Posted March 1, 2024 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
In the 60s one day, then snowing overnight, then in the 30s and then back to the upper 60s. That’s how the weather in my part of the world is fluctuating, making it nearly impossible to concentrate on my research and writing when I’m just waiting for the chance to take the cover off of my scooter and ride to the beach (a habit started while living in Southern California, where this is possible much of the year). I’ve done my best, but if you detect gaps in the coverage, I hope you’ll forgive me, now that you understand why. Readers of this newsletter live all over the world, in many different climates, with seasons that differ 180-degrees from where I live, but since it’s best to listen to your vinyl collections sitting comfortably in your living rooms, I’m comforted by the thoughts of you all safe and warm indoors and enjoying the experience as best you can, regardless of the conditions outside.
On that note, let’s start this month’s summary, which I’ve had two days less to prepare, but don’t think for a moment that there’s been less going on in the world of album cover art and the people that make it. I’ve started this month’s missive by sharing some updated news on some of the recent award shows that have either taken place – the Grammy Awards having been announced in early February – or, in the case of the Juno Awards in Canada and the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards, both set for a little later on this year, and then continued 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. To round it all off, in this month’s Lastly But Not Leastly item, 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 now join arms and begin our trek through this month’s news.
Award Show Announcements
Grammy Awards winners were announced this past February 4th, with the winners Of The 66th Annual Grammy Awards In the “Packaging” categories announced that day during the web-cast “66th Annual Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony” that took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I was airborne and couldn’t post this news in real time, but I still was able to share the news the next day – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2024/02/05/achof-breaking-news-update-here-are-the-winners-of-the-66th-annual-grammy-awards-in-packaging/ – and will recap it here once again for those who may have missed the news earlier.
In the “Best Recording Package” category, the nominees were:
Caroline Rose, art director, for her own record The Art Of Forgetting
Hsing-Hui Cheng, art director, for Ensemble Cadenza 21’s Cadenza 21′
Perry Shall, art director, for Electrophonic Chronic by The Arcs
Iam8bit, art director, for Brad Breeck’s Gravity Falls
Yu Wei, art director, for Migration by Leaf Yeh
with the Grammy Award going to Luke Brooks & James Theseus Buck, art directors for Dry Cleaning’s Stumpwork
Luke Brooks and James Theseus Buck are from the UK-based artist collective Rottingdean Bazaar and were given this award for their fascinating-yet-hilarious album cover work for post-punk band Dry Cleaning’s album Stumpwork, with the cover image made in collaboration with photographer Annie Collinge.
In the “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package” category, the nominees were:
Jeff Mangum, Daniel Murphy & Mark Ohe, art directors, for The Collected Works Of Neutral Milk Hotel from Neutral Milk Hotel
Duy Dao, art director, for Gieo by Ngot
Bo Burnham & Daniel Calderwood, art directors, for Bo Burnham’s Inside: Deluxe Box Set
Masaki Koike, art director, for Words & Music, May 1965 – Deluxe Edition by Lou Reed
With the Grammy being was awarded to Jeri Heiden & John Heiden (AKA Smog Design), art directors, for the For The Birds: The Birdsong Project set (Various Artists). I was pleased to see that, after 4 previous Grammy nominations, Jeri and John were finally able to “take home the statue”. They’ve agreed to an interview about this amazing package (amazing both in its scope and the subject material) and I’m hoping to share that with you in the next month or so. If you’d like to learn more about this project (on the Audubon Society’s website), please follow this link – https://www.audubon.org/news/congratulations-grammy-award-winner-birds-birdsong-project
And while we still don’t “officially” cover this category, here are the nominees in the “Best Album Notes” category:
Ashley Kahn, album notes writer, for Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy (Live) from John Coltrane & Eric Dolphy
Scott B. Bomar, album notes writer, for I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn by Howdy Glenn
Vik Sohonie, album notes writer for Mogadishu’s Finest: The Al Uruba Sessions by the Iftin Band
Jeff Place & John Troutman, album notes writers for Playing For The Man At The Door: Field Recordings From The Collection Of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971
with Robert Gordon & Deanie Parker, album notes writers, being awarded this year’s Grammy Award for Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Congratulations to all of the winners (and nominees). To see the list of all of this year’s Grammy Award noms and winners, please visit the Grammy.com site – https://www.grammy.com/news/2024-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list
2024 Juno Award nominees for “Album Artwork of the Year”
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences — the non-profit organization behind the Juno Awards — recently announced the nominees for this year’s award in the “Best Recording Package” category. This year’s Juno Awards will take place at 9 p.m. AT on Sunday, March 24 at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre, marking the first time the awards have been hosted in the city since 2006. The awards, this year hosted by nine-time Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado, will be broadcast and streamed live across Canada from 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. AT on CBC-TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos and CBC Music’s YouTube page.
The JUNO Awards is Canada’s premier music awards show. It is built around a week-long celebration of Canadian music, culminating each March (in various venues/cities throughout Canada) in The JUNO Awards Broadcast, where Canadian artists are recognized for excellence of achievement in recorded music. Originally (from 1975 to 2003) there were awards for “Best Album Graphics” and, once in 1977 and then again from 1989 to 2002, also for “Best Album Design”. In 2010, these were combined into the “Best Recording Package” category, with submissions selected by a screening committee and voted on by judges in two rounds. The first round will determine the five nominees and the second round determines the winner. Submissions will be judged on several key factors, including the “strength and cohesiveness of design concept of the whole package (including the disc)”, a product’s “ability to impact on its intended market” as well as its “marketing potential – i.e., its ability to translate the continuity of design from package to related merchandising, etc.”
This year’s nominees are:
Carolyne De Bellefeuille (art director), Jessica Ledoux (designer, illustrator), Mali Savaria-Ille (designer, illustrator), Veronique Lafortune (designer, illustrator), Leeor Wild (photographer) for Inuktitut by Elisapie.
Heather Goodchild (art director), Colby Richardson (designer), Colin Fletcher (illustrator), Sara Melvin (photographer) for Multitudes by Feist.
Kit King (illustrator), Vanessa Heins (photographer) for City and Colour’s The Love Still Held Me Near.
