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nyadrn
nyadrn
Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐
June 22, 2008

ART AND ROCK N ROLL

  • June 22, 2008
  • 112 replies
  • 26445 views



Hi




I read an article this
morning about an art show in Miami and the beginning of the
article made me think about all of the great art associated with
rock and music.  Album covers, concert posters, the
photography work of people like Linda Eastman McCartney and
thousands of others.




Think about it  and
lets talk : )




Diane

      112 replies

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      alarivie
      alarivie
      Contributor ⭐⭐
      July 20, 2008
      In Response to post:

       One of my favorites - a classic album cover by a classic underground artist, Robert Crumb


       



       


      Would you believe he got paid $25 for that?

        If you are a fan of Robert Crumb (like me), the Ovation channel on cable is airing Crumb at 8 PM EST on Sunday, July 20 (today).


      Last night at 10 they had a program on "Lowbrow" art.  Lots of interviews with Robert Williams, another great underground artist.


      Adrian

        TraderVic
        TraderVic
        Contributor ⭐
        July 22, 2008
        In Response to post:

          If you are a fan of Robert Crumb (like me), the Ovation channel on cable is airing Crumb at 8 PM EST on Sunday, July 20 (today).


        Last night at 10 they had a program on "Lowbrow" art.  Lots of interviews with Robert Williams, another great underground artist.


        Adrian

        Great documentary - I have it on DVD.  Given the oddities of his family it's a wonder Crumb turned out as "normal" as he did!


         


        I'm a huge fan of underground art in general, both for its entertainment value and its cultural significance.  People like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman, Vaughn Bode, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez and the multitude of others were the documentarians of the sixties counter-culture, working with ink rather than film.

          alarivie
          alarivie
          Contributor ⭐⭐
          July 22, 2008
          In Response to post:

          Great documentary - I have it on DVD.  Given the oddities of his family it's a wonder Crumb turned out as "normal" as he did!


           


          I'm a huge fan of underground art in general, both for its entertainment value and its cultural significance.  People like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman, Vaughn Bode, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez and the multitude of others were the documentarians of the sixties counter-culture, working with ink rather than film.

            You're right.  He was the normal one in the family.  I had never seen the film before and it wasn't what I expected ... but it was good.  Particularly liked the interviews with his wife.  While most everyone else were saying how twisted he was, he wife disagreed.


          I know what you mean about the artists though. I hitchhiked out to Berkeley in the early 70's and returned home with many of the original "underground" comix and newspapers.  Wish I still had them today.

            nyadrn
            nyadrnAuthor
            Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐
            August 4, 2008
            In Response to ART AND ROCK N ROLL
            :



            Hi




            I read an article this
            morning about an art show in Miami and the beginning of the
            article made me think about all of the great art associated with
            rock and music.  Album covers, concert posters, the
            photography work of people like Linda Eastman McCartney and
            thousands of others.




            Think about it  and
            lets talk : )




            Diane


             
            Hi




            I was looking for some
            information about album cover art and found the history
            interesting.Early History





            Around 1910, 78 rpm
            records replaced


            phonograph cylinder



            as the medium for
            recorded sound. The 78 rpm records were issued in both 10"
            and 12" diameter sizes and were usually sold separately, in
            brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and
            sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name.
            Generally the sleeves had a circular cutout allowing the record
            label to be seen. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontially
            or stood upright on an edge, but because of their fragility, many
            broke in storage.




            German


            record company


            Odeon



            pioneered the
            "album" in 1909 when it released the "


            Nutcracker Suite



            " by


            Tchaikovsky



            on 4 double-sided discs
            in a specially-designed package. #






            (It is not indicated
            what the specially designed package was.) The practice of issuing
            albums does not seem to have been taken up by other record
            companies for many years.




            Beginning in the 1920s,
            bound collections of empty sleeves with a plain


            cardboard



            or


            leather



            cover, similar to a
            photograph album, were sold as "


            record albums



            " that customers
            could use to store their records (the name "record
            album" was printed on some covers). These empty albums were
            sold in both 10" and 12" sizes.







