“As a holiday gift for loyal John Williams fans and collectors, I had ace graphic artist Jim Titus design an alternative cover for The Towering Inferno using the standard poster key art by John Berkey. The Irwin Allen Estate provided a high-resolution scan of the original painting, which was also used for Jeff Bond’s book “The Fantasy Film Worlds of Irwin Allen,” but the Estate felt that art did not lend itself well to cropping and lost its impact when reduced to a 5-inch CD booklet cover. (Of course it looks great on a 12-inch LP jacket, but there was another concern that our release not appear to be just the 1974 album on CD.) The Estate wanted to make sure the release had a distinctive look and suggested the little-seen international art, which had dimensions that fit nicely on a small square cover. (The vertical art was then used inside the booklet). For those who would like to see the art in a larger format in good quality, this alternate version has been created for use with digital libraries. With gratitude for another year of support for the Maestro’s work, and wishing all happy holidays and all the best for 2020.”
Mike Matessino
