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LOST ART OF COVERS
(Continued from page 20)
cover treatment. Most often this is done after the recording
has been taped; but if it is a special release or
an original cast show album, the cover may even be
finished before the tape from the recording session has
been edited; for it usually takes a good 90 days to produce
from scratch a finished cover with program notes
ready for the store. Once title and basic b·eatment
have been agreed upon, it is up to the Design Director
to carry out the idea as effective art which will both
provoke the record dealer to give the disc prominent exposure
on his shop's display shelves and entice the customer
to buy the recording sight unheard, if need be.
It's interesting at this point to sample
the opinions of some of the record
company art designers in terms of
what they feel to be effective cover
art saleswise. Very often these opinions
will reflect the merchandising
techniques and channeling adopted
by the company in question. A mass
merchandising outfit will take a quite
different point of view from a specialty
fum catering to a selected clientele.
Art Director Bob Jones of RCA
Victor sees no necessarily reliable
relationship between so-called "good art" and "successful
merchandisers." He makes particular note that
many "fine examples of award-winning graphic art
have not been successful merchandisers." A comparison
of the best sellers as against cover art award
winners from twelve leading record labels would seem
to support this point of view.
Caedmon's Belief
On the other hand, Marianna Mantell and Barbara
Cohen of Caedmon Records-primarily exponents of
the spoken literary word on disc-believe that "an intrinsically
good design definitely influences sales" -at
which point they cite their Walter De la Mare disc
with the cover designed by Matthew Liebowitz
around a painting b y one of the most widely discussed
West Coast modem painters, Morris Graves.
Columbia, who pioneered the LP,
also claims credit for sparking the
trend which has led to that most
ubiquitous of all record cover typesthe
four-color photograph. This medium
had now become almost as monotonous
as the jungle of finned cars
on the superhighways. When the fourcolor
photo job is well done, it is not
only a work of art which can sell records
but can also cost a great deal of
money. Columbia's cover for Reflections of an Indian
Boy called for photographer Alan Reed to journey to
the top of a mountain in Navajo territory to get just
the right kind of shot with the right kind of mood. In
the "no-title-no-text" category was Columbia's Songs
of the West featuring the Norman Luboff Choir. Columbia,
in company with Mercury and most recently
26
RCA Victor, has done large-scale repackaging of its
earlier releases, dressing them up with brilliant fourcolor
photos. Columbia, for one, cites an increase of
200-percent in sales on some items as a result-which
is to say that nothing can improve the appeal of an
old house inside and out like a fresh coat of paint!
Westminster's Point
Wesbninster's Art Director, Igor Kipnis, concurs
with Ernst Werner of Vox in a point worth making
here-that the selling effectiveness of a record cover is
closely tied up with the kind of music to be promoted.
Names-personalities-are the important thing in jazz;
but it is the so-called "MoodMusic" which is the most
dependent on the right kind of cover for selling impact;
for more often than not it is the
"mood" that is being sold rather than
Ansermet, Horowitz, Johnny Mathis,
Louis Armstrong, or even the Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto. Therefore the
cover art has to "pull" that much
harder, or else.
The endless variety of record covers
extant these days speaks well indeed
for the resourcefulness and taste
of those responsible for them. When
they miscalculate in one way or another,
an aroused sales department, a
miffed virhlOso, and a deluge of consumer complaints
can be the result; but more often than not, barring a
major "goof," the customer decries the tendency to
sacrifice the essential spirit of the musical contents in
the interest of "some infernal effort to be beautiful."
Which brings us back to the matter of our opening
paragraph-what you and I do about the really fine
art which does turn up in record cover form occasionally
and which we would even like to have on the
wall rather than lost in our collections. RCA Victor
did make a desultory attempt to solve this problem a
few years ago when they sold their HMV series with
removable art, sans title material, which could be
framed. With or without typographical content, record
companies do get requests from all over the counh·y
for samples of their most effective covers for use in
decorating rumpus rooms, lampshades, waste baskets,
screens, and the like. Some firms and/or dealers are
obliging with respect to such requests
with or without a nominal charge; but
the fact remains that once an LP goes
into your collection its art, save for
that contained within the grooves of
the disc, is "lost art" indeed. Take a
browse through your library for the
best covers one day. You may find
some pleasant and occasionally astonishing
surprises.
-END
Don't forget the Rek-O-Kut Contest with first prize of
a Sabena trip to Brussels. To enter, run down to your
dealer's hi-fi salon and listen to a demonstration of his
wares. Fill out a Rek-O-Kut entry blank (no 25 words
gimmick), sit back and cross your fingers. By the way,
prizes to the store owners (for best window displays)
and 100 consolation prizes if you miss the one on top.
HIFI & MUSIC REVIEW