The "big" ideas
When Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) started Sonobeat
in 1967, they had three
"big" ideas: first, to create a record label that would
showcase Austin and Central Texas musicians, singers, and
songwriters; second, to record and release all Sonobeat 45
RPM singles in stereo, a format the major labels had experimented
with years before but had abandoned; and, third, to distinguish
Sonobeat singles with custom sleeves, a marketing device
the major labels used but that local and regional labels
rarely could afford. Creating and printing custom
sleeves was extravagant, but the Joseys believed
it would help capture the attention of record reviewers at
newspapers and magazines like Billboard and Cash
Box and promote sales at retail record shops.
Things didn't quite work out the way the Joseys had hoped; although
all but one of Sonobeat's 24 singles were released in stereo,
only seven wore custom sleeves. The reality, of course,
was that plain sleeves cost a penny, but custom
sleeves could add as much as 10 cents to the cost of manufacturing
and packaging a Sonobeat single. Sonobeat's
custom picture sleeves eventually became a cost that the
Joseys couldn't justify based on sales expectations.
Here's the inside scoop on Sonobeat's seven custom singles sleeves,
all of which were designed by Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley
except for the Conqueroo sleeve, which was designed by Gilbert
Shelton.
1. The Sweetarts' A Picture of Me (R-s101
• 1967)
One-sided picture sleeve
Sonobeat's first release, in 1967, was the Sweetarts' A
Picture of Me. When the Joseys recorded the 'Tarts, the band
was already firmly established as one
of the most popular University of Texas frat and club
bands, playing a mixture of original songs written by
Sweetarts guitarist Ernie Gammage and covers of top
40 hits. A year before recording with Sonobeat, the
group had released a single on the Dallas-based Vandan
label, which Sonobeat producer Rim Kelley had played
on his KAZZ-FM top
40 radio show, so it was fitting that Sonobeat's release
should be distinguished from the Vandan release with
a custom picture sleeve. Rim rubber cemented a band
publicity photo to a sheet of Bristol board and hand set a combination
of dry transfer (rub-on) lettering and self-adhesive
cut-out lettering directly to the surface of the photo
to create Sonobeat's first custom sleeve. Rim had designed
KAZZ-FM's hit
lists using similar
techniques. If you're lucky enough to have a copy of
the Sweetarts' single in its picture sleeve, you'll
note a faint outline around many letters in "Sweetarts" and "A
Picture of Me". Those
words were set with adhesive-backed cut-out lettering
whose edges didn't completely disappear when burnished
to the photo.
Constructing a custom sleeve
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1. Rough design sketches in pencil, followed by
full-size mock-ups.
2. Bristol board, on which was printed a non-reproducing
light blue alignment grid.
3. An 8" x 10" artist publicity photo, cut
to size with an Xacto knife and glued to
the Bristol board using rubber cement.
4. Dry transfer lettering on clear acetate
sheets (featuring repeating full alphabets,
numbers, and punctuation), that were aligned
using the grid on the Bristol board, then
burnished onto the photo using a wood or plastic stick.
Dry transfer lettering was and still is available
in many different fonts, sizes, and colors.
5. Cut-out self-adhesive lettering, also
on clear acetate sheets; the letters and numbers
were individually cut
out using an Xacto knife, aligned on the photo
using a straight edge, and burnished into
place. These were used for fonts not available
on dry transfer sheets.
6. Lines and embellishments, drawn in ink, usually
above or below, but not directly on, the photo.
7. Extra copies of the artist's publicity photo,
necessary when irrevocable mistakes were made during layout. |
2. Don Dean's Night Life (PV-s401
• 1967)
One-sided picture sleeve
The very dapper Don Dean managed
the Club Seville atop the Sheraton Crest Motor Inn, overlooking
Austin's Town Lake. Sonobeat recorded many jazz and pop acts
that appeared at the Club Seville, including the
Lee Arlano Trio,
Bach Yen, Fran Nelson, and Don, himself, and even used
the Club Seville as a remote recording studio. Don's
single, a jazzy cover of a Willie Nelson classic, was destined
to be sold at the Club Seville as well as at Austin record
retailers, such as J. R. Reed's and The Record Shop, so it
got special treatment with Sonobeat's first highly stylized
picture sleeve. Don provided one of his publicity photos,
which producer Bill Josey Sr. had Miller Blueprint in downtown
Austin re-photograph as a high-contrast negative, which was
then made into a high-contrast positive print. Sonobeat co-owner
Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) designed the sleeve, laying it
out on Bristol board and applying dry transfer lettering
directly onto the high-contrast print.
