Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for May, 2023

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for May, 2023

Posted May 1, 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Mid-Spring greetings to you all. As a mostly-retired person, I spend a fair amount of time each month corresponding with people I know all over the world (yes, album art fans are EVERYWHERE!), and this past month I noticed an uptick in the people from outside the U.S. who’ve asked me “what the hell is going on over there?!”, a blanket statement that covers questions people have about our current political divide, courtroom dramas unlike we’ve ever seen before and the credibility of our national media organizations, to which I reply “which London dry gin will I be using in my G&T today?”. These days, I’m limiting my media exposure to my Financial Times Weekend Edition (which, in addition to its coverage of world news, comes on the cutest color newsprint), episodes of House Hunters International and whatever I find of interest on the BritBox, Apple TV and PBS Passport services. Yes, I know that I’m hiding, but having watched friends and relatives lose themselves to the 24 hour news cycle here, it’s the only way I seem to be able to stay focused on both what’s good in my life and what’s interesting in the world of album cover art and the people that make it so, if you don’t mind, let’s get on with this month’s news summary.

As it’s been the case for the past several months, this past month was a rather busy one prepping things for the ACHOF site, with work being finished on Part 2 of “The Art of Imitation” articles I collaborated with Richard Forrest on (it being posted early in April) and work nearly finished on two more interviews I’ve teased you on, those being with musician/artist/museum curator Martin Atkins and artist Dave Van Patten on his Grammy Award winning work on the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden box sets released late in 2022. Both should be ready within the next week or so, so thanks for your patience as I work to complete those ASAP.

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for April, 2023

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for April, 2023

Posted April 1 (yes, really), 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Is it March or April that goes in like a lion…? In any case, I am beginning to see daffodils outside my window, so I’m in a pretty decent mood. How about you?

Before we dive into this month’s newsletter’s details, let me pontificate for a minute or two…

Every other morning, I ride an exercise bike for 48 minutes (45 minute program plus a 3-minute “cool down”) and, as a habit, listen to either podcasts or music (or both, time permitting) to distract me from the general pain/shortness of breath that I experience being an old man trying to stay ahead of my genetics. One of the shows I listen to fairly regularly is Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s The Thing”, as he often has  guests talking about subjects related to art and journalism and, in late March, he hosted two investigative journalists and writers – Chris Jones and Michael Mooney – who were there to talk about a book they’d written about the team of Siegfried and Roy, whose careers as magicians/entertainers came to a dramatic end after Roy was mauled by one of the white tigers featured in their act.

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for March, 2023

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for March, 2023

Posted March 1, 2023 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

February might be a bit shorter than other months, but that doesn’t mean that we album art/artist fans were short-changed in the news department. Starting off with the Grammy Awards and continuing with new exhibitions, art and book releases and a lot of ancillary items, there’s plenty for us fans of album cover art/artistry to dig into, so let’s cut the chit-chat and take a look at what I’ve put together for you.

Preliminary judging has begun on the entries vying for another noted industry award – the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards – and, as one of the judges on the panel tasked to review the hundreds of submissions received, I’m curious and eager to see what always turns out to me a fascinating cross-section of examples of album covers/packages coming in from all over the world.

This month’s newsletter contains a human-curated (as opposed to an AI-generated – we’re old school here at the ACHOF) summary of the news in all of the main topic areas, with updates and info about several new museum and gallery exhibitions, new auctions and sales and a goodly number of art and artist-related articles. As always, I’d like to once again say “thanks” for your help and support, so  let’s get started with some updates on the award shows recently ended and currently in progress:

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for August, 2022

Posted August 1, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Mid-Summer greetings to you all. Since we last spoke, many of you have experienced extremes in several aspects of our lives – temperature, drought, economic uncertainty, politics, etc. – and so I hope that you’ve all managed to keep your heads above water (assuming that you have water) and your focus on what’s going well in your lives. I’ve been trying hard to keep a positive mindset, but I have to admit it’s been an effort aided by my discovery of some delicious new gins and other mixers (drop me a note if you’d like some recommendations). In any case, let’s get back to the matters at hand.

