Posted January 31, 2024 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
Hello to all of you – Hope that you all enjoyed the final days of the Holiday season, stuck with at least one of your New Year’s resolutions (such as the one where you commit to reading this newsletter each month and then share it with at least one friend) and have enjoyed the opening stanzas of this year’s cosmic symphony. I must admit that I’ve been a bit lazy up to this with regards to my research and writing for this site, but I’m beginning to feel the rhythm and hope to get back on tempo as we inch our way towards Spring.
On that note, let’s start this month’s summary, which I’ve posted a day early due to the fact that a couple of items take place on or soon after February 1st and I didn’t want you to miss them. I’ve started this month’s missive by sharing some updated news on some of the recent award shows that have taken place (or, in the case of the Grammy Awards, will be taking place quite soon) and then continue on with an overview of the categories featured in our regular updates – album art/artist-related exhibitions, interviews, sales/auctions and other interesting miscellaneous items and, when that’s all been addressed, I’ll share a brief paragraph on a related topic that I found quite interesting and, therefore, was motivated to share with you all. Let us begin.
Award Show Announcements
In the past month, I’ve posted two “Breaking News” articles with information on the results of two top album art/music packaging award shows – 1) the Best Art Vinyl awards for 2023 – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2024/01/11/achof-breaking-news-update-here-are-the-winners-of-the-2023-best-art-vinyl-awards-competition/ (with a bit more coverage available on the Creative Boom site – https://www.creativeboom.com/news/pj-harveys-deceptively-simple-album-cover-wins-best-art-vinyl-award/)
and then 2) the Clio Music Awards in the Design and Packaging categories – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/achof-breaking-news-update-here-are-the-winners-of-the-clio-music-awards-in-the-design-packaging-categories/
Finally, as I’ve reported previously, the special ceremony that will include the awarding of the Grammy Awards in the three record packaging categories – “The 66th Annual Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony” – will take place on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with the live webcast taking place beginning at 12:30pm local time.” Of course, the entire staff of the ACHOF will be on hand (on a black plastic carpet mat as we couldn’t get permission to be anywhere near the red carpet) to bring you all of the exciting details within minutes of them happening, so please be sure to add a calendar reminder to check in for that important news info. Once again, the three awards will be given for “Best Recording Package”, “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package” and “Best Album Notes”, and if you’d like tosee the full list of nominees in all categories, please visit https://www.grammy.com/news/2024-grammys-nominees-record-of-the-year
Exhibitions and Gallery Show Info (new and upcoming soon)
a) With a portfolio of album cover credits that includes packages for some of rock’s best-known musical acts, the late designer Andie Airfix’s contributions to the world of album art can’t be understated, so when I learned of this show set to launch on the 3rd of February (running through March 31st) at a museum/gallery near his hometown, I wanted to share this info with you so that everyone in the area could make plans to tour the exhibition.
Airfix, who died in 2018 at the age of 72, was originally from Culcheth, just outside of Liverpool, was the principal at SATORI Graphic, and during his 40+ year career, he produced a wide range of memorable designs for clients in the music business, collaborating with top-tier musical acts including Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Metallica and the Rolling Stones.
Notable design credits include Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Pryromania and Adrenalize; Metallica – Load, Re-Load, Garage Inc and S&M; The Thompson Twins – Close To The Bone and In To The Gap; Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years; Robert Plant’s Dreamland and Led Zeppelin – Early Days/Later Days, BBC Sessions. In addition to his album cover art portfolio, in 2010 Airfix was commissioned to create a mural of guitarist Jimi Hendrix for a custom-decorated suite at Guoman’s The Cumberland Hotel in London, Hendrix’s last known address prior to his death in September, 1970.
For more information on this must-see deep dig into the creative mind of Andie Airfix, please visit with Warrington Museum and Art Gallery website at – https://culturewarrington.org/whats-on/the-andie-airfix-exhibition/
The local press has provided an intro to the show, including an interview with Airfix’s brother, via this link – https://theguideliverpool.com/from-paul-mccartney-to-metallica-new-exhibition-celebrates-legendary-designer-who-worked-with-the-stars/#google_vignette
For more information on this artist, please visit his website at http://www.andieairfix.com/
b) A trip from Paris to Los Angeles to visit his mother in the early 1980s brought young Mathieu Bitton face-to-face with something that would change his life forever – that being hearing the music of Prince. He’d return to live with his mom in 1987, at the age of 14 (bringing his growing collection of Prince music and memorabilia with him), and it was then that he took on his first job in the music business by creating a Prince fanzine. Moving to New York to study journalism at NYU, these studies and a job at a design firm, where his talents in design, music and the visual arts did not go unnoticed, began his deep dive into a design career, landing freelance gigs for Polygram Records as well as for clients in the film industry, ultimately working with director Quentin Tarantino on a book about “blaxploitation” film posters.