Nicolas Lemieux (art director), Mykaël Nelson (designer and illustrator), Albert Zablit (photographer) for Riopelle Symphonique, recorded by Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
Quinton Nyce (art director), Brodie Metcalfe (designer), Davis Graham (illustrator), Kaylee Smoke (photographer) for I’m Good, HBU? From the Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
Read all of the details on the CBC’s site at https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/juno-awards-2024-nominations-charlotte-cardin-daniel-caesar-talk-1.7105439 , with more information on these awards available at the JUNO web site – http://junoawards.ca/
I’ll share the details of the winning entry as the information becomes available. Congratulations to all of the nominees.
Call out for submissions – Album cover artists/designers/photographers/art directors (and your label partners) – now’s the time to submit the latest examples of your work for consideration in this year’s Making Vinyl Packaging Awards competition. From now thru April 5, 2024, album packaging producers can submit any/all of their recent work to be considered for awards in one or more of the 13 categories, including “Best Vinyl Album Cover” (Illustration or Photograph), “Best Box Deluxe Set” and two of my favorites – “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done” (recognizing packages the break new ground in the use of materials, printing, etc.) and “Save The Earth and Humanity”, which “Recognizes innovations in sustainability with packages utilizing environmentally sound (e.g., recyclable paper, special links) materials and practices that reduce the carbon footprint, as well as projects that aim to improve society”.
For rules, further submission info and to find links to where exactly to send your submissions, please visit – https://makingvinyl.com/vinyl-record-packaging-awards/ Of course, you’ll learn more about the goings-on of this year’s awards right here on the ACHOF as more info becomes available. In the meantime, good luck – we’re eager to see what some of our favorite album cover makers have done!
Exhibitions and Gallery Show Info (new and upcoming soon)
a) Noted photographer Gered Mankowitz recently launched a new exhibition at the newly-opened London outpost of The Gibson Gallery (The Gibson Garage London, 61 – 62 Eastcastle Street, London, UK W1W 8NQ – https://www.gibson.com/en-US/garage-london) that’s presented in cooperation with the Red House Originals gallery there. Per the show’s press release, visitors in attendance during the show’s run (through July, 2024) will find “a collection of classic and unseen portraits” by Mr. Mankowitz. “For over 50 years, Mankowitz has helped shape the iconic images of the music industry’s key players. The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull, Jimi Hendrix, PP Arnold, Kate Bush, Elton John, The Jam, Eurythmics, Oasis, and many more have all looked down the lens of his camera.”
An original 2012 inductee into the ACHOF in the “Album Cover Photographer” category, Gered’s career in the music industry began back in 1963, when he met and photographed the singing duo Chad and Jeremy and one of these photos was used as the cover of the duo’s first album, Yesterday’s Gone. With that, Gered found himself working in the music industry at a time when it desperately needed new, mold-breaking images. He began to work with a new generation of producers like John Barry, Shel Talmy and Chris Blackwell photographing artists who were of his own age group and who felt at ease with him in a way that had not been possible with other photographers. At the end of 1963, Gered opened his first studio, at 9 Masons Yard in the heart of London’s West End.
Within a few months, Gered had begun to make a name for himself, working with Marianne Faithful, producer Andrew Loog Oldham and, soon after, the Rolling Stones, which turned out to be a major turning point in his career. Through the 60′s and 70s, Gered continued in the music world working with Oldham at his famous Immediate label, and with many other major artists including Jimi Hendrix, Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, Soft Machine, Slade, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Elton John, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, ABC, Duran Duran and many others.
The show is available for viewing daily Monday-Saturday 10:00-7:00pm and on Sunday from 12:00-6:00pm – https://www.redhouseoriginals.com/exhibitions/gered-mankowitz-at-the-gibson-gallery and, if you’re in the area on Friday, the 8th of March, you’re invited to reserve a spot for at a 7:30pm – 9:30pm “In Conversation” special event with the famed photographer and London’s “First Lady of Soul”, PP Arnold. Attendance is limited, so please RSVP to gibson@redhouseoriginals.com ASAP if you’d like to attend.
The new retail outpost for Gibson Guitar held a pre-opening event on February 22nd (two days before the official opening) that was attended by some of the best-known guitarists in the world, including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, Queen’s Sir Brian May and rising UK-based guitar stars James Bay and Rosie Frater-Taylor. In addition to these appearances, fans lucky enough to gain entry enjoyed listening to an interview with Mr. Page, followed by live performances from the Gibson Garage London’s in-store performance stage. Learn more about this new store/venue at https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Garage-London
Special thanks to Libby Coffey for her help with this article.
b) I’m now pleased to share the news that a new exhibition that includes selections from friend of ACHOF Richard Forrest’s collection of Andy Warhol-related album art (and books and posters) will be staged at the Passagen Linköpings Konsthall in Linköping, Sweden, beginning on March 9th and running there through the 26th of May. Per my recent correspondence with this dedicated collector/researcher/writer/artist, the “About Who — Andy Warhol” exhibition “is going to be a mix of Warhol associated things curated by Petter Österlund, who has approached people in Sweden who have met Warhol including photographers like Bruno Ehrs and museum people including Bo Nilsson, the art director for the Artipelag gallery, who put on his own Warhol exhibition at Artipelag some years back…I got involved as I had lent some of my Warhol covers to an exhibition in Sundsvall in 2010 that Österlund curated and he remembered me. He’s taken over eighty record covers – most of my Warhol library – Time Magazine covers and a copy of the infamous Prince promo magazine that features a colorized version of photographer Lynn Goldsmith’s 1981 photo portrait of “the Purple One” that Warhol had appropriated for this use. Also included are six portraits of Warhol that I painted in 2020.”