This past month’s research into all things album cover-related has uncovered a lot to read about and look into – some items being continuations of ongoing serials and other stories providing us with some new and exciting things: exhibitions, items for sale or auction, deeper dives into artists’ portfolios and several articles that uncover new and never-before-divulged details about some of our favorite covers. Overall, the frequency and quality of these news bites continues unabated. The fact that this news comes from sources all over the world certainly adds to the notion that the interest in great album cover art (and in the people that make it) knows no boundaries.

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for July, 2022

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for July, 2022, posted July 1, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Happy pre-Independence Day greetings to you all. We here in Chicagoland have gone through several days of nearly 100-degree heat as we passed from Spring into Summer, so we can only hope that things moderate a bit soon so we can leave our air-conditioned cocoons and enjoy the outdoors a bit. Wish us luck, and we’ll return the favor.

The month of June did include the conclusion of another auction featuring a rare item of original album art – the cover painting for one of the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s albums – which hit a fairly-impressive sales number when all of the bidding was done, the release of some fine art books featuring the works of some of the music business’ best-known designers and photographers and the passing of one of rock music’s (and the comic book/fantasy publishing world’s) better-known illustrators, Ken Kelly, along with a lot of interesting editorial work about album cover images and the people that make them so, with all that to consider, I’m suggesting that you take a moment away from the summertime activities you might typically enjoy and take a few moments to review and absorb all of the items and links I’ve shared with you this month.

 

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for May, 2022

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary for May, 2022

Posted May 1, 2022 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Wow, what a month. Busy with so many things, and “the hits keep on coming”. You’d have thought that everyone’s attention would be focused on truly important things happening in and to our world – war, a refugee crisis, the world economy zig-zagging with every bit of news and several people who think that it is more important to legislate to remove vague references about some of the sad truths about U.S./World history than to address the ongoing issues head on – and yet those in the visual and musical arts continue to produce works that inspire us and make us think and smile. This month’s summary is my valiant attempt to share coverage of those efforts with all of you, so I do hope that you’ll spend a little time digging through the sections and sharing things you find interesting with others as well. We all need to learn how to share better, no?

ACHOF presents the Art on My Sleeves series – Episode 1 – All Nerve: Album Cover Graphic Design

All Nerve Record Cover Collage by Jules Seamer

Posted January 14th, 2022, with an update posted January 18th, 2022

Highlights from the original exhibition curated by Jules Seamer, with text edited/updated by the Album Cover Hall of Fame’s Mike Goldstein

#1 in the Art on My Sleeves series – All Nerve: Album Cover Graphic Design – In addition to the musical and business aspirations that have inspired individuals and record labels to produce packaged music products for sale to fans worldwide, the album cover art projects associated with these records have benefitted over the years from the talents of the people who’ve worked on them, the tools they had available to create “just the right” cover image and the dynamics of what constituted “Popular Culture” at the time they were created.

The use of Graphic Design – or “Commercial Art”, as it was once called – on album covers was brought about due to the successful efforts of several early pioneers, the most notable being commercial artists including Alex Steinweiss who, in 1938, became the first art director for Columbia Records and, in 1940, Introduced first individually-designed record cover (Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart) and went on to pioneer cardboard sleeve-based packaging for 33-1/3 RPM LPs in 1948. He was joined at Columbia by Jim Flora and Robert M. “Bob” Jones in the mid-1940s (followed by Saul Bass, S. Neil Fujita and Bob Cato) while, over at the jazz labels Verve, Blue Note and others, talented artists including David Stone Martin, Reid Miles and Andy Warhol produced covers that brought them fame thanks to their iconic design work. Whether helping to shape the vision of a label, as Barney Bubbles did at Stiff, Vaughan Oliver did at 4AD or Peter Saville crafted for Factory or establishing a style that became synonymous with the bands they had as clients (like Hipgnosis for Pink Floyd or Jamie Reid for the Sex Pistols), album cover graphic designers were deservedly hailed for creating mini-masterpieces that made an art form out of the album cover.

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for December, 2021

Posted December 1, 2021 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Season’s Greetings and Happy Post-Black-Friday-Cyber-Monday cool-off period to you all. The last month has surely been both a joy (being able to see certain family members and friends in person) and a challenge as we enter the Holiday season having to deal with new derivations of COVID, the availability (or lack thereof) of some of the things we wanted to give (or get) as gifts and the general sense of “who knows what’s next” we’re all faced with, so it is with great pleasure that I’m dedicating this month’s ACHOF news summary to the delivery of interesting stories about your favorite album package image-makers both here in the U.S. and around the world.