            The covers of these
            bound books were wider and taller than the records inside,
            allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a
            book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and
            protecting them.




            Starting in the 1930s,
            record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records
            by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled
            albums. These albums could include either a collection of popular
            songs, on several 78 rpm records, related either by performer or
            style, or extended length


            classical



            music, also on several
            78 rpm records, including complete symphonies.









            In 1938,


            Columbia records



            hired


            Alex Steinweiss



            as its first art
            director. He is credited with inventing the concept of album
            covers and cover art, replacing plain covers used before.






            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album_cover






            If you would like to see
            some of the early albums he designed, go to:



            www.soundfountain.org/rem/remcovart.html">
            http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remcovart.html




            Diane


             


             

            Life's a Journey, not a Destination" Aerosmith
              nyadrn
              nyadrnAuthor
              Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐
              June 10, 2009
              In Response to ART AND ROCK N ROLL
              :



              Hi




              I read an article this
              morning about an art show in Miami and the beginning of the
              article made me think about all of the great art associated with
              rock and music.  Album covers, concert posters, the
              photography work of people like Linda Eastman McCartney and
              thousands of others.




              Think about it  and
              lets talk : )




              Diane


              OKAY


              time to dust off this topic and bring it back to life


              Diane

              Life's a Journey, not a Destination" Aerosmith
                dicmikeg
                dicmikeg
                Contributor ⭐⭐
                November 1, 2017

                Hello and "long time no talk to" to you. Not sure if there's any ongoing interest in the topic of album cover art and the people that make it here in the AARP Community, but as I still post a monthly summary of news articles on the topic, I thought that I'd share it today and then ask if you think that there'd be a better place for it, if this isn't it.

                BTW - Folks that read Goldmine Magazine (the Bible for vinyl record collectors) will find an interview I did with Vic Singh, the photographer that shot the cover image for Pink Floyd's debut album, in the January 2018 issue...

                 

                Here's the intro to the summary - hope you'll take a look - 

                 

                Monthly ACHOF News Summary and Previews posted today - I've just published the latest ACHOF monthly news summary, covering all of the news, interviews, etc., that took place during the past month (October, 2017), as well as several previews of items of interest taking place in the coming month of November.

                 

                https://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/album-cover-artist-and-art-news-summary-and-preview-for-octobernovember-2017/

                 

                Shortlink - https://wp.me/p15kTT-vA


                This month's summary should be to everyone's liking, I think. First off, its only 5000 or so words long -  perfect for an evening spent in front of the fire, you laptop on your knees, a glass of fine wine in your hand, etc. (to my friends in California - sorry about the fire reference - hope you're all doing better these days). Then, I think you'll enjoy the variety of stories you can explore, with the latest news about the artists, musical acts, designers, photographers, galleries, curators and publishers who support and promote the works produced by record art designers all over the world sure to be of interest. You'll find news about Exhibitions past and present that include shows built around the talents of designers Malcolm Garrett, Roger Dean and Lemi Ghariokwu, photographer Frank Stefanko, the artistic endeavors of members of the seminal punk bank X and group shows focused on the imagery surrounding David Bowie and Pink Floyd. Two more exhibits are up in support of two industry award shows (Best Art Vinyl in Europe and the ALEX Awards at this year's Making Vinyl trade show), and you'll learn more about a highly-productive collaboration between a design industry heavyweight and a popular band looking to make some memorable visuals and products in support of their new album.

                 

                Continuing on, you'll read about a new Heritage Entertainment auction that features a John Lennon-owned and doodled upon prototype of the "Butcher Cover" artwork used in the original pressings of the controversial record, along with new books and prints from shooters Brian Griffin (Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen and more) and Afshin Shahidi (the late great purple one, Prince), design industry experts Steven Heller, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and noted Dutch designer/super record collector Jan Van Toorn plus Cey Adams' collaboration with Smithsonian Records on a comprehensive rap/hip-hop anthology. You'll finish off your tour in Section 5, which this month contains an impressive cache of articles on the talented people who continue to impress us with their ongoing efforts in the album cover design, photography, production and product licensing areas (e.g., a new set of limited edition socks based on imagery from The Beatles Yellow Submarine!), keeping both fans and clients happy with their impressive output.

