None of the tactics suggested for recovery of playlists and album art worked for me, so I'm re-importing everything back into iTunes again thanks to this brutally poor update for iTunes 12.2.
Instead of downgrading to previous iTunes version, I read reviews and will test Swinsian as an iTunes alternative. Very good reviews from folks who have large music libraries. The bloat and clutter that come standard with all iTunes versions lately got beyond what I considered acceptable, and the iTunes install fiasco (missing libraries, overwritten album art for owned music tracks etc.. etc. ) with this 12.2 upgrade has me migrating away from such a fickle music management system for my music library.
If you are also finding yourself swearing at iTunes' latest cludgy upgrade again this morning, give Swinsian a try. It seems to be a very stable and compatible replacement for iTunes.
Who does QA/QC for Apple software upgrades before they are rolled out? It appears that team was let go by Apple in advance of this iTunes roll out?