The people responsible for packaging your favorite music products continue to astound (although, in some cases, confound) us with the results of their efforts, so this month’s edition of the ACHOF News Update and Summary includes a number of great examples of album cover artist/art news – the kind of updates you’ve come to expect in these monthly summaries.  Leading off in the news department are stories about the nominees (and, in one case, inductees) in several significant album cover art-related annual polls, including those for The Grammy Awards, the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards, the Best Art Vinyl Awards and, my favorite, the Album Cover Hall of Fame. You’ll find this info in its own separate section, below.

Album Cover Hall of Fame Breaking News for November 19, 2021

Posted 11/19/21 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

I have the very sad duty to ruin the beginning of your weekend with the report that legendary rock shooter Michael David “Mick” Rock has died. Well-known as “The Man Who Shot The Seventies” in reference to the huge number of albums, magazine articles, books and museum/gallery shows that featured his photos from that era, he was 72.

Mick Rock first met David Bowie in early 1972 and most of the memorable images of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust were shot by Mick in his capacity as Bowie’s official photographer.   Rock was instrumental in creating many other key rock ‘n roll images such as album covers for Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs, Lou Reed’s Transformer, Queen’s Queen II (recreated for their classic music video ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) and Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘N Roll. He was the chief photographer on the films The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus and he also produced and directed the seminal music videos for Bowie to be found on Bowie’s Sound and Vision DVD collection: ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’, ‘Jean Genie’, ‘Space Oddity’, and ‘Life On Mars’. Other notable examples of Rock’s album cover work include the covers for Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby; Iggy & The Stooges’ Raw Power, Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack and End of the Century for the Ramones.

Tributes from fans and many of the people who knew, worked and loved him have been pouring in from all over the world, as you’ll find in the obituaries and articles referenced in the links posted below:

NME –  https://www.nme.com/news/music/legendary-music-photographer-mick-rock-has-died-aged-72-3099649

uDiscovermusic.com – https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/mick-rock-queen-photographer-dead-72/

Planet Rock.com – https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/mick-rock-dies/

I had the pleasure of corresponding with him several times over the years and, back in 2007, he helped me put together an article about his work on the cover for the 1974 hit record Queen II, which features one of his best-known images of the band. He was kind enough to also share some other shots that came from that photo session, so I’d invite you to read more about this project and the man behind it by clicking on over to https://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2007/08/cover-story-que.html

Take a dive into this great talent’s work by visiting his website – https://www.mickrock.com/ – where you’ll also find a statement from his daughter, Natalie, who is also quite the talent. A man as unique as his work, he’ll surely be missed.

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for November, 2021

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s Monthly News Update and Link Summary for November, 2021

Posted November 1, 2021 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Entering into the second month of the Fall season, on our way to Winter, we know that we can rely on several things that take place on an annual basis to soon be upon us. The first is the launch of the Holiday shopping season, made a bit more interesting this year by the fact that there might be shortages of many popular items given as gifts (clothing, electronics, toilet paper,etc.), so it’ll be a test of our imaginations and research abilities to track down and secure some of the things we want or want to give (although I’m sure that most of our favorite galleries will have plenty of collectibles on hand that should fill the bill). The second (at least here in the U.S.) is the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, which serves as the first of many family feasts and get-togethers. With COVID still looming, it’ll be a challenge to get everyone together safely but, in many areas, things are beginning to look up and, with any luck, many of us will be able to celebrate in-person.

Last but not least-important will be the announcement – just before Thanksgiving – of this year’s class of inductees into the Album Cover Hall of Fame. The lists of qualified candidates this year is an impressive one, so I can’t wait to tally up the votes and share the exciting news with you later this month. We’re cutting down the number of inductees in each category this year so that each inductee’s inclusion is even more special and valuable, so be on the lookout for the special announcement in just a few weeks.

The efforts of the people responsible for packaging your favorite music products continues to impress with their results, so this month’s edition of the ACHOF News Update and Summary includes a number of great examples of album cover artist/art news – the kind of updates you’ve come to expect in these monthly summaries.  Let’s begin our dive into this month’s summary of these articles, posts and announcements I’ve gathered recently regarding all things regarding album cover artists and the art they produce. Their work – and our interest in and excitement about their work – continues unabated: