Renault and Visa), who his most-admired artists are and his long-term focus on creating some of the most fascinating-yet-disturbing album art ever to grace a record cover over the past 20 years.
The show runs through January, 2023, with more up-to-date information available at https://mobile.twitter.com/darkearthmetal
g) CONTINUING THRU JANUARY, 2023 – The late designer Virgil Abloh’s career is given the star treatment this summer with a show at the Brooklyn Museum. Organized by guest writer and curator Antwaun Sargent, the show is on view through January 29, 2023. Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech is a sweeping exhibition tracing two decades (through his untimely death in 2021) of the artist and designer’s visionary work.
“Figures of Speech” is the first museum exhibition devoted to Abloh and was originally developed by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2019 before travelling to ICA Boston, the High Museum in Atlanta, and Qatar Museums. The Brooklyn Museum presentation features important objects from his multifaceted career, including collaborations with artist Takashi Murakami, musician Kanye West, and architect Rem Koolhaas; material from his fashion label Off-White; and designs from Louis Vuitton, where he served as the first Black menswear artistic director until his death from cancer in November 2021. The exhibition highlights how Abloh’s emphasis on collaboration reshaped popular notions of, and contemporary taste in, fashion, art, commerce, design, and youth culture. Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is organized by Michael Darling, former James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
A new article gives on the ArtDaily site gives us an update of what’s on display – https://artdaily.cc/news/148019/Exhibition-surveys-the-prolific-career-of-late-artist-and-designer-Virgil-Abloh#.YsxQQHbMI7M
Abloh met and befriended rapper Kanye West in the early 2000s after having worked at the Fendi fashion house and then launched his own space – the RSVP Gallery in his hometown of Chicago – while also taking on the role of Creative Director for Kanye’s DONDA design agency. His thorough understanding of his audience and his unique fashion sense found him applying his talents to a number of memorable album covers, too, a retrospective of that work being found on the XXL Magazine site at https://www.xxlmag.com/virgil-abloh-album-covers/?
See more on this show at https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/virgil_abloh
h) CONTINUING THROUGH FEB. 2023 – I’m excited to report to you about the recent launch of a new exhibition at New York City’s Universal Hip Hop Museum. The show’s titled “[R]Evolution of Hip Hop: Golden Era 1986-1990” and, according to the venue’s advance PR, makes note of the fact that “the artistic and technological advancements made during the years of 1986 and 1990 were remarkable. The lyrical skills of Rakim, Kool G. Rap, Big Daddy Kane and others would transform the definition of an MC. The production mastery of chopping up beats and sampling sounds by the likes of Marley Marl, Prince Paul and the Bomb Squad would redefine the sound of Hip Hop forever.”
Fans of the genre will be able to revisit many of the highlights of the era, one which “established rap as a commodity and its acts as marketable stars that could sell products like the Adidas they wore on their feet…From the city streets and the clubs of New York to the suburban neighborhoods of Compton, California, Hip Hop expanded by leaps and bounds as regional sounds and styles established themselves. The phenomenon of Yo! MTV Raps would further intensify this expansion on a worldwide basis between 1988 and 1990…experience the street fashions of Dapper Dan, the beats of DJ Scott LaRock, the rhymes of Biz Markie and the culture of Hip Hop that was chronicled by Video Music Box, Word Up Magazine, the Source, The Arsenio Hall Show and scores of other outlets. The show opened to the public this past June 28th and is running thru 2/28/23, with info/tix available at https://uhhm.vbotickets.com/events?mc_cid=2e35322f80&mc_eid=1aeceeec6c
i) CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH, 2023 – The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Music & Recorded Sound Division acquired the late musician Lou Reed’s archive in 2017 and, in early June, to correspond with what would have been Reed’s 80th birthday, they launched a new show – Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars – that’s set to run through March 4th, 2023 in the library’s Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery.
