Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for April, 2023
Posted April 1 (yes, really), 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
Is it March or April that goes in like a lion…? In any case, I am beginning to see daffodils outside my window, so I’m in a pretty decent mood. How about you?
Before we dive into this month’s newsletter’s details, let me pontificate for a minute or two…
Every other morning, I ride an exercise bike for 48 minutes (45 minute program plus a 3-minute “cool down”) and, as a habit, listen to either podcasts or music (or both, time permitting) to distract me from the general pain/shortness of breath that I experience being an old man trying to stay ahead of my genetics. One of the shows I listen to fairly regularly is Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s The Thing”, as he often has guests talking about subjects related to art and journalism and, in late March, he hosted two investigative journalists and writers – Chris Jones and Michael Mooney – who were there to talk about a book they’d written about the team of Siegfried and Roy, whose careers as magicians/entertainers came to a dramatic end after Roy was mauled by one of the white tigers featured in their act.
During their discussion, Baldwin asked the pair for their opinions on a book published in 1990 written by Janet Malcolm titled The Journalist and The Murderer that used an example of one reporter’s coverage of a murderer to launch into a discussion about journalistic ethics. I think that you’ll be able to get the gist of her overall contention by reading the opening line of her book, some of which was offered up in an article in the March 5th, 1989 issue of the New Yorker magazine – https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/03/13/the-journalist-and-the-murderer-i – “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse. Like the credulous widow who wakes up one day to find the charming young man and all her savings gone, so the consenting subject of a piece of nonfiction writing learns—when the article or book appears—his hard lesson. Journalists justify their treachery in various ways according to their temperaments. The more pompous talk about freedom of speech and ‘the public’s right to know’; the least talented talk about Art; the seemliest murmur about earning a living.”
Writers, reporters, educators and most anyone else with an opinion soon went public with their take on Ms. Malcolm’s statements and the premise of her book, with some supporting her take and, as you might figure, some not too happy to have read it and thinking themselves being considered part of this group of predatory confidence men described in her writing. Both of Mr. Baldwin’s guests were not fans of that author’s propositions (“I hate that fucking quote”, one said) and as I sat there on the bike, I wondered whether I was doing more harm than good in my gathering and disseminating content from the artists, production personnel and marketing people I tend to focus on for my website.
I know that I am asking a lot from my interviewees when they agree to work with me on an article. Most of them are still very active and busy with their careers, so any time they’re willing to give me to talk about an album cover project or a museum/gallery show is time they might have spent doing their work (or recuperating from just having done their work). Is my reaching out to them to ask them to recall and share bits of their history working in the music/art business a predatory act? I suppose that it is in some way as I’m doing it to fulfill my desire to aggregate and share these stories. There’s no money involved (other than the money that goes out of my pocket to pay for website hosting, email marketing and research materials), so maybe it’s all of the honors I’ve received and fame so great that I must wear dark glasses, a hat and long-sleeve shirts (to cover up telltale tattoos) before venturing outdoors (you know I’m kidding, right)? Something to ponder, that’s for sure…
So, at least for now, I’m going to continue to do what I do, whether it is to feed my ego or to provide fans of music and art with the content I create or some mix of the two. If I begin to annoy you, I do hope that you’ll let me know. Of course, I would appreciate any feedback you might be willing to share with me and other readers, via the “post a comment” feature found on the ACHOF site.
Now, back to the newsletter – This past month was a rather busy one, with two other posts done besides the newsletter at the beginning of the month. The first one was Part 1 of a two-part article, co-written with the eminent music/art historian and collector Richard Forrest, about fine art and artists who’ve been greatly influenced by album cover art and design (“The Art of Imitation – How Fine Artists Have Drawn Inspiration From Album Covers”, which can be read here), with Part 2 due soon. Later on in the month, I was happy to announce the availability of my most-recent interview article, this one with one of the fine artists to be included in Part 2 of the aforementioned article. Peter Wilkins has produced scores of works built around his manipulations of well-known album cover images that I found quite beautiful, so I’d invite you to read my interview, and not just because the things he has to say are so revelatory (which they are) but also because the examples used to illustrate the article are just so cool.
I have to more interviews in the works but, in addition to those, there is (as always) a very nice selection of items about album cover art and the people that make it, with updates and info about several new museum and gallery exhibitions, new auctions and things for sale, etc., so let’s take out our picks and shovels and begin hacking into this mound of good things to know and see.
Special Award Show updates:
Judging has finally begun on the entries vying for a top music industry/packaging award – the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards – and, as one of the judges on the panel tasked to review the hundreds of submissions received, I’m curious and eager to see what always turns out to me a fascinating cross-section of examples of album covers/packages coming in from all over the world.
Exhibitions and Gallery Show Info (new and upcoming soon)
a) While perhaps best-known for his enormous catalog of live concert photographs, Larry Hulst’s portfolio also includes shots used on album covers for Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen, while his photos of Jimi Hendrix, Gace Slick, Janis Joplin and others have found their way into publications including Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and many others. Now, having dug into his archives to select 70+ images to serve as a career retrospective, Larry and the curatorial team at the Biggs Museum in Dover, Delaware have recently launched a show called Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul that’s available for viewing from now through the 19th of June, 2023.
The museum’s press site gives us more of the details – “The iconic photographs of Larry Hulst capture the freewheeling energy of live music and the enduring visual spectacle of rock’s greatest performers. From Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix to David Bowie and Lauryn Hill, Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues and Soul brings together over 70 images of legendary musicians and singers across three genres and generations. The exhibition charts Hulst’s extraordinary path through the pulsing heart of the most exciting live music of the last century, showcasing a unique visual anthology of rock, blues, and soul music from 1970–1999. These images, which have been featured on album art and Rolling Stone spreads, convey Hulst’s lifelong passion for the magnetism, immediacy, and unpredictability of live music. With photos that also document the unforgettable voices of funk, punk, and beyond, Front Row Center grants viewers an all-access pass to some of the most memorable performances in popular music history.”
More info on the show and related activities is available on the Biggs Museum site at https://www.biggsmuseum.org/exhibitions/ 55+ years since shooting his first concert event (The Who at LA’s Shrine Auditorium in 1967), Larry is still hard at work, and you can see more of his portfolio on his web site at https://www.larryhulst.com/
b) Laguna Art Museum’s Shepard Fairey show (Facing the Giant – Three Decades of Dissent: Shepard Fairey), which launched on the 11 of March and runs there through June 4th, 2023, traces the highlights of the artist’s last 30+ years as an influential art and image-maker. This exhibition was organized by the Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, in association with Fairey’s company, OBEY GIANT ART.