Since then, he’s design graphics and other imagery for hundreds of entertainment industry clients and, more recently, he added photo cameras (in particular, Leica photo cameras) to his arsenal of tools with which to create memorable imagery for his clients and an appreciative public, and so I was quite happy to read about a new retrospective show currently running (through March 4th) at the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles – https://leicagalleryla.com/upcoming-exhibitions/
Here’s a link to the intro PR on the show, where you’ll learn more about both the artist and what’s on display – https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leica-honors-celebrity-photographer-mathieu-bitton-with-retrospective-exhibition-at-los-angeles-gallery-302024772.html
Here’s a short list of just some of the notable album package credits included in Bitton’s resume – Jane’s Addiction – A Cabinet of Curiosities, for which he received a Grammy nomination; Richard Marx – Stories To Tell; Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’; Marvin Gaye – The Marvin Gaye Collection; Prince – Ultimate; Bliss – Quiet Letters; Jakob Dylan – Seeing Things; Barry White – Gold; Funkadelic – By Way of the Drum; James Brown – The Singles: Vols. 1-4; DJ Quick – The Best of DJ Quick; Buddy Guy – The Definitive Buddy Guy; Lenny Kravitz – Black & White America and Strut and War’s Evolutionary along with a series of “Platinum” and “Gold Collection” compilations for artists including Waylon Jennings, A Flock of Seagulls, Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Aretha Franklin, Cowboy Junkies and others.
More information on this artist is available on his website – http://www.mathieubitton.fr/biography/
c) The exhibition of some of the record industry’s strangest album covers – some have even called them “bizarre” – that coincides with the publication of the book from Easy On The Eye Publishing called The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve – finished up its run at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum in Birkenhead, Wirral (Merseyside), UK at the end of January (see photo, below – https://williamsonartgallery.org/event/worst-record-covers/ ) and much of that same collection will be transported to let fans in the NorthEast of the country stand amongst all of it’s strange glory with a show that opens on the 7th of February (running through April 21, 2024) at the Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery in Alnwick (about 40 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.), with more details on that exhibition available on the venue’s website at https://bailiffgatemuseum.co.uk/whats-on/worlds-worst-album-covers/
Both the book and the related exhibitions have been getting a lot of press since it’s release at the end of 2023. For example, here’s an Interview with the book’s publisher Simon Robinson about this anthology of the weird-yet-fascinating and “What Makes Bad Album Art Awful, According to the Guy Who Wrote the Book” – https://exclaim.ca/music/article/worst_album_covers_simon_robinson_interview_art_of_the_bizarre_vinyl_sleeve
Ongoing Exhibitions (listed in order of their end dates)
CONTINUING Through March, 2024 – Photographer Frank Ockenfels (AKA Frank Ockenfels 3) was the son of an upstate NY ad man who was introduced to the joys of photography while in high school, moving on to NYC’s School of Visual Arts in 1978 to further hone his craft and explore the endless wonders of that city. A college friend who worked at Rolling Stone Magazine brought him in to help by taking portraits of several musicians and, after graduation, a job with Josh Greene (son of famed photographer Milton Greene) further expanded his love for the medium and lead him to where he is today, the subject of a new exhibition at the Fotografiska Museum/Gallery in New York called Introspection that’s running now until the end of March, 2024 – https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/exhibitions/frank-ockenfels-3/
Ockenfels expanded his portfolio in the 1990s to include music video production and soon moved in to creating promo campaigns for TV and films, with credits including the hit shows Breaking Bad and Mad Men and movies including The Bear, Pirates of the Caribbean and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
Notable album package credits include – Everclear’s So Much For The Afterglow and Icons; Billy Joel – Storm Front; Michelle Shocked – Arkansas Traveller; The Highwaymen – The Road Goes On Forever; No Doubt – The Singles: 1993 – 2002; Jackson Browne – Solo Acoustic, Vols. 1 & 2; Alanis Morrissette – Flavors of Entanglement; R.E.M. – Out Of Time; Sting – The Last Ship; Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts; Neil Diamond – The Very Best of Neil Diamond: The Original Studio Recordings and David Bowie’s Earthling and Hours, among others. While still working as a commercial photographer, Frank leads a separate life as a fine artist and you’ll find examples of both sides of his career featured in this show.
Find out more about this artist on his web site at https://fwo3.com/
CONTINUING Through next September, 2024 – A comprehensive overview of hip-hop music and culture is the basis for an exhibit that recently opened at The Grammy Museum in LA and Variety.com’s Steven J. Horowitz takes us on a tour of the multi-floor extravaganza in this article – https://variety.com/2023/music/news/grammy-museum-hip-hop-america-the-mixtape-exhibit-preview-1235747771/amp/? The show – titled Hip-Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit – will be up until next September and includes a number of unique artifacts and interactive displays.
