Bill Harvey

Though he was not a musician and not closely involved with recording music in the studio or the direction of artists' musical careers, Bill Harvey made notable contributions to the music business as the art director of Elektra Records. Elektra was possibly the most respected independent folk and (starting in the mid-'60s) rock label during much of the time Harvey worked for the company, between the early '50s and the early '70s. A large part of its reputation was due to the quality of its presentation, of which the design, photography, and lettering on the LP sleeves were crucial. Harvey (sometimes identified as William Harvey on sleeve credits) was instrumental to the high, distinctive standards Elektra set in those regards. Elektra releases could be identified by their lettering and logos by many fans even before they saw the label's name, and Harvey was to a large degree responsible for that. Harvey did his first Elektra cover for Hally Wood's obscure 1953 10" LP O Lovely Appearance of Death. By the standards of the day, when the LP itself was still a pretty new concept, Harvey's artwork was considerably above the norm for album sleeves. The script he used to write the lettering of "Elektra" on that Wood LP would continue to be used on the label's releases for about a decade. This was in keeping with the concept Jac Holzman was developing of ensuring consistent, quality trademarks to Elektra's graphics as part of his goal to project a recognizable label identity to the public. In fact, Holzman got angry with Harvey for doing work for another label shortly afterward, and then solved the problem in a logical manner to everyone's satisfaction by hiring Harvey as an Elektra employee. Among Harvey's noted achievements were the design of the guitar player that was used as Elektra's logo through the mid-'60s, the butterfly logo that replaced it, the logo for Elektra's Nonesuch imprint, and the special lettering that was used for Love's band name on all of their releases (and for the band in general). He also had the concept for the famous cover of the Doors' second album, Strange Days, with its midgets and circus figures. Regardless of whether the photos or the artwork on Elektra's sleeves were Harvey's, they were always presented with taste, often boasting striking images, such as the Doors on the first album, Tim Buckley's Goodbye and Hello with the bottlecap in his eye, Fred Neil standing at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal, and Love posed around a mysterious stone structure on their first album. Harvey died in the early '90s. ~ Richie Unterberger