Posted April 1, 2024 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com
I’m always a bit concerned about publishing a newsletter on April Fool’s Day, as I want folks to feel confident that the news items you’ll read in all of my summaries are in fact real and not something I’ve put up in some mischievous fashion, as is customary in many press outlets around the world on this day (or, in some media outlets, almost every day). While I’m certain that many creative types do in fact use their imaginations and talents to prank their friends and co-workers – I’m of the mind that some of the art exhibitions I’ve seen over the years are, in fact, nothing but elaborate pranks on an unsuspecting public – I haven’t come across any that I can share with you, but if you’re aware of any examples, I would ask you to send them my way so I can feature them at some point in the future. I won’t go completely out on a limb to say that the BBC’s famous “Spaghetti Tree” hoax in the late 1950s or Pornhub’s 2016 one-day switch to “Cornhub”, displaying suggestive videos of corn cobs instead of their regular fare that day, are two examples of “the best” of the category, but I’d like to think it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for the folks who brought us records with zippers, in film cans and/or wrapped in sandpaper to give us something to stare-and/or-laugh at from time to time (props to the many people who’ve done that very thing unintentionally, as we’ve seen in the recent book/touring show The Art of the Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve).
With that all being said, let’s begin this month’s summary of all that’s good and interesting in the world of album cover artists and art.
I’ll start this month’s issue by making note of a couple of articles of mine that have been published recently, the first being one on the always-informative and interesting Muse By Clio website titled “6 Great Album Cover Designers, Chosen by Mike Goldstein: Steinweiss, Hipgnosis, Bubbles and more”, with its focus being on some of the best-known art directors who’ve plied their trade for clients in the music business – https://musebycl.io/design/6-great-album-cover-designers-chosen-mike-goldstein? (read more about it later on in the newsletter). I’d also like to point you to the interview article I posted recently (see link below), this one being with two of this year’s Grammy Award winners in the packaging category, Jeri and John Heiden of SMOG Design in Los Angeles, who received this coveted industry recognition for their work on an amazingly complex and beautiful box set called For The Birds: The Bird Song Project, which was a specially-produced set – done in collaboration with Grammy-winning music producer Randall Poster – designed to both raise awareness of, and raise funds for, the work of the National Audubon Society.
I’m also happy to be able to share some updated news on some of the recent award shows that have either taken place – the Juno Awards in Canada (the winners announced in late March) and the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards, set for a little later on this year, and now continue with an overview of the categories featured in our regular updates – album art/artist-related exhibitions, interviews, sales/auctions and other interesting miscellaneous items, including my now-customary Lastly But Not Leastly item, where I’ll share a brief paragraph on a related topic that I found quite interesting and, as always, was eager to share with you all. Let us now step out into the sunshine and begin our garden walk through this month’s news.
Award Show Announcements
a) As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, with the Grammy being awarded to Jeri Heiden & John Heiden, art directors, for the For The Birds: The Birdsong Project set, I was pleased to see that, after 5 previous Grammy nominations, Jeri and John were finally able to “take home the statue” – their first as a duo. They agreed to an interview about this amazing package (amazing both in its scope and the subject material) and I’m now happy to share that with you now (originally posted 3/28) – https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2024/03/28/achof-interview-with-2024-grammy-award-winners-jeri-john-heiden-of-smog-design/ The Heidens were also kind enough to share some images of some of the 50+ comps they created for consideration along the way and, as you’ll see by some of the other pix they provided, the final product was simply beautiful considering the sheer amount of work that had to be done to deliver the 20 LPs (each with a unique album cover) and the book that accompanies the audio tracks. Any fan of record package design will enjoy this article, so please be sure to share it with your friends.
b) 2024 Juno Award Winners – “Album Artwork of the Year”
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences — the non-profit organization behind the Juno Awards — recently announced the winner for this year’s award in the “Best Recording Package” category, handing out the honor during the awards presentations that took place on Sunday, March 24 at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre. To recap, this year’s nominees were:
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,
With the Juno Award going to the team of Nicolas Lemieux, Mykaël Nelson and Albert Zablit for their work on the Riopelle Symphonique box set, recorded by Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
You can learn more about the winners and see more about their top-rated work on the Juno Awards site at https://junoawards.ca/nomination/2024-album-artwork-of-the-year-nicolas-lemieux-art-director-mykael-nelson-designer-illustrator-albert-zablit-photographer/
I’ll try and learn more about the talented people who created this package soon but, in the meantime, congratulations the winner and to all of the nominees.
c) REMINDER – Last call for submissions, due April 5th – 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) NEW, BUT ENDING QUITE SOON – Now that Bruce Springsteen’s health has allowed him to resume touring, the folks at the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame – a venue housed in the Wang Theatre in Boston, MA’s Boch Center that “celebrates the history of Folk, Americana and Roots music through displays, memorabilia, artifacts, multi-media, lectures, concerts and special curated exhibits” – have organized a very nice photo exhibition that gathers images from the portfolios of a group of shooters who’ve had The Boss as their subject over the years.
Curated by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, Bruce Springsteen: Portraits of an American Music Icon includes over 40 photographs from seven notable Springsteen photographers: Danny Clinch, Ed Gallucci, Eric Meola, Ron Pownall, Barry Schneier, Pamela Springsteen and Frank Stefanko. Molly McCaul of Boston’s WGBH has penned a nice intro to the exhibit – https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2024-03-21/springsteen-exhibit-gets-up-close-and-behind-the-scenes-of-his-legendary-career and you can book tours and visits to the show – which runs through April 6th, on the FAMHF website at https://www.folkamericanarootshalloffame.org/events/detail/brucespringsteen
I also found a related story on the Amateur Photographer site by Geoff Harris in which he caught up with one of the aforementioned photographers – Eric Meola, whose cover shot for Springsteen’s Born To Run album always finds itself on “Top 25 Best Cover Photo” lists – at a recent photo festival and had a chance to talk to him about his work with Bruce and his band in their glory days (sorry, just had to).
b) Perhaps I should start a separate category for pop-up exhibitions that begin after I’ve publish a monthly newsletter and then close before the next one (possible title – “Exhibitions There and Gone”) – here’s an example – fine photos from “the music part” of British photographer Rankin’s vast portfolio were put up on display for several days (March 13 – 17) in London at the Cromwell Place venue there in a show titled “Sound Off” – https://www.cromwellplace.com/whats-on/rankin-sound-off-musicians-1990-2023 and, by the looks of it, those fortunate enough to have seen it were treated to some fine examples that, according to the curator’s promo text (curated by Tin Man Art) display “a carefully curated selection of portraits, ‘Sound Off’ showcases Rankin’s ability to create images that came to define the zeitgeist, as well exploring the personalities behind each musician’s persona.”
While I haven’t seen the show to tell you what’s in it exactly, Rankin’s images have been used in dozens of album packages, including those for Natalie Imbruglia, Demi Lovato, Alanis Morissette, Shelby Lynne, Kylie Minogue, Kelis, Rick Astley, Pulp, Madonna, Morrissey, Eminem and many others.
An article on the ArtDaily site gives you some more of the details – https://artdaily.cc/news/167416/-RANKIN–Sound-Off—Musicians-1990-23—-a-new-exhibition-at-Cromwell-Place-
The team at ArtNet.com also adds some coverage in this article – https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rankin-photographs-london-2451669
Brief Bits:
c) There’s a Hip-hop jewelry show set to open this May in NYC that will include items seen on famous record covers and in photos by some of the better-known photographers covering the scene – https://news.artnet.com/art-world/american-museum-of-natural-history-hip-hop-jewelry-ice-cold-2449396
d) A record retailer in Long Beach, CA called the Record Box is staging an album cover exhibition on the 13th of April as part of the larger Downtown Long Beach Art Walk promo effort in that town. While I don’t have a lot of details (you can read about all of the related Art Walk festivities here on the local Signal Tribune web site – https://sigtrib.com/downtown-long-beach-art-walk-takeover-returns-in-april/ ) – I did note that a previous similar show put on at the store last September also included a sampling of locally-produced alt album cover imagery that included some pretty-impressive artwork – https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxPBbCkLgJJ/
Ongoing Exhibitions (listed in order of their end dates)
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 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 May 26, 2024 – an exhibition that includes selections from friend of ACHOF Richard Forrest’s collection of Andy Warhol-related album art (and books and posters) has been staged at the Passagen Linköpings Konsthall in Linköping, Sweden, 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 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 before the end of May, I’d suggest you stop by to take a look as it seems that there will be much to see and enjoy.
CONTINUING Through July, 2024 – Noted photographer Gered Mankowitz recently launched a new exhibition at the recenty-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.”
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.