While I haven’t been able to learn much from the exhibition’s web page (as it is Swedish), I’d invite you to take a look – https://www.linkoping.se/uppleva-och-gora/kultur/konst/passagen/utstallningar/ – and, if you’re in the area, I’d suggest you stop by to take a look as it seems that there will be much to see and enjoy.
c) I was just about to publish this month’s newsletter when I learned about a new exhibit (titled “Godfathers”) that’s opening soon on the West Coast (CA) that includes the work of several well-known album art-makers, and so while I can’t provide much detail at this point, I can point you to an article in a Grass Valley, CA publication called The Union in which they’ve visited with the curator of the show – Brian Chambers of The Chambers Project – and share what they’ve learned about what’s about to be on display (beginning March 9th) – https://www.theunion.com/news/feelin-groovy-chambers-project-to-welcome-godfathers-of-psychedelic-art/article_00ff4398-d699-11ee-b0d9-a322986858e9.html Included in the show are works by Roger Dean, Ralph Steadman, Rick Griffin and collector/artist Jacaeber Kastor, so if that doesn’t whet your whistle, I don’t know what else might. I’ll work on getting some additional details but, for now, you can click on over to the gallery’s event page to learn more about an opening event they’re hosting – https://www.ambrosia.events/godfathers-exhibition-opening-show-xtsKoPNJFK6wH3uDTQcetA
Ongoing Exhibitions (listed in order of their end dates)
CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH 4, 2024 – A trip from Paris to Los Angeles to visit his mother in the early 1980s brought Mathieu Bitton face-to-face with something that would change his life forever – that thing 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 Tarrantino 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; War – 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/
CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH 9, 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 MARCH 31, 2024 – 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 recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees 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, for 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/
CONTINUING THROUGH APRIL 21, 2024 – 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 – was re-staged in an new show that opened 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/
Some new local coverage, along with some photos of the show and comments from attendees and show volunteers (e.g., “Everybody who’s been here has at the very least smiled. A lot of people have burst out laughing”), was posted recently on the AOL.com site – https://www.aol.com/worlds-worst-album-covers-display-090327867.html
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 Exclaim 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
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) Those of you who are aware of my professional background might recall an item on my CV that describes the few years I spent working for a traditional cartoon animation company and, since I began writing articles for the ACHOF site that dig deeper into the inspirations of those creatives working at the intersection of this field and the music business, I’ve written several items – the first in 2006, followed by others in 2014 and 2021 – about people I’ve seen who’ve worked hard to bring motion to what are typically seen as static works of art via animation.
Fast forward to late 2023 and, once again, my eye was caught by an article I found on an animated project put out there by a design team operating under the moniker Dog & Rabbit that brought us back full-circle to 2006 and the “battle of the album covers” motif. Rather than an all-out war between dozens of album covers from a similar number of different musical acts, the producers of this video short decided to have covers by two of the best-known rock and roll acts – The Beatles and the Rolling Stones (both with long histories of packaging their records in sleeves sporting best-in-class imagery) – fight to the death for album art superiority in “The Beatles vs The Stones” – https://vimeo.com/872245830 (spoiler alert – Peace and Love wins out). Taken as I was by the extraordinary animation, I knew that I’d have to get to the bottom of who was behind this project and what inspired them to do it, so after a bit of research, I found a social media page for one of the company’s principals, Andrew Kelleher, and asked him if he’d be up for a bit of an interview. The Holidays initially interrupted progress for a bit, but Andrew was kind enough to answer my questions and provide me with a bit of background. Read the interview at https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2024/02/16/animated-album-art-update-an-achof-interview-with-andrew-kelleher-of-dog-rabbit/
b) Photographer Annie Leibovitz’s work has been seen on countless magazine and album covers and has been included in the permanent collections of museums around the world. Her photos of celebrities from the worlds of film, music, TV, politics and many other areas have helped illustrate the wide range of people who’ve made an impact on all our lives but, due to a recent residency sponsored by IKEA, there’s a new collection of photos that show “regular people” in their natural habitats. According to this recent article I found on the ArtNet site – https://news.artnet.com/art-world/photos-annie-leibovitz-ikea-paris-fashion-week-2436217 – IKEA surveyed customers from all over the world and “found that nearly half the people they surveyed do not feel that their home life is represented in the media. So, Leibovitz’s ‘Life at Home’ series will show people in domestic settings. A show by the same name will premiere during Paris Fashion Week and will be on display at 28 rue de Lappe, near Place de la Bastille, Paris, France, from February 29 through March 3, 2024, with more details on both the survey and the show in Paris available at https://www.ikea.com/fr/fr/life-at-home/
c) I recently received notice that the folks who’ve published the wonderful Wax Poetics magazine for the past 20+ years were putting out a 20th anniversary issue and, as part of that effort, included a link to an interview done a few years ago with photographer Danny Hastings in which he talks about album cover shoots he’d done with top hip-hop and R&B acts such as Gang Starr (Hard To Earn), Big Pun, KRS-One and many others – https://store.waxpoetics.com/products/vol-2-issue-2-20th-anniversary-gang-starr-labelle? He prides himself in having had to learn every aspect of the photographic arts early on because, as Danny says it, “we didn’t have Photoshop in 1991!”
d) While you might not think that a West Coast, California business publication that launched in 1886 would be where you’d find out about the talents of a young graphic designer – one who recently collaborated with the rock group Kings of Leon to produce the cover for their soon-to-be-released album (Can We Please Have Fun, due out this May on Capitol Records) – it seems that the Fresno-area business community is quite proud of Ram Reyes’ success – https://thebusinessjournal.com/fresno-graphic-designer-adds-rock-album-cover-to-his-resume/ It turns out that Mr. Reyes had designed merchandise for another singer-songwriter – Jessie Baylin – who coincidentally is married to Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, and this progressed from there. Do good work, make your clients happy and, with a little luck, good things come your way.
e) To add to the list of “what I should have known but didn’t up until now” items, after reading an FT Weekend “Life & Arts” section article (weekend of 2/17-2/18/2024) – https://www.ft.com/content/cd5072cc-ee12-4592-9784-d626a422102d – about musician/artist/curmudgeon John Lydon – AKA “Johnny Rotten” of Sex Pistols/PiL fame and a speaking tour he’s about to go out on, I now know that Mr. Lydon has contributed rather significantly to the world of album/single sleeve artwork throughout his post-Pistols career, with notable album package credits that include – John Lydon – The Best of the British One Pound Notes and Psycho’s Path ; Public Image Ltd – This is PiL, What The World Needs Now, Metal Box, Ultimate Live Collection Vols 1 & 2, Mr. Rotten’s Picture Disc and End of World. I can’t say that I didn’t know anything about his artistic endeavors as I’d made note of the fact in my December 2023 newsletter that he’d released a series of five limited-edition prints of some of the artwork he’s done, but I never did follow-up to see what else he’s done over the years in this area.