Artist News and Interviews
a) Designer Masaki Koike, who is up for a Grammy this year for his work on the various iterations he crafted for Lou Reed: Words & Music, May 1965 (a 2 LP “deluxe” edition, along with single LP and CD versions) has put up a “case study website” on which he shares a great deal of information on the process he followed to conceptualize, design and produce these packages – https:/lrwmmay1965.cargo.site/
As Masaki shared in his posting about this commission, “Back in December 2019, I was invited to the Light In The Attics holiday party by Ryan Wilson. I met Matt Sullivan, owner of LITA, and got to talking about working on something together. In February 2020, they approached me with this project and the rest is history! This website is to showcase the process that went into the development of the artwork and packaging for this release. I combed through hundreds of email exchanges and sorted through files over the last few years. Things don’t happen overnight!” It’s not often that we get to see the behind-the-scenes details of a project such as this, so let’s say “thanks” to Masaki for sharing them with us.
b) Another one of the talented artists who were nominated for a Grammy Award this year was Mount Airy, PA-based illustrator Perry Shall, who is the man tasked with creating album cover imagery for Black Keys musician Dan Auerbach’s record label Easy Eye Sound, on which the nominated record Electrophonic Chronic, the 2023 album by the Arcs (the collective led by Auerbach) was released. Shall has also done album packages for a wide range of acts including Green Day, Son Volt, Hank Williams, Jr and Kurt Vile and, in this feature profile I found on the Philadelphia Inquirer web site – https://www.inquirer.com/entertainment/music/perry-shall-philadelphia-album-design-20240126.html – you’ll learn more about this artist and the impressive collection of music and memorabilia he surrounds himself with to provide him with an almost-perfect creative environment.
You can also find out more about this Grammy-nominated artist on his web site at https://www.perryshall.com/
c) After beginning his career as a noted celebrity photographer, with album cover credits for musical acts such as Mariah Carey, Tom Jones, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Sir Elton John (for whom he shot the cover of One Night Only), David LaChapelle brought his prodigious talents as a photographer to the world of music videos, producing impressive shorts for musical acts including Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Macy Gray, Jennifer Lopez, Moby, No Doubt, The Vines, Amy Winehouse and others, with Elton John enlisting David to help him stage his Red Piano stage spectaculars in 2004. He then moved on to film, producing the award-winning documentary about the street dance style called “krumping” (titled Krumped) and the film RIZE, which opened up the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.
Deciding to focus on his fine art work, LaChapelle stepped away from commercial assignments in 2006 and, since that time, his work has been shown in galleries (inc. the Paul Kasmin and Tony Shafrazi galleries in NYC and others in Brussels, Hong Kong and Munich) and museums world-wide, but when Sir Elton calls…read this feature on the MusicTimes.com site about their new collaboration on Elton and Bernie Taupin’s latest record – https://www.musictimes.com/articles/99550/20240111/elton-john-new-music-2024-singer-taps-david-lachapelle-album.htm
Brief Bits:
d) Artist Margo Nahas – an artist whose works and with creative partner Jay Vigon have graced the covers of records by top-notch musical acts including Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac and Price, is revered in hard rock music circles for one album cover image in particular which, this year, celebrates its 40th anniversary (you’ll know it when you see it, you devil you) – https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/9591/40th-anniversary-van-halen-album-1984-margo-nahas-album-artist/
Items for Sale and/or at Auction
BREAKING NEWS – ONE NIGHT ONLY – Fans of great psychedelic art should make note that, on Thursday, February 1, artist David Edward Byrd will be participating in an interview session and then signing copies of his book Poster Child: The Psychedelic Art & Technicolor Life of David Edward Byrd, at The Society of Illustrators in NYC from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. This will be a ticketed event ($15 general, $10 members, $7 seniors/students) – https://societyillustrators.org/event/poster-child-david-edward-byrd-in-conversation-with-co-author-robert-von-goeben/
While Byrd is perhaps better-known as a poster artist, having created memorable promo images for films including Follies, Godspell, and Little Shop of Horrors (among others), he’s also put together an impressive list of album package design and illustration credits, including the Rolling Stones’ Get Yer Ya-Yas Out; Country Joe & The Fish – CJ Fish; Lou Reed – Sally Can’t Dance and The RCA & Arista Album Collection and the original cast recordings for Magic Show, Zombie Prom (Face The Music), Tommy: The Rock Opera and Godspell: The 40th Anniversary Collection (he also produced the initial designs for the Woodstock music festival back in 1969).