According to the show’s advance PR, “the exhibition will showcase rare and never-before-displayed material from the Lou Reed Archive at the Library for the Performing Arts, spanning Reed’s creative life from his 1958 Freeport High School band, The Shades, to the Velvet Underground, to his solo albums and tours, to his final performances in 2013. Highlighting his life and work, the exhibition will feature audio and video of performances and interviews, photographers’ original prints and contact sheets, handwritten lyrics, personal correspondence, studio notes, album proofs, press, tour posters, and Reed’s personal record collections”.
The show is curated by Lou Reed Archive archivist Don Fleming and Jason Stern, who worked as Reed’s technical director. More info about this exhibition can be found on the venue’s website at https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/lou-reed
Ben Sisario covers the music industry for the NY Times and published an article recently about his visit to the show – https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/arts/music/lou-reed-caught-between-the-twisted-stars.html – that includes a photo of a sweater Reed received as a gift that is decorated with the cover art from his Transformer album, featuring a photo by the late Mick Rock. The show also includes examples of the covers produced by the Drate/Salavetz design firm, who sent along several photos of their own recent visit to the show. Two of the works they produced that were used to package a couple of Mr. Reed’s memorable albums on Sire Records were included in this show’s display, including the covers for the 1989 release New York (Art Direction & Design by Spencer Drate, Judith Salavetz and Sylvia Reed, with photo by Waring Abbott) and 1992’s Magic & Loss, again by the team of Drate/Salavetz/Reed, with this image including a shot by French photographer Louis Jammes.
j) CONTINUING THROUGH JUNE, 2023 – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, OH is hosting a new version of the Bruce Talamon photo exhibit titled Hotter Than July that, according to the museum, is “an ethnographic study of a visual representation of blackness and personal analysis of a culture during the golden age of Soul, R&B and Funk (1972 – 1982).” I’d written about the previous iteration of this show that was presented at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles (which closed August 1st), so I won’t rehash that info, but the show – which will be up until July of 2023 – has generated a lot of local press attention, which I’m happy to share with you below:
https://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/hotter-july
Local news coverage video – https://www.cleveland19.com/2022/07/28/new-exhibit-rock-roll-hall-fame-features-photos-iconic-r-b-soul-artists/
Mr. Talamon has also shared some additional info on the show on his own site – https://www.brucetalamon.com/hotter-than-july-the-bwt-rb-photographs-exhibit/
Brief Bits:
k) A crew from the BBC News takes us on a quick tour through the recently-closed immersive exhibition built around the career of one of rock’s most-prolific and respected bands, The Who – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7jEi1TQIwg and includes comments by Hector Proud, one of the show’s organizers and a partner in the Mobile Art Disco “itinerant urban art gallery”/promotion group (https://mobileartdisco.co.uk/)
l) As part of NYC’s Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition of the work of noted photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, fans of hip-hop star Frank Ocean will appreciate the inclusion of the cover shot Tillmans took that was used on the cover of Ocean’s Blonde album – https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.74070/title.frank-ocean-blonde-cover-on-display-at-moma
Artist News and Interviews:
a) The late rock photo great Mick Rock is set to be honored at two events in NYC one year after his death – https://pagesix.com/2022/11/16/photographer-mick-rock-honored-in-nyc-a-year-after-death/. The first event, which took place on November 21st (on what would have been his 74th birthday) at Fotografiska in NYC was a book release and life celebration event where guests at the event were able to preview Rock’s final book, Shot by Rock: A Celebration of the Life of Mick Rock and view an original short film of outtakes from Mick Rock’s acclaimed film SHOT! The Psycho Spiritual Mantra Of Rock”. You can see a summary of the event, along with shots from the book, on the gallery’s site – https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/events/book-release-shot-by-rock/
We’re also told the famed Morrison Hotel Gallery will next honor him with a photo installation at the Georgia Room for a private, invite-only event at a later date.
In other Mick Rock-related news, Genesis Publishing is also marking the 50th anniversary of Lou Reed’s seminal Transformer album – featuring a Mick Rock photo on its cover – with the release of the final batch of Rock-signed copies of the photo book they first published 10 years ago that takes readers deep into the making of that album and Rock’s accompanying photos. Pulled from sales after Reed died in 2017, they’re now taking pre-orders on these ultra-rare books – look here for the details – https://www.genesis-publications.com/news/50-years-of-transformer – with orders slated to be shipped in December.
b) GOLDMINE Magazine editor/podcast maven Pat Prince recently posted an interview he did with the talented album cover artist Ioannis in which they dig into the stories behind the artist’s work for clients/friends including Blue Oyster Cult, Extreme, Styx Allman Brothers Band and Alan Parsons – https://www.goldminemag.com/podcast/artist-ioannis-talks-about-creating-album-cover-art-for-allman-brothers-styx-alan-parsons-and-others His design firm – VIVID IMAGES CREATIVE – also creates film posters, entertainment company ID programs for Radio and TV companies and programs, websites and viral campaigns for entertainment clients, while his merchandising company – DANGEROUS AGE GRAPHICS – showcases, sells and promotes his original artwork – To learn more about Ioannis, please visit his website at http://www.dangerousage.com
Brief bits:
c) Here’s a link to an artist interview (done by the crew at KOIN in Portland, OR) featuring local artist Diane Russell regarding her work featured on the cover of what would be recording artist/Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John’s last record, Things Happen That Way – https://www.koin.com/news/portland/portland-artist-does-cover-for-dr-johns-last-album/ Diane met the musician when he performed at the 2016 Waterfront Blues Festival there and the musician’s estate remembered how much he/they’d been impressed with her work, which was a staple at the festival. She’s done album art for several acts over the years, including Matisyahu and Doug MacLeod and her work can be seen in clubs and on promo posters, with more available on her site at https://www.dianerussell.net/about/
d) Famed photographer Karl Ferris is profiled in a story about a showcase of his work that took place during the month of October in the UK – https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/lifestyle/take-a-trip-back-to-the-60s-at-stunning-display-of-psychedel-9276415/
e) The latest string of album art-related features on the Muse By Clio site finds the editorial team behind the “Art of the Album” series asking several artists/production execs/album art fans to share some of their favorite covers and why it is that they stand out amongst all others –
Designer/photographer/artist/fan José Gasparian is a senior designer at IPG Elephant’s office in San Francisco, CA who, in addition to being a music/art/video game lover, works with clients such as Apple and Twitch. A fan of minimalist design, you’ll see works for musical acts such as Caribou, The Avalanches and Solange in his list of favorites – https://musebycl.io/art-album/11-great-album-covers-chosen-jose-gasparian-elephant
Long-time music marketing exec Paul Santos, who has held positions at record labels including Atlantic, Rhino and Universal Music as well as running his own marketing firm Melodica, now works as a licensing and account exec at Crucial Music. Here, he presents his 10 favorite cover images, including works seen on covers for Camper Van Beethoven, New Order, Roxy Music and several others – https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-paul-santos-crucial-music
Items for Sale and/or at Auction:
a) There’s a new fine art photo book on CSN&Y built around the photos of Henry Diltz and Graham Nash, published by Genesis – https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662838/csny?
A pair of special collector’s editions of this new 272-page fine art book are available for pre-order here – https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662838/csny? Priced at £495, the “Deluxe” copies (numbered 1 – 350) are signed by both Henry Diltz and Graham Nash and include a photo of the band in rehearsal in 1970. The print is signed and numbered by the photographer, Henry Diltz. For £295 (£30 off the regular publication price if ordered soon), collectors will receive one of the 1650 signed/numbered copies of “The Collector” series, with each copy signed by Diltz and Nash and featuring a dark red quarter binding with color foils and gold page edging, and have an inset portrait of the band, with a hand-drawn CSN&Y logo.
b) Here’s news about a new authorized bio of the influential album cover design group Hipgnosis written by Mark Blake that’s coming out early in 2023 and is already getting a lot of press attention – https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/latest/us-and-them-the-authorised-story-of-hipgnosis-new-book-c.html
Us and Them: The Authorised Story of Hipgnosis (according to the publisher, Nine Eight Books, a Bonnier UK imprint) is an authorized account “with access to previously unpublished material and exclusive contributions from David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, Robert Plant and even Aubrey Powell himself…Mark Blake goes behind the scenes of the Hipgnosis partnership to reveal the pioneering ambition and grand vision that led to their success, as well as the clashing egos and artistic differences that undermined it. The Hipgnosis story also offers hitherto-untold insight into some of music’s most legendary bands, as viewed through the prism of the people who shaped their imagery and cultural legacy.”
Blake is a former Assistant Editor of Q magazine, a long-time contributor to the UK’s Mojo music monthly and has also written for Classic Rock, The Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard. The subjects of his previous books include musical acts and personalities such as Queen, Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, Pink Floyd and The Who – https://markrblake.com/books.html
c) Julien’s auction house has scheduled an auction of times from the collections of several of the members of rock supergroup Fleetwood Mac that includes as a highlight Lot #585, which are drummer Mick Fleetwood’s infamous “hanging balls”, as seen on the cover of their hit album Rumours. As described on the company’s auction site, “Rumours Stage-and Album Cover-Worn Hanging Balls – with Signed Art Print – The two wooden balls worn by Mick Fleetwood as part of his attire for the seminal 1977 album cover. Attached to leather cords and housed in a soft maroon cloth drawstring case with the words “Open Sesame” embroidered in gold-tone thread. Lost and found many times over, the balls were originally lavatory chains snatched from a club Fleetwood Mac played during their early years and incorporated into his stage attire in a ribald nod to the blues tradition, something of a good luck charm.”
Learn more about these iconic spheres on the Julien’s auction site – There’s a pre-auction estimate of $100,000 – $200,000 and, as of this date, bidding is up to $40,000 – https://www.julienslive.com/lot-details/index/catalog/443/lot/196381?
While the final bidding and sale takes place December 3-4, 2022, there’s a public exhibition of the collection from now through Friday, December 2nd, 2022 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time at their offices in Beverly Hills, Ca. Viewing is free and open to the public. Peruse the entire collection on the auction site – https://www.juliensauctions.com/about-auction?id=428
Both GOLDMINE Magazine – https://www.goldminemag.com/collecting-news/auction-honoring-fleetwood-mac-includes-rumours-hanging-balls-and-much-more and People Magazine have included profiles of these rather-famous toilet accessories in a recent article on the topic – https://people.com/music/mick-fleetwood-wooden-balls-from-rumours-cover-hit-auction-block/
I also checked in with Larry Vigon, who originally designed the famous cover for the band (and who continues to work with the band members on individual projects, such as a new design for a bottle for Mick’s new distilled spirits offerings), to see if he had any additional info or anecdotes he wanted to share, and he responded with the following note – “Hi Mike – I actually emailed Mick to get more info about the balls and he wrote back right away to say he could only elaborate on the balls to the purchaser, not the public.” I suppose that that makes sense – if you’re going to sell these mementos at $100K or more, the purchaser should expect to get something extra-special for his/her/their money. I did ask Larry about how the balls ended up where they did on the cover, and he replied simply with “The balls ended up where they were because that’s where they always hanged”.
d) Earlier this year, I reported on the availability of the first in a series of fine art reprints of the album covers found on the catalog of interesting records released over the years by Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, so I’m now pleased to report that the second in the series – Thick As A Brick – is now available for orders slated to ship in mid-December, just in time for holiday gift-giving. some prints remain from the first print released – the cover of 1971’s Aqualung – and those with slightly deeper pockets can still grab the special edition box set of all 14 covers (as seen in this “unboxing” video hosted by Mr. Anderson – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPkFPHpI8C0 )
Collectors will recall that the original record packaging was designed to look like a small-town newspaper (The St. Cleve Chronicle and Linwell Advertiser) that included parody articles, ads and a poem supposedly written by 8-year-old local prodigy Gerald Bostock (actually, written by Anderson, with other writing done by the trio of Anderson, bassist Jeffrey Hammond and keyboard player John Evan, with design by Roy Eldridge). https://jethrotullart.com/collections/thick-as-a-brick?
