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

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

Greeting to you all – nice to see you all again!

Once again, I have to apologize for leaving you without an update for the month of November, but my wife and I decided to brave the travel scene to complete a vacation trip we’d started in late 2019 that had to be truncated a) by a death in the family and b) that crazy COVID-19 thing that shut things down a bit for a year or two. This journey, which took us to NYC and then over to the U.K. and Ireland, was quite restorative and, I must admit, was timed so that we’d be out of the country on November 8^th so we’d be able to have some distance between us and the pre-and-post-election media madness for a while. Of course, there was no escaping the news, but at least it was offset by all of the excitement that took place in the UK’s government while we were there, and we enjoyed the scenery/people/food there so much that it kept us in the right frame of mind, allowing us to return after a month with some degree of sanity and appreciation of life’s better things in tact.

Of course, during our travels we came across a number of album/music art-related things that added to the overall enjoyment of the experience, including a visit to the site of the new (set to open in its entirety in 2024) Universal Hip-Hop Museum in the Bronx Marketplace (NYC), with a tour provided by the museum’s director, Rocky Bucano; a visit to Liverpool, England (our first) that included an escorted overview provided by designer/author/all around great guy Andrew Dinely (of the Soft Octopus design studio there) that also included a stop at the British Music Experience – an “immersive exhibition” that takes attendees through an illustrated (via memorabilia, videos, etc.) review of the immense and diverse pop music scene in the U.K., from its beginnings in the 1950s through the most-recent BRIT Award-winning artists, and several other finds along the way (such as a memorial sculpture dedicated to the late Irish rock guitarist Rory Gallagher). I’ll be including brief articles about that as I unpack the info gathers and photos taken over the course of the next month or so.

Of course, while I was away, the first ACHOF Reader’s Poll took place, and the results of the voting will be shared a bit later in this newsletter. At the same time, another major album art-related poll – Art Vinyl’s Best Art Vinyl Awards – began gathering votes on its site (see more on this a little later as well) and the Recording Academy here in the U.S. released the names of the nominees for their upcoming Grammy Awards voting, with results to be announced early next year. Lots of great art and artistry on display, so it’ll be interesting to see how the voters/voting public responds to the announcements of the top vote-getters in all of these competitions.

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 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?

Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for November, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Album Cover Hall of Fame’s News Update and Link Summary – November, 2020

Posted October 30th, 2020 by Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

I realize that, for most of you, this summary is coming at a time of great emotional disturbance, having to deal with both an ongoing pandemic (and what it’s done to our “regular” lives) and an election here in the U.S. that will provide us all with a window into what America might look like going forward and so, keeping that in mind, I’m going to keep things really simple this month (quite honestly, I don’t currently have the mental bandwidth to do much more).

The nominating and voting process for this year’s class of inductees into the ACHOF has begun in earnest and, with any luck, I’ll be able to announce the list of top vote-getters just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday here, or around the 20^th of November (the 23^rd the absolute latest). Two other album cover-related award competitions – the Best Art Vinyl awards in the U.K. and the Making Vinyl Awards here in the U.S. – are also in-process and so it’ll be interesting to see who’s determined to be providing the most visual excitement in the recorded music business when all the votes are tallied…

Album Cover Hall of Fame Breaking News Update for June 21, 2019

Album Cover Hall of Fame Quickie News Update – June 21, 2019

By Mike Goldstein, AlbumCoverHallofFame.com

Welcome to the first day of Summer (assuming that the “new” Summer includes days like the ones we’re having here – high temp of 65, with rain forecast for the next several days). It’s days like these that make me happy to be able to report that the works of the people who make your favorite album cover images are included in a whole host of exhibitions on display now/soon. In addition to the details of these current/ongoing shows, you’ll also find interesting tidbits about new books, prints and other collectibles now available, along with a story or two that I thought you might want to read, and so, without any further delay, here’s a quickie update, provided as a tease to the regular end-of-the-month summary due in 10 days or so…