Those unable to attend this rare East Coast visit by the noted graphic artist can still get their own copy of the book on the publisher’s website – https://www.abramsbooks.com/contributor/david-edward-byrd_50640136/
Thanks to Richard Amsel biographer and film-maker Adam McDaniel for sharing this information with me. Richard keeps in touch with Byrd, who was a long-time chum of Amsel, as you can see in this profile on David found on Adam’s blog – https://www.richardamselmovie.com/single-post/2016/10/13/david-edward-byrd-an-old-hippie-forever-young-at-heart
b) Elton John’s selling the contents of his Atlanta, GA mansion and, included in the mix of items that will be available at the auction that Christie’s is hosting on Feb 21st of this year is a Terry O’Neill photo that album art fans might want to take a look at – https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6466336
From the photo session that produced the cover shot for Mr. John’s 1974 Greatest Hits record, collectors can bid on a chromogenic print of a variation of that photo that was produced in 2014 to be sold at a fund-raising auction for EJ’s AIDS Foundation. The singer/songwriter is also a well-known art collector and, in an accompanying article on the Christie’s site, you can read an interview with John’s spouse David Furnish about how the couple began to develop their world-class collection – https://www.christies.com/en/stories/elton-john-atlanta-collection-0f7f2cd2ed364b5589e81033d4ccc6af
c) Designer Peter Saville has once again teamed up with New Order to produce a design for a t-shirt that commemorates the popularity of the hugely-popular single “Blue Monday” (with the memorable opening lyric “How Does It Feel”) while raising funds for the UK-based suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) on “Blue Monday”. Sure to sell out quickly, the t-shirts sport the same color wheel design Saville created for use on both the record cover and in the music video for the track back in 1983 – https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/peter-saville-and-new-order-release-limited-edition-blue-monday-charity-t-shirt According to the article, January 15th , AKA “Blue Monday”, “is the day often associated with being the most depressing day of the year due to factors like the winter blues and lack of funds following the festive period. 100 per cent of the profit from t-shirt sales will go to CALM’s lifesaving work supporting anyone struggling with their mental health.” Great design and a strong purpose make this a very desirable offering.
d) Not exactly an album cover-related item, but perhaps one showing the regular cross-pollination between art and music and how often times practitioners in one also work in the other… during breaks in their touring schedule, The Beatles would be looking for ways to pass the time in their hotel suites and one way was to gather to create works of art. One example of that sort of creative endeavor was created in a hotel in Tokyo, Japan in June/July 1966 and that work is set to be offered for sale via the Christie’s auction house on February 1 – https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6467442?
Christie’s PR on the sale – https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=11154&lid=1
Other items that will be included in The Exceptional Sale are a guitar once owned by Elvis Presley (once on display at the Elvis-A-Rama Museum in Las Vegas) and a knitted vest worn by singer Janis Joplin (taken by photographer David Gahr on the roof garden of the Chelsea Hotel in NYC in 1970, ultimately gracing the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine in 1976), both with pre-auction estimates in the many thousands of dollars…
Brief Bits:
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THIS – COMING VERY SOON – They’re back…and, by the looks of things, better than ever. For several years prior to COVID, those in the music/arts worlds collaborated to create a very unusual and successful project to raise money for charities in the UK but, like so many things paused by the pandemic, this effort has remained dormant. If you’ll recall, the Secret 7” project asked visual artists of all stripes to anonymously craft one-off designs for singles put out by some of the music industry’s top talent, with these items put up for auction/sale, with all of the proceeds going to that year’s selected charitable organizations. What made this all the more exciting was that, amongst the works submitted, several were created by some of the world’s most-collected artists so, without knowing it, the lucky buyers might have ended up with an original by Stanley Donwood, Anish Kapoor or Lubaina Himid (who all were included in the last offering in 2021), among others. Past contributors have also included Yoko Ono, Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley and other top artists.
Once they’re submitted, all of the covers (100 each of seven tracks) will be put up on display at London’s NOW Gallery from the 2nd to the 18th of March, 2024, after which they’ll be sold off. More to be found at https://www.secret-7.co.uk/
So happy to see this return.
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:
John Byrne – News travels slowly across the ocean sometimes – I’d like to note the passing ofScottish artist (and playwright and designer and creator of the hit 1980’s BAFTA-winning BBC series Tutti Frutti) John Byrne, who died last November 30th in Paisley (UK) at the age of 83 –https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/scotsman-obituaries-john-byrne-artist-and-writer-whose-characters-were-rooted-in-comedy-of-real-life-4441226 and more at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-67589431
Kishin Shinoyama – Michinobu “Kishin” Shinoyama – notable album package credits include – John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy and Milk & Honey; Plastic Ono Band – Feeling The Space; John Lennon – John Lennon: Anthology; many Japanese musical acts on labels including Sony/CBS, Capitol Records, Toshiba, Polydor, Philips, King Records and many others.