To get the details on his “I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right” spoken word world tour, please visit www.johnlydon.com
Brief Bits:
f) PrintMag has feature about 13 African-American graphic designers of note, including several who contributed their talents to album covers – Leroy Winbush, Emmett McBain, Art Sims and several others – https://www.printmag.com/featured-design-history/13-african-american-graphic-designers-you-should-know/
Items for Sale and/or at Auction
a) The nice people at Backstage Auctions are holding one of their rare “Clearance Auctions” now through the 3rd of March and, by the looks of things, there are a number of opportunities for collectors to add some nice album art-related items to their collections without breaking the bank (click the following link to see some of their highlighted items – https://www.backstageauctions.com/catalog/clearance-auction-2024-highlight-pieces/ac/0/2169/ ). Some of the interesting tidbits are several pre-production sketches for CSN&Y albums and a photo used by John Kosh in the making of a James Taylor/Randy Newman album. There are fine art prints of covers for The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Genesis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Santana and others, as well as photos seen on the covers of records by the Ramones, B-52s, Go-Gos, Melissa Manchester, Iggy Pop and Van Morrison, so now would be a good time to click on over and grab one of these for your own collection. Just please don’t bet on something I want…
b) For nearly a quarter of a century, The Who’s Roger Daltrey has contributed his time and talents on a regular basis in efforts to raise money for the UK’s Teenage Cancer Trust. Over the years, I’ve shared stories about the sale of memorabilia – even a custom-designed Rolls Royce motorcar – and concert performances that have raised millions for the organization. This year is Daltrey’s last in that capacity, and he’s going out with a bang, teaming with guitarist Mark Knopfler and over five dozen of his notable guitar-playing friends (working under the name “Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes”) to produce a promo single of Knopfler’s hit tune “Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)” where the monies raised by the sale of the single will be donated to TCT. The organization also tapped famed artist Peter Blake (who, in addition to being part of the team who designed The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s LP cover also produced the memorable cover of another huge fund-raising musical effort – Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”) to craft a new collage that will be used on the single’s cover, and limited-edition prints of that cover image will also be sold to the 150 lucky collectors who’ll donate the £ 995.00 asking price to reserve one.
Read more about this effort and all of the participants who agreed to make Roger’s send-off a extra-special one for both him and the charity he’s supported all these years – https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/media-centre-and-press-releases/mark-knopflers-guitar-heroes-release-going-home
c) IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE! – 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 organization. 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.
This year’s music is provided by some of the world’s best-known musicians, including Sir Paul McCartney (“Pipes of Peace”), The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck (“Skipping Like A Stone”), Hozier (“Swan Upon Leda”), Aurora (“A Different Kind of Human”), Celeste (“Stop This Flame”), Siouxsie & The Banshees (“Lullaby”) and The Specials (“We Sell Hope”), and this year’s album art contributors include some really top-notch talent, including (once again) the aforementioned Mr. Donwood, photographer Rankin, Gorillaz co-creator/illustrator Jamie Hewitt, fashion designer Sir Paul Smith and many, many others.
All of the singles/covers (100 each of seven tracks) will be put up on display at London’s NOW Gallery from the 2nd to the 17th of March, 2024, after which they’ll be sold off via the Peggy art site. As with previous iterations of this endeavor, the name of the artist for each of the sleeves will not be revealed until the sleeve has been purchased. They’ve added a dimension to the fund-raising aspects of this project this year by teaming up with Peggy to offer the winning bidders the chance to re-sell their artworks on the Peggy site/app and, from the proceeds of those subsequent sales, both the charity (War Child UK – www.warchild.org.uk to learn more about this organization’s activities) and the artist who created the original work will receive a resale royalty, so everyone wins! You can find the complete list of contributors on the Secret 7” sites – https://www.secret-7.co.uk/ ;
https://instagram.com/secret7s/ or https://facebook.com/Secret7s/
Collectors can pre-register to bid today by downloading the Peggy app and following the Secret 7″ profile there – visit peggy.com, https://peggy.com/@secret_7 or instagram.com/peggy to join in on the fun.
So happy to see this return to continue on with the good work they do.
d) Photographer Henry Diltz has collaborated with the crew at Genesis Publications in the UK to release a series of limited-edition, fine art prints based on five of his better-known shots, including what is certainly one of my favorite Southern California desert-based album cover images – https://www.genesis-publications.com/print/henrydiltzprints?
Only twelve each of the 24” x 36” prints will be available to collectors, and each print is co-signed by both Henry D and his subject(s), including Graham Nash, Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr and Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of the 70’s hitmakers America. The prints are priced at £9645 (approx. $12,250) each, with 10% of all sales from the print series to be donated to the MusiCares® organization, which offers preventive, emergency, and recovery programs to those in the music community.
e) Well, that didn’t take long! Right on the heels of last month’s announcement, the next in the series of art prints issued by The Flood Gallery and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson – The tenth item (out of 15) is now available for pre-order, with shipments commencing in March. The latest print is of the cover image for the band’s 1977 hit record Songs From The Wood, featuring a photo of a post-hunt Mr. Anderson sitting by a fire with his faithful hunting dog and his catch of the day. In keeping with prog rock’s use of humor and satire on a lot of its packaging, the info on the cover credits a fictional character named “Jay L. Lee” for the “painting” on the front cover.