e) Photographer Lynn Goldsmith has been in the headlines a lot lately due to her ongoing legal wranglings with the Andy Warhol estate (see more in the Misc section), so the fact that she’s also just published a new book of her 1980s-era photography might have gotten pushed to the background. However, her lensmanship was such an important part of the media/editorial coverage at the time that it’s no surprise that she was able to put together a very impressive compendium of images from the era –
ABC News NY reporter Sandy Kenyon put together a nice piece about Lynn and her book (Music In The 80s) for a recent newscast – here’s a link to that interview/book intro – https://abc7ny.com/music-in-the-80s-new-book-lynn-goldsmith-rock-and-roll/12482897/
f) Our friends at KnuckleBonz have extended their portfolio of truly-impressive 3D album cover recreations with this latest item that fans of DEATH – the influential American heavy/death metal band – will surely appreciate. Pre-orders are now being accepted (for a Spring, 2023 delivery) of their meticulously-rendered sculpture of the Ed Repka cover of the band’s 1987 record Scream Bloody Gore. Only 1987 copies of the limited-edition statue will be made, so get yours on order now – https://knucklebonz.com/product/death-scream-bloody-gore-3d-vinyl-statue/
g) The style of the artwork of late artist/illustrator Al Hirschfeld is certainly one of the most-recognized in the fine art world, and several musical acts and film/stage soundtracks (Aerosmith, Donald Byrd, the My Fair Lady soundtrack, etc.) were fortunate enough to have his hand in the making of their album covers. Although Al’s been dead for a while now, his foundation still manages his work product and his work has been used to raise $$ for several charitable causes, so it was wonderful to see the selection of 21 prints – each autographed by the artist featured in the work – put up for auction this past November 20th to benefit both the Hirschfeld Foundation and Broadway Cares.
Examples of the items sold include prints that highlighted performers from Broadway (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Meryl Streep, Judy Dench, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey and others) and pop music (Billy Joel, Cher, Michael Feinstein and Bruce Springsteen), adding inimitable portraits of other celebrities including actor/author/musician Steve Martin and record impresario Clive Davis. Final sale prices ranged from approx.. $650 up to $7500 featuring the signatures of the stars of Sunday in the Park with George (Peters and Patinkin), raking in nearly $50,000 for the beneficiary charitable organizations. https://fineart.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=3169+790+231+4294939110&ic10=ArchiveTab-071515
h) Julien’s offering a very special product, with a message near and dear to my heart (and, I believe, to many of your hearts as well) – PEACE and LOVE – delivered in drummer Ringo Starr’s very unique way. Available for purchase now are two editions – 250 in each – of a sculpture of Ringo’s signature hand gesture (embellished by his jewelry and cast in bronze or polished stainless) and designed my Mr. Peace and Love himself. All of the proceeds from the sales of these life-sized models benefit The Lotus Foundation’s broad range of charitable endeavors, and each one comes with a Ringo-signed COA. Reserve yours now on the Julien’s site – https://juliensauctions.com/ShopCatalog?id=206
Miscellaneous Items and other Brief Bits:
As always, I’m going to have to keep these short-and-sweet (well, most of them, anyway):
OBITS) Everyone’s OK these days…
a) The writers over on the Loudersound site recently shared an overview of every album cover featured on releases for the rock band Slipknot – https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-every-slipknot-album-cover
b) Over on the Dig! Website – contributor Joe Tiller does a deep dive on the topic of Fleetwood Mac album covers, reviewing and rating 18 of them – lots of symbolism, artistry and not only a few penguins make the collection one of the more-interesting ones in the annals of rock music history – https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/best-fleetwood-mac-album-covers/
c) The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover has received a lot of attention over the years, analyzed and dissected by many a writer, but I found this article on the Grunge.com site a little bit different in that it presents the story of the “mystery man” seen on the legendary Iain Macmillan photo used on the cover. Turns out, he was a tourist from America who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be memorialized for eternity – https://www.grunge.com/1118025/who-was-the-fifth-person-on-the-cover-of-the-beatles-iconic-abbey-road-album-cover/
d) A painting said to have influenced the team that put together what’s often considered the “best” album cover image ever made – that found on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles – was recently sold for the somewhat-princely price of over 50,000 euros – https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/11/01/painting-which-inspired-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-album-cover-sold-for-over-50000