The son of a doctor and a realtor, Shepard demonstrated his artistic talents early on, developing his own designs for display on his skateboards and t-shirts. To further his skills, he went on to enroll in a program at the Idyllwild Arts Academy (Palm Springs, CA) and, after graduating, furthered his education at the famed Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI), graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in 1992. While in school at RISD, Shepard worked at a local skateboard shop where he was able to experiment with his own custom designs while diving deep into the punk/street/graffiti art scenes that interested him so much. When asked to demonstrate the art of stenciling, Fairey borrowed an image of wrestler Andre The Giant to create a sticker featuring an adaptation of that image coupled with the phrase “Andre The Giant Has A Posse” and the resulting image (and further versions of it) starting what would today be called a “viral sensation”. The Andre image would soon evolve into the “Obey Giant” campaign and, after graduation Fairey launched his own silkscreen printing business in Providence which he called Alternate Graphics.
In subsequent years, Fairey would often team up with other musicians and/or artists to create unique multi-media and multi-platform campaigns, such as the anti-war “Be The Revolution” street art/music series completed in 2004, 2005’s “Shock and Awe” campaign, and others. He also teamed up with graffiti artist Roger Gastman to launch Swindle Magazine and expanded his work in the music/film worlds with packages for the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line and CD/LP covers for a variety of musical acts including Led Zeppelin, Anthrax, Smashing Pumpkins, Bad Brains and others. In 2008, the awareness of Fairey’s talents reached a whole new degree of recognition when his “HOPE” portrait of presidential candidate Barack Obama – used on posters, flyers and a whole range of related merchandise – became THE most-iconic image of that year’s presidential campaign, helping inspire a never-before-seen level of participation and excitement in young voters nationwide.
More on the show can be found on the museum’s website at https://lagunaartmuseum.org/exhibitions/shepard-fairey/ The museum had a well-attended opening night event during which Shepard served as host and DJ, and as you’ll see via the link to the video of the event – https://youtu.be/aowH5LZco-I – the artist was happy to mingle amongst his fans and share some bits of wisdom and info about what’s on display in the exhibition.
ON A RELATED NOTE – There was a recent auction/sale of some of the artist’s more-recent works held on the Artnet.com site and, as part of the promotion of that event, the auction site’s editorial staff put together a nice interview article in which Fairey shares some of the details about a selection of some of his most-recognizable works – https://news.artnet.com/buyers-guide/shepard-fairey-art-as-activism-2268931
c) There’s a new show dubbed “Charla-Palooza” that’s scheduled for a very limited-time-only run in the West Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles in mid-April that should be of interest to fans of design, music and artists that combine the best of both. Making it all the more interesting is how the two artists featured in the show are both well-known in the metal music scene – drummer and album cover artist Charlie Benante (of Anthrax fame) and Butcher Babies vocalist and comic book writer/illustrator Carla Harvey – and are a couple, to boot! Benante, who picked up his love for album art working alongside the talented teams working for the record labels his band’s music was released on, has been responsible for the group’s album covers for the past three decades, while Harvey has storyboarded several graphic novels and written a novel herself. The two met and collaborated participating in a COVID-period musical effort called the “Quarantine Jam” and have since staged art/music events like this one, along with publishing a book that combines their storytelling and artistic talents called Punk Rock & Paintbrushes: The Insides Of Artists Written By Outsiders.
To learn more about the schedule of events and reserve your tickets to some of the meet-and-greets, please visit – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/charla-palooza-the-art-of-charlie-benante-and-carla-harvey-tickets-584078012057 There’s also a bit more coverage of the lead up to the event on the EddieTrunk.com site at https://eddietrunk.com/monster-energy-and-punk-rock-paintbrsuhes-present-charla-palooza-celebrating-the-art-of-anthrax-drummer-charlie-benante-and-butcher-babies-carla-harvey-special-gallery-show-to-be-held-april-15/
d) Punk photographer Jim Saah, whose nearly three dozen album package credits include work for Fugazi, Jawbox, The Cramps, Minor Threat and others – is the subject of a show in NY opening April 1 – https://www.brooklynvegan.com/dc-punk-photographer-jim-saahs-work-featured-in-new-nyc-exhibition-this-spring/
A celebration of his book In My Eyes, Photographs 1982-1997, the exhibition will be on display at the Little Saint Gallery in Ridgewood, Queens from April 1 through the end of May.
e) There’s a new show in Georgia that highlights the sculptural artwork produced by the late artist Reverend Howard Finster, one of the country’s most talked-about folk/outsider artists. In 1965, he said that he heard a voice from the Lord which told him to transform two acres of land in Summerville, GA into a “Paradise Garden.” Using junk, broken dolls, tools and clocks, he embedded these materials in concrete walls which surround both a 30-foot tower built of bicycle parts and his own church called “The World’s Folk Art Church.” “Paradise Garden” was an ongoing project that expressed his religious convictions and creativity and he explained that he assembled the pieces for a purpose -”to mend a broken world.”
In 1976, he had a vision of a tall man at his gate – the Lord – who directed him to begin painting “sermon art” because, “preaching don’t do much good – no one listens – but a picture gets on a brain cell.” The voice commanded him to paint this sacred art and to create individual paintings and portraits of personal heroes, religious and patriotic images and to pass on his spiritual messages to the world, and all of his paintings contain witty, printed quotations known as “Finsterisms.”
Several of his paintings show how he was influenced by the imagery on postcards, popular magazines, cultural icons like Elvis Presley, historical figures and, of course, figures from the Bible. Some of his creations have joined the contemporary art and music world through his paintings for the album covers of the rock groups REM and The Talking Heads. Other artists to use Finster art on their record covers include Memory Dean, Pierce Pettis, and Adam Again.
Finster made art out of nail heads, gourds, bottles, mirrors, plastic, snow shovels and even an old Cadillac. However, the majority of his works were usually made out of plywood or heavy canvas, with the works ranging in size from a few square inches to 8-9 feet in heigh and now, through May 7th, visitors can tour the Paradise Garden’s collection and see some of his rarest early works there. The ArtDaily news site gives us some additional information – https://artdaily.cc/news/154947/Howard-Finster-s-rarely-seen-early-wood-creations-now-shown-at-Paradise-Garden#.ZAE2lHbMK03 and you can plan your own visit to Finster’s sacred space at https://paradisegardenfoundation.org/plan-your-visit-to-howard-finsters-paradise-garden/
f) The Musichead Gallery in Los Angeles has announced that there will be a show there beginning in June built around the works of artist/illustrator Hugh Syme, with tickets to an exclusive opening reception there going on sale beginning April 4th – https://musichead.com/blogs/events/hugh-syme-imagine-this
Having studied art both the New School of Art in Toronto and York University in York, England, Canadian artist/illustrator/musician Hugh Syme found that he was able to express himself creatively – both musically and artistically – in the rock music business, where he collaborated with singer/songwriter Ian Thomas and, later on, played keyboards for SRO/Anthem labelmates Rush. It seems clear that the members of Rush felt early on that Hugh was on the same wavelength as they were, hiring him in 1975 to create the cover image for their third record, titled Caress of Steel and, impressively, every record of theirs since. He’s also responsible for the band’s iconic “Starman” logo, which has been featured on a broad range of band-related promotional imagery and merchandise (including the cover for the late Rush drummer Neal Peart’s 1996 travel book titled The Masked Rider). He’s since been nominated 18 times for Juno Awards (Canada’s top music award) for his designs, winning five times for designs including Rush’s Moving Pictures, Power Windows, Presto and Roll The Bones, and Levity for Ian Thomas.
