Announcing the 2014 Inductees into the Album Cover Hall of Fame
Since officially launching the site in 2012, we’ve inducted two previous classes based on the results from the group’s yearly surveys (the initial class focused on nominees who began their careers as album cover artists between the years 1960 – 1975, while last year’s class included nominees who began their careers as album cover artists between the years 1976 – 1990). Nearly new 200 biographies were added for consideration by the esteemed panel of writers, curators of galleries (retail and online) that focus on album cover imagery, art/design museum curators and music marketing experts. After a research, nominating and voting process that began in August and ended in mid-November with our final vote, the ACHOF Voting Panel has selected a list of individuals and companies that very clearly represent the best examples of a large number of talented men, women and teams who’ve created and published a huge portfolio of memorable album cover images. This year’s Class consists of people who BEGAN their careers in the field during the period we’re focusing on this time – 1991 – Present. Our congratulations to this year’s class – we’re proud to be able to announce your inductions into our Hall of Fame!
We’ve divided the Inductees into their respective categories so that you, the fans, can get to know each winner individually and within their group of peers. Please note that some names will be seen in more than one category, as it is that certain individuals serve in more than one role in a project. Inductees are listed alphabetically:
Album Cover Photographers –
Name – Credits – Web site (if available)
Danny Clinch – Notable album cover credits include – Afghan Whigs – Black Love; Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones and Definitive Ol’ Dirty Bastard Story; Simon & Garfunkel – Old Friends: Live On Stage; Pete Yorn – Life On A Chain and Musicforthemorningafter; Sparklehouse – Distorted Ghost; Luscious Jackson – Electric Honey; The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Now I Got Worry; Daniel Lanois – Shine
Merri Cyr – notable album cover credits include – Jeff Buckley – Grace/The Grace EPs, Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk and So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley; Kim Richey – Glimmer; Faun Fables – Mother Twilight; Jen Chapin – Revisions: The Songs of Stevie Wonder and Ready; Cindy Bullens – Somewhere Between Heaven & Earth; Paula Cole – Amen; Sponge = Playlist: The Very Best of Sponge
David LaChapelle – Notable album cover credits include – Liza Minelli – Results; Cycle Sluts From Hell – Cycle Sluts From Hell; Tom Jones – The Lead And How To Swing It; Ricky Martin – A Medio Vivir; Fleetwood Mac – The Dance; Mariah Carey – Rainbow; Lil Kim – The Notorious K.I.M. and No Matter What They Say; No Doubt – Return of Saturn; Elton John – One Night Only; Jennifer Lopez – The Reel Me
http://www.davidlachapelle.com/
Michael Lavine – notable album cover credits include – Notorious BIG – Life After Death and Born Again ; Outkast – Stankonia; Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty; Slayer – Undisputed Attitude ; Indigo Girls – Rights of Passage; Buckwheat Zydeco – The Ultimate Collection; Lunachicks – Binge & Purge; Wu-Tang Clan – The Essential Wu-Tang Clan: Soundgarden – Louder Than Love; Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation; Nirvana – In Utero; Cher – Living Proof; White Zombie – PsychoHeadBlowout; Lee Ranaldo & The Dust – Last Night On Earth
Kirk Weddle – Nirvana – Nevermind; Weird Al Yankovic – Off The Deep End and Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Album Cover Illustrators (inc. those specializing in logos and typography) –
Name – Credits – Web site (if available)
Jonathan Barnbrook – notable album cover credits include – David Bowie – Heathen, Reality and The Next Day; Cranes – Forever; John Foxx & The Maths – Rhapsody; Tuxedo Moon – Unearthed and Vapour Trail
Stanley Donwood – notable album cover credits include – Radiohead – The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac (Grammy Award, 2002), Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows (Grammy Award, 2009), The King of Limbs; Thom Yorke – The Eraser; Atoms for Peace – Amok
http://www.slowlydownward.com/
Shepard Fairey – notable album cover credits include – Various Artists – Plea For Peace/Take Action 2001, 2010 Grammy Nominees and Woody Guthrie at 100! Live From Kennedy Center; Brother’s Keeper – Fantasy Killer; Anthrax – The Greater of Two Evils; Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist; Tom Petty – The Live Anthology; The Black Eyed Peas – Monkey Business; Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots; Less Than Jake – Anthem; The Specials – Guilty ‘Til Proved Innocent!; Led Zeppelin – Mothership and Celebration Day; Billy Idol – The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself; Bad Brains – Into The Future; 311 – Don’t Tread On Me
Russell Mills – notable album cover credits include – Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral and Hesitation Marks; Brian Eno – Music For Films, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, Eno Box I and II and Thursday Afternoon; Robert Fripp – Beyond Even (1992-2006); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Love & Devotion and Mustt Mustt; Roger Eno – ; Miles Davis – Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-74 and Trios; Roger Eno – Voices, Between Tides, The Familiar and Lost In Translation; Bill Laswell – Aspiration