As I noted last month, the newest retail outpost for the Gibson Guitar company held a pre-opening event in February 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
CONTINUING Through 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) Artist/art director/film-maker Nick Egan’s contributions to the music business have been many, such as the then-controversial album covers he produced for Bow Wow Wow (1981’s See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy which, although based loosely on Édouard Manet’s provocative 1863 painting titled Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, included Andy Earl’s nude photo of the band’s then 15-year-old lead singer Annabella Lwin) and their 1982 EP Last of The Mohicans and his next project with UK music/fashion icon Malcolm McLaren for the cover art for McLaren’s own critically-acclaimed album (which mixed African, Latin American and hip-hop beats) titled Duck Rock. These projects produced artwork that impressed the “fine art” establishment as well, with the work included in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Nick would go on to do many more covers and then expand the reach of his talents into the book publishing and music video arenas, creating memorable designs and moving images for musical acts including Duran Duran, Bob Dylan, INXS, Oasis, Ric Ocasek, Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth and others, so when I learned of a video interview with him (presented by Paninaro Magazine/Paninaro TV) titled “Unveiling the Rock Star of Visual Art: A Conversation with Nick Egan, Shaping Pop & Urban Culture Since the Punk Rock Revolution” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wx4QeSlRYM , I knew that it would be a great recommendation for my readers. The video coincides with this article on Nick’s contributions to 1980’s album art – https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/nick-egan-albums-1980-1987/ ,first in a 3-part series. You can learn more about what Nick is up to these days via the link to his website – https://www.nickegan.com/
b) In advance of a gallery show of his work (at the Iconic Images gallery in London’s Waterloo Place), there’s an intro interview I found on the Express site with photographer Charles Moriarty about his time with the then-teenaged chanteuse Amy Winehouse and the session that produced the cover shot for her first record album – https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1874409/Amy-Winehouse-young-pictures-photographer-exhibition. Learn more at https://iconicimagesgallery.com/en-us/collections/charles-moriarty-collection
c) There’s a new interview on The Guardian‘s site with noted designer Peter Blake about his newest sculptures and the legacy of the many times top-rated Sgt. Pepper’s album cover image – https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/mar/10/peter-blake-pop-art-sgt-pepper-sculpture-interview and in a related story on the Fast Company website, you’ll see that Sir Peter was hired by the makers of a beer that I can proudly say I’ve never tasted – Budweiser (although I loved their frog commercials and did drink a Michelob once or twice) – to add some class to their offerings via the production of a limited-edition run of Blake-designed cans – https://www.fastcompany.com/91069992/budweiser-gets-a-new-can-design-courtesy-of-the-artist-behind-an-iconic-beatles-album Sold in 4X440ml packs, I believe that the beer is only available in the U.K. at Tesco and One stop stores and only while stocks remain. You can also purchase a specially-designed frame with which to properly display one of the cans as the work of art that it is, while keeping it cool – https://budweiser.co.uk/sirpeterblakecollab
The specially-designed cans were first shown to the public at the Truman Brewery in London, UK, in late March, with 10 lucky attendees being given hand-signed cans during that weekend show. And as you might expect, you can now find some of the cans for sale on eBay, for those of us who aren’t so lucky as to live where they’re sold – https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2332490.m570.l1313&_nkw=peter+blake+budweiser&_sacat=0
d) While perhaps less well-known than the aforementioned 90+-year-old Sir Peter Blake, artist Michael Mendel – himself in his early 90s – has left his mark in the recorded music business, having produced album art since joining the staff of Columbia Records as a designer and art director 60+ years ago. His first examples were for Latin American music acts on the label, moving on to do covers for Columbia/Epic Record acts in many genres including The Staple Singers, Tammy Wynette, Etta James, Count Basie & His Orchestra, Melanie, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Orbison and Johnny Winter, among many others. After exiting Columbia after four years, he’d later do work for Avco Records (Van McCoy, The Stylistics, etc.) before hanging out his own shingle and continuing on his efforts for scores of other clients (over 250 covers to his credit).
Retiring after 30 years, he took his paintbrushes out of storage and began to paint, and as he spends a lot of time at his cabin in New York’s Catskill mountains, where the beautiful local scenery continues to inspire him. Having a talented artist in their midst inspired a reporter for the local Riverdale Press to put together an article about Mr. Mendel, his life, his work and how he still loves to keep busy in the arts, which you’ll find via the link at – https://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/you-might-recognize-his-work-but-not-him,140187?
e) Here’s a link to an Interview KCRW’s Madeleine Brand produced with photographer Ginny Winn, early staff photographer for Warner/Reprise Records and a fixture in the Laurel Canyon/Southern California music scene in the 1970s (think Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Bonnie Raitt, Frank Zappa and many others) –
Listen to the 15 minute interview on the “Press Play With Madeleine Brand” podcast the station hosts (see button near top of the page)
I have another Ginny Winn-related item down in the “Items For Sale” section – she’s got a new book of previously-unpublished photos she’s selected from her archives that looks like it should be of interest to any fan of the West Coast music scene 50 years ago…
Brief Bits:
f) Photographer Jill Furmanovsky wins a Lifetime Achievement Award at Amateur Photographer’s 2024 AP Awards in early March, 2024 – https://amateurphotographer.com/apawards/music-photography-legend-jill-furmanovsky-takes-home-lifetime-achievement-award-at-ap-awards/ and the AP’s Geoff Harris had the opportunity to interview the talented shooter and shared this as well – https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/rock-of-ages-exclusive-jill-furmanovsky-interview/
Items for Sale and/or at Auction
a) Legendary graphic artist/designer John Van Hamersveld’s portfolio of work contains a huge number of memorable images, including album covers for musical acts such as The Beatles, Grateful Dead, KISS, Blondie and many others, but the design that is perhaps his most iconic (I try not to overuse that word but, as you’ll see, in this case it counts, and it’s part of the permanent collections of NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC) is the one he produced 60 years ago for the surf film Endless Summer. This year, to commemorate the anniversary of the release of both the original Bruce Brown Films production and John’s poster, a VERY limited edition, super-sized and visually stunning fine art print is being released and, if you’re quick about it, you can grab one of the only 100 prints (plus 20 Artist Proofs) that will be made.
