Legendary Album Cover Designer Dies

Appropriate, since the art of album cover design has died as well. Digital downloads just don't encourage nifty artwork. Ed Thrasher worked on everything from Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" and Joni Mitchell's "Clouds" to Frank Sinatra's "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" and Prince's "Purple Rain." Nominated for Grammys many times, he won once -- for the Mason Proffit album "Come & Gone." (It must have been the vogueish Indian on the cover that put him over the top.)