The limited editions of giclée fine art prints featuring the Songs From The Wood cover, like the others in the series, come in three different versions (two different sizes):
– a 24″ x 24″ Giclée Art Print, from a numbered edition of 500, with official JT embossing (unsigned), priced at £50;
– a 24″ x 24″ Giclée Art Print, from a numbered edition of 300, with official JT embossing and hand-signed by Ian Anderson, priced at £125; and
– a 28″ x 28″ Giclée Art Print, from a numbered edition of 125, with official JT embossing and hand-signed by Ian Anderson, priced at £175
All prices are exclusive of shipping and any applicable taxes, with shipping to begin in March, 2024. You can pre-order this print via the link – https://jethrotullart.com/collections/songs-from-the-wood?
Brief Bits:
f) In late 2023, rock photographer Tony Mott released a new book titled Rock N Rock Gallery – A Journey From Sheffield to Sydney 1983 -202” that provides an expansive look into his 40+ year career, The 240-page book (via Wilkinson Publishing) includes Mott’s story in his own words. https://www.wilkinsonpublishing.com.au/product/rock-n-roll-gallery/
No stranger to album art fans, Mott’s contributed images for album packages by musical acts such as Crowded House, Sonic Youth, Sarah McLachlan and Savage Garden, among many others, and I found a nice piece on Tony and his new book on the Australian music news site “The Music” that provides a nice intro – https://themusic.com.au/news/tony-mott-releases-iconic-40th-anniversary-music-photography-book/WWfnTUxPTnE/16-02-24 Find the book on the publisher’s site at https://www.wilkinsonpublishing.com.au/product/rock-n-roll-gallery/
g) I just received notice that the nice folks at the Genesis Publications company have opened up their archives to release some of the reserve copies of the wonderful-and-collectable book package they published based on the career of the late Storm Thorgerson of Hipnosis fame. Only 500 of these special editions were made and, in addition to the Taken By Storm book, each box comes with four limited-edition, signed and numbered prints (two Pink Floyd designs, one for Peter Gabriel and a gallery show poster), a 3-D viewer and lots of other unique collectibles. Click on over to get the entire list and grab one fast if you don’t already have one – https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/rareeditions2024/rare-editions-2024?
Auction Results Updates
a) The only known jointly-produced painting by The Beatles was put up for sale on the first of February in an auction at Christie’s, with a $400K – $600K pre-auction estimate. Silly estimators! This is the era of rich people spending whatever it takes to get what they want, so when I saw that the final hammer price was $1,744,000 (3-4X the estimate), I could only shake my head – https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6467442?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6467442&from=salessummary&lid=1
As described on the auction site – “THE BEATLES, 1966 – Images of a Woman – signed ‘John Lennon’, ‘Paul McCartney’, ‘Ringo Star’ and ‘George Harrison’ (to center) acrylic and watercolor on Japanese art paper – 21 ½ x 31 in. (54.6 x 78.8 cm.) image; 39 ¼ x 39 ¾ (99.7 x 101 cm.), overall framed. It comes together with a Certificate of Authenticity from Tracks UK and a hardcopy of Robert Whitaker, Eight Days a Week: Inside The Beatles’ Final World Tour, New York, 2008. The painting spent a number of years in Japan before coming to a US auction in 2012 and then on to this recent auction.”
Christie’s has a nice photo album with shots by Robert Whitaker (along with a short video intro) on their site, showing the lads while they collaborated on their masterpiece while confined to their hotel suite (for security reasons) while on tour in Tokyo, Japan, where they played five shows in 1966.
The BBC posted a brief story about how the painting came to be – https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240129-the-story-behind-only-known-painting-by-the-beatles-as-it-goes-up-for-sale-at-auction
b) The month of February was a busy one for collectors looking for Beatles album cover art-related lots, it seems. In addition to the Beatles painting previously mentioned, Heritage Auctions had a sale in late February in which there were several very desirable items, including a set of limited-edition prints of Ian McMillan’s Abbey Road photos and a package of design comps by famed pop artist Jim Dine for a record package that never made it to market.
The first item, the Abbey Road photos – https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/music-memorabilia/autographs-and-signed-items/the-beatles-abbey-road-album-cover-session-august-8-1969-portfolio-of-seven-chromogenic-color-photographs-edition/a/7321-26135.s?ctrack=1125310&type=bodylink-6b-ent-picks-7321-Beatles-tem021624 kicked off with an opening bid of $50,000, the package sold for an impressive $162,500.
Moving on to the Jim Dine-produced comps, with an opening bid of $2500, bidding commenced but the reserve was not met, so Heritage now has the package up for sale for a flat rate of $35,000 – https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/music-memorabilia/original-art/the-beatles-group-of-5-original-and-unique-album-cover-and-sleeve-art-designs-for-once-planned-4-lp-compilation-set-all-signed-and-dated/a/7321-26134.s?ctrack=1125310&type=bodylink-1b-ent-picks-7321-Beatles-tem021624
c) The nearly-three-week auction that put hundreds of items from Sir Elton John’s home in Atlanta, GA up for sale during February (cleverly titled Goodbye Peachtree Road) met with much success, and since one of the items that found a new home were album art-related, I thought you’d like to see what was sold. Up for auction was a nice-sized “variant” print of photographer Terry O’Neill’s memorable 1974 portrait of EJ taken for his Greatest Hits album. The pre-auction estimate was in the $6-8,000 range and was ultimately purchased for $20,790 – https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6466336? The auction also included many works of art, clothing, furniture, jewelry and memorabilia and some of the items, including a Banksy “Flower Thrower” triptych and works by Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe and many other masters, realized prices well above their projected prices. Read more at https://artdaily.cc/news/166981/Bidders-chase-Elton-John-memorabilia-and-a-Banksy-in-first-week-of-sales and see the final results here – https://www.christies.com/en/auction/the-collection-of-sir-elton-john-opening-night-30067/
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:
This one really hurts – if you haven’t yet heard, it’s my sad duty to inform you that one of the world’s best-known and most-respected photographers, Brian Griffin, died at the end of January at the age of 75. While he’s perhaps best-known for the album cover images he created for musical acts including Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, Joe Jackson and many others, what’s perhaps less-known is that he was one of the first people who agreed to support my initial business and writing efforts after retiring from my TV/web/game production career back in 2006 and, for that, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for him.