The print is called the “60th Anniversary Limited XL Edition Art Print (1964 – 2024)” and the publisher will only be offering 10 prints per country (Canada, Japan, HK, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Holland, with the balance available in the U.S.) and are generously-sized at 55”h x 40”w. All the prints are hand-signed by JVH and are stamped with both the JVH and BBF (Bruce Brown Films) chops. Visit the store on the Bruce Brown Films site to learn more and place your order – https://www.brucebrownfilms.com/store/njc01fcd1sfv8nrm7b2a66j92nek53
See how it is done – Here’s a link to a nice promo film that shows the painstaking process of how master printer Tom Kracauer and his team made these prints – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcv1Ay8WNM
b) Genesis Publications recently hosted an event in support of the release of their book/collectibles collection built around photographer/gallerist Henry Diltz’s career and, as you might expect, there was a lot of excitement generated by the attendance of some of Henry’s buddies, such as Steven Stills, the Monkees’ Mickey Dolenz and others. The event was held at the Los Angeles, CA outpost of the Morrison Hotel Gallery (in the Sunset Marquis hotel) and, as described by the publisher’s PR team, the celebration was meant to highlight “the global release of the signed, limited edition, CSN&Y: Love the One You’re With… Henry Diltz and Stephen Stills reminisced over moments captured in the book alongside musician Mickey Dolenz and music journalist Rona Elliot. Judy Collins, a valued contributor to the book, expressed her regret at not being able to attend due to a performance commitment in San Diego the same evening. Despite her absence, she thoughtfully sent a touching video message celebrating the release of the new edition and reflecting on their lifelong friendship (watch it on YouTube –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4fBfDYzcjw).
CSN&Y: Love the One You’re With is a celebration of the band and its members, documented through 835 photographs and 58,000 words and is limited to only 2,000 copies worldwide.” The publisher is currently offering special “Collector’s copies” of the 272 page book, priced in the UK at £325 – Numbered 351 to 2,000, which “feature a dark red quarter binding with colour foils and gold page edging, and have an inset portrait of the band, with a hand-drawn CSN&Y logo. Each Collector copy is individually signed by Henry Diltz, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. Collector copies are presented in a dark red box covered in a typographic design with hand-drawn lettering.”
Now shipping, you can reserve your copy today at https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662838
Special thanks to Jenny F at Genesis Publications for allowing me to share these photos with you, which were shot by photographer Julia Lofstrand.
c) Now that you’ve listened to Ginny Winn’s interview podcast, I’d like to share some of the details about her new photo book, just published by Fantagraphics. Titled Grievous Angels, Trout Masks, and American Beauties: 1970s Rock & Roll Photography of Ginny Winn, the 122-page book includes scores of previously-unpublished shots of the top acts who plied their trade and lived their lives in 1970s California. You’ll find candid shots of solo performers such as Tim Buckley, Rev. Al Green, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Maria Muldaur and many others, along with groups such as Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa & The Mothers and the Incredible String Band.
As I noted previously, Ginny was the first staff shooter for Mo Ostin and Joe Smith-led labels Warner Bros. Records and Reprise Records, labels that had acts such as the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Jackie DeShannon and a host of other mainstream and counter-culture recording artists. According to the publisher’s promo site for the book, “By the late 70s, Ginny moved into Hollywood imagery, capturing Carly Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Roz Kelly, Penelope Spheeris, Jodie Foster, Gloria Swanson. Ginny also photographed Bob Marley, Al Green, Maxayn Lewis, Donna Summer, and Alice Coltrane…” Interestingly, when in her 40s, Ginny decided to change the direction of her life and left photography (as a job) to go back to school (Antioch College), get her Master’s Degree in Psychology, pass her licensing exams and then put in the thousands of hours of hands-on training needed to establish herself as a marriage and family therapist, which she continues to do to this day.
You can secure your copy of Ginny’s new book via the link at https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/grievous-angels-trout-masks-and-american-beauties-1970s-rock-roll-photography-of-ginny-winn and you can learn more about Ginny and what keeps her busy and happy these days at https://gwinn2020.com/ (photos) and https://www.ginnywinn.com/ (her practice).
I wrote to Ginny about her book, to see if her prints were available for sale and then to ask her about whether she knew a dearly-departed friend of mine, photographer Jim McCrary (another well-regarded photographer with many Warner Bros. Records credits), and here’s what she told me – “Hello Mike, Thanks for your inquiry. Of course I would say this, but my publishing team did an amazing job. Every square inch is productively utilized making it a very good deal for $20. One can buy prints from Getty but they are fine with people coming directly to me – https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/ginnywinn – Yes, I did know Jim McCrary…a wonderful guy!! Very organized. Very good photographer. Sad that he died too soon.”
d) FOLLOW-UP FROM MARCH ITEM – The fund-raising music/art project known as 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 was provided by some of the world’s best-known musicians, including Sir Paul McCartney, The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck, Hozier, Aurora , Celeste, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Specials, and this year’s album art contributors included 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. The folks who run the music-news.com site posted a post-sale summary on their site – https://www.music-news.com/news/Underground/171930/War-Child-Presents-Secret-7-reveals-the-designers-behind-the-sleeves
We also learned that they’d also added a number of related items for sale ( https://secret-7.co.uk/gallery/2024) meant to raise additional funds for the charity, including seven one-of-a-kind REGA Planar 1 turntables with customized slip mats (designed and screen-printed by the critically acclaimed graphic artist Anthony Burrill) along with and a special group of over 50 of signed and unsigned test pressings of the featured singles. All of the singles/covers (100 each of seven tracks) were put up on display at London’s NOW Gallery from the 2nd to the 17th of March, 2024, after which they were sold off through the 24th of March via the Peggy art site. As with previous iterations of this endeavor, the names of the artists for each of the sleeves were not revealed until the sleeve had been purchased.
They wisely 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 – http://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 won! You can find the complete list of contributors on the Secret 7” sites – https://www.secret-7.co.uk/ and https://instagram.com/secret7s/ or https://facebook.com/Secret7s/
So happy to have seen this return with such great success and hope that it continues on with the good work they do in some fashion going forward…
LATE ADDITION – As I was finishing up work on this month’s newsletter, I came across an article that noted that, while most every contribution to the Secret 7” effort was lauded by the musical contributors, there was one submission that a certain participating Beatle did not want associated with his song – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/artwork-banned-by-paul-mccartney-heading-to-auction/ In the end, though, everything was sold and the proceeds delivered to War Child UK, so there you go.
e) Photographer Jim Saah’s photos of the early 1980s – 1990s punk/post-punk music scenes in the Washington, DC area – including often-seen shots of major acts in the era such as Fugazi, Minor Threat, Talking Heads and others – came from both his infatuation with those music makers and from the assignments he was getting from publications covering the scene. He has just released a new edition of his book on the topic – In My Eyes Photographs 1982-1997 – in which he chose his favorite photos of the acts he liked best as a music fan (and not just the ones he’d taken of the bands with the biggest names) and, as you’ll read in this article by Tobias Carroll I found on the MSN.com site – https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/one-photographer-s-trip-into-punk-history/ar-BB1jyW3n – while the pandemic put a big crimp in Jim’s efforts to promote the first edition of the book (which sold out anyway), he’s happy now to be able to get out on the road to promote his work and meet his fans in person. Read more about the book on the publisher’s site at https://cabin1books.com/products/in-my-eyes-photographs-1982-1997-by-jim-saah-second-edition
Jim also sports nearly three dozen album package credits for acts including Jawbox, Faith, Girls Against Boys and Government Issue, and you can learn more about him on his own site at https://jimsaah.com/
Brief Bits:
f) As a follow-up to last month’s item about the specially-produced Peter Blake limited-edition print that commemorates the host of talented musicians who’ve contributed their time and resources to raising money and awareness for Britain’s Teenage Cancer Trust charity, another group of visual artists has produced a series of poster prints that highlight some of the performances staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall throughout the years – https://artdaily.cc/news/167447/New-gig-poster-series-celebrates-iconic-Teenage-Cancer-Trust-gigs-at-the-Royal-Albert-Hall
Auction Results Updates
a) Over 100 items from one of rock music’s best-known muses – Pattie Boyd – were auctioned off by the Christie’s auction house over two weeks in March (ending the 22nd) and the collection included a painting that became one of classic rock’s most-recognized images, that being Emile Théodore Frandsen de Schomberg’s oil on canvas painting La Jeune Fille au Bouquet (circa 1950-55). This is the original painting used as the cover artwork for the 1970 Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
Based on the recent success of other high-profile music memorabilia auctions that have been held, I’d guessed that the painting would have sold at 5X or 6X the original pre-auction estimate of 40-60,000 GBP, when the final hammer fell, the painting was sold for the sum of 1,976,000 GBP, or nearly 50 times the low estimate – https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/pattie-boyd-collection/eric-clapton-derek-dominos-34/211875?