Born in December 1940 in Tokyo, Japan and beginning his career in a PR firm while still a student at Nihon University, he left working in that field to become a freelance photographer in 1968, the same year he took his first record package photo for Town of Northern Border, a pop record on Toshiba’s record label, which was soon followed by dozens of others for other Japanese labels. One person he frequently photographed, actress, singer and CBS/Sony recording artist Saori Minami, would become his wife in 1979, and his career-long portfolio would include over 150 album package credits.
Shinoyama was also a busy portrait/fashion/editorial photographer, capturing memorable images of Japanese celebrities including writer Yukio Mishima, actress Rie Miyazawa, Kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo and singer Momoe Yamaguchi, among others. While spending time in New York City, he also met former Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono who, just weeks prior to Lennon’s assassination, invited him to produce a photo session that would include one shot of the couple kissing in NYC’s Central Park that would become the cover of what would be Lennon’s last recording, 1980’s Double Fantasy. He’d work with the couple again on 1984’s posthumous Milk & Honey release, with work for several other artists outside Japan (including jazz master Keith Jarrett), and would return to work with Yoko on both her own Plastic Ono Band’s 1997 release Feeling The Space and again in 1998 for the John Lennon: Anthology set.
Shinoyama’s interests also included producing artistic nude photos (beginning in the late 1960s) with his collections of actresses Miyazawa and Kanako Higuchi, which were both published in 1991 and became huge hits, selling millions of copies. His work came under the intense scrutiny of local censors after he was found shooting nudes in a Tokyo cemetery and, in 2010, he was fined for both public indecency and blasphemy.
In 2015, Shinoyama teamed with art and book publisher Taschen to release a book of some of the 800 shots taken of Lennon and Ono titled Double Fantasy. To promote his photo book and series of limited-edition prints of images from the photo session, the company put out a nice promo video about the making of the John and Yoko Double Fantasy cover image – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYJLXPMtShE&t=1s
View the prints at https://www.taschen.com/en/collection/kishin-shinoyama
Shinoyama died on January 4th, 2024 of natural causes. He was 83 years old. He was survived by his wife and a son, Akinobu Shinoyama.
Learn more about this artist on his web site (in Japanese and a little English) – https://shinoyama.net/
Read more coverage of his passing from publications around the world – https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/01/b36de5460906-urgent-japanese-photographer-kishin-shinoyama-dies-at-83.html and on the Design Boom site at https://www.designboom.com/art/kishin-shinoyama-obituary-photographer-john-lennon-yoko-ono-double-fantasy-01-05-2024/
More news items:
a) Good Friend of the ACHOF Kevin Julie has been very hard at work adding to the long list of his “Story Behind the Album Cover” series (found on his Outsider-Rock web site), with five articles penned over the past several months available for your reading pleasure that include the details behind covers for musical acts including Dokken, April Wine, Wings of Steel, Raven and (as always) one act I wasn’t previously aware of, that being, with the last item featuring artwork directed by the musician himself and a nice “unboxing video” where he shares the details of all of the related inspirations that manifested themselves in his new Golden Age of Music album.
Dokken’s Heaven Comes Down – https://outsiderrock.ca/2023/12/19/story-behind-the-album-cover-dokkens-heaven-comes-down/ – which features artwork by the band’s multi-talented bass player, Chris McCarvill.
April Wine’s Animal Grace – https://outsiderrock.ca/2023/12/22/story-behind-the-album-cover-april-wines-animal-grace/
Wings of Steel ‘s Gates of Twilight – https://outsiderrock.ca/2023/08/13/story-behind-the-album-cover-wings-of-steel-with-spencer-caligiuri/
Raven’s All Hell’s Breaking Loose – https://outsiderrock.ca/2023/07/29/story-behind-the-album-cover-ravens-all-hells-breaking-loose-with-andrej-bartulovic/
Arjen Lucassen’s Sonic Revolution’s Golden Age of Music – https://outsiderrock.ca/2023/06/13/story-behind-the-album-cover-arjen-lucassens-supersonic-revolution-golden-age-of-music/
Kevin’s Outsider-Rock site has been bringing visitors a treasure trove of rock music-related articles (album reviews, interviews and more) since 2014 and I’m always happy to point people in his direction to learn more about their favorite topics.
