Reinhard Kleist Collection

Quality and creativity - for more than thirty years these basic principles established BEAR FAMILY RECORDS products as something unique and esteemed throughout the world. But what you hear is only part of the complete equasion - BEAR FAMILY RECORDS devotes just as much detail to the graphics. For more than three decades lavishly illustrated books have accompanied our boxed sets. Today, even our smaller-sized CD releases receive the same eye-catching designs as their larger counterparts.

That's why we're honored to be associated with Reinhard Kleist, a renown German artist whose multifaceted creations are celebrated across international circles. Since moving to Berlin in 1996, he has primarily worked out of his Prenzlauer Berg studio with extended time off for residencies in New York and Cuba. Long fascinated with the darker sides of America and his home country, Kleist created thematic works like 'Amerika', and 'The Secrets Of Coney Island'.

Critics and gothic lit fans raved over his graphical transfers of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, 'Das Grauen im Gemauer' ('The Ruin's Horror'). Kleist also created imaginative graphic novels around popular music icons. His graphic novel biography, 'Elvis,' is a genre highlight and his fascinating 'Cash - I See A Darkness' received several prestigious awards, including the Frankfort Book Fair Award. This exceptional artist has done distinctive cover designs and illustrations for several recent BEAR FAMILY RECORDS CDs, including a Christmas album by country legend Hank Snow; the 'Deep Roots' compilation with originals of Johnny Cash songs, and 'Shit Happens', a 'bad luck' anthology of ironic songs.

Reinhard Kleist has also designed a range of T-shirts for BEAR FAMILY RECORDS and he provided striking graphics for a quartet of thematic Hank Snow compilations covering railroads, life on the Western Plains, on the enchanting Hawaiian Islands and in those exotic locales south of the American border.