Steve Vance – notable album cover credits include – Less Than Jake – Hello Rockview and Anthem; The Simpson – Yellow Album; Grateful Dead – Golden Road (1965 – 1973), Vault Box and Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings; The Doobie Brothers – Doobie’s Choice; The Ramones – Weird Tales of the Ramones; T-Bone Burnett – Proof Through The Night & The Complete Trap Door; Frank Sinatra – New York and Best of Vegas; Various Artists – Rockin’ Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly; Loudon Wainwright III – Here Come The Choppers; The Band – Last Waltz (Box Set); The Connells – One Simple Word
Album Cover Designers –
Name – Credits – Web site (if available)
Chris Bilheimer – notable album cover credits include – Green Day – Nimrod, International Superhits!, Shenanigans, American Idiot, Bullet In A Bible, 21st Century Breakdown and ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!. ; R.E.M. – Document, Reckoning, Green, Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Up, The Great Beyond, Reveal, In Time: The Best of R.E.M., Collapse Into Now and Bang and Blame; Widespread Panic – Earth To America, Choice Cuts: The Capricorn Years, Free Somehow and Wood; Creeper Lagoon – Watering Ghost Garden; Buckcherry – Buckcherry; Foo Fighters – The Colour & The Shape; Barenaked Ladies – Hits From Yesterday & The Day Before; Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over the Sea; Weezer – Weezer
Doug Erb – notable album cover credits include – Alice In Chains – Dirt, Jar Of Flies, Alice In Chains, MTV Unplugged and Music Bank; Redd Kross – Third Eye; The Doors – Boot Yer Butt!; The Morells – Thing About It; Movie Soundtracks – A Mighty Wind, American Splendor, Cherish, Men In Black and Price of Glory; The Presidents of the U.S.A. – The Presidents of the U.S.A. II; Tower of Power – Rhythm & Business; Will Smith – Just Cruisin’; Zebrahead – Waste of Mind; Better Than Ezra – Closer; Korn – Take A Look In The Mirror
Bill McMullen – notable album cover credits include – Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty, The Mix-Up and Intergallactic; Cyclone – Baby Bash; Luscious Jackson – Electric Honey; Guru – Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Streetsoul; Ils – Soul Trader; Federation – It’s Whateva; Foxy Brown – Chyna Doll; DMX – It’s Dark and Hell is Hot; Bad Brains – Build A Nation
Russell Mills – notable album cover credits include – Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral and Hesitation Marks; Brian Eno – Music For Films, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, Eno Box I and II and Thursday Afternoon; Robert Fripp – Beyond Even (1992-2006); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Love & Devotion and Mustt Mustt; Roger Eno – ; Miles Davis – Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-74 and Trios; Roger Eno – Voices, Between Tides, The Familiar and Lost In Translation; Bill Laswell – Aspiration
Brian Roettinger – notable album cover credits include – Death From Above 1979 – Romantic Nights; Steve Aoki – Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles and Neon Future, Vol. 1; Liars – Liars and Sisterworld; Beach House – Bloom; Jay-Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail (Grammy nom, 2013); No Age – Everything In Between and An Object; St. Vincent – St. Vincent; The Notwist – Close To The Glass
Album Cover Art Directors –
Name – Credits – Web site (if available)
Lawrence Azerrad – notable album cover credits include – Rod Stewart – When We Were The New Boys; Wilco – Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Sky Blue Sky, Wilco (The Album) and The Whole Love; Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication; Various Artists – Ocean’s Eleven Soundtrack; k.d.lang – Live By Request; Story of the Year – Page Avenue; Jay-Z/Linkin Park – Collision Course; The Wallflowers – Rebel, Sweetheart; Foo Fighters – Skin & Bones; Herbie Hancock – The Imagine Project; The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made The Radio; Benmont Tench – You Should Be So Lucky
Peter Buchanan-Smith – notable album cover credits include – Wilco – A Ghost Is Born (Grammy – 2005); Brian Eno/David Byrne – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (re-issue); Philip Glass – The Glass Box; Tim Ries – Stones World
Don & Ryan Clark (AKA “Invisible Creature”) – notable album cover credits include – Foo Fighters – The Pretender, Long Road To Ruin and Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace; Sixpence None The Richer – Lost In Transition; Atreyu – A Death Grip On Yesterday; The Not Its – Tag, You’re It! and We Are The Not Its; Kutless – Live From Portland, To Know That You’re Alive ; The Fold – Secrets Keep You Sick (Grammy nom, 2007); P.O.D. – When Angels And Serpents Dance; Hawk Nelson – Hawk Nelson…Is My Friend (Grammy nom, 2008); Pennywise – Reason To Believe; Young The Giant – Young The Giant; Bullet For My Valentine – Scream Aim Fire; Machine Head – The Blackening; Chris Cornell – Carry On; Fair – The Best Worst-Case Scenario (Grammy nom, 2006); Norma Jean – O God, The Aftermath (Grammy nom, 2005)
http://www.invisiblecreature.com