b) The ninth studio album by rapper Kid Cudi, which was released on January 12th, 2024, via Wicked Awesome Records and Republic Records, features album cover designs by creative multi-disciplinary artist associated with the LA-based design house (“creative playground”) RYB. Josh Goldenberg, AKA “Glassface” – https://lbbonline.com/news/music-and-3d-modelling-fuse-for-kid-cudis-ground-breaking-album-cover-art
“Glassface, the renowned multimedia artist, director, and composer, known for his trailblazing approach to visual arts, has once again showcased his creative genius by crafting one of four album covers and animated character alongside designer KAWS for the highly anticipated music album release, Insano, by rapper and singer-songwriter Kid Cudi. In an unprecedented partnership, Glassface seamlessly merges his artistic vision with cutting-edge technology including 3D modelling and AI to produce one album cover that transcends traditional boundaries. “
“For the cover, Cudi and I aimed to create something psychedelic, visually arresting, and that matches how the music feels. After we developed the final cover, we wanted to visualise a full-body version of the character. I’ve incorporated AI as an element in my creative process over the past couple of years and ended up using it to help imagine different versions and ideas for the full-body character. I refined the best version and we modelled a 3D character from those sketches that can now exist in the world of Insano.”
c) Just how far will a musical act go to deliver an album cover that their fans will remember forever? In the case of the Mexican hardcore band Brujera and their 1993 debut album titled Matando Gueros (“killing whites”, in English), too far was just far enough, as far as the band and (initially) their record label were concerned. Offensive title – check. Disturbing (and, unfortunately, real) photo image – check. Revolts at both the distributor and retail level – check. Quick fix to get the record onto retail shelves – what do you think? Read the story on the Ultimate Guitar website – https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/how_controversial_metal_album_cover_got_banned_a_couple_hours_after_release_thats_exactly_what_we_wanted.html where you’ll see that, even after such an auspicious start to their career, the band is still performing/releasing new music even to this day. That’s good, right?
d) American Songwriter contributor Thom Donovan returns with another story on album art and the people who make it, with this one’s focus on the illustrious Stanley Donwood, perhaps best-known for his work for his mates in Radiohead (you might recall my October article on some of his public works in the UK city of Bath). This one details his “Top 5” album covers for the band, without a loser in the bunch – https://americansongwriter.com/the-top-5-radiohead-album-covers-designed-by-thom-yorkes-go-to-artist-stanley-donwood/
COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY UPDATES
a) NEWLY UPDATED WITH ADD’L INFO – As the previously-thought-dead legal case in which former Nirvana cover model Spencer Elden is trying to get some compensation for the emotional distress he’s suffered since we all saw his penis as an infant re-enters the legal system here (as reported here last month), I wanted to report that the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court has given Elden a limited-leash via which he can bring his previously-dismissed case against Nirvana and several other defendants back to court. It seems that they’ve reconsidered the statute of limitations defense and believe that he has some standing in that he’s claiming that he’s been harmed more-recently via the re-release of Nevermind (a 30th anniversary set came out in 2021). If you’d like to read a detailed analysis of the court’s ruling, the smart people on the JDSupra.com site have provided one in this article – https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/nirvana-stuck-in-lawsuit-over-nevermind-5701761/
b) Back in early 2017, New York-based photographer and painter Richard Prince became embroiled in a lawsuit when another photographer challenged Prince’s “fair use” claim for “borrowing” an image. Album art fans will remember his art and photos found on records released by Hole, Air, Sonic Youth, Robbie Robertson and others (you can read a bit more about his album art work for his music industry clients in an article penned back in that time by Artnet’s Kate Brown titled “Richard Prince, Rock Star? The Artist Indulges His Inner Musician With Trippy New Album-Cover Paintings”, where fans can learn more about this always-fascinating artist/provocateur – https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/richard-prince-exhibition-max-hetzler-1096808. Whatever happened to that legal action? Well, in a new ArtDaily article by Matt Stevens, you’ll find the details about how this case recently was settled right before the trial began, with Prince agreeing to pay out $650,000 to two shooters (Donald Graham and Eric McNatt) whose works served as the basis for two of Prince’s pieces, both of which were included in public exhibitions several years ago (per the article, “Graham’s image was incorporated into a work referred to as ‘Portrait of Rastajay92,’ which was exhibited at a New York gallery in 2014. McNatt’s image was used in a work referred to as ‘Portrait of Kim Gordon,’ which was shown at a gallery in 2015.” Read more about the court case and what it might mean to others who feel that its their right to re-use others works in the making of their own – https://artdaily.cc/news/166178/Richard-Prince-to-pay-photographers-who-sued-over-copyright
More to come – you can count on it.
c) NEW FROM MUSE BY CLIO – Here’s a brief overview of the latest entries in the ongoing series of album art-related features on the Muse By Clio site. This recap 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.