After the auction, I sent a note to the auctioneer at Christie’s (Adrian Hume Sayer) who’d brought this painting to market and congratulated him for hitting such a high note with this sale – “Dear Adrian – just wanted to drop you a quick note regarding the sale of the La Jeune Fille au Bouquet painting. Many of us in the album cover art collecting world had our eyes on this sale, but we had no idea that it would realize nearly 2 million pounds! Just fantastic. After watching the auction of guitars from Mark Knopfler’s collection (and the prices those sold for) and now this sale, it seems clear that the market for high quality rock music-related art and memorabilia continues to grow unabated…Can I ask you one thing – will the painting ever be seen in public again (i.e., was the buyer an institution) or is it now in a private collection?”
to which he replied “Dear Mike – Thank you for your message and kind words about the sale – indeed the market does seem very strong and ever more so. As to the painting, I understand it has been bought by what appears to be a UK private buyer but I have no indication of their intentions for the work. All best, Adrian”, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see whether this famous work will be shown to the public again – I hope so.
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: at last, a month without having to report the demise of an album art-maker. Stay healthy, everyone!
More news items:
a) Scientific American senior editor for Graphics Jen Christiansen narrates a two minute YouTube video during which she explains the science behind one of the album art world’s best-known images – that being the one found on Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album cover. Jen traces it’s origins “from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy to its debut in a 1971 issue of Scientific American and then all the way to Cornell’s Rare Book Room” (and then on to millions of t-shirts world-wide) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JSO7Gox0HA
b) Well, now it’s official – After receiving hundreds of votes from attendees in late 2023 to the Liverpool-area staging of the exhibition curated in support of the critically-acclaimed book The Art of the Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve, publisher Simon Robinson has posted – in reverse order – the titles and images of those “Worst Album Sleeves” – https://st33.wordpress.com/bizarre-sleeves/top-ten-worst-sleeves/ Each one is more horrible than the next, and the list includes a new entrant from the discography of the dearly departed David Bowie (the posthumously-released 2021 album Toy, which features an image I certainly don’t want associated with my fond memories of the great musician/actor/artist). See if you agree.
c) Hello Magazine reporter Rebecca Lewis interviews famed fashion/celeb photographer Markus Klinko about his renowned cover photo for Beyonce’s Dangerously In Love album, which turns 21 this year (how is that even possible?) – https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/514625/exclusive-markus-klinko-details-humble-beyonce-super-smart-britney-spears/? The discussion then expands into one touching on several more of Klinko’s most-famous images and models, including Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton.
d) Haters gonna hate hate hate… Fans of the metal band Pestilence made it quite clear that they would not stand for an AI-generated cover image for the band’s upcoming release (April 26th) called Levels of Perception. After posting the image they’d had made for their most-loyal followers, the feedback they received was so negative – forcing them to make a better business decision, which is why this article was posted on the Forbes Magazine website – acting fast to replace it with something acceptable – https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliekatz/2024/03/04/metal-band-pestilence-dumps-ai-generated-album-cover-following-fan-outcry/?
e) 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. This month’s list includes some of my own musings, as I had the privilege of contributing an article to this popular site. It’s called “6 Great Album Cover Designers, Chosen By Mike Goldstein: Steinweiss, Hipgnosis, Bubbles and more” and its focus is on some of the best-known art directors who’ve brought their talents – and their eye for “what’s right” – to their clients in the music business.
https://musebycl.io/design/6-great-album-cover-designers-chosen-mike-goldstein?
It’s my hope to be able to expand this article in upcoming postings to include more notable art directors, later adding some of the designers, illustrators, photographers, etc. who’ve made us fans of album cover imagery happy over the years. In the meantime, enjoy the article and, when you’re done, I hope you’ll look over the rest of the new articles on the site, including:
– 11 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Zach Mortensen and Mark DePace of Ghost Robot: Funkadelic, Mike Oldfield, Frank Ocean and more
Zach Mortensen is CEO and Mark De Pace is CCO of the renowned Ghost Robot production company, and anyone who includes covers for Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, The B-52s debut and Michel Legrand’s 1954 recording “I Love Paris” on their list of favorites gets high-fives from me…
– 10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Amp’s Al Miseri: Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Joy Division and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-al-miseri-amp
Based in Munich, Germany, Al Miseri is head of creative production at amp sound branding, a studio that creates “sonic identities and experiences for the world’s most influential, innovative, and iconic brands.”
