Cover Stories Introduction

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    In a time when music is downloaded and stored on MP3 playlists, and music videos are just a YouTube click away, the art of packaging music seems to be fading.  But for more than fifty years, musicians relied on masterfully designed album covers to establish their images and translate their statements about music and style to the public.
    From the psychedelia of The Doors' Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine to the austere beauty of Carly Simon’s No Secrets, some of the most memorable and groundbreaking images of the last five decades have graced the covers of rock albums.  The creative genius behind many of these is Robert L. Heimall.  For every album Bob crafted, he retains an accompanying story about the artist, the creative process, the music he loved (it was always about the music) and the industry.
    Cover Stories is a collection of evocative, humorous, and sentimental stories that narrate the personal odyssey of Robert L. Heimall.  Each short is the story behind Robert’s greatest album covers.  The memoirs include a story about Robert’s first month at Elektra Records when he walked to his office and realized Jim Morrison in his green lizard skin suit was standing in the art departments doorway, leaning against the door jam, playing a flute with his back towards Bob, waiting to discuss the The Doors new album cover.  The shorts are compiled chronologically to reveal a single narrative exposing the glamour and heartbreak of the music industry and the sensationalism of rock-n-roll.
    Cover Stories is a story unlike any other.  Never before has such an opus of insight into the rock-n-roll industry been offered in a single book.  Throughout his career, Robert Heimall rubbed elbows with rock’s biggest stars.  While some relationships Bob was happy to keep professional, many of these music icons were his friends.  Cover Stories provides the reader with a plethora of rock anecdotes, including; Bob’s recount of giving his girlfriend’s apartment to Cyndi Lauper; Bob’s first meeting with an awkward and insecure Carly Simon, and his final project with Simon, the glamorous star; the humbling experience of sifting through old photos of John Lennon with recently widowed Yoko Ono as the two attempted to create a cover for Milk and Honey.
    With each page, readers will learn more-and-more about the artists they adore, the albums they love, and the man who fashioned them.