                 

                ACHOF Class of 2017 voting update - the voting for nominees is currently underway and voting will follow soon for this year's class of inductees to the Album Cover Hall of Fame in the areas of design, photography, illustration and other related fields. I know that you're eager to see who are the top vote-getters this year – with lots of talented people still yet to be inducted - so please be sure to check our news feeds (on our site, on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) right before the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. to see who’ll be entering our hallowed halls this year...

                 

                Just a reminder to you all that, if you've found stories that have touched you in some way, you should be to let your friends and loved ones in on these morsels of album art and artistry-related information. Please be sure to share this info with everyone you know who might be a fan of great album cover art and, of course, please be sure to share your comments and feedback with me, as they're all important additions to our site.

                 

                Once again - Peace, Love and Understanding - Mike G (now in Chicago)

                  D
                  dl73698250
                  Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐
                  January 25, 2018

                  That's one thing I miss about vinyl LPs. They always/usually had a lot extra/more things included with the album than with CDs/digital. For example, I had a 2-record boxed album by Donovan called A Gift From A Flower To A Garden that included a complete drawing on its own sheet paper for each song from one of the discs. It was good. You don't get those extras with digital.

                  And it was interesting to examine the artwork on the covers to albums like One Fine Morning by Lighthouse. I miss that stuff.

                    dicmikeg
                    dicmikeg
                    Contributor ⭐⭐
                    January 25, 2018

                    Dear "d" - thanks for your reply. While I agree that there has been less emphasis on the packaging of music products over the past 10-20 years, good work continues to be done and there continue to be shows in museums and galleries that put great album art on display. If you check out the monthly news summary on the Album Cover Hall of Fame.com site, you'll see that there are always things happening that should be of interest to any fan of music and art.

                    You brought up the Donovan package (A Gift to a Flower...) and I wanted to share a link to an interview article I did a number of years ago with the photographer that created the wonderful shots found on that package - Karl Ferris. He also did several album covers for Jimi Hendrix that you've probably seen - http://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2008/02/cover-story---j.html  

                    In addition, I recently interviewed Donovan's daughter, who has a clothing company that features some of her Dad's record cover art on it, and I'll be including that interview in a book I'm working on, so please visit my site from time to time and you'll find a lot of related things to read.

                    Thanks again for your comment - Mike G

                      nahchoo
                      nahchoo
                      Conversationalist ⭐
                      November 8, 2020

                      I had this one long ago - Grateful Dead Europe 72

                       

                       

                      It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
                        dicmikeg
                        dicmikeg
                        Contributor ⭐⭐
                        November 9, 2020

                        A great work of art by Stanley Mouse - the same guy (along with Alton Kelley) who did the Skeleton & Roses posters, Terrapin Station album cover, etc. A national treasure.

                          SummerOnTheWay1
                          SummerOnTheWay1
                          January 19, 2026
                          .
                          dicmikeg
                          dicmikeg
                          Contributor ⭐⭐
                          January 19, 2026

                          Hello from Chicagoland and thanks for your note. Quite honestly, I haven't read anything in this chat area for several years (I wasn't sure whether it was still active)! In any case, if you can share any info with me about this show in Miami, that'd be appreciated as I'd like to share it with my readers. The only thing I knew that had taken place was a showing of one rapper's album cover imagery during Art Basel there. BTW - I publish a monthly newsletter all about album cover art and the people who make it. It's free and you can read my latest edition (January 2026) on my website at  Album Cover Hall of Fame News Update and Link Summary for January, 2026 | Album Cover Hall of Fame.com Thanks again, Mike G

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