Focusing his talents on music-related design, he took on commissions as an art director working at Pasha/CBS Records and, ten years later, accepting the role as Art Director at Geffen Records. His music industry clients include labels such as A&M, Atlantic, Capitol, EMI, Geffen, Mercury, RCA, Sony Music and Warner Bros., doing designs for acts including Aerosmith, Chick Corea, Celine Dion, Def Leppard, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Queensryche, Saga, Styx and Whitesnake.
If you’d like a broader look at this artist’s portfolio before attending the event in LA, I’d invite you to visit his website at www.hughsyme.com
g) ALSO GOT THIS A BIT LATE TO INCLUDE, BUT IT’S STILL WORTH NOTING – Photographer Mark Weiss at the 725 Gallery in late March – https://gallery725.com/the-decade-that-rocked-photography-of-mark-weissguy-weiss/
More coverage on the Broadwayworld.com site – https://www.broadwayworld.com/jacksonville/article/Famed-80s-Rock-Music-Photographer-Mark-Weissguy-Weiss-to-Present-The-Decade-That-Rocked-Retrospective-20230228
Also – was happy to see another article on the same topic in which Mark’s ACHOF Inductee credentials were mentioned – https://pontevedrarecorder.com/stories/gallery-725-features-iconic-rock-roll-photographer,42785 Glad to see that this honor has some meaning to those who’ve received it!
LAST-MINUTE ADDITIONS: As I was getting ready to post this month’s newsletter, news of two new shows crossed my desk and, although I can’t give you fully-researched notes on the both of them, I thought that you should know about them as the featured artists are “people you should know”…
The first item is news of photographer Jill Furmanovsky’s upcoming exhibition featuring over 80 images from her massive archive of rock music photographs. According to the article I found on the I Love Manchester website – https://ilovemanchester.com/jill-furmanovsky-work-manchester-oasis – “The exhibition, guest-curated by Noel Gallagher and photo-historian Gail Buckland, offers visitors a unique insight into Furmanovsky’s relationship with her subjects and the emotive quality of her work. An audio tour narrated by Jill herself will be available for visitors to access through their own headphones, bringing the stories behind the imagery closer to the audience. The show is available for viewing from April 15th to June 24th , 2023.
The second show – this one on display from April 7th through the 24th at the PARCO Museum in Tokyo, Japan – is a solo show built around the talents of young multi-media artist filip custic, who has built quite a following based on his work for some of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars, including Rosalia, Julia Stone and Lil Nas X. Per the advance PR I received from his press agent Leighanne Murray (thanks, Leighanne!), “custic’s solo exhibition human product at PARCO Museum will mark his first solo show in Japan, and will express the essence of his artistic practice through a variety of different artworks, from prints to wearables, installation and performance, some of them commissioned especially for the occasion.” See more at the museum’s website – https://art.parco.jp/museumtokyo/detail/?id=1191
Ongoing and Upcoming Exhibitions:
CONTINUING THROUGH APRIL 2nd – While I’m sad to have to share this info so late in the game, there is an exhibition that began in late March which ends on the 2nd of April that’s associated with a new book soon to be put out by friend of ACHOF Simon Robinson. If you hurry, you’ll be able to see and soak in all of the strange cover imagery on display there. Why do I call it “strange”? Well, that’s because Simon and his cohort who collaborated on this book and exhibition call it that as well…
Simon’s forthcoming book revolves around a remarkable collection of album covers which first surfaced up at a public exhibition in Huddersfield in 2021, where it quickly picked up coverage from all the major media and local news channels giving people a much needed smile in the pandemic. The display then moved to Stoke On Trent’s excellent Spode Pottery Museum where Simon met up with collector/curator Steve Goldman and discussed the idea of a book. After an hour often doubled up with laughter viewing the display, it was clear to Simon that Steve had tapped into something special.
As Simon notes on his easyontheeye.com site – “Just to mention collector Steve is returning to the scene of his first successful exhibition, this time at part of the Huddersfield Literature Festival.” I went to the Festival’s site, and they’re promoting it this way – “The popular return of Huddersfield collector Steve Goldman’s exhibition of bizarre and unintentionally funny record covers – so bad they’re awesome! The exhibition will be open daily from 10am-4pm in our Hub on the Piazza, part of the Temporary Contemporary initiative.” Thursday 23rd March – Sunday 2nd April at the Huddersfield Literature Festival Hub, Huddersfield Piazza, Princess Alexandra Walk HD1 2RS.
I then asked Simon to expand upon what sent him down this path and he remarked with candor – “I did see a show a couple of years back that was pretty visual, by a guy over here who uses old sleeves as a basis for pop paintings. I think I posted some stuff by a French artist on the site who did similar. And I spotted someone painting single labels and gluing them to the seawall a few years ago which was quite smart. It’s good the way vinyl has sort of become ingrained in our society despite the CD years. I do love it when I find a sleeve a fan has altered with cuttings and stuff, or a pile of sleeves made of old wallpaper a while back.”
He continues, “I should point out that Steve does all this himself. Steve had a stroke a while back and still struggles with some movement and other problems but copes very well. I think he will be donating money from any royalties to a stroke charity. When he did his first display, I saw the local press coverage and got in touch and said would he be up for chatting about a possible book. He said he had been approached by several publishers so I sent a couple of our titles up and he came straight back and said he thought we would be the best fit. So, at his next display we did get to meet up (photos below are from that display in an old Pottery Museum in Stoke On Trent) and got on well and agreed to get this moving. I had not laughed so much at anything as this display since pre-Pandemic, it was a real tonic. I spend much of my time looking at and writing about what I regard as great sleeve design, so it was really interesting to see someone coming at sleeves from the other end of the spectrum.”
You’ll read more about the new book – to be released later this year – in the item you’ll find in the “Items For Sale…” section found later in this newsletter.
OPENING APRIL 6th, 2023 – There’s an exhibition that’s opening in London on April 6th that’s meant to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album. Here are two articles that provide us with some preliminary information about the show, which will be on display at the Southbank Centre in the city – https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/news/southbank-centre-celebrates-50-years-of-aladdin-sane-with-exhibition-southbank-centre-27162/ and https://uk.style.yahoo.com/aladdin-sane-50-years-exhibition-120000157.html? The show is going to be curated by Chris Duffy, photographer Brian Duffy’s son, and will be on display until the 28th of May. According to the press, “Aladdin Sane: 50 Years’ will feature a two-month long exhibition exploring the creation of the album’s iconic artwork, including the legendary lightning flash portrait by photographer Brian Duffy, as well as a stellar line-up of live music and talks inspired by the album.” Sounds like a great way to spend a day, no? More info is available on the venue’s site at https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/aladdin-sane-50-years
CONTINUING THORUGH APRIL 15, 2023 – There’s a joint exhibition featuring the works of two noted – and related – photographers (the Demarcheliers) now on display at the Staley-Wise Gallery in NYC – https://www.staleywise.com/exhibitions/patrick-victor-demarchelier-3
Here’s how the gallery is promoting this show – “This joint exhibition of father Patrick and son Victor demonstrates the extreme elegance and perfection of their imagery and the continuation of a rich photographic legacy to the next generation. Before Patrick’s death in 2022, his son Victor assisted his father in the studio for several years after studying art and economics at Vassar College in New York and developing a particular interest in print-making. Father and son collaborated on work for VOGUE and advertising clients such as Cartier before Victor’s own career flourished to include major magazines and advertising clients such as Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, and Lancôme. His work is recognized for its beautiful lighting, the delicacy of its staging, and an interest in still-life and fine arts.”
Album cover/packaging credits include work for clients such as Billy Joel (Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2 and The Essential Billy Joel); Quincy Jones (Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones and Listen Up Now); Celine Dion (A New Day Has Come); Britney Spears (In The Zone); Madonna (I’m Breathless) and Janet Jackson (Janet), among others, with more music industry clients including Mariah Carey and Elton John. In 1989, Britain’s Princess Diana requested that Patrick become her official photographer – this first non-Brit to receive such an honor. Shooting many family portraits of “The Peoples’ Princess”, this relationship lasted until her death in 1997. He has a long list of film credits, as well, shooting publicity and promo poster images for films such as Blow Out, Blue Lagoon, James Bond: Die Another Day, Bullworth, Bugsy, Coyote Ugly, Dick Tracy, Endless Love, Mystic Pizza, Reds, Sex and the City, Something Wild and Staying Alive.
More information on this artist is available on his website at http://demarchelier.com/
CONTINUING THROUGH MAY 9th, 2023 – The street art show at Saatchi Gallery’s outpost in London, one that’s being lauded as “the biggest ever” and that includes original art, rare memorabilia ephemera, photography, immersive and site-specific installations, fashion and several “surprises” including a full-size recreation of a record shop – https://www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/beyond_the_streets_london The show’s on until the 9th of May and has received many glowing reviews, beginning with this description found on the ArtDaily news site – https://artdaily.cc/news/154593/Saatchi-Gallery-presents-the-most-comprehensive-graffiti—street-art-exhibition-to-open-in-the-UK#.Y_Ph_XbMK00 and continuing with articles of varying lengths and details from scores of publications – https://www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/reviews/beyond_the_streets_london_68
CONTINUING THROUGH MAY 14th, 2023 – There’s an exhibition continuing at the Groninger Museum in Groningen, Netherlands that puts on display the talents of the design team responsible for dozens of iconic (it’s a word I hate to use but, in this case, absolutely fitting) album covers – i.e., Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and the others who contributed to the Hipgnosis design agency, with the initial details reviewed on the ArtDaily site – https://artdaily.cc/news/153798/Groninger-Museum-unveils-a-world-first-with-exhibition-The-Art-of-Hipgnosis#.Y81vtXbMK00
The Art of Hipgnosis opened during a huge music fast in mid-January, and here’s how the museum describes the show, which will be on display until the 14th of May, 2023 – “Their illustrations have decorated the walls of millions of teenage bedrooms since the 1970s. Yet many people have never heard of the London design studio Hipgnosis. Now the Groninger Museum is honouring the group, which designed legendary album covers for some of the world’s biggest rock acts, with its first ever major exhibition: The Art of Hipgnosis: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel & 10cc…produced long before the invention of digital photography and Photoshop, The Art of Hipgnosis gives you an up-close look at the design, process and stories behind the most iconic album covers ever made.”
Groninger Museum director Andreas Blühm curated the exhibition with Hipgnosis founder Aubrey Powell. All the photographs and objects in The Art of Hipgnosis come from Powell’s private archive, and you can learn/see more on the museum’s website at https://www.groningermuseum.nl/en/art/exhibitions/hipgnosis
CONTINUING THROUGH MAY 21st, 2023– NYC’s Fotografiska Museum continues its display of a show built around an impressive collection of historic rap/hip-hop photos that was put together to help mark the 50th anniversary of mostly-agreed-upon date of the event that launched the genre that’s now one of the world’s most impactful (in terms of music, dance, fashion and the visual arts that surround it).
Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious opened in late January with a star-studded event and will be on display at the venue landmark building on Park Ave. South through the 21st of May of this year. According to the Museum’s website, the show was co-curated by Sally Berman and Sacha Jenkins, Chief Creative Officer of media giant Mass Appeal and “presents images ranging from iconic staples of visual culture to rare and intimate portraits of hip-hop’s biggest stars from legendary pioneers including Nas, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, and Mary J. Blige to modern icons such as Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, and Cardi B.
The works on view traverse intersecting themes such as the role of women in hip-hop; hip-hop’s regional and stylistic diversification and rivalries; a humanistic lens into the1970s-Bronx street gangs whose members contributed to the birth of hip-hop; and the mainstream breakthrough that saw a grassroots movement become a global phenomenon.” Visitors will find over 200 photos taken by noted photographers including Campbell Addy, Charlie Ahearn, Janette Beckman, George DuBose, Johnathan Mannion, Theo Wenner and many others, with more details available at https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/exhibitions/hip-hop/
ON A RELATED NOTE – The team at the Universal Hip-Hop Museum in NYC has put up a very nice section on their website that introduces viewers to what’s being done in the city to commemorate the 50-year history of the genre. Working with the city of New York (with a video intro by NY Senator Charles Schumer) and the Office of the Mayor, the museum’s 12-month partnership also a calendar years’ worth of activities taking place throughout each of the five boroughs, as well as a global concert.