Considered by many to have been one of Britain’s greatest living portrait photographers, everything to do with the intersection of art and music was very much part of both Brian’s professional and social life. From his early work with Stiff Records, through to his late-career works done in collaboration with “cutting edge” musicians, his photography and film-making skills were always been in demand. His photo shot for the cover of Depeche Mode’s 1982 album, A Broken Frame, was featured on the cover of Life Magazine’s special issue, “The Greatest Photographs of the ‘80s”. In 2015, British film-maker Michael Prince released a documentary on the Brian’s life and work titled Face To Face, taking its name from a 2010 exhibition of his portfolio staged in Birmingham, U.K..
To see a special Featured Artist Portfolio I published in 2013 on Brian and his work (complete with a lot of insights into how he created each image), please click here. As you might expect, there were a lot of obits published shortly after his death, with some of the best including one in Pitchfork – https://pitchfork.com/news/brian-griffin-depeche-mode-album-cover-photographer-dies-at-75/ ; another on the Petapixel site – https://petapixel.com/2024/01/31/photographer-brian-griffin-who-shot-depeche-modes-iconic-album-covers-dies/ and a third on the Amateur Photographer site – https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/were-really-going-to-miss-this-music-photographer/ . The BBC did a nice job on theirs as well – https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-68139040
Before I close out, I’d like you to take a moment to take a look at a couple of interesting video interview featuring Brian, with the first centered on his “I’ll do anything to get the right photo” mantra – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsclcfbyGwo and the second being a 20-minute studio interview by DOGMA85, which includes a bit more of his personal history – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmbRyOjjPgk
More news items:
a) Author/artist/designer/podcaster (and extra-friendly Liverpool tour guide) Andrew Dineley met with the curators of the touring show featuring the worst in album cover design and imagery (Simon Robinson and Steve Goldberg) while they were in the Liverpool area and captured the meeting for his SoftOctopus “Art On Your Sleeve” podcast, now available via the link here – https://softoctopus.co.uk/episode-22-worst-record-covers/
While I was on Andrew’s site, I noted that I’d missed mentioning an episode that he presented at the end of 2023 during which he talked with Paula Benson and Paul West from the London-based Form design studio during which they shared stories about some of the artists that they have worked with over the last 30+ years, including Cocteau Twins, East 17, Deuce, 2wo Third3, Everything but the Girl, Scritti Politti, Natalie Imbruglia, Girls Aloud, Depeche Mode and Bright Light Bright Light, and many more – https://softoctopus.co.uk/episode-21-form/
b) Musician/artist/museum curator/fellow Chicagoan Martin Atkins will be staging a presentation at the upcoming SXSW conference in Austin, TX (on March 13th at 11:30am CT) during which he’ll share his great knowledge and experience in helping to guide musicians through the minefields of their careers in the music business. In both the presentation and his popular book by the same title – Welcome to the Music Business.. You’re Still F*@ked – and, according to the promo for the event you’ll find on the SXSW site – https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/PP141496 – “Using humor as a weapon Martin will point out the obvious, throw light in some dark corners and lay out realistic and attainable goals.”
You’ll recall my interview last year with Martin after taking a personal tour of the museum he opened in 2021 here in Chicago called the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music, which includes an amazing array of memorabilia he’d gathered while working as the drummer for bands including Public Image Ltd (1979-1985) and Killing Joke and just recently won the Chicago Reader’s annual poll for “Best Museum” in the city of Chicago. He founded industrial super group Pigface, The Damage Manual, and Murder Inc., and has contributed to Nine Inch Nails and Ministry during their most celebrated periods. He is the owner of Invisible Records (est. 1988) and, in addition to the aforementioned book, he is the author of two other well-received books on the music business, including Tour:Smart and Band: Smart. He also serves at the Coordinator of Music Industry Studies at Millikin University in Decatur IL.
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 Tarjas White of HiFi Project: Red Hot Chili Peppers, A Tribe Called Quest, Quincy Jones and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-tarjas-white-hifi-project
Tarjas White is executive producer at Los Angeles’ HiFi Project music studio, joining that team in 2023 after spending the previous 11 years as part of the Swim Team music collective. His contributions have been featured in campaigns for clients including BMW, Pepsi, KFC, Meta, NBA and LifeWTR. Learn more at https://hifiproject.squarespace.com/
– 9 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Jason Dopko of Lost Planet: Nirvana, Placebo, Nina Simone and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/9-great-album-covers-chosen-jason-dopko-lost-planet
Jason Dopko is an Editor at Lost Planet in Los Angeles, working on projects in film, TV and commercials and, according to his site bio, “I’ve always been a big music nerd. I was program director at my high school radio station WJEF and in college I worked two jobs one at the local public radio station where I would host a jazz show and one at a local record store. Discovering new and old music has always been an obsession and over the years I’ve accumulated about 3,000 rare records.”
https://lostplanet.com/news/get-to-know-jason-dopko
While I usually like some of the choices noted by each contributor in this series, I really appreciate the fact that Jason took the time both to tell us why he thinks that these covers are “great” and gave credit to the people that created them (yes, by naming names!).
