May 30, 2008
The 100 Worst Album Covers of All Time
Categories: Album Art
“Special thanks to repeat offenders Beegees, Millie Jackson, Scorpions, Butthole Surfers, The Rolling Stones and Prince.” via State of the Art
May 21, 2008
Banned Album Art
Categories: Album Art
“Some of these sleeves were withdrawn for not meeting some standard of decency, some for unlicensed images, and some just crossed a line of serious bad taste.”
May 15, 2008
What You Didn’t See on Your Favorite Album Covers
Categories: Album Art
Ever wonder what’s going on just outside the borders of album art? The site b3ta took on the task of showing us what we weren’t supposed to see.
Apr 21, 2008
Digging the Grave for Album Art
Categories: Album Art
There are still those in love with the art of the album cover. The Guardian has posted another story about the dying art and one designer whose life’s ambition was to be a “sleeve designer.”
Apr 8, 2008
Why Not Redesign Album Covers?
Categories: Album Art
“We’re too reverent about rock history. Why don’t record sleeves get redesigned every few years, like book jackets do?”
Apr 7, 2008
Album Art’s Digital Future
Categories: Album Art
“Vinyl has the size advantage, but televisions, cellphones, printers, media players and computer screens can do things a piece of cardboard cannot. It’s time for designers to embrace the possibilities of digital album art rather than complaining of its diminishing importance.”
Mar 16, 2008
The Most Iconic UK Album Art
Categories: Album Art
“Peter Saville’s artwork for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasure has been voted the most iconic album cover from a UK artist. But isn’t it time we celebrated new tech-savvy formats?”
Mar 3, 2008
Photographer Finds “Nevermind” Baby
Categories: Album Art, Photography
“The guy in the portrait is Spencer Elden, and he’s in his last year of high school. Back in the day he was the baby on the cover of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album.”
Jan 2, 2008
What Digital Albums Still Lack
Categories: Album Art
“Digital music files just don’t provide the same amount of content that a CD package does. That includes liner notes, extended album art and lyrics. Buy a digital album today and all you get are a list of tracks and (maybe) a thumbnail image of the album cover that you can’t even read.”
Oct 18, 2007
New Weekly Column on Album Art, “Cover Stories”
Categories: Album Art
Mike Goldstein, founder of RockPoP Gallery, has a great weekly column on the history behind some of the most iconic album covers of all time, called Cover Stories. It’s a great idea, and the detail in the posts is mind-boggling. So I had to know more:
Tell me a little about the overall idea behind the blog.
MG: I’m doing the blog for the same reason I started the gallery. I want people to know more about the people who have created these memorable images and get a better understanding about what went in to making these images. There are so many things that can have an effect on why an image is done the way it is done – the state of the world at the time the image was created (compare images created during “The Summer of Love” to today’s politically-charged images), the degree of active involvement of the band and/or the band’s management or record label (or both), the restrictions of the different formats (12” LP vs. 5” CD), the technology available (pre-computer-aided graphics vs. images created entirely in Illustrator) and, of course, how the illustrator or photographer was inspired to create what they created.
In my opinion, as well as my personal experience, the more a collector understands about the work of art, the more they’re apt to connect with it somehow. This is particularly important in the fine art world - where a collector is parting with many hundreds or thousands of dollars for a work – as well as in the online gallery space, where collectors can only see so much of a work of art prior to purchase.
Has the blog had any affect on sales at the Rock Pop Gallery web site?
MG: Quite honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t think so, at this point. It certainly has increased traffic to the site (by about 20%), but I don’t think that it’s resulted in more than a few new sales. Collectors still want to cost-justify the purchase of a limited-edition print vs. a poster (or a T-shirt with the same design). On the other hand, it has introduced me to a number of artists, some of who are now (or will soon be) featured in my gallery. For example, I’ll be offering some prints of Pink Floyd’s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” cover image (by photographer Vic Singh) later this month.
Where do you hope to take it in future weeks?
MG: I have a number of interviews scheduled and will be covering a wide variety of genres, so I can assure readers that there will always be something new and exciting. I’d like to tell you that I have a plan, but finding and connecting with my subjects has been an ongoing random act. In some cases, one artist has referred me to another, while in other cases, I may simply be doing research for one interview or for a description for something in my gallery and inadvertently come upon an image or a story that compels me to dig. If I’m not careful, I can spend an entire day visiting a hundred different web sites – thank goodness for my contact management software!
