Sometimes, simply taking a photo, and making an image, is not enough; sometimes, the picture cries out for more. Sometimes, they want a life of their own—and what could be more glamorous than being an album cover?
Whether on a classical, punk, pop, or jazz record, album covers in some sense embody the spirit of their music. When I was a kid, just getting into music myself, I had a hard time trying to find “my music,” because I had had a very narrow exposure to music, and that was usually focused on classical. But then I discovered rock, and found myself drawn to that like a moth to flame. But as a young kid heavily into drawing, with very limited exposure to most genres, the only tangible aspect of an album I could connect with, was its cover—if a cover really resonated with me, I would (reluctantly) part with what seemed like huge chunks of my pocket money, and buy that album.
For this project, I’m taking images that I think would look good on a cover—even if they weren’t shot in a square format—and then I’ll spend some time with them to see what genre they suggest. Once I have that, I’ll invent an artist—a band, singer/songwriter, orchestra—and a backstory, that I’ll write out as liner notes for that fictitious album. Naturally, I’ll also come up with a label! For classical albums, the music will be genuine, but the performers will be invented; usually with some kind of inside joke or reference, such as having Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder appear on the fictional Sans Souci label…
In parallel, I am writing and designing a book in which all these covers & stories will be collected, as the catalog for an exhibition of record sleeves for albums that were never recorded by artists who don’t exist… but which were created by a mysterious designer who died Manny years ago. The work will be a giant retrospective with a heady mix of snippets of correspondence, critics’ reviews, liner notes, and lyrics; I expect there will even a couple of essays illuminating the work, a bibliography, and index. Curious? Then why not drop me a line to find out more…