Exhibitions/gallery shows –

1) NEW SHOW OPENING 6/21 – Having wowed the crowds in Los Angeles last year with a huge show in Chinatown that drew thousands of fans, street art/graffiti art fans in the NYC area can now traipse on over to a new show called Beyond The Streets that opens to the public this weekend in a large space (over 100,000 square feet!) of its own in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. According to the show’s advance PR, “BEYOND THE STREETS celebrates society’s most pervasive mark makers and rule breakers with unprecedented purpose and scale. The exhibition explores the collective urgency of using the street as a canvas for expression”…and features “enlightening panel discussions hosted by legendary street art icons and presentations by contemporary artists who are continuing to redefine and reshape the art form.” Album cover art fans will see examples of work from many of their favorites, including Cey Adams, J-M Basquiat, Martha Cooper, Shepard Fairey, Glen E. Friedman, Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami, Mister Cartoon and Kenny Scharf, among others.

The show runs thru August, 2019 and is located at 25 Kent Ave, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The entrance is on North 12th between Wythe and Kent Avenues, right next to the Wythe Hotel, William Vale Hotel, and Brooklyn Bowl. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am – 8pm. Closed Monday & Tuesday. Gen admission is $25, kids 6-11, $12. https://beyondthestreets.com/pages/visit

My friend Rocky Bucano from the Universal Hip-Hop Museum (www.uhhm.org) toured the show with some friends of his and was kind enough to share some of the photos. Thanks, Rocky – you definitely have some of the coolest friends…

LL Cool J by Rocky Bucano, UHHM.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cornbread Retires @ Beyond The Streets by Rocky Bucano, UHHM.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art @ Beyond The Streets, Rocky Bucano, UHHM.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) NEW SHOW OPENED 6/14 – Recently opened at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland is a show whose history began almost 20 years ago when the curators from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum put on a show called The Art of Selling Songs: Graphics for the Music Business 1690 – 1990 that dug deep into the museum’s impressive collection of music-related graphics to show how graphic design was used to promote and sell musical performances and products. The updated version of this show now on display in Belfast presents an “A side” – artwork from “the olden days” thru the introduction of pop music – and a “B side” of more recent work, featuring works from artists and designers including Julien Opie, Peter Saville, Andy Warhol, Albert Watson and many others. A bonus show called Overtones: Irish Music Art celebrates artwork created by Irish artists/designers and works for Irish acts including Ash, Snow Patrol, Them, U2 and others. Here are a couple of recent articles – one in the Irish Times– https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/great-irish-album-artwork-goes-on-display-at-ulster-museum-1.3924937 and one on the Irish News.com site – https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/06/14/news/sgt-pepper-and-alternative-ulster-star-in-striking-new-exhibition-of-album-artwork-1641599/ – that serve to provide overviews of the show, with the second one also including a short video interview with the exhibition’s curator, Anna Liesching, curator of art at National Museums NI.

The displays are available for your enjoyment from now through the 15^th of September, with more info available on the museum’s site at  https://www.nmni.com/whats-on/the-art-of-selling-songs

3) ONGOING (INCLUDES NEW IMAGES FROM GALLERY) – In last month’s summary, I wrote about the gallery show featuring photographer Bob Gruen’s work now on display (through July 6^th) at the Brian Liss Gallery in Toronto, Canada, and now I’m happy to provide you with a small selection of photos of the gallery’s exhibition, as provided by the nice people there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Gruen @ Brian Liss Gallery, Toronto – used by permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Gruen @ Brian Liss Gallery, Toronto – used by permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll recognize some of Mr. Gruen’s “greatest hits” – his photos of John Lennon in NYC (one wearing his “New York City” t-shirt and the other with Lennon flashing a peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty), his photo of Led Zeppelin in front of their tour plane, etc. – along with others from his 40+ year portfolio compiled while covering the rock scene for many publications and television shows. Of course, we’re very appreciative of the album covers he’s produced, such as Dressed To Kill for KISS; John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band’s Sometime in New York City and Raspberries for the Raspberries, among others.