3. The Lavender Hill Express' Visions (R-s102
• 1967)
One-sided picture sleeve
Visions launched a three-single relationship between
Sonobeat and the Lavender
Hill Express, a top Austin band
formed when two other fine Austin rock acts, the Babycakes
and the Wig, disbanded in 1967. Like the Sweetarts' picture
sleeve, the sleeve for Visions was created using
a publicity photo provided by the band. However, unlike other
picture sleeves designed by Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley,
this sleeve featured a hand-lettered title.
Rim drew and inked the title, "Visions", on Bristol board
and had printer Powell Offset in south Austin superimpose
the title over the rest of the sleeve layout, which Rim created
with Letraset dry transfer lettering.
4. The Conqueroo's I've Got Time and 1
to 3 (R-s103
• 1968)
Double-sided
picture sleeve designed by Gilbert Shelton
It was a good idea: the Conqueroo,
de facto house band at Austin's hippy hangout on Congress
Avenue, the Vulcan Gas Company, deserved an idiosyncratic
picture sleeve for their Sonobeat stereo single, I've Got Time backed
with 1
to 3. Sonobeat co-owner Bill Josey Sr. contracted Austin photographer
Belmer Wright and Conqueroo friend and artist extraordinaire
Gilbert Shelton (creator of the underground comics The Fabulous
Furry Freak Brothers and Wonder Warthog) to
photograph the band and design the single sleeve, respectively.
Belmer's photo, shot outside the Conqueroo's rented house
just off the University of Texas campus, adds elements --
4 kids, a dog, and a semi-fisheye perspective -- that capture
the Conqueroo's collective personality as an alternative
band, long before the term even existed. Gilbert's design,
after the Vulcan's psychedelic posters and handbills of the
era, perfectly embellished Belmer's photo, creating a sleeve
that embodied the Vulcan's -- and the Conqueroo's -- very
essence. Gilbert hand lettered two versions of the sleeve
artwork, not knowing which song -- I've Got Time or 1
to 3 -- would be picked as the "A" side of the Sonobeat
release. Gilbert finished the design just before moving to
San Francisco, where he got his big break as an alternative
comic creator. With two versions of the sleeve artwork, it
was a natural to use them both, making the Conqueroo's single
Sonobeat's first double-sided custom sleeve. Producer Rim
Kelley added the "typeset" material
at the bottom of the sleeve using dry transfer lettering.
Except for one quirky mistake -- the phrase "Recorded live
at the Vulcan Gas Co." is embedded in the tail
of the Q in "Conqueroo"s, but the
single wasn't recorded before a live audience -- the sleeve
arguably is the best, and without doubt the most unique,
in Sonobeat's repertoire.
Sonobeat's custom
sleeves were printed in south Austin by Powell
Offset, the same company that had printed KAZZ-FM's
hit lists.
Powell Offset also printed the blank labels used on Sonobeat's
singles and albums. Special photographic effects (such as the
high contrast photo of Don Dean, mentioned above) for some of
the custom sleeves were made by Miller Blueprint in downtown
Austin. No original sleeve artwork has been located in the Sonobeat
archives, leading us to believe that the finished designs
were left with the printer. |
5. Lavender Hill Express's Watch
Out! and Country Music's Here to Stay (R-s105
• 1968)
Double-sided picture sleeve
When Sonobeat released the Lavender
Hill Express' second stereo
single, producer Bill Josey Sr. intended to record an album
with the group. This alone justified special treatment
for the picture sleeve for Watch Out! backed with Country
Music's Here to Stay. The band provided two 8" x 10" photos,
both taken "on location" on the outskirts of Schwertner,
Texas, just north of Austin. Band keyboardist Johnny Schwertner's
family, of course, hailed from the tiny town. Not only did
each side of the sleeve feature a different
photo, but both sides featured a color overlay applied to
the band name and song title. Aligning the color type layer,
which Sonobeat co-owner Rim Kelley set by hand, was a little
tricky but came out OK, although it resulted in much detail
in both photos washing out.
