A couple of years back I featured John O’Brien’s cover art for April Wine’s 1984 album Animal Grace, as well as touching on a few other covers John created. Recently I reconnected with John to get his recollections of a classic pair of 80s albums by GREAT WHITE – 1987’s Once Bitten, and 1989’s …Twice Shy. This was the band at their peak with hits and favorite cuts like “Rock Me”, “Lady Red Light”, “Heart The Hunter”, “Save Your Love”, and the hit singles – a cover of Ian Hunter’s “Once Bitten Twice Shy” and the ballad “Angel Song”. Once Bitten would be a top 30 album in the US and Twice Shy making the top 10. I had these on cassette when they came out and played the hell out of them! I also recall that a few of these songs were in high rotation at any peeler back then. The late 80s were better than I thought, I guess.

Below John has provided details on these album covers that he worked on. John was also kind enough to provide images included. (Thanks to John & Alan Niven) *Check out the links below.

John: My responses mandate some additional memorable and illuminating recollections by Alan Niven (NIV) (Great White Manager, Writer, Producer)

You were at Capitol during the period of Great White’s Once Bitten and …Twice Shy albums.

I was at Capitol for the first album Once Bitten and due to Alan’s trust I worked on …Twice Shy after I left Capitol to form a company that designed packaging as well as creating Movie Advertising Key Art.

What/who was your intro to the band or Alan Niven? 

Being on staff at Capitol the designers were assigned at random to projects by the Art Director at the time, Roy Kohara. We worked on a variety of artists on the roster who worked with the internal art department. One lucky day I was assigned Great White. I remember Alan showing up in the art department at my office door one day with all his unique grace and charm…fortunately he trusted me.

NIV: Yeah …me being nosey … who is who and who actually does the work.

NIV: An internal art department is less expensive, and if one can form a relationship within the department one has a chance of doing better than if one hires, at great expense, outside ‘experts’ all full of their rationalities. You had a great energy. A sense of humor. That was enough for me.

Were you brought in to work on the cover well before the album was done? 

Projects began after the titles of the albums were settled.

On Once Bitten you were credited with the concept and layout. So, does that mean the entire idea (the model posing in the water with the shark fin) yours’? And can you tell a bit about that whole concept / idea came from?

I was credited with cover concept and layout credit – but Alan was specific with the idea of having a beautiful woman (Traci) with the specific direction of the primal necklace to be constructed and worn. I followed Alans direction and submitted the concept utilizing the model, water and shark fin background.

NIV: Yeah. Much of the album material was about dysfunctional relationships that were mostly formed by primal urges.

How was that first covered achieved? Was it one photo or a couple overlayed? 

Once Bitten cover was shot in camera. The photographer was known for his talent in composing and capturing images, lighting and mood. Photographer Ron Slenzak, 3 years previously shot Purple Rain Poster art.

To find Traci (Cover Model) we had a well attended open casting call held in the Tower conference room to search for the specific representative we needed for the cover.

NIV: Traci came to the casting at the Tower. All were dressed. No swim suits. We are, after all, gentlemen.

With …Twice Shy, were you well aware ahead of time that they’d be using that title? 

I was made aware after the title was chosen, before the concept for the cover began. Alan always had marketing in mind when working his projects, his choice of covering Ian Hunters song “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” on the album seemed like a great marketing idea.

NIV: The idea was to have a link between the first Capitol album and the next. There was no guarantee that Once would be a best seller, and having the titles link might help in the marketing of Twice Shy. Notice, “OBTS” was the last track on side two of TS and was there to facilitate the marketing connection. Of course, it helped that it’s a great song and ours was a definitive version. The fact it sold a mill as a single makes it debatable whether it was good for the long term or not.

On …Twice Shy, you were credited with art direction/design, and Alan Niven was credited with the concept. Can you describe the idea behind this one? 

