Author: Robert L. Heimall

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (June 13, 2019)

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1096400448

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1096400448

As former Electra Records president Jac Holzman reminds us in his introduction to  Robert L. Heimall’s Cover Stories, the cover art for those 7” musical artifacts were often the most important and sometimes only marketing tool a given album would get to capture the eye and then hopefully ear of the record buying public. While the musicians, producers, engineers etc. invested their time in creating what would appear in those old grooves,   the equally creative visual artists like Robert L. Heimall were hard at work finding just the right cover art to visually represent something of the flavor of the music to us, the buying public.

Not surprisingly, Heimall’s fast-paced memoir is a long series of anecdotes telling us just how many album covers came to be.  That means behind-the-scenes stories of his working relationships with the likes of The Doors, Carly Simon, David Peel, Paul Butterfield,  Patti Smith, The Kinks and lesser known names like the highly influential Mickey Newbury and  Lonnie Mack. Did you know Mack not only played bass throughout the Doors’ Morrison Hotel but also the bluesy guitar on “Roadhouse Blues”?

Especially revelatory to me were stories of bands I never heard of like Wild Things, Gulliver and Bamboo. The chapter on Barry Manilow was entertaining where we learn New Zealand shopping mall execs learned playing Barry Manilow music discouraged the presence of rowdy teenagers. A Colorado judge learned sentencing loud noise offenders   to an hour of loud Manilow albums greatly reduced the number of repeat offenders.

Along the way, we learn much about the artistic decision making process of album designers,   a lot about  Heimall’s private life, like the protracted disillusion of his marriage to his bosses’ daughter, and his increasing religiosity.

Judging from some reviews at Amazon, there are readers who will be turned off by the growing evangelism in the latter chapters. Perhaps some readers might be miffed by the amount of repetition. Did I mention he married the bosses’ daughter?  He points that out so often there’s no way you’ll ever forget that fact.

Of course, one dimension of the book not typical of most rock memoirs are the record covers being discussed, front, back, gatefold. So if you’re a fan with a nostalgic love for the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s and have a fondness for the packaging the old vinyl was protected in, Cover Art  might just fit a slot on your rock and roll bookshelf.