6. Winter's Mean Town Blues and Rollin'
and Tumblin' (R-s107
• 1968)
One-sided picture sleeve
Double-sided picture sleeve
in summer 1968, Sonobeat recorded an album of material with
Johnny Winter's
trio, then known simply as "Winter".
Two tracks, Mean
Town Blues and Rollin' and Tumblin'
were selected for a stereo single release to build
anticipation for the album, which Sonobeat planned to release
just before Christmas in 1968. Winter's pounding blues represented
a departure from the rock, psychedelic, and jazz music Sonobeat
had recorded and released in '67 and early '68. Johnny was
one of the most unique musicians producers Bill Josey Sr.
and Rim Kelley (Bill Jr.) had worked with, and the
Joseys had a hard time deciding which song should be the
single's "A" side.
Those factors led Rim to design a sleeve
using a Burton Wilson close-up of Johnny overlaid with the
name "Winter" and
the Sonobeat logos on the front and an array of film strips
from Burton's photo session with Johnny, with the song titles,
release number, and other customary information, on the back.
As with the other sleeves he designed, Rim used
dry transfer lettering applied directly to a print of Johnny's
photo. Notably, the Winter single marked the debut of Sonobeat's
stylized "S"
logo. Although Rim does not recall designing the back side
of the single sleeve, there's sufficient stylistic and technical
evidence to conclude that, indeed, he did design it. There
also is sufficient evidence that the Winter single was issued
in both a one-sided version (just the front) and in the double-sided
version; however, there are no copies of the double-sided
version in the Sonobeat archives.
7. Jim Chesnut's About to Be Woman (PV-s112)
One-sided picture sleeve
University of Texas student Jim
Chesnut recorded the country-folk
pop ballads About to be Woman and Leaves for
Sonobeat in 1968. Their release as a Sonobeat stereo single
was Jim's first and Sonobeat's 14th. Both
songs on the single were written by Herman M. Nelson, whose
large oeuvre of compositions were published by Sonobeat's
sister company, Sonosong Music. The decision to create a
custom sleeve for Jim's single was influenced as much by
producer Bill Josey Sr.'s desire to promote Herman's song
catalog as by Jim, himself a talented
songwriter who had performed on Herman's first Sonosong
demo album. Jim's was to be Sonobeat's last custom sleeve.
To spend an extra 8 to 10 cents for each copy of a custom
sleeve almost completely offset any profit margin Sonobeat
hoped to make with most of its releases. Rim designed this
final sleeve using the same technique he had used for the
Sweetarts' sleeve: he burnished dry transfer lettering directly
onto a publicity photo of Jim.
Generic sleeve
Other Sonobeat singles were released in generic cut-out sleeves
rubber stamped "Sonobeat Stereo". On at least
one occasion, Mariani's Rebirth
Day advance pressing, Sonobeat used a solid
white sleeve rubber stamped with the band's name.
Of course, there were many Sonobeat stereo singles released between
the Sweetarts' and Jim Chesnut's that didn't get custom
sleeve treatment. Whether or not to spend the extra time
and money on a custom sleeve was a simple commercial guess
the Joseys made as to which releases were most likely to
be local breakout hits. Those that seemed
destined to become hits got
a custom sleeve and those expected to have limited sales
didn't. In at least one instance -- for Bach Yen's Magali --
there was a desire to do a custom sleeve but there were no "cleared"
photos available. Although Bach had many great publicity
photos of herself, the photographers who took them prohibited
commercial use, and the Joseys did not want to bear the extra
expense of hiring a professional photographer.