– 10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Scott Savitt of Connelly Partners: Bruce Springsteen, Fugazi, The Afghan Whigs and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-scott-savitt-connelly-partners
Scott Savitt is the Chief Digital Officer of Connelly Partners, an independent global ad/marketing/digital services agency with 150 employees located in Boston, Dublin and Vancouver
– 10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Cece Wyldeck of MassiveMusic: Kate Bush, The Kills, Oscar D’Leon and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-cece-wyldeck-massivemusic
Cece takes her album-playing routine very seriously and, with her English sensibilities now being applied in Amsterdam in her role as director of creative development for the multi-award-winning music agency MassiveMusic (“We create soundscapes that elevate brands to new heights, forging unique and unforgettable experiences that leave a lasting impression on the world”), shows a deep and broad knowledge of music over the years, which is reflected in her album art choices for this article – https://massivemusic.com/
– 10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Jason S. Thompson of Amp: Rage Against the Machine, Sunny Day Real Estate, Hopesfall and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-jason-s-thompson-amp
Jason is the creative director for the U.S. offices of amp Sound Branding, with locations in Munich, New York, and Singapore. “We create sonic identities and experiences for the world’s most influential, innovative, and iconic brands”, some of which include Indeed, Johnson & Johnson, Klarna, Lays, Mercedes-Benz, Netflix and many others. Learn more about Jason’s company at https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/
d) Far Out Magazine returns to the Summary with a few nice new pieces, such as writer Ben Forrest’s take on the making of one of rock’s best-known psychedelic album covers, that being Mati Klarwein’s mind-boggling cover for Santana’s Abraxas – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/psychedelic-story-behind-santana-abraxas/
Ben also contributed an interesting story about one of the more-controversial album packages ever presented to the record-buying public, that being the one that housed the Dead Kennedy’s Frankenchrist album. One way or the other, it was bound to end up bringing its creators/publishers before a judge who’d decide whether it was “in good taste” – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stunt-that-led-to-the-demise-of-dead-kennedys/
Poppy Burton adds an article about influential artist Robert Crumb (AKA R Crumb), whose contributions to the world of album cover art include images for blues great BB King, the Grateful Dead and, perhaps most-famously, for Janis Joplin/Big Brother & The Holding Company. His work on the 1968 Big Brother album Cheap Thrills – originally meant for the back cover – was used on the front after the band’s original front cover idea (and record title) ran into a brick wall at the label – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/controversial-album-covers-r-crumb/ There’s an embedded 2006 video interview with the press-averse (and somewhat curmudgeonly) Crumb included on the page in which he talks about why he agreed to take a flat $600 fee for his Cheap Thrills cover and why he turned down a commission for a Rolling Stones cover when he was offered one…I would like to go on record regarding Ms. Burton’s comment about Crumb stating that “he remains little more than a cult figure in illustration” due to his often-offensive depictions of African-Americans and women. While he is certainly someone with issues (some of which he’s worked through), that doesn’t diminish his status as one of the world’s best-known illustrators. His 2009 graphic novel of the Bible’s book of Genesis was a #1 best-seller and, since its release, exhibitions of the entire The Book of Genesis were exhibited at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale (2013) and several other venues, including the Hammer Museum in LA, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and – lucky me – the Portland Art Museum in Portland, OR in 2010, where I walked through its entirety.
Lastly, here’s proof that the Hipgnosis-directed photo session that floated an inflatable pig above London’s Battersea Power Station for Pink Floyd’s Animals cover proved to be quite the traffic-stopper – air traffic, that is – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-pink-floyd-album-cover-that-downed-all-planes-in-london/
e) A publication that I hadn’t seen before posted a very long list of what they’re asking us to consider as being the “Most Iconic Album Covers of All Time” (they actually posed it as a question, with the title being “Most Iconic Album Covers Of All Time? Take A Closer Look” by Sophia Maddox). As is typically the case in articles like this one, the criteria used to make these determinations is quite unclear, but they have presented a rather-comprehensive list and did include brief summaries about each selection, so if you’d like to read someone else’s take on this topic, here’s your chance – https://historydaily.org/most-iconic-album-covers-of-all-time-take-a-closer-look-5/50
Brief Bits:
f) Most of the articles I find that try to regionalize album design/art do so in a fairly broad range, making note of a country’s design sensibilities over the years (“Best British Album Art from the 1980s”), but today I’d like to share an article in which a contributor to a Dallas, TX-based media outlet provides us with an overview of his favorite album covers for recordings by North Texas-based musical acts, a few of which I’ve actually heard of – https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/north-texas-album-covers-that-are-forever-etched-in-our-memories-18299669 Texas pride!
