ACHOF Breaking News Update for August 18th, 2021

Album Cover Hall Of Fame’s Breaking News Update for August 18^th, 2021

By Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Here are a few rather-timely items that I want to share with you:

a) Author Ramon Oscuro Martos – the music historian who has so far given us several great books (in the …And Justice For Art series) about the mind-bending array of artwork found on the sleeves of some of metal music’s best-known recordings – spent his COVID-induced “down time” putting together a new book, this time focused on the art/imagery you’ll see on the covers of some of the genre’s most-loved LIVE albums. As he’s done in the past, he’s looking for fans to help him bring this new tome to market via pre-order commitments.

As Ramon describes the project in his latest appeal, “…AND JUSTICE FOR ART… LIVE! Stories About Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Live Album Covers reveals the stories behind hundreds of cover artworks for live Heavy Metal/Hard Rock albums. It contains more than 100 chapters, more than 500 graphics (including original artworks, sketches, behind-the-scenes images, etc.) and exclusive comments by approximately 100 bands and visual artists.”

He’s looking to produce 500 copies of this new book and, as he puts it, “to make it accessible to everyone, I will only be accepting contributions of $20 dollars. In gratitude for your contribution, you will receive the following benefits:

1 – Your name will be included in the book’s THANK YOU credits.

2 – You will be able to order the signed book 3 weeks before the rest of the public, so you can secure your copy.

3 – You will get a 12% discount when you purchase the book (this discount doesn’t expire, so you can use it any time you want).

4 – A free bookmark featuring the book’s artwork.

5 – You will receive with your purchase either a free CD, a SIGNED POSTER, or a SET OF CARDS featuring exclusive artworks.

6 – Since you will be contributing to Metal history, helping to save all these album cover stories for posterity and future generations, you will receive an appreciation letter thanking you for your support. This letter will be signed either by the book’s author OR one of the artists/musicians involved in the book.”

So, if you’re like me and are always happy to help bring good album art-related publications out for fans to enjoy, I’d invite you to help Ramon bring his labor of love out and make the commitment today. Simply send him an email at andjusticeforart@gmail.com with the subject line “Yes, I will participate in this campaign” and he’ll get back to you with more info as it becomes available.  

b) Remember that I told you that I’d let you know when the next Backstage Auction house-curated sale, containing a number of items from my personal collection, was up-and-running? Well, it’s up-and-running as of today, and runs through this Sunday, August 21^st. There are thousands of items available to bid on in this bi-annual “Clearance Auction”, with many starting bids below $10 (!!), so I’d invite you to click on over to https://www.backstageauctions.com/catalog/auction.php to take a look and consider adding something new and exciting to your own personal collections.

c) Lastly but not leastly – the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has just launched its own store on the Reverb.com site that looks as though it will give collectors an exciting new place to look for unique/one-of-a-kind items in several categories – signed instruments being the core of the initial mix – but what caught my eye were several limited-edition prints of Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King and others from the portfolio of one of rock’s best-known photographers, the late Baron Wolman. The pre-launch press promised that this store would be updated on a regular basis, so why not pay the site a visit and see if there’s something right for you – https://reverb.com/shop/the-official-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-reverb-shop?

Be sure to check back with me at the beginning of next month for the complete ACHOF News Summary. See you then.

Mike G

An ACHOF conversation with Frank Harkins and Dave Bett from Sony Music Entertainment

Frank Harkins, Mike Goldstein and Dave Bett, clockwise from upper left.

Published July 23, 2021 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

The packaging of retail (i.e., physical) recorded music products is an expression of the relationship – often, a delicate balance – between a musical act, his/her/their record label, the creative/production teams commissioned for the projects and, of course, the music-buying public. Each brings a certain set of expectations to every project and expects those desires to be appreciated and respected if the resulting products are to ultimately please each constituency:

• the musicians want to make sure that their new musical efforts aren’t reduced to secondary importance or that their fans aren’t left wondering “what the #%!* were they thinking?”
• label execs will want to know that their investments in packaging and related marketing will eventually pay off via increased product sales.
• the design and pre-production personnel working on the project (whether in-house and/or freelance talent), along with the printing/manufacturing companies tasked to bring designs to life as finished products, all want to deliver work they can be proud of and that makes their various client(s) happy and
• consumers of recorded music products want to feel that their purchases are moneys well-spent and, as a benefit, are left feeling that their favorite musical acts have delivered “something special” to them as their loyal fans.

ACHOF Breaking News/Reminders for July 16, 2021

Posted July 16, 2021 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

As we enter into the final weekend of my youth (I turn 65 next week and become an official “senior citizen” – OMG!), I find it necessary to prove to you all that I can still function pretty well mentally and will do so by reminding you of one thing that I’ve previously written about – i.e., the premiere on Friday of the six-episode series ICON: Music Through The Lens which will showcase many of the people who’ve created our favorite and most-memorable music-industry images – and also make you aware of a unique opportunity to bid in “timed-auction” style on a collection of David Bowie-related art from the personal portfolio of  Edward Bell, the artist who created the fascinating artwork and production elements used to package the Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps) record for Bowie in 1980 and for Tin Machine II – released in 1991 by the band he was a member of.