Announcing the Winners of the 2022 ACHOF Reader’s Poll

posted November 22, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, Album Cover Hall of Fame.com

For the past 10 years, the contributors to the Album Cover Hall of Fame have worked to recognize and promote the talents of the people who’ve brought music fans and art collectors (and those of us that appreciate both activities) the best in retail and online music packaging, design, graphics and photography.

Helped each year by asking a panel of curators, gallerists, music marketing execs and writers/researchers who cover the topic to register their opinions, I’ve been able to deliver these details to my readers and, once a year in November, present the top vote-getters in our annual poll as inductees into the hallowed (virtual) halls of the ACHOF. What I haven’t been able to do until now is ask this site’s visitors and fans about their favorite album art-makers, and so to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first class of inductees into the ACHOF, I asked you all to participate in a poll that would serve to track and the report on your feelings about who of our past inductees deserved special commendation.

This year’s poll allowed you to look over the past winners in each of the active award categories and then asked you to select those who are your most-admired art directors, illustrators, designers and photographers, with the top vote-getters placed in special categories that will be called…well, what will we call them? We don’t want to call them “the best”, nor do we want to repurpose some of the popular names that the awards industry has used over time – “People’s Choice”, “Fan Favorites”, “Vox Populi”, “Diamond/Platinum/Gold Medal Winning”, etc. A quick trip to the thesaurus presents words and phrases like “title holder”, “prize winner” and “top dog”, among others, along with some that I think are a bit over the top, such as “conquering hero”, “vanquisher” and “numero uno”, so while I know that it had to have been something memorable and appropriate, I don’t think we’re quite ready to commit to anything beyond “Top Vote-Getters”.

Album Cover Hall of Fame Breaking News Update for January 18, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s Breaking News Update for January 18, 2019

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

I recently learned about two new album art-centric art programs that have been launched – one, by a large music label with a long history of great and genre-leading design and a second by a large home furnishings retailer whose goal seems to be to include large-scale Beatles-related imagery in any self-respecting music fan’s home, office and/or lobby area…

1) Blue Note Records, founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion, has a well-deserved reputation for trend-setting album cover design (for noted jazz acts including Art Blakely, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk and others), with projects lead by designers and artists/photographers including Reid Miles, John Hermansader, Francis Wolff and Andy Warhol, among others. During the 1950s and 60s, Blue Note designs helped set the standard for modern album art, with classic covers such as Dexter Gordon’s GO, Art Blakely’s Free For All, Sonny Clark’s Cool Struttin’ and, one of my personal favorites, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s 1962 record Hub Tones (which, I think, had to have influenced designer Raymond Pettibon’s logo for punkers Black Flag), all which demonstrated the prodigious talents of the aforementioned producers via their impressive use of new era photography, typography and overall graphic design. Recently, the Blue Note team selected 12 of their most-stunning cover designs and have released them in a series of large-scale (either 22”, 33” or 44” square) framed art prints on canvas, priced at $295, $399 and $499 respectively – https://shop.udiscovermusic.com/collections/blue-note/products/thelonius-monk-framed-canvas-art?

The new series is covered nicely in a recent article by Estelle Caswell on the Vox web site, which provides a particular focus on the “look” of Blue Note records in the hands of Reid Miles. The article also includes a link to a short film they’ve produced on the subject titled The Greatest Album Covers of Jazz – https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/1/2/18165211/jazz-album-design-blue-note-records which packs a lot of educational insight into its < seven minutes.

2) With 21 prints on canvas ranging in price from $199 to $650, the Chicago-based home furnishings retailer Crate & Barrel recently launched an impressive addition to their art print collection using licensed imagery – primarily photos and album cover prints – that make it easy to update your décor any time at all. Do you want to know a secret? Well, the prints range in size from 20” square (Yellow Submarine) to 50” square (With The Beatles), with other prints based on photos including shots of the Fab Four in various studio, airport and park-like settings around the world, so whether you’re fixing a hole or just want to see your favorite Beatles images here, there and everywhere, I need you to click on this link – https://www.crateandbarrel.com/decorating-and-accessories/beatles-prints/1 – because I’ve got a feeling that you’ll see that there’s a place in your home for one of these fine examples of rock ‘n’ roll music imagery.

Bonus item – in another example of “time marches on” whether we like it or not, the folks at the U.K.’s Radio X have recently posted an article that brings us some updated stories and pictures of the people that were featured on a number of our favorite album covers. You’ll see what the two little girls we saw on the cover of 1993’s Siamese Dream for Smashing Pumpkins look like now as adults (still playing dress-up); learn and see more of everyone’s favorite nasty nurse character (as seen on Blink 182’s Enema of the State and NOT one to be considered for inclusion in any New Right fundraiser); what U2’s Boy looks like now that he’s a man and many other examples from the Rolling Stones, The Smiths, Pink Floyd, Super Furry Animals and others – https://www.radiox.co.uk/features/what-do-these-famous-cover-stars-look-like-now/  Art is timeless, but it’s subjects get old and wrinkly just like everyone else…

Unless otherwise noted, all text and images included in this article are Copyright 2019 Mike Goldstein and AlbumCoverHallofFame.com – All Rights Reserved. All of trade names mentioned in these summaries are the properties of their respective owners and are used for reference only.