CONTINUING THROUGH JUNE, 2023 – Now on display at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is a show built around the late photographer Jim Marshall’s portfolio of shots he took of the Rolling Stones back in 1972 and described in a posting on the Billboard.com site – https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/grammy-museum-rolling-stones-1972-photo-exhibit-1235165692/
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, the 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/
CONTINUING THROUGH JUNE, 2023 – Another interesting show, this one featuring 14 examples of works from the 1960s and 1970s produced by celebrated music photographer Barry Wentzell, continues at The Portsmouth Music Experience at the Portsmouth Guildhall in Portsmouth, Hampshire, U.K. – https://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hampshire/Portsmouth/PO6/Culture/Music/337052-Portsmouth-Guildhall-welcomes-UK-retrospective-of-iconic-music-photographer-Barrie-Wentzell
Running through the 30th of June, 2023, ‘Icons of Rock: Portrait & Performance’ offers visitors “a rare opportunity for music and photography fans to see some of Barrie’s works in the flesh. The exhibition has been arranged by a lifetime fan and follower of Barrie’s work, Nigel Grundy, Curator of the Portsmouth Music Experience, who was also a music photographer during the 1960s.” Wentzell is perhaps best-known as the chief staff photographer for Britain’s Melody Maker music magazine for many years and he also contributed to the retail packaging of records from top performers including YES, Cat Stevens, John Mayall, Wishbone Ash, Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and many others.
Learn more about this show, which is free and open to the public, on the venue’s website at http://www.portsmouthmusicexperience.org.uk/index.html
CONTINUING THROUGH JULY, 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 here – https://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/hotter-july and https://www.rockhall.com/rock-roll-hall-fame-announces-sizzling-new-photography-exhibit-and-series-events
Artist News and Interviews
a) Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album (initially hitting the shelves on March 1, 1973), Hipgnosis design principal Aubrey Powell can be heard talking about the project in this recent episode of the CBC podcast Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud – https://www.cbc.ca/arts/commotion/commotion-if-an-artist-isn-t-on-spotify-did-they-even-make-a-sound-1.6765270/aubrey-powell-shares-how-he-designed-one-of-the-most-iconic-album-covers-of-all-time-1.6765683
In a related story, Bruce Jenkins has posted a pair of fine articles he’s titled “10 HYPGNOTIC ALBUM COVERS” that digs deep into the Hipgnosis catalog and selects ten of their most-interesting covers, highlighting their creativity and desire to develop their own brand of surrealism, to share with us, along with comments and quotes from the studio’s co-lead Aubrey Powell – https://vinylconnection.com.au/2023/03/10/10-hypnotic-hipgnosis-album-covers/ and https://vinylconnection.com.au/2023/03/17/10-more-hipgnotic-album-covers/
Bruce then expands on the theme by sharing his recent interview with author Mark Blake about the gargantuan effort it took to get the materials together (and, in some cases, the stories straight) his recently-released compendium on the Hipgnosis design studio titled Us And Them: The Authorised Story of Hipgnosis (Mark Blake, 2023) – https://vinylconnection.com.au/2023/03/13/under-hipgnosis-the-mark-blake-interview/
And if that wasn’t enough for you, here are two more DSOTM-related articles – Forbes Magazine contributor David Chiu also spoke with Mr. Powell about the album, the album cover and why he thinks it’s stood the test of time as one of rock music’s most-famous images – https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2023/03/23/pink-floyd-graphic-designer-on-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-cover-turning-50/? While over on the Creative Boom site, an article that takes you through the design/production details of the highly-coveted DSOTM 50th anniversary box set introduces you to the leads at the Pentagram design house – Harry Pearce and Jon Marshall, with additional commentary by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell that thought the whole thing up – https://www.creativeboom.com/news/pink-floyd-and-pentagram-celebrate-50-years-of-dark-side-of-the-moon/
When you get down to the Items “For Sale” section later on, you’ll find a nice article in GOLDMINE Magazine that tours you through all of the cool goodies included in the box set.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE – I’d ask you all to please be sure to read the item in this newsletter’s “Misc.” section about a competition you can enter – if you’re handy with video and/or animation tools, that is – and become part of the legacy of this band’s biggest record….
b) Over on the Loudwire.com site, contributor Philip Trap posted a brief-but-interesting interview article with photographer Fin Costello about the trials and tribulations of staging and shooting the well-known cover of singer Ozzy Osbourne’s 1983 solo album Bark At The Moon – https://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-bark-moon-photo-shoot/
Brief bits:
c) Rock photographer/man of many talents Hugh Brown shared some news about a couple of the things he’s working on these days a) he’s doing a giant book on photographer Herbie Greene’s work, which included scores of memorable portraits of 1960s-70s performers working in the San Francisco Bay area (you’ll remember his shot of the Jefferson Airplane used on the cover of their Surrealistic Pillow LP) and b) is almost done with his 1200 + paged expansion of his Chainsaw book which was originally published to great reviews back in 2009 and which features Brown’s amazing re-creations of famous works of art done by Ed Ruscha, Jackson Pollack, Ed Keinholz, John Baldessari and dozens more contemporary art luminaries, into which he’s insert references to the objects he’s collected for years – chainsaws!
While attending UC Berkeley to ready himself for a career in the Arts, Hugh started spending a lot of time in the Student Union darkroom, working with the prestigious staff there, three of whom won National Endowment Photography grants in one year! He graduated in 1976 with two degrees which, according to Brown, were quite beneficial to his career long-term. “The Psychology degree was good for dealing with bands, and the Criminology degree was good for dealing with the record companies.” Post-graduation, he worked part-time at Berkeley’s Darkroom, photographed punk bands in local clubs and worked at a camera store in order to be able to purchase equipment and supplies at a discount. Meanwhile, a photo t-shirt business he’d started got a boost when a local record store – Rather Ripped Records – began to carry his shirts.
It was at the store that he met musician Patti Smith and her manager, Jane Friedman, when Patti performed a show at the store. That connection led to Hugh’s being able to shoot a number of friendly acts – Talking Heads, Television, John Cale, etc. – and brought him work providing photos to various publications which, ultimately, brought him his first commissions for publicity photos and album covers. Hugh began his formal career in the music packaging business in 1989 with I.R.S. Records, where he served as Creative Director for six years before moving on to an eleven-year stint with Rhino Records, bringing his unique training and talents to lead the label’s efforts in the packaging of their core products – reissues and box sets/collections of classic rock, pop, soul and R&B music from the archives of both current and long-gone record companies.
His work at the label was rewarded with eleven Grammy Award nominations in the packaging categories, along with three wins, making Hugh one of the most-honored designers in the field today.
While he works on an update to his website, you’re invited to learn more about Hugh on his LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugh-brown-16482111/ and if you’d like to see some additional samples of his Chainsaw works, here’s a link to the Robert Berman Gallery site where you’ll find prints for sale – http://www.robertbermangallery.com/artists/hugh-brown
In researching this item, I also found that there’s an exhibition of Herbie Greene’s photography – the first career-long retrospective of San Francisco’s pioneering rock photographer – on display now through late May at the Haight Street Art Center in San Francisco. More about “The Haight-Ashbury Experience and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Photography of Herb Greene” can be found on the venue’s web site at https://haightstreetart.org/pages/the-haight-ashbury-experience-and-the-pursuit-of-happiness-the-photography-of-herb-greene
d) Here’s a link to a podcast interview on the “Design Matters with Debbie Millman” site with photo great Lynn Goldsmith about her Music In The 80s photo book – https://beta.prx.org/stories/463188
e) Learn more about photographer Frank Stefanko’s shots taken for Bruce Springsteen – one photo shoot in 1978 produced two album cover images (Darkness At The Edge of Town and The River) – as told by writer Kristin Hunt on the PhillyVoice website – https://www.phillyvoice.com/bruce-springsteen-haddonfield-photos-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town-river-frank-stefanko/
f) 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/musicians and album art fans to share some of their favorite covers and why it is that they stand out amongst all others.
First, “10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Noah Delagardelle of MONO” – Andy Stott, Four Tet, Panda Bear and more. Noah is a designer at the Minneapolis, MN-based creative agency MONO https://mono-1.com/ whose clients include Peroni, Bumble, Fortra, the American Red Cross, Target, Google and many others. This article is another example of how much there is to see and learn in the music/art world – I’d only heard of one of these musical acts and had never seen any of the covers Noah selected for inclusion in his list, so it truly was a unique experience to read through his list – https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-noah-delagardelle-mono
Later in the month, the Muse By Clio team posted “10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Frank Siringo of Team Bubbly” (MF DOOM, Pink Floyd, Herbie Hancock and more) – https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-frank-siringo-team-bubbly and near month’s end, two musicians with a love of album cover imagery pitched in with their favorites – Isaac Watters penned an article titled “10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Musician Isaac Watters” (SZA, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Talking Heads and more) – https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-musician-isaac-watters, while Gabriel Beltrone shared his take on covers that, at the time they were released, caused a bit of a furor in the press and at retail with “9 Surprisingly Mild But Controversial Album Covers, Chosen by Writer and Musician Gabriel Beltrone” which included covers by The Mamas and the Papas, Vampire Weekend, Ice Cube and more – https://musebycl.io/art-album/9-surprisingly-mild-controversial-album-covers-chosen-writer-and-musician-gabriel
Items for Sale and/or at Auction
The month of March found us presented with a LOT of coverage on the availability of many different The Dark Side of the Moon 50th anniversary items:
An intro on the Fast Company site gives you some basics about this year’s hottest 50th anniversary box set, with design by Pentagram – https://www.fastcompany.com/90858172/pink-floyds-dark-side-of-the-moon-just-got-an-iconic-redesign – while our friends at GOLDMINE Magazine bring you all of the gory details about what’s included in this hard-to-find box set, which they’re suggesting might be “the best looking” box ever assembled – https://www.goldminemag.com/columns/dark-side-50th-anniversary-edition-best-looking-box-set-ever-issued? On a personal note, I did manage to find a copy (see photo, below) of the wonderful photo book put together by photographer Jill Furmanovsky and designer Aubrey Powell (included in the box, but also available for purchase separately) and hope to share a detailed dig into it in an upcoming newsletter.
a) Team KnuckleBonz announced the upcoming availability of their Pink Floyd Dark Side stage projection recreation collectible – “KnuckleBonz® is well underway on production of a new hand-crafted collectible featuring the iconic ‘Mr. Screen’ projection system featured in Pink Floyd’s legendary concerts. This unique collectible pays tribute to The Dark Side of the Moon tour of 1973/74, showcasing the imagery from the animated video shown on the screen during the performance of “Time” in the live show.”
Collectors will note an item in this month’s “Auction Results” section that several of the production items used by artist Ian Eames to create the originals for these projects were auctioned off for loads of cash, so this seems like an slightly more reasonable way to add an example of these works of art to your collection. Only 1973 of these will be manufactured and, per usual, each is hand-crafted and numbered. Shipping in the Fall of 2023, pre-order to reserve your official 50th Anniversary collectible now at –https://knucklebonz.com/product/pink-floyd-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-time-projection-screen-on-tour-collectible/?
b) Regarding the previously mentioned exhibition and upcoming book about The Art of Bizarre Record Sleeve, Simon Robinson recently shared a few page previews up on the book’s site now which you are free to view – https://easyontheeyebooks.wordpress.com/forthcoming/the-art-of-the-bizarre-album-sleeve/ and https://easyontheeyebooks.wordpress.com/forthcoming/the-art-of-the-bizarre-album-sleeve/bizarre-record-sleeves-page-previews/
Here, too, are some excerpts from the book’s advance press release that help explain the genesis of this new book – “From the unique collection of Steve Goldman a new book is in the pipeline, The Art Of The Bizarre Record Sleeve, containing the best of the worst as it were! In essence this forthcoming book revolves around Steve’s remarkable collection of album covers which first surfaced up at a public exhibition in Huddersfield in 2021…There are any number of “worst record sleeve” galleries on the internet, usually recycling the same poor-quality scans and even a couple of very low budget books. But Easy On The Eye decided that while these covers can be seen as strange from any number of angles, just to label them as “worst” seemed pejorative, there had to be a story behind them.
Hence The Art Of The Bizarre Record Sleeve, which aims to tackle the subject properly, with input not just from Steve, but some of the artists, collectors and designers, to find out what really happened. Simon Robinson, who has produced many sleeve designs himself (hopefully none of which feature in Steve’s collection!) and researched the subject for many years, has helped with the project. As he says, album covers rarely come from nowhere.
The core of the collection is vinyl albums of course, and the sleeves have largely been selected by Steve himself, as well as from polls conducted at his exhibitions to see what people there felt were ‘the strangest’.” Simon gave me a bit more detail about how the two collaborated on this tome in a follow-up email – “Steve has a great eye for spotting things I might have missed when looking at these covers. He is allowing me to pick and choose from his collection plus I am adding a few extra covers and back up material. I am also doing the research and writing. It’s what I do! But he was very pleased with the test layouts I sent and allowed me to tackle it a bit differently to what he had expected, keeping in mind I want to make a book which looks good but also gets behind the sleeve stories. I’ve been scanning his sleeves for days and am progressing into cleaning up and preparing text, but it is such fascinating stuff – every album sleeve has a story good or bad. There must be a reason why these covers ended up as they did. I mean I’ve looked at that Ted Nugent sleeve (Scream Dream) so many times and ignored it, but when you pay attention it is truly awful despite the talent involved! “
The Art Of The Bizarre Record Sleeve by Steve Goldman and Simon Robinson will be published later in 2023. Visit the publisher’s website – https://easyontheeyebooks.wordpress.com/forthcoming/the-art-of-the-bizarre-album-sleeve/ or the Instagram feed – https://www.instagram.com/worstrecordcovers/ to keep up to date with progress, publication schedules, distribution details, mail order, and to learn about future exhibitions and subscribe to the project newsletter. This book follows Easy On The Eye’s fabulous book Covered! about record covers which borrow, steal or imitate more famous covers, which you might also want to check out https://easyontheeyebooks.wordpress.com/new/covered-page-samples/
PLEASE NOTE – Much of Steve’s efforts are done to raise funds and awareness for Different Strokes – https://differentstrokes.co.uk/ – a charity helping younger stroke survivors. Steve himself suffered a stroke in his early 50s.
c) BOOK PROJECT UPDATE – A couple of month’s back, I shared info about photographer Elliott Landy’s latest Kickstarter program meant to raise the necessary funds to produce and deliver a second book of photos (and the stories behind them) derived from his huge and very behind-the-scenes archives of The Band – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebandbook2/elliott-landys-the-band-photographs-book-volume-2 As in the first project, supporters have been able to pre-order both books and book packages that include one of the many prints Elliott has on offer.
The program is up until April 8th, so you still have a few days to reserve a copy (or a package), but I am very pleased to announce that the project’s target levels have been met and so the book will be made (congratulations, Elliott!). Based on his updates, he’s looking to ship the final product this coming November, so they should arrive in time for Holiday gift-giving.
Earlier this month, the artist worked a bit via email to stoke further interest in the book by sharing some additional details and photos (and a video) from a visit to the original “Big Pink” house – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebandbook2/elliott-landys-the-band-photographs-book-volume-2/posts/3740192
d) NEW INFO – You’ll recall that in last month’s newsletter, I’d included a brief intro into the new boutique store that’s opened in Manchester, UK that features the prodigious work of art director Brian Cannon and his talented team at the Microdot studio. A recent email from the organization provided me with some updates to what’s available there for purchase and one of the things that caught my eye was what I at first thought was a print of the cover typography found on the mega-selling Definitely Maybe album by Oasis. In actuality, what’s available for purchase (priced at £65 unframed/$82.00, unframed, as of 3/27/23) is a unique, handwritten edition of the logo. As the item’s description reveals, “Contrary to popular belief, the logo for Definitely Maybe on the Oasis album cover is NOT Noel Gallagher’s handwriting, nor is it a typeface – it’s the writing of Oasis sleeve designer Brian Cannon.”
Each A2-sized (60 x 43 cm / 24 x 17 inches) work is personally written by Brian, and numbered 1/1 to denote each one is unique, and Brian also signs each copy, with a personal dedication (e.g. “To Mike, Live Forever”) available on request at no extra cost. https://www.microdotboutique.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/oasis-definitely-maybe-handwritten-new-item
How cool is that?
Auction Results Updates:
a) Bonham’s British Cool auction staged at the end of March included several album art/artist-related lots that proved to be quite popular – https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28242/british-cool/?
Fans of album art featuring The Beatles had the opportunity to bid on items by artists and photographers closely associated with the band including Sir Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, Iain Macmillan and Robert Freeman, while lovers of all things David Bowie were treated to lots culled from the works of Brian Duffy, Mick Rock, Terry O’Neill and Mr. Bowie himself. Pink Floyd fans bid on works by Storm Thorgerson and Ian Eames and those of us with punk in our veins looked to snap up items from Jamie Reid, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren. Lastly but not leastly, the auction also included a fine selection of Rolling Stones-related artwork, including art and photography from Andy Warhol, Michael Cooper, Terry O’Neill and Peter Webb.
Standout examples of items sold include a 2007 print of Blake’s artwork for The Beatles’ Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band LP (which sold for £8,925 inc. premium); a series of five outtake photos from Iain MacMillan’s Abbey Road sessions with The Beatles, which sold for £9,562.50 inc. premium; a copy of Mick Rock’s “David Bowie With Hunky Dory Album Cover, Haddon Hall, 1972” was purchased for £1,402.50 inc. premium and an Ian Eames Pink Floyd tour-used multi-cel set for ‘Speak To Me – Over The Edge For Yonks’, ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ done in 1974 sold for a cool £6,375 inc. premium, with other similar stage props by the artist selling for £7013 inc. premium up to £20,400 inc. premium (obviously a very good year to be selling and buying Pink Floyd-related art and memorabilia!). As you might imagine, the big money was spent that day on a work by Andy Warhol – one of his well-known prints of Mick Jagger from the artist’s Mick Jagger portfolio was purchased for £151,500 inc. premium, another impressive showing for a work by an artist who got his start doing album covers for jazz records in the 1950s!
b) UPDATED WITH RESULTS – Jacques and the team at Backstage Auction recently staged an auction based on the 450+ item collection of a long-time fan of the Rolling Stones named Nathan Levy that includes several items that should be of interest to album art fans. Included in the mix are prints and posters of imagery from Exile on Main Street, Beggar’s Banquet, Stripped, Goats Head Soup, Forty Licks and several more. One item that caught my eye was a limited-edition print (done in 2013/14) of Ernie Cefalu’s version of the famous “Lips & Tongue” logo which was personalized by Ernie to the collector. This lot sold for a very reasonable $200, so it definitely makes sense to scour through the lots of any Backstage auction as you never know when you might run across a bargain like that one! https://www.backstageauctions.com/catalog/auction.php
Brief Bits:
c) A large poster reprint of the album’s original cover art by the great Stanislaw Zagorski is included in the Vinyl Factory’s new 9-LP box set of The Velvet Underground’s 1970 Loaded – https://thevinylfactory.com/news/the-velvet-undergrounds-loaded/ Original back cover photography was shot by Henri Ter Hall.
Miscellaneous Items and other Brief Bits:
As always, I’m going to have to keep these short-and-sweet (well, most of them, anyway):
a) Noted photographer Trevor “Butch” Greene (AKA Talib Haqq), who captured some of hip-hop’s earliest stars and the associated club scene for posterity, died in early March in Los Angeles at the age of 67 – https://rockthebells.com/articles/butch-greene-run-dmc-photographer-has-died/
Greene was responsible for the cover photo for Run-DMC’s debut album, and other notables found in Greene’s archives include Russell Simmons, LL CooL J, Ice Cube, Whodini, Kurtis Blow and Madonna. An obituary with more details about the artist’s life can also be found at https://everloved.com/life-of/talib-haq/obituary/
b) Who can forget the photo freelance photographer Burk Uzzle shot of two young lovers huddling under a blanket at the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art festival staged on a farm in Bethel, NY that ended up serving as the cover of the live triple album that included recordings of many of the performers/performances that made the event so memorable? Well, Old Father Time has taken away another one of those icons from our youth with the passing of Bobbi Ercoline this past March 18th, the young woman in the picture with her boyfriend-later-to-be-husband Nick, who survives her.
https://deadline.com/2023/03/bobbi-ercoline-dead-woodstock-album-cover-obituary-1235304881/ and https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/arts/music/bobbi-ercoline-dead.html
c) One of the downsides to a monthly newsletter is that I learn about some events a bit too late to give my readers a “heads-up” about them, and such is the case of a themed competition, done in the style of the popular “March Madness” basketball tournament, that’s staged by Brooklyn-based album cover fan (and DJ and art show curator and TV/webcast personality) Dick Burroughs. Called “Cover Lover Madness”, this competition puts 32 pairs of well-known covers up against each other in a fan-fueled ‘vote-off’, with each round whittling down the choices until only one remains.