…Twice Shy was the genesis of wanting two girls on the cover representing the concept. I thought a more surreal landscape would be interesting, rather than a literal version of water, with the red satin and the shark fin ripping threw it. We did a vast coverage of images, from singles to combinations anticipating usage on multiple applications. Douglas Hyun was the photographer and was tasked with the multitude of coverage as well as constructing the set with red satin and the fabricated shark fin ripping through the fabric. A long fun day and night. With various combinations of images possible, that were used in montages and in all cases the water was added to the rip by retouching.

The new girl Bobbie, showed up at my new office in Burbank one day, pre chosen for review… No recollection of her origin, but she fit the bill.

NIV: Twice Shy? Now two girls. One sophisticated, the other primal. It’s a comment about the nature of LA relationships – about The Sophisticate teaching The Primal the art of manipulation. As Zsa Zsa said “I am a good housekeeper. Every time I divorce I keep the house.” And the jewels.

There were a lot of similarities between these 2 albums – musically, the title connection, and the covers – such as with the back cover lettering and lay out. Was that back cover layout and lettering idea yours?  

Musically the band had further developed, and the title I was given was an obvious extension and connection. I designed the first album typography to define that specific project. I continued on the with the second album as it was a stylistic connection of the previous. As the two were related, the typographical treatments seemed appropriate.

The similarities between the 2 are obviously deliberate, making a fine pair of albums (though they didn’t use the same model), but you weren’t around for the next album (Hooked) even though it shared a bit of similarity on the front. Is that because you’d left Capitol or just weren’t asked? (The 3 albums, to me, are the highlights in the band’s catalogue) 

Once Bitten and …Twice Shy are obviously similar due to a title “continuation” and the concept of the 2 different girls on the cover, Alan’s vision of the symbolic relationship of the two. The first model, Tracy was used on both, firstly with the shark tooth jewelry and secondarily with the emerald jewelry, and Bobbie now added with the same shark jewelry. As Alan previously stated “The Sophisticate teaching The Primal the art of manipulation”.

I was not involved with Hooked as another Art Director had joined Capitol and he utilized his contacts to create most appropriate art for the project.

Can you talk about the extra pieces that you would’ve designed for the Once Bitten and …Twice Shy period, such as promo posters, adverts, and the various singles? (Were you responsible for all picture sleeve singles at home and overseas?) 

Important to remember in those days packaging came in multiple formats; LP, CD, CD Long Box, and Cassette so all items designed in house. For fun I designed …Twice Shy CD with a double cover. If you flip the insert over you have a different version of the cover displaying both models in an alternate pose.

The photo of the band for …Twice Shy was composed of individual images and stripped together C Print and retouched. A more striking image of the band rather than a single posed image. It was certainly a more confrontational and direct image of Jack.

I was, as all in-house designers, responsible for all campaign art & design for domestic product; Ads, Promo Items, Singles, Posters, Marketing Materials for both projects for continuity. I do have more items for …Twice Shy for examples as it was a broader campaign designed for playing on the title, specific imagery and sizing, as well as to keep the project compelling.

In many cases, such as Great White, were you a fan of the music much? Was it something you would’ve been into at the time?

I was introduced to GW when I was assigned the project. Alan supplied a promo cassette of the songs for inspiration.

And if you recall, did you have any ‘favorite’ tracks from either of these albums or any kind of appearances or social calls with the band? 

“Save Your Love” and “Rock Me” from Once Bitten and “Heart the Hunter” and “House of Broken Love” from …Twice Shy seemed to resonate with me.

My contact was with Alan on both projects. That seemed to keep me focused on my creative and deliverables. Any call, biz or social with Alan is memorable. I had no direct interaction with the band.

(Alan, thank you again for your additional responses. My memory needed a fact check.)

LINKS:

Get it direct: Alan Niven Discussing Origin of Great White Covers!

http://www.artministry.com/ (John O’Brien)

https://loudwire.com/alan-niven-guns-n-roses-manager-new-memoir-interview/