Kevin Reagan – notable album cover credits include – Madonna – Ray of Light and Music; Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 and The Spaghetti Incident?; Dixie Chicks – Home; Deftones – Around The Fur; Sonic Youth – Goo and Dirty; BB King – One Kind Favor; Rickie Lee Jones – Pop Pop and Traffic From Paradise; Weezer – Pinkerton; Alanis Morissette – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie; Nelly Furtado – Whoa, Nelly!; Bon Jovi – Crush; Aerosmith – Just Push Play; Beck – Sea Change; Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
Al Quattrocchi and Jeff Smith (AKA “Tornado Design”) – notable album cover credits include: Los Lobos – Tin Can Trust, The Town & The City, Good Morning Aztlan, The Ride and Los Lobos: El Cancionero Mas y Mas (Grammy nom, 2001); Various Artists – Titanic: Music As Heard On The Fateful Voyage (Grammy, 1997) and Standing In The Shadows of Motown: The Motown Story; Richard Thompson – Dream Attic, Front Parlour Ballads; Sir Douglas Quintet – Sir Douglas Quintet (Anthology); Nat King Cole – The Classic Singles; Quincy Jones – Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones; Frank Sinatra – Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Love Songs; Fleetwood Mac – The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac; Lenny Bruce – Lenny Bruce: Let The Buyer Beware (Grammy nom, 2004);
http://www.tornadodesign.la/index.html
Individual Achievement Awards –
Included in this category are designers, illustrators, photographers and art directors who, while not working primarily in the music-packaging field, created a memorable album cover. In some cases, the nominee may have had his/her career cut short due to illness or death (a condition that seems to have plagued the burgeoning recorded music industry), while in other examples, an artist’s talents in one specialty were noted and they were then asked to apply those talents in some unique way to an album cover project. In more than one instance, the nominee was a friend/relative/business associate/guru of someone related to the featured musical act and, therefore, entrusted with this important responsibility. Regardless of the circumstances, each nominee has left an indelible mark on the art of the album cover.
Sacha Jafri – for his album cover design for Silver Rails by Jack Bruce
http://www.artnet.com/artists/sacha-jafri/biography
Record Labels –
In as much as “pop” music in the early days of the Pop/Rock era included musical acts that easily crossed-over from jazz, R&B, country, folk and Rock & Roll to deliver music in many styles to a public hungry for their records, record companies were not eager to be classified and chose to make sure that their cover designs would appeal to a fairly broad audience.
However, many musical artists sought to team with like-minded art directors to create packaging for music that would best-represent their own feelings about how they’d like the buying public to perceive them and their music. Once shown to be effective marketing tools, trend-setting album cover design was embraced by certain record labels, who then – as a prelude to the big-budget video productions of the 1980s and 90s – put significant resources behind these promotional packages. It is the labels that showed this type of forethought that we look to honor in this category.
Name of Label (Samples of Musical Acts featured on label) – web site
Kill Rock Stars – Label/sub-label acts include (or have included) – Bikini Kill, Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, The Paper Chase, Jeff Hanson, The Thermals
Maverick – folded into Warner Bros. Records in 2009 – Label/sub-label acts include (or have included) – Alanis Morissette, Bad Brains, Erasure, Madonna, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Paul Oakenfold, Story of the Year, Tantric, The Prodigy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_Records
Roc A Fella – Label/sub-label acts include (or have included) – Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, R. Kelly, Cam’ron, State Property, The Diplomats, Memphis Bleek, Kanye West, Jadakiss, Young Gunz
Musical Acts with a long-standing commitment to great Album Cover imagery –
Of course, without the patronage of musical acts and their record labels, there would be no great album cover art, but there were some acts that “got it” better than others and used their cover imagery to both help set the mood for the music packaged inside and build a deeper bond with their fans and potential fans. At times, a great album cover image could be a powerful enticement to shoppers browsing the racks at their favorite record store, whereas some fans of a band viewed them as “rewards” given to those who’d waited patiently for an act’s next release.
With the strong connection evident between the visual and aural arts, it only seems natural that musicians would find kindred spirits in the men and women tasked to produce the images for their recorded music.
Name of Musical Act – link to discography as listed on the Allmusic.com web site:
Arcade Fire – http://www.allmusic.com/artist/arcade-fire-mn0000185591/discography
Beastie Boys – http://www.allmusic.com/artist/beastie-boys-mn0000038469/discography
Beck – http://www.allmusic.com/artist/beck-mn0000124492/discography
Bjork – http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bj%C3%B6rk-mn0000769444/discography
Wilco – http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wilco-mn0000254215/discography
To find out more about previous classes of the Album Cover Hall of Fame, please visit this section’s Main Page.
Album Cover Hall of Fame.com 