Visitors to the gallery will find, in addition to a fine selection of fine art prints for sale, that they’ll also have copies of his 2011 career retrospective book Rock Seen for you to take home as well. http://liss-gallery.squarespace.com/bob-gruen

Artist News and Interviews

1) OH, YES! – Famed fantasy artist Roger Dean’s daughter Freyja is quite the artist herself, with some album art credits on her resume as well. Here’s a recent interview with the artist as shown on the Japan Times web site – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/06/08/people/freyja-dean-art-mythology-prog-rock/

2) NOT QUITE A KNIGHT – Early on in his career as a British photojournalist, Terry O’Neil had access to the music business elite at the time, with his portfolio including shots of The Beatles, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and many others. His photographs of Bridget Bardot, Audrey Hepburn , Sir Laurence Olivier and super-model Jean Shrimpton beautifully captured each in their prime. O’Neill was also invited to shoot portraits of civic and world leaders, as well as the British Royal Family, and his reputation as a result of these sessions grew accordingly.

Now 80 years old, Mr. O’Neil received a Royal honor, being awarded the CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his career’s contributions to photography, so here’s a pictorial run-down of his celeb and music-industry shots in The Mirror – https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/gallery/terry-oneills-legends-stories-behind-16522861

That’s all for now – stay tuned and be on the lookout for timely news alerts on our news feed –https://www.facebook.com/AlbumCoverHallOfFame – we’ll be back when we can with another monthly summary for you.

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.

Album Cover Artist And Art News Summary And Preview For September/October, 2018

 

 

ALBUM COVER HALL OF FAME’S ALBUM COVER NEWS RECAP FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, 2018, WITH PREVIEWS FOR OCTOBER.

BY MIKE GOLDSTEIN, ALBUMCOVERHALLOFFAME.COM

With the cool breezes of Autumn now upon us, we can all look back at the memories created this past Summer with a combination of happiness for the times spent with friends and family and with sadness for those who experienced the wrath of Mother Nature (you can still donate to provide some relief to those driven from their homes due to floods and fire – the folks at Mercy Corps continue their quest to bring better solutions and immediate assistance to those in need around the world – https://www.mercycorps.org/ ). With the mid-term elections soon upon us here in the U.S. (please do all you can to vote and help others to get registered and vote, too – click on over to Vote Save America https://votesaveamerica.com/ to find out how) and the Holiday season following soon after, it’s also time for the annual Album Cover Hall of Fame nominating and voting process to begin, so rest assured knowing that yours truly and my merry band of album cover gurus will be working hard to deliver a fresh crop of inductees to you by November’s end.

I’m  happy to share the news that, in spite of all of the distractions pitched at us by various media outlets and hyper-active Twitter feeds, there’s been a goodly amount of album art/artist-related news to review – more interviews, profiles, news about new books and prints, etc. – and as you’ve seen in my previous news summaries, all you’ll need to do is just read the summaries I’ve written and then click the links provided in order to be able to find out more about the details from sources from around the world on items featuring many of the world’s most-talented album art creators.

Album Cover Artist And Art News Summary And Preview For May/June, 2018

ALBUM COVER HALL OF FAME’S ALBUM COVER NEWS RECAP FOR THE MONTH OF MAY, 2018, WITH PREVIEWS FOR JUNE.

 

 

 

 

 

BY MIKE GOLDSTEIN, ALBUMCOVERHALLOFFAME.COM

The past month of May was an emotional one for me in that two things happened – one, a bit depressing and another that gave me some hope for the future – that showed me that the life of a researcher and writer will often be one that can be both rewarding for the work itself (e.g., the pleasure felt for completing a task as best as it could have been done) and one that will serve as a reminder that not all the rewards will be easily or rightfully measurable. Of course, I’m speaking about the campaign I ran to raise start-up funds to produce a collector-oriented, special-edition version of the book I’ve written (tentatively titled Unsung Heroes of the Music Business) that ended in early may after raising less than 10% of the money required to produce the book. The project ran on the popular Kickstarter site for 33 days and, if it had been successful, would have provided me with everything needed to get the new book designed, printed and shipped (along with any special rewards that were available to sponsors at higher dollar levels). And while I do greatly appreciate the support I did receive, both in terms of the words of encouragement from fans/readers all over the world and the pledges I did receive, I do wish that I’d somehow been able to better-convince you to back me in this effort.