e) While conspiracy theories continue to grab the headlines in American politics, the world has seen many examples of such nonsense in the past, with one of the best-know/longest-running series of unbelievable bits delivered to Beatles’ fans in the late 1960s. Those who were around at the time will of course remember the series of “Paul Is Dead” rumors that were floated (thank goodness that social media didn’t exist at the time – imagine!) https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-beatles-abbey-road-album-cover-breakdown-paul-is-dead-conspiracy-theory-clues.html/
f) Conspiracy theories dominate the media these days, and earlier in this newsletter (see previous item) we covered some of those we experienced back in the 1960s concerning the life and purported death of Beatle Paul McCartney, but those appear to pale against the details of what some consider to be “the most controversial album cover ever” – that being the one used to package Virgin Killer by German rock stars The Scorpions. The release of the album (the band’s fourth LP) came some years prior to the group’s release of the huge hit song “Wind of Change” which, it’s been said, was actually written by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help destabilize people living behind the Iron Curtain – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/scorpions-cia-most-controversial-album-cover/
g) The gratefully still-alive Paul McCartney was interviewed recently and shared his take on what his favorite Beatle album cover is (no big surprise) – ShowBoz Cheatsheet – https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/paul-mccartney-names-favorite-beatles-album-artwork-had-say.html/
h) Far Out Magazine’s Arun Starkey recently posted an article about a cover for a band well-known for both its controversial subject material, album cover art (even their name wrankles the more-sensitive members of the public) – that being the Bay-area punk pioneers the Dead Kennedys. For their 1980 debut record Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, the group selected a photo of a line of burning police automobiles which had been set ablaze by rioters unhappy with the assassination of LGBT crusader Harvey Milk. Read about why this cover still resonates 40+ years after punching record buyers in the eye – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-cover-uncovered-dead-kennedys-debut/
i) With the availability and use of image-altering software leaving many wondering how we’re ever going to determine what’s real and what’s not, it’s no surprise that some musical acts have attempted to alter the past via the modification of previously-released imagery. A recent example finds the group Paramore exacting its vengeance on a bad breakup by one of the band’s original members by working to remove said individual from the album cover of their debut album, replacing it with an image meant to send a message to the departed ex-band member – https://uproxx.com/indie/paramore-changed-old-album-cover-remove-member/
j) The tools of technology continue to inspire, amaze and confound artists and those that appreciate the efforts of those artists, so while I’m not yet sure what I feel about the use of image-generating/modifying software powered by artificial intelligence, here’s an example of how one person used one of the most-popular packages to re-think five well-known album cover images – https://jimclydemonge.medium.com/five-iconic-album-covers-outpainted-with-dall-e2-ai-16b4508c460b
More Legal Case Updates – Still waiting for a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in the copyright/fair use case of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. vs. photographer Lynn Goldsmith…the parties are anticipating to hear from the Court before their June, 2023 recess. It’s an important case on a number of levels, so we’ll do our best to keep you up-to-date on whatever we hear.
Brief Bits:
k) In another Beatles-related bit of nostalgia, it must be pointed out that, back in 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono released their first album together, the infamous Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins. The album, which featured John and Yoko nude on the front and back covers, raised the hackles of both censors/religious groups (for the obvious) and music fans/critics, many of whom ripped off their headphones almost immediately after putting the needle down on the disc. https://www.myradiolink.com/2022/11/10/flashback-john-yoko-pose-nude-for-two-virgins-album-cover-3/
l) The influence of R&B album art from the 1970s is shown in this article about fashion from the era and how you might incorporate it into your daily wardrobe these days – https://www.autostraddle.com/five-outfits-to-make-you-look-like-a-70s-rb-album-cover/
m) uDiscoverMusic sub-site on Yahoo! Includes a recent article by Martin Chilton that provides a concise overview of album art through the ages and how it helped sell recorded music – “The Complete Package: How Album Packaging Amplified Music” – https://www.yahoo.com/now/complete-package-album-packaging-amplified-135852192.html
n) Someone else found it necessary to create a half-assed list of the “55 Best Album Covers” (why 55?) – https://www.musicgrotto.com/best-album-covers-of-all-time/ Each album in the list is accompanied by one or two sentences of information – truly in-depth research and analysis here.
The site on which I found this useless information – Music Grotto – makes note of the fact that “…we directly publish pieces written and researched by accomplished writers and our adherence to strict editorial processes ensures quality opinions and facts are expressed in all of our featured pieces” but, of course, they don’t reveal the name(s) of those “accomplished writers” nor provide any criteria as to how these albums were selected. I hate click bait, so why do I share info on it? Beats me…
o) Lastly but not leastly, I am so happy to be able to share the news about a new article in the November 2022 edition of Beatlefan Magazine (Decatur, GA) – https://beatlefan.com/in-the-current-issue/ – in which contributing editor Ken Orth presents the most-comprehensive overview of just who-did-what on each of the memorable album covers included in the packaging of records by The Beatles. As a researcher/writer myself, I’m quite aware of the amount of time/resources it takes to put together an article like this, but it also makes me so appreciative of when its done so well, allowing us to all learn something new and exciting in a topic area that’s received a great deal of attention over the years. Here’s a brief excerpt from Ken’s article –
“One was a crime novelist, another a musician. There was a future knight and a mask maker. One wanted to sign every album, while another keeps his Grammy in a box. Two met tragic deaths while young. What could these people have in common? Each is a member of a select group of 16 principal artists who primarily were responsible for creating the front cover artwork on The Beatles’ 14 U.K. albums released from 1963 to 1970. Looking back on the faces on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, artist Peter Blake observed ‘it was the kind of crowd that you could never bring together’ – much like the Beatles’ principal album cover artists, who never assembled in the same place…”
Orth notes that while the first six albums featured photos taken by two shooters – Welsh photographer Angus McBean and English designer/photographer Robert Freeman – “the middle period saw the release of the next six albums which relied on a range of artistic specialties, including illustration, painting, collage, photography, design, soft textile sculpture and animation. Teams produced psychedelic, surreal, Pop Art and cartoon images that changed with each new release…”
Ken is now working on a piece about Beatles’ cover parody art, something he specializes in (as you’ll see in this 2016 profile on Ken and his collection in the Washington Post – https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/beatles-album-parody-art-he-loves-it-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-/2016/08/09/b90e66fc-5dcb-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html – and will share news of that when it’s completed (mid-2023, I’m told). Looks like that will be a mid-2023 product.
That’s all for now – stay tuned and be on the lookout for timely news alerts on our news feeds (sign up below to get an automatic email every time there’s something new on the ACHOF site). I’ll be returning right before the Thanksgiving holiday to announce the top vote-getters in our 10th anniversary “Best of the Best” poll and then, with any luck, right around the first of December with another news summary for you so, until then, enjoy the changing of the seasons, the upcoming elections here in the U.S. (!!) and whatever else brings you and yours happiness and joy. Try not to miss me too much – I’ll be missing you even more.
Peace and Love to you all, with wishes for Good Health, Happy Holidays and, in keeping with the holiday spirit, a resurgence of compassion for those less fortunate who might benefit from our collective generosity.
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2022 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. Photos of the Best Art Vinyl trophy, wall display and promo poster are all Copyright 2022 Best Art Vinyl (U.K.) and are used by permission. All of the trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.
Album Cover Hall of Fame.com 
Thanks for the shout-out Mike. Happy holidays to you and your. More in 2023!
Ken – glad to be able to share your good work with others. Let me know when your next article is out – eager to see what you’ve put together.
Enjoy your holiday season as well.
Mike G
Sent from my handheld annoyance device