Al’s put forth a very interesting list of covers, from many different eras and musical genres, even including the Grammy Award-winning cover for Thelonious Monk’s 1968 album Underground, which features a photo of Monk as a French resistance fighter, belting out what must only have been considered as “degenerate music” by the Nazi soldier’s he’s taken hostage (art directed by Columbia Records’ Richard Mantel), with photography done by Steve Horn and Norman Griner at the Horn/Griner studios in Manhattan, whose studio was on the ground floor, thus enabling the use of a live cow in the shot.
– 10 Great Album Covers, Chosen by Musician Erin Gibney: Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini, Maisie Peters and more
https://musebycl.io/art-album/10-great-album-covers-chosen-musician-erin-gibney
According to her web site, country/pop songstress Erin Gibney “kicked off 2024 in a more musically stripped-down fashion with the release of ‘Exit Signs’ (Acoustic), which was co-written with and features American Idol winner Kris Allen. Gibney also recorded a single with labelmates Midnight South (a country band from Arkansas) entitled ‘Piece of Me,’ which will be released in 2024.”
f) Far Out Magazine returns to the Summary with several nice new pieces, this month’s grouping including several with a “find me the people” focus, plus others:
– Who is the woman on the cover of ‘This Is Hardcore’ by Pulp? By Ben Forrest – more about Russian actress and politician Ksenia Sobchak.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/who-is-the-woman-on-pulp-this-is-hardcore-cover
– Who are the two men on Oasis’ ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’ album cover? By Tim Coffman
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/who-are-the-two-men-on-oasis-whats-the-story-morning-glory-album-cover
– Who is on the cover of The Smiths’ self-titled debut album? By Kelly Scanlon
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/who-is-on-the-cover-of-the-smiths-self-titled-debut-album
– What was the first ever banned album cover? By Guy Howie
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/first-banned-album-cover
– Hole’s ‘Live Through This’ and the patriarchal pressure to perform by Aimee Ferrier
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/story-behind-cover-hole-live-through-this
ONGOING COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISCUSSIONS
Nearly a year after the US Supreme Court found in her favor, the Warhol Foundation and photographer Lynn Goldsmith have finally settled their grievances – https://news.artnet.com/art-world/andy-warhol-foundation-settles-with-artist-lynn-goldsmith-after-landmark-ruling-2454120 I was somewhat stunned by the amount she agreed to, but it did end the organization’s counter-suit and will let the noted photographer get on with her life without adding checks for more legal bills to her register.
The photographer’s lawsuit had stemmed around the 2016 license of a Warhol image of Prince (who’d just died) to Condé Nast for their use in an article in Vanity Fair about the musician, as the statute of limitations for the alleged copyright infringement by Warhol had run out. The $21,000 settlement includes an award of $10,250 to cover the 2016 license, with the remainder reimbursing Goldsmith for a portion of her legal fees which, to my understanding, ran to many times that amount. Lynn’s seven-year battle produced a Supreme Court decision that truly helped to add clarity to copyright law and it’s “fair use” provisions (Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called Lynn “a trailblazer”), so anyone working in the creative arts owes her a debt of gratitude. If she’s happy, I’m happy. Learn more about this artist and her work at https://lynngoldsmith.com/wordpress/
Brief Bits:
g) On LouderSound’s “Classic Rock” pages, contributor Fraser Lewry shared the back story of how the photo of a German fighter pilot ended up on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s second LP – https://www.loudersound.com/features/led-zeppelin-ii-red-baron The story had a familiar ring to it and, when I neared the end of the article, I saw that an earlier interview I’d done with the art director for the cover – David Juniper – served as one of the primary sources for it! Thanks, Fraser.
h) From metal bands to classical orchestras, bad AI cover art is leaving fans very unhappy – https://loudwire.com/quiz-guess-thrash-album-cover-art-crop/
i) Def Leppard’s lead singer shares details behind their controversial cover for Pyromania, which they’d considered withdrawing after the horrors of 9/11 – https://bravewords.com/news/def-leppard-vocalist-joe-elliott-shares-the-secrets-behind-pyromania-album-artwork
j) Here’s a “most iconic album art” article that, on the surface at least, looked like it would be one where a bit of thought and research was put into it – https://studyfinds.org/best-album-covers/comment-page-1/?
k) Over on the Ultimate Guitar site, you’ll find Greg Prato’s story – as told by Don Felder of the Eagles – about how he remembers the cover image for the band’s Hotel California coming together – https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/the_story_behind_the_hotel_california_album_cover_image_according_to_don_felder-163986
I, too, got the story a while back from the nice man (John Kosh) who risked his life going up in a cherry picker to take the photo that served as the basis for the shot – https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2007/08/index.html (scroll down the page to find it).
l) Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson has a new solo album out, and the back cover image is an homage to what the singer states unequivocally as his favorite cover image of all time – the one found on Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut record. Scott Colothan talks to Bruce about this in this interview on the PlanetRadio (UK) site – https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/iron-maiden-bruce-dickinson-black-sabbath/ For what it’s worth, it’s one of my favorites as well (see below)…
m) Oh, how I love a good puzzle – 13 “thrash metal” covers to ID – https://loudwire.com/quiz-guess-thrash-album-cover-art-crop/
n) Decorating tips on how to brighten up any room using album cover art – https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/how-to-use-vinyl-albums-as-art-so-you-can-spotlight-your-favorite-record-covers/ar-AA19huR4?
o) After fans lambasted the cover art for the Kanye West Vultures 1 record (as previously reported here), the follow up album with fellow rapper Ty Dolla $ign – Vultures 2 – features a photo of Mr. West holding a photo of Ty Dolla’s incarcerated brother, Jabreal Muhammad (aka Big TC), who is currently serving a very long sentence for a murder he was convicted of (that he says he didn’t do).
Read more on the XXL Magazine site (“The Story Behind Ye, Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 2 Album Cover Art”) https://www.xxlmag.com/kanye-west-ty-dolla-sign-vultures-2-album-cover-art-story/?
p) Kerry Byrne, writing for the Fox News site, posted an article that made note of the fact that not one but two major musical acts – the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin – both chose to feature one particular NYC tenement building on the covers of two of their best-known records – https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/two-rival-titans-rock-n-140020783.html?guccounter=1
q) A writer for the “Boomer Life” section of the Manchester (New Hampshire, US) Ink Link local news site named Annette Kurman posits on what album covers would make for a perfect yearly calendar for her and her like-minded friends in two posts – Part 1 – https://manchesterinklink.com/my-favorite-album-cover-calendar-part-1/ and Part 2 – https://manchesterinklink.com/my-favorite-album-cover-calendar-part-2/ The notion came to her in a dream and, based on what she’s included in her list, I’m wondering what might have been in the mug of warm milk she drank prior to that night’s rest…
Lastly but not Leastly…
At this point in time, album artwork has enjoyed a pretty long history of examples of interesting and nicely-produced covers and packages (we all have our favorites), but what makes a record sleeve or box set “memorable” – i.e., ingrained into our psyches to the point where seeing the image immediately elicits certain memories and/or emotions? Well, it seems that some of the folks at the U.K.-based electronics retailer Curry’s had that same question and, rather than produce one of the ultra-boring “10 Best” or “12 Most Outrageous” lists that are spit out on a fairly consistent basis, they decided to ask several thousand of their customers which covers they most-recognized and then presented these findings online in what they labeled “The Vinyl Countdown: The UK’s Most Iconic Album Cover” – https://www.currys.co.uk/techtalk/computing/the-vinyl-countdown.html#
As you might figure, eight out of the Top 10 covers were from discs released prior to the turn of the millennium, with the top two most-recognized covers (and the only two noted by over 40% of survey participants) being Abbey Road by The Beatles (47.9%) and Michael Jackson’s Bad (43.3%). To provide us with even more insight, the survey’s analysts then took their results and broke them down several ways, with one sort being labeled “from teenyboppers to grandad rockers”, showing the similarities and differences between five generations – ages 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and those 55+ – and which record covers were the most-recognized by each.
I found it interesting that Abbey Road was #1 on both the 16-24 and 25-34 lists, while coming in #2 on the other three, indicating to me that these two younger demographics remember the records that their parents/grandparents showed them (and who are also spurning on the resurgence of vinyl record sales). Two more notable take-aways were that a) there were no images of females in the Top 10 most-recognized lists, with the first appearance of the female form taking place on the 12th most-recognized record cover, that being Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and b) the first solo act record to be included (at #13) was Adele’s 25.
There’s a lot to unpack here, and I hope to be in contact with someone at Curry’s to find out more about their effort (you can also read a related article by Joseph Foley on the Creative Bloq site – https://www.creativebloq.com/news/most-recognised-album-cover), but of course my main take-away is that these works of art are critical elements to anyone’s appreciation of the premise that “the art of the album cover” will continue to be as important to Pop Culture as the music packaged inside the sleeves these images grace.
That’s all for now – be on the lookout for the next newsletter update, scheduled to be delivered on the first day of May, unless the changeover to nice weather makes me lazy and want to spend some time outdoors instead of in front of a computer screen. Of course, if anything comes across my desk anytime sooner, I will surely publish a special article/news alert, so to make sure you don’t miss out, I’d suggest that, if you haven’t done so already, you ought to sign up on the ACHOF home page to get an automatic email every time there’s something new posted 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
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