d) Far Out Magazine returns to the newsletter with several nice new pieces, such as Tom Huck and Questlove’s collaboration on the album Phrenology – Dale Maplethorpe for Far Out Magazine – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/brains-behind-the-roots-album-phrenology/
and for “The Cover Uncovered” featurette, Ben Forrest brings us The Cover Uncovered about the farmyard inspiration for the album artwork for the maestro Quincy Jones’ 1981 studio recording titled The Dude – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/quincy-jones-inspiration-for-the-dude/
Ben Forrest then recounts the interesting details of what went in to the making of one of the often-quite-sexy photo covers for Roxy Music (Country Life, shot by Eric Bowman), revealing the complicated relationships between frontman Bryan Ferry and the models who’d agree to appear on these records – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/roxy-music-erotic-country-life-album-cover/
Later on in the month, The Cover Uncovered series continued with “Slint go for a dip with Spiderland” by author Aimee Ferrier, which brings us back several decades to when this short-lived “post-rock” guitar band worked with photographer Will Oldham to create a curious cover – featuring band members standing mostly-submerged in a pool in a rock quarry – to promote what would turn out to be their last album cover as a band – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/slint-go-for-dip-spiderland. On the last day of the month, Ben Forrest appears again to slip in one last article, this one about a Devo album cover that features a not-quite-accurate portrait of a famous golf pro simply because Mark Mothersbaugh had become enamored by a similar picture he’d found on a package of golf balls – The golf star behind the cover of Devo’s ‘Are We Not Men?’ (faroutmagazine.co.uk)
COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISCUSSIONS:
e) Still dominating the discussions in the media is the topic of Artificial Intelligence (which just added the word “Intelligence” after I typed the word “Artificial”) and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing or some other sort of thing. After having read many articles on the topic, I believe that I’m beginning to suffer from what American legal scholar/author Cass Sunstein calls (in his new book co-authored with Tali Sharot Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There – https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Look-Again/Tali-Sharot/9781668008201) “habituation”, which is what happens when people stop noticing what’s both wonderful and terrible in their lives due to the over-exposure to those things. Even with that being the case, I did find an article I found on the It’s Nice That site that explored the subject with several working professionals rather compelling. The interviewees shared a common theme of questioning the overall quality of the overall quality of the AI-generated output (with works generated by AI described by some as “soulless”) and whether an image created by simply typing in a few defining words or terms can ever reflect a musical act’s desired message – https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/pov-ai-generated-album-covers-prioritise-virality-over-creativity-220224
From what I hear from some involved in album art creation these days, between the direction they’re getting from the label (expressed in both the time and budgets they’re given) and musical acts who aren’t all that concerned about the promo and packaging of their retail products, this is just another example of how the music-making-and-selling business has been approached and managed over the years. When you look back to the early days of record packaging, there are many examples of records sold with what I call “templated” album art (think of all of the bands that copied the basic title text on top with band photo below design motif), but it was those who took the time to collaborate with either/both a talented and ambitious art director and/or musical acts that understood how their packages helped share their creative visions with their fans who ended up producing works that many now consider timeless. Having the tools and knowing how to use them to our best advantages is what we all need to learn now.
f) 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 Spencer 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/
Brief Bits:
g) Haven’t we all secretly dreamt that, one day, we’d have our own record store, with thousands upon thousands of great records to play and, on top of that, have an attached B&B where our fellow music lovers could spend the night? In this article in Goldmine Magazine – https://www.goldminemag.com/columns/visit-the-worlds-only-true-vinyl-hotel-smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-london# – you’ll meet a nice man named Luk Man Hon who, according to the article, is “the founder, owner and proprietor of what must be the most unique and enticing independent record store in all of the UK, and well, if we’re being honest, probably in all of the world.” Hon’s latest and most-visible business is London’s Vinyl Pimp, “the only independent record store in the world that includes bed and breakfast-style lodging, with over 25,000 vinyl LPs in stock, for those who don’t want to leave when the ‘open’ sign turns to ‘closed.’”
h) History contributor Ahsan Washington posted an interesting article near the end of February on the Black Enterprise website in which a selection of notable hip-hop album covers were highlighted to help show that, even though we’ve “officially” passed the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop, the quality of the work featured on some of the best-known records is still worth celebrating – https://www.blackenterprise.com/8-hip-hop-album-covers-that-go-down-in-black-history/ Each record included helped move the genre one step further in highlighting the many aspects of the culture.
i) A design collective based in Lagos, Nigeria has assembled a collection of over 5300 (!!) Nigerian album cover images so that the rest of the world can see the amount of talent and imagination put into the packaging of that country’s recorded music product and, as you’ll see and read in this recent article on The Guardian’s news site, “Every album cover is a story, and this is an archive of thousands of stories waiting to be told.” https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/feb/17/seventy-years-of-nigerian-album-covers-in-pictures
j) Throughout the era of the modern record packages, there have been many instances where existing artwork was re-purposed for use on the cover. Here’s a summary of 26 such uses, put together by contributor Allison Rapp for the KRFO radio web site – https://krforadio.com/ixp/295/p/album-covers-with-pre-existing-artwork/
k) A writer for a Liverpool-based website posts a list of 10 album covers that represent the wealth of talent that has emerged from the city (and not just The Beatles, although they’re included, of course) – https://www.liverpoolworld.uk/your-merseyside/ten-of-the-best-most-recognisable-liverpool-album-covers-of-all-time-4518757?page=1
l) A fan of Bruce Springsteen’s who also happens to write for a site called Classic Rock History (.com) has assembled a list of the “top 10” (in ascending order) of The Boss’ album packages – https://www.classicrockhistory.com/top-10-bruce-springsteen-album-covers/ I was just happy to see that he’d included some explanation as to why each cover image appeared on the list.
m) I was a bit surprised to see the Creative Bloq site put up an “absolute worst” album art list but, as it helps promote (rather back-handedly) the travelling exhibition that my chum Simon Robinson co-curated on the topic, I’ll include a link – https://www.creativebloq.com/news/the-8-worst-album-covers-ever Again, what lifts this above the norm you see in clickbait articles is that the contributor did at least comment a bit on each cover included in the list.
n) A site called Love To Know published an article that ultimately didn’t provide me with much I needed to know (at least about its title subject), but as it was authored by a young woman with both a bachelor’s degree in History and a Master of Applied Science degree (given to those who excel in research), I’ve included a link to it – https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/antiques-collectibles/70s-album-covers. “70s Album Covers That Are Pop Culture Phenoms” invites us to “…go back to a time when record sales meant something and album art mattered. Here’s our roundup of the greatest 70s cover art of all time.” Before you go, write down the names of the covers you think that you’ll find included in the list and, surprisingly, that’s most-probably what you’ll find…
o) Kanye West releases a new album and fans of all types take the opportunity to redesign the album cover to better-represent their feelings about the infamous rapper (and self-proclaimed king of whatever kingdom he lays claim to) – https://www.xxlmag.com/fans-hilarious-versions-kanye-west-ty-dolla-sign-nsfw-vultures-1-album-cover/
p) A contributor to the Entertainment section of the Technabob site posted a list of easily-recognizable album covers from the 1990s – https://technabob.com/10-90s-albums-whose-cover-art-is-immediately-recognizable/ and, yes, it is true – each cover is recognizable!
q) Currently the world’s most-famous celebrity couple – that being Kansas City Chief’s receiver Travis Kelce and pop superstar Taylor Swift – have been dominating the news cycles for the past several months, culminating in The Kiss Seen Around The Globe that was seen by the millions of viewers who watched The Superbowl contest on the 12th of February. Not wanting to leave my readers without at least a touch of Swiftiness, I’ve included links to two articles, the first detailing all of Ms. Swift’s album cover art since her 2006 self-titled debut recording – https://wegotthiscovered.com/music/all-taylor-swift-album-covers-in-order/ and the second showing how one “Swiftie” used her talent and a Batman Lego set to recreate the cover of Taylor’s huge Midnights album – https://www.dexerto.com/tiktok/woman-goes-viral-after-using-batman-lego-set-to-build-taylor-swift-album-cover-2530927/ There, I’ve done it.
Lastly but not Leastly…
UPDATE FROM LAST MONTH’S LBNL – After helping a fellow writer with a bit of research last month on the topic of how artists working for record labels in the early days of the modern rock/pop music business were compensated and whether any of them were able to maintain control over the intellectual property they created (vs. straight out “works for hire”), I did reach out to a couple of people who I knew were active in those days to see what they might remember about how things were done, and one of the respondents – art director David Larkham, perhaps best known for his work for Elton John – was forthcoming with his thoughts and memories, which I’d now like to share with you.
First, my letter to David – “Dear David – A fellow writer asked me for some help regarding finding out ‘how things were done back in the day’ and, as I know you’ve been practicing your craft for a while now, with clients world-wide, I thought that you might have some insight into how a particular project might have been handled. Let me explain…
So, back in the late 1950s, RCA Records in Japan occasionally released records where they re-used some of both Andy Warhol’s and Jim Flora’s cover art on different albums they were producing for their local markets. For example, they used a cover image (a drawing of seven angels) done by Warhol originally in the U.S. for a 1956 jazz record called Cool Gabriels (on RCA’s sub label Groove). Then, in 1959, Victor Japan used the same image on a record they released by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pop Orchestra playing Berlioz and Verdi. My friend also found four examples of where Jim Flora’s iconic cover art of Mambo For Cats was used on other records, including a Perez Prado EP Mambo vs Cha Cha Cha.
So, our question to you is about how (or whether) international record companies, with subsidiaries in other countries, managed the licensing of works so that artists were properly compensated for the use of their works. I know only too well that, many times, images were produced as works-for-hire and that record companies felt that they were able to use those works ad infinitum (unless, of course, the artists were wise enough to work on a fee + royalties basis).
I contacted my friends at Sony Music last week and they put me in touch with their archivists, who informed me that their record-keeping doesn’t go back that far, so now my only hope is to find artists/designers/photographers “of a certain age” who might have info on how they might have managed these things for themselves. Please let me/us know what you can on this topic. If there are folks you believe might be able to give us additional insights, I’d appreciate the leads.”
After a few days, David sent me this reply – “Dear Mike – My own thoughts on those early-ish image rights days are along these lines: a) the early record companies and song publishers were well versed in the copyright of songs and music – from the era long before the idea of printed picture sleeves dawned – but the vast majority wouldn’t have had a clue about the ‘intellectual rights’ of pictures, images, photos etc., all of which gave rise to a laissez faire approach to album graphics; b) Thinking back – my own recollections make it easy for me to see how situations like a US originated Warhol drawing could also be used by the Japanese subsidiary of the same label. There was that assumption that, once purchased by the company, the image was there for multi-purpose and international use, and c) There has always been record company individuals and companies who have said ‘…it’s someone else’s picture, but let’s use it anyway since probably no one will spot it’s usage, and, if they do, we’ll claim ignorance and offer an apologetic $10’…
There was always a lot of ‘general ignorance’ – certainly from early record company days even up through the Seventies. I’d offered an example of naivety and ignorance in your interview with me re: ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ – see below, along with the attached image.”
David then provided this excerpt from the interview I’d done with him back in 2014 (you can read the entire interview at https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/interview-with-david-larkham-elton-johns-goodbye-yellow-brick-road-album-cover/ ) – during which he had given me some related info on this very topic – “’Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ is a song about leaving the grimness of the city behind – and a failed romance – and going back to the preferred pleasantness of the countryside. In London, the album’s coordinator Steve Brown believed he’d found an image by the illustrator Ian Beck – someone whose work we’d previously seen and admired – that we could use and so, on a Thursday in L.A., I was told to gather up all the lyric illustrations that Mike Ross and I had done and get on a plane to London. The plan was to try and make final decisions on the album packaging, as time was running out fast.
While I was flying from L.A. to London and working on some of the center-spread illustrations at the same time, Steve Brown was meeting with Ian Beck in London. Steve had seen the LP cover for Jonathan Kelly’s Wait Til They Change The Backdrop, which he felt fitted the city/countryside concept. Steve wanted to buy the illustration outright and then re-use it for Elton’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road!! Now, you and I know that’s a non-starter of an idea, and Ian Beck politely pointed out that you couldn’t have two albums released with the same front cover image, as Kelly’s album had been out less than a year. But it was decided then that Ian Beck would work with us to produce something new for Elton.”
David concluded his note to me with this comment – “From the above, you can see that Steve Brown intended no rip-off – he was just unknowledgeable about image usage and rights. Anyway, there’s a few random thoughts. If anything else occurs to me, I’ll send a postscript.
All the best, David
Thanks, David! It always makes the most sense going straight to the source when you want to know “the real story”.
That’s all for now – be on the lookout for the next newsletter update, scheduled to be delivered on the first day of April when, perhaps, we’ll all have seen the first buds of Spring. As I’m always looking to visit with my friends more often than once a month, if anything comes across my desk anytime sooner, I will surely publish a special article/news alert, 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. Photos from the Gibson Garage London were provided by Gibson and used with their permission. Jonathan Kelly album cover art image provided by David Larkham for illustrative purposes only. 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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