{"id":613264,"date":"2026-04-29T12:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613264\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:36:12","slug":"controversial-album-art-and-iconic-portraits-are-on-display-at-bridge-gallerys-cover-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613264\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial album art and iconic portraits are on display at BRIDGE Gallery’s \u2018Cover Stories\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting this Saturday, \u201cSurrealistic Pillow\u201d\u2014and over 40 other album covers\u2014will be on display at a new BRIDGE Gallery show called \u201cCover Stories,\u201d a selection of LPs whose cover photography resonates just as much as the tunes inside. Thirteen of the album covers, like Miles Davis\u2019s \u201cRound About Midnight\u201d and Pat Metheny\u2019s \u201cAs Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls,\u201d will be accompanied by prints of the original photographs.<\/p>\n

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The new exhibition, on display through June 6, is a collaboration between Cranna and longtime pal Bob Mulvey, whom Cranna grew up with in the 1960s. As two teens who were \u201caddicted to music,\u201d they often hitchhiked to record stores together and pored over each other\u2019s hauls. <\/p>\n

Curating \u201cCover Stories\u201d sent the friends crate digging once again, parsing through record shops and eBay listings, and in some cases calling collectors and photographer\u2019s estates. Cranna even drove to New Jersey to borrow a print of the photograph used for the cover of Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u201cBorn to Run,\u201d a find he says is scarce as \u201chen\u2019s teeth.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some \u201cCover Stories\u201d entries add a new dimension to iconic images from music history, such as an original print of the photo used for the Ramones\u2019 debut album, shot by Roberta Bayley (a photographer Cranna describes as \u201cthe queen of the downtown punk scene\u201d). The uncropped image, which shows the band on a New York sidewalk flanked by a few extra inches of graffiti and debris, perhaps captures the band\u2019s scrappy ethos better than the actual LP cover. <\/p>\n

Other selections preserve controversies that were quickly pulled from the mainstream, like a \u201cbutcher\u201d edition of the Beatles\u2019 1966 album \u201cYesterday and Today,\u201d which depicts the Fab Four in butcher\u2019s smocks surrounded by dismembered baby dolls and slabs of raw meat. The cover was pulled by a horrified Capitol Records, which replaced the image with a wholesome portrait of the band cozied up to a steamer trunk. The original edition of Moby Grape\u2019s debut album, also on display, faced a similar fate when Columbia Records realized a member of the San Francisco band was flashing a middle finger on the cover; future editions airbrushed the gesture out of the portrait. <\/p>\n

A copy of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cSticky Fingers,\u201d zipper still intact on the cover\u2019s pair of jeans, fits right in with the show\u2019s collection of rock controversies. Andy Warhol captured the suggestive image for the Stones\u2019 1971 album, making \u201cSticky Fingers\u201d the biggest pairing of household names in the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the wall of all these albums, it\u2019s amazing the number of [notable] photographers who shot album covers,\u201d Cranna says. <\/p>\n

Photojournalist W. Eugene Smith shot Thelonious Monk\u2019s 1965 album, \u201cMonk.,\u201d for instance, and Elliott Erwitt snapped the cover of Fairground Attraction\u2019s \u201cThe First of a Million Kisses.\u201d <\/p>\n

Among the 49 selections, keep an eye out for Cranna\u2019s \u201clittle Alfred Hitchcock moment\u201d \u2013 a cover portrait he took for Berklee a cappella group Vox One. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be my favorite show,\u201d Cranna says. \u201cThis satisfies a lot of pieces of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

GIG GUIDE<\/p>\n

There are ample chances to catch Boston music veterans this week, as Tanya Donelly<\/a> (of Belly, the Breeders, Throwing Muses) and Chris Brokaw<\/a> (of Come, Codeine) team up to perform medieval music at First Church at Cambridge Congregational (Friday<\/a>) and Lowell\u2019s Merrimack Repertoire Theatre (Saturday<\/a>). Boston-born singer-songwriter Joe Pernice<\/a> (of the Pernice Brothers, Chappaquiddick Skyline, Scud Mountain Boys) also camps out at Passim Tuesday<\/a> and Wednesday<\/a> with material from \u201cSunny, I Was Wrong,\u201d his new collection of Americana-flecked rock. <\/p>\n