g) The Pulse.ng website – a news, entertainment and lifestyle site from Nigeria – recently included an article in which we’re introduced to a review of the country’s 10 best album covers from last year, as chosen by an artist and music exec by the name of Dunsin Bankhole – https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/best-nigerian-album-covers-of-2023/29959d0 I’m not familiar with any of the acts who are represented in the list (nor was I familiar with Mr. Bankhole – https://www.polywork.com/dunsinbankole), but I’m always eager to see how creatives from countries typically outside of my purview work to package and promote their records, so it was worth my getting over my perhaps-unfounded fear of websites based in Nigeria to learn a bit more about how things are done down there…
h) Some musicians will go to great lengths – or, in this case, heights – in order to help make a memorable album cover image. Here’s a recent story on the Loudwire site about singer David Lee Roth’s nearly-sacrificial stunt done for the cover of Van Halen’s 1988 Skyscraper album – https://loudwire.com/how-david-lee-roth-risked-life-skyscraper-cover/ . Ultimately, no singers were harmed in the making of this cover, and you can watch Roth’s escapades on the embedded music video for the band’s hit single “Just Like Paradise”.
i) The city council of Peterborough, UK was looking for a novel and memorable way to present their plans for what’s called “levelling up” (improvements in infrastructure, housing, etc.) in the area and what better way to get buy-in from locals than by presenting these details in a package that borrows both its title (“Peterborough – Talking ’bout Regeneration”) and its visual presentation style from classic British album cover design – https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67994009 I’d be eager to see whether locals respond by either waving their cigarette lighters (or iPhones) in the air or setting up a mosh pit inside council chambers…
j) Ultimate Guitar’s Justin Bleckner recently shared an article he’d written about “the making of” one of Metallica’s best-known (and most monochromatic) album covers – https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/the_story_of_the_artwork_on_metallicas_black_album_and_the_unexpected_band_that_inspired_it-161365
Lastly but not Leastly…
One of the benefits of maintaining and contributing to a site like the ACHOF is that I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with a number of extremely-dedicated collectors, researchers and writers who possess almost super-human amounts of information and insights into certain aspects of the album art world. Over the years, I’ve been pleased to share the work of some of these people with you and, quite recently, I was happy to help one of them in a bit of research that, at the end of the day, added to the long list of examples of how, “back in the day”, many of the graphic artists who contributed their talents to making some really fine album packages did so without receiving much credit – or renumeration – for their work.
I received a note from Guy Minnebach (from Antwerp, Belgium), the nice man who produces the wonderful “Andy Earhole” site, one that focuses on Warhol’s early commercial work for clients in the music business, right after the first of the year, when he was just about to publish an article about several records released by Victor Japan in the 1950s that seemed to incorporate artwork “borrowed” (there’s that word again!) from American releases by the U.S.-based arm of the company (RCA/Victor), but for different musical acts. I won’t go into all of the details here, but Guy was simply curious as to whether artists at the time knew (or cared or had any say over the fact) that their original works-for-hire were being re-used (sometimes, very slightly-modified) on other products. Guy was able to track down a receipt for artwork commissioned from Warhol and sent along photos of both sides of the receipt, with the back laying out the terms and conditions for the sale of this original art to the U.S. label and, surprise (actually, no surprise at all), the works became the property of the label and there were no limitations to their ability to use it as they saw fit. It wasn’t until much later that some creative types learned to protect their intellectual property and how/where it was used beyond the instance it was created for.
In any case, I’d invite you to read the results of Guy’s detective work in this recent posting on his site – https://warholcoverart.com/2024/01/10/the-second-apparition-of-warhols-musical-angels-in-japan/
On a personal note – while I absolutely appreciate the work Warhol did to help promote the talents of many great musical acts, I do find it a bit karmic that, early on in his career, his creative efforts were treated no differently than anyone else’s and that there were many times when a larger, better-funded organization usurped the wares of those unable to better protect themselves from such acts. If the results of recent court cases (such as photographer Lynn Goldsmith’s 6+ year battle against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Artists) and lawsuit settlements (ala the Richard Prince case mentioned previously) are any indication of how the tide has turned against the unrestricted use of an artist’s creative legacy, perhaps there’s hope yet for those still hoping to earn a decent living as an artist.
That’s all for now – be on the lookout for the next newsletter update, scheduled to be delivered on the first of March, a month during which we can only hope we’ll see the first colorful signs of Spring. As I’m always looking to communicate with youse guys more often than once a month, I will perhaps publish a special article/news alert or two along the way, so I’d suggest that, if you haven’t done so already, you sign up on the ACHOF home page to get an automatic email every time there’s something new on the ACHOF site.
Also, if you have any suggestions for me – ideas for articles, notices about events or adding/editing sections of the newsletter or web site, please feel free to share those with me. I read every email I get (and reply to them all) and really appreciate the feedback as it’s my hope to make this site/news source as good as it can be.
Until we meet again next month,
Peace and Love to you all,
Mike G
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2024 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. All the trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.
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