Well, all is not lost, as I do have encouraging news as a follow-up – I have been talking with a boutique publisher in the UK to produce a retail version of the book sometime soon and, with any luck, I’ll be able to get those who are interested in the book and all its wonders a copy (or two) sometime soon. More news to come as it’s made available and, of course, will be posted on the ACHOF site.

May was another month in which a goodly number of news releases and articles were made available on the exhibitions, interviews, artist profiles, book/print publications and other album cover art/artist-related topics and, in the summaries I’ve written and via the links provided, you’ll get the details from sources from around the world, including a) information on album art shows in the U.S. (Los Angeles, Brooklyn and NYC) and the U.K. (Liverpool and London); b) profiles (including two obituaries) on album art-makers including photographers working in the hip-hop and punk music areas; c) a new U.S. postage stamp featuring John Lennon and a limited-edition poster series showcasing Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour; and, as always, d) a nice selection of articles on a wide range of topics including news about several different artists fighting for just and fair compensation for the use of their works, an opportunity to meet one of the world’s most-respected commercial photographers (and have your own portfolio reviewed by him), Kanye West’s most-recent attempt to shock and confuse most everyone and much, much more. So much, in fact, that I might be forced to post some today and the balance ASAP…

Album Cover Artist And Art News Summary And Preview For October/November, 2017

ALBUM COVER HALL OF FAME’S ALBUM COVER NEWS RECAP FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER,WITH PREVIEWS FOR NOVEMBER, 2017.

 

 

BY MIKE GOLDSTEIN, ALBUMCOVERHALLOFFAME.COM

Greetings once again to you all on this post-Halloween sunny-but-crisp early November day, 2017. The month of October proved to be a VERY busy one with regards to articles you’ll want to read that reveal new information about those active in the world of album cover art and packaging and, in the summaries I’ve written and via the links provided, you’ll learn more about the latest efforts – as found in exhibitions, via new books and products and featured in interviews in profiles and other related reporting – of some of the most-talented album cover art creators and promoters that I’ve found in my reviews of stories from around the world.

Of course, nothing could be more important than the work going on right now to select the nominees and, after close consideration, voting on a new class of inductees, for the Album Cover Hall of Fame. Over 200 people are being considered for this year’s Class (2017), with the winning names revealed to an eagerly-awaiting public just prior to Thanksgiving (which takes place here in the U.S. this year on November 23rd), so watch this space closely as I’m sure you’ll want to know who “made the cut” this year…

Interview with Emilie Sandy – Deja Vu Album Artist Portrait Series

Today’s Interview Topic – the making of the photographs included in the series titled “Deja Vu”, featuring the portraits of many of the best-known photographers from the world of album cover imagery.

Chris Gabrin as Elvis Costello, by Emilie Sandy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whenever I view a photograph these days that was used on a well-known record cover – particularly, an album I remember buying from one of my favorite record shops (oh, so long ago), I tend to first recall my initial reaction to the image overall (i.e., what was it about the photo that pushed my “pause” button while sifting through the record bins) before moving on to the details found upon further exploration and assessment of the final shot used. I often wondered where the photos were taken, who the people were that you might find in the backgrounds and what sort of photo-trickery was used to create a number of the impossible scenes that were created for our enjoyment well before the availability of the photo-manipulation tools used most-frequently by photographers and art directors today. Getting these answers was one of the main reasons I began contacting the people responsible for a number of these images to ask for these details directly, resulting in the nearly 100 interviews I’ve done and shared with you over the past 7-8 years.

While I know that many of you have shared the same thoughts and fascinations about “the making of” many of your favorite covers, I have never before seen a case where someone who displayed the same interest in album cover-making as I have embarking on a project where, using her talents as a designer and photographer, she worked to “get inside” both the production processes and the minds of the people who’d taken many of her own favorite covers. Using her professional relationships with photographers including Anton Corbijn, Chris Gabrin, Gered Mankowitz, Terry O’Neill and others, U.K.-based photographer Emilie Sandy collaborated with these talented people several years back to have them re-create (to the best of their ability) and/or re-interpret some of their best-known album covers. The resulting series of images was called “Deja Vu” and, I think you’ll agree, they certainly work to shed a light on the subjects, their approaches towards making memorable album cover images and how they have ultimately influenced a young photographer’s career and her own approach to shooting photos that will endure.