After signing copies of her new album \u201cMAITREYA CORSO\u201d at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square on Friday afternoon,<\/a> Maya Hawke<\/a> heads to Crystal Ballroom that same evening<\/a>. Hawke\u2019s latest release marks her fourth LP, although her filmography \u2014 which includes roles in \u201cFear Street Part One: 1994,\u201d \u201cInside Out 2,\u2033 and the hit Netflix series \u201cStranger Things,\u201d among other projects \u2014 easily outnumbers her discography.<\/p>\n

\"ProtojeProtoje pictured here in Paris in 2026, performs at Brighton Music Hall Friday.ELLIOTT VERDIER\/NYT<\/p>\n

Also on Friday<\/a>, Jamaican singer Protoje<\/a> stages a \u201creggae invasion\u201d at Brighton Music Hall to promote his new album, \u201cThe Art of Acceptance,\u201d which features appearances from two of Bob Marley<\/a>\u2019s sons, Damian<\/a> and Stephen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Paradise Rock Club hosts quite the spectrum of rock this week, starting Friday<\/a> with a joint tour from Kentucky garage punks White Reaper<\/a> and Albany hardcore group Drug Church<\/a>. Indian folk metal band Bloodywood<\/a> take over on Monday<\/a> with material from the cheekily-titled 2025 album, \u201cNu Delhi,\u201d followed by a Tuesday<\/a> appearance from sardonic English post-punks Dry Cleaning<\/a>, on tour supporting their January LP, \u201cSecret Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some notable pop imports, both Monday: bratty electro-pop from Swedish provocateur Cobrah<\/a> at Royale<\/a>, and swoonsome dream\u2013pop delivered by New Zealand group Yumi Zouma<\/a> at the Sinclair<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Leader Bank Pavilion launches its 2026 season Tuesday<\/a> with The Kid LAROI<\/a>, the Aussie singer and rapper who topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021 with his Justin Bieber<\/a> collab, \u201cSTAY.\u201d Other hip-hop picks this week include glitchy English emcee fakemink<\/a> at Roadrunner Tuesday<\/a>, and Pakistani artist Hasan Raheem<\/a> at the Sinclair Wednesday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The biggest clash of genres arrives courtesy of the Messthetics<\/a> with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis<\/a>, who head to City Winery together Tuesday<\/a>. The D.C. group, which includes Fugazi<\/a> members Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, have upped their usual jazz-punk chaos with \u201cDeface The Currency,\u201d their second collaborative album with Lewis.<\/p>\n

NOW SPINNING<\/p>\n

Violet Grohl, \u201cCool Buzz.\u201d<\/a> Dave isn\u2019t the only member of the Grohl family with new tunes. Just days after the arrival of Foo Fighters\u2019 new album, \u201cYour Favorite Toy,\u201d Grohl\u2019s daughter Violet dropped the single \u201cCool Buzz,\u201d a commentary on \u201cpunk guys who preach progressive politics, but then in their own musical spaces won\u2019t let women have a chance,\u201d she says. She\u2019s (rightfully) got a chip on her shoulder, but Grohl\u2019s also a chip off the ol\u2019 block; \u201cCool Buzz\u201d nails a sneering \u201990s alt-rock sound that many modern rock acts can only grasp for. <\/p>\n

\"VioletViolet Grohl has released the new single “Cool Buzz.”Bella Newman<\/p>\n

BONUS TRACK<\/p>\n

As Willie Nelson<\/a> turns 93 this week, Greg Klyma<\/a> returns to the Burren for a birthday toast to the country icon. The Buffalo-born artist \u2013 who cites Nelson as his first-ever concert, at age 13 \u2013 continues his annual tribute to Nelson on Friday<\/a>. Braids optional. <\/p>\n

Victoria Wasylak can be reached at victoria.wasylak@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her on Bluesky at VickiWasylak.bsky.social.<\/p>\n