Since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop music, all of the contestants in this competition are well-known hip-hop album covers representing the best of the genre. Each voter is allowed to vote five times and scores are updated in near real time. And to give fans the chance to get together and discuss how and why certain covers should be considered “the best”, Mr. Burroughs is also hosting several live events (with the last one scheduled for Saturday, April 8th, from 2 pm-7 pm at BierWax in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, “where fans can debate the covers in person over drinks”).
The local BKReader.com site has a nice article about the competition – https://www.bkreader.com/local-voices/cover-lover-madness-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-hip-hop-with-an-all-hip-hop-album-cover-challenge-6770706 and according to the article, the first Cover Lover Madness event (held in 2022) ended with Grace Jones’s cover for her 1985 compilation album Island Life – featuring the memorable shot of the elegant Ms. Jones taken by Jean-Paul Goude – winning it all. Of course, I’m eager to see who wins this year’s competition and you know that I’ll be happy to share the information as soon as it is available.
d) The writers at the American Songwriter site have discovered seven “easter eggs” – “hidden” items, there in plain sight – on seven well known album cover images, and you can take a look and then tell yourself “I’ve seen that cover a hundred times yet I NEVER saw that” just like I did when you’re done – https://americansongwriter.com/7-surprising-album-cover-art-easter-eggs-can-you-spot-them-all/ I would like to point out that the last cover included in the article – the one for Def Leppard’s Retro Active compilation – was most-certainly inspired by a famous late 19th century work by American illustrator C. Allan Gilbert entitled All Is Vanity, but cudos to designer Hugh Syme for his update to that classic image (please be sure to read about Mr. Syme’s exhibition in Los Angeles beginning in April, too).
e) Attention all creative individuals who might also be Pink Floyd fans – here’s your chance to add to the mystique of the band’s Dark Side of the Moon album – celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year – by applying your talents to produce a music video for one or more of the record’s tracks – https://www.pinkfloyd.com/tdsotm50/competition/ Over £235,000 total in cash prizes will be awarded. Deadline for submissions is November 30th 2023.
f) A design scholar looks at the DSOTM cover – Christopher Vezza – PhD Candidate in Text and Image Studies, University of Glasgow posted an interesting article where he makes a credible argument about some earlier album cover imagery that looks to have influenced the Hipgnosis-designed artwork produced in 1973. https://theconversation.com/the-dark-side-of-the-moon-at-50-an-album-artwork-expert-on-pink-floyds-music-marketing-revolution-200932
g) In another example of what seems to be an ongoing series of “what ever happened to” articles featuring the people and places seen on famous album covers, Justin Beckner from the Ultimate Guitar site serves us some tasty updates on the personalities featured on covers by U2, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and several others – https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/what_ever_happened_to_people_on_famous_album_covers_part_iii-147926
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 hearing 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. As you’ll read In an early March article from the New York Times that was excerpted on the ArtDaily website – https://artdaily.cc/news/155062/Why-Warhol-images-are-making-museums-nervous#.ZAd_iHbMK02 it seems certain that art organizations and individual creative types of all stripes – museums, image agencies, photographers, book publishers, etc. – are currently sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how this particular court rules on the matter…
h) Here’s a story that helps illustrate the importance of locking in licensing fees for the art/illustrations/photographs used on album covers. Guitarist Joe Satriani’s 1987 album Surfing With The Alien featured some John Byrne-penned illustrations of Marvel’s Silver Surfer character, licensed for what was then a reasonable fee. That, of course, was before certain of Marvel’s universe of characters became enormously-valuable stars of film, merchandise, etc., so when the record label chose to re-issue the album many years later, well….read the gory-but-unsurprising details in this article by Tony Sokol on the Den Of Geek site – https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/how-marvel-silver-surfer-met-rock-guitar-god/
Brief Bits:
i) It doesn’t get any easier than this! If you’d like a brief story about the making of every Metallica album cover since the band’s 1983 debut, Metal Hammer’s Matt Mills (with the help of Merlin Alderslade) has gathered them all into one handy article – https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-every-single-metallica-album-cover-art
j) Writing for the Tokyo Art Beat site, writer Terrance Young offers up a concise list of album covers that feature fine art masterworks on their covers. Examples include albums from Coldplay, The Strokes, Weezer and several others – https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/en/articles/-/album-covers-with-masterpieces-of-art-202303
k) Just in case it has never crossed your minds that album artwork can be used to decorate your living space, Lucy Clark at the decorating-centered website Housedigest.com shared some ideas on how you might go about doing just that – https://www.housedigest.com/1244043/how-use-vinyl-albums-art-spotlight-favorite-record-covers/
Lastly but not Leastly
I read with great interest this recent article on the NPR website noting the fact that vinyl records have outsold CDs for the first time since 1987 and continue to appeal to buyers both young and old – https://www.npr.org/2023/03/10/1162568704/vinyl-outsells-cds-first-time-since-1987-records 41 million LPs vs 33 million CDs – the 16th straight year of growth for vinyl.
Could it be that the full-size package is the appeal. Perhaps as Boomers grow older, they’re looking to replace old favorites in a format that just seems to keep on giving – even enticing the young’uns to take them for a spin. That, plus the fact that now that we can’t see so well any more might also factor in to the preference towards a larger, easier to read format (I know that’s a bit ageist, but I’m a bit aged, so give me a break)!
That’s all for now – stay tuned and be on the lookout for the timely news alerts you’ll find on our news feed (sign up below to get an automatic email every time there’s something new on the ACHOF site). I’ll be returning at the end of April (only 30 days this year – who knew?) or the first day of May with another update and so, until then, enjoy the emergence of Spring flowers – maybe even a hummingbird or two – clean off your balconies or patios and get ready to enjoy the warmer days ahead.
Peace and Love to you all,
Mike G
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2023 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. Photos from Simon Robinson (Easy On The Eye) and Hugh Brown were provided by these artists and are used with their permission. All 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 kind words. Happy to include you and your work in the summary – you always have something interesting to read on your site – keep up the great work. MG
That’s an amazing directory of news and happenings, Mike.
Delighted for Vinyl Connection to be in such company.
Thanks a lot for the shoutout.