Edgar Meyer

Edgar Meyer was one of the first artists to be signed to the label.  He would bring an eclectic jazz/classical sound to the label.  Meyer, along with fellow early-signer John Jarvis would work on the label from its beginning to its end, each releasing an album after the final sampler disc was produced.  Meyer released four albums in his time with the label and his albums are the only ones that represent all three cover artwork design styles.

Unfolding

The first album by Meyer is full of experimentation, with a few solid, contemporary songs to balance it all out.  Basically, the whole Strength In numbers group appears on this album, but all songs are written by Meyer.

The artwork is in the first design style, which includes a solid colored border and a center image with muted, pastel colors.  Like all others in this design, the spine text is printed upside down.  Even worse, one spine is missing the artist name.  Because the label is so new, there is no label catalog in the insert

Dreams of Flight

The second album delivers more classical pieces with some jazzy, humorous songs mixed in.

The artwork on this album is in the second design style and has a clever center art piece reinforcing the album title.

 

 

 

Love of a Lifetime

The third album continues the mix of classical, jazz. and humor, including a multi-song concept piece about a journey to a Mayan temple.

The artwork on this album is in the transitional period between the second and third design: using a photograph, and keeping most of the large white border, but extending the image outside its normal center frame.  The CD insert is an unusual 3-panel design.

 

Work in Progress

The final album, released in 1990,  is a stripped down presentation with just bass and piano.  Considering the timing of the release, it could have just been rushed to completion before the label closed up, or it could have been intentional.  No song from this album would be on any sampler disc.  Interestingly, the album booklet contains the MCA Master Series catalog in it and include Walter Hyatt, but Hyatt’s album does not contain a catalog list.

The artwork for this album is beyond even the third design style, with a full-cover photograph of the artist.  The color bar and standard font usage are not used either.  There is no visual indication that this is a MCA Master Series release.  The insert uses a completely different font than other inserts, however, the label catalog is included in its usual styling.