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 January, 2022

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

Happy New Year to you all. Hope that you (safely) enjoyed the gift-giving season (did you get anything you’re particularly happy about? Hope so!) and have already made positive progress on your New Year’s Resolutions lists. I know that one of the gifts I’m looking to deliver ASAP is that long-promised series of articles built around Jules Seamer’s album art exhibition and collection. Good progress has been made, and Jules was kind enough to share a video of an interview he was featured in about his show (see link below), so watch that and maybe, with any luck, by the time you’re done digesting that content, my first article will be up.

This month’s summary about the work and the people responsible for packaging your favorite music products continues include examples of some very-impressive work. In addition to updates about some of the soon-to-be-announced winners in the album art categories at the Grammy Awards, the Making Vinyl Packaging Awards and the Best Art Vinyl Awards, you’ll read about new and ongoing exhibitions, news about the exploits of some of your favorite image-makers, new items available for sale or at auction and a number of other tidbits of album cover art miscellany. Of course, since this summary was our year-end review, you’ll also find links to the articles written by the brave souls who’ve dared to decide what made for good/bad album art this past year. Whether you agree with their assessments or not, you will find a number of interesting examples of what’s being done in the area by creative types all over the world.

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 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: