The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156470 Message #3688769
Posted By: Joe Offer
21-Feb-15 - 08:51 PM
Thread Name: Album Covers...A Lost Art
Subject: Album Covers...A Lost Art
Salvaged by Punkfolkrocker and moved to the music section because it most certainly has to do with music.
Subject: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 10:32 AM
Last week I was rearranging my vinyl collection {I have thousands) and I got really bogged down just looking at album covers and how great some of them really are, and some are iconic..Abbey Road for example or Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd.
What are some of your favourites. Here are a few of mine.. In The Hall of The Crimson King, King Crimson. The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie.Lungs, Florence and The Machine Lungs . Turbulent Indigo, Joni Mitchell. Below The Salt, Steeleye Span. Loads more but I can't list them all, can I.
I still play albums, do you ?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 10:48 AM
I got a turntable in the garden cabin and like to play lp's when I'm there. I think there is a warmer ...?... Sound from them even though cd's may be more cleaner and clearer. There certainly are some great art covers. How about , cream, wheels of fire ..
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 10:51 AM
I love the sound of albums, I agree, much warmer. Yes that is a great cover as Is their album Disraeli Gears.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 01:22 PM
The Beatles' White Album.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: BrendanB
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 01:29 PM
I still love the gloriously over-the-top covers created by Roger Dean for Yes. They seem to mirror perfectly the pomp rock within.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 01:33 PM
When we were pupils at boys grammar school back in the early 1970s,
LP sleeves showing partially clad, or better still, fully naked ladies were very popular
and an instant aid to musical appreciation....
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: BrendanB
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 01:46 PM
So you're a fan of Roxy Music and Hendix's 'Electric Ladyland'?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 02:07 PM
About 5 years ago when dining at Kenny Jones's Hurtwood Park Polo Club, we got chatting to a guy sitting on his own who turned out to be Paul Olsen , who designed cover artwork for the first few Robin Trower albums!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 02:08 PM
Had some very interesting chat's with Paul Olsen over the next few months, but he eventially moved on .
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 02:09 PM
and these....
[less likely to get confiscated by teachers than the real hard stuff...]
http://topofthepopslps.weebly.com/main-album-series.html
There was an even raunchier series of pocket money specials, but I can't remember the title...
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 03:13 PM
The Yes album. Covers were great,though I never cared much for the music. Some of the Cat stevens ones as well, "Tea For The Tillerman" and "Teaser and The Firecat".
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Ed T
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 03:33 PM
I always liked the Moody Blues-Question of Balance album cover.
Question of balance
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 04:03 PM
Above the line, definitely, this thread.
One of my all-time favorite Hungarian relatives is Maira Kalman (I forget how to put accents, there should be one on the first A, maybe both, of her last name) who did a lot of Talking Heads album covers among other art (I highly recommend her children's books, especially the ones about Max).
One of the things I minded most when getting CDs of my old vinyl was the tiny cover art.
One of the things I mind the most about the MP3 thing is the total lack of album art.
I also mind the loss of the album, but then again, there used to be lots of albums I bought for a song, ha ha, and then found out I didn't like any of the *other* songs on the album. In fact, my very first buying-an-album experience was marred by that effect, but by the time I got the album home and listened to it we were back in Abidjan and the record store was back Stateside... sorry for the thread creep.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 04:10 PM
Oops I hit sumbit before putting in the blicky.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 04:13 PM
I dIs not put it abOve the line as I was nOt sure it belonged there as it is not strictly speaking a "music" thread. Besides, I don' knOw how to get it there... ComPlete Luddite. Also, I thought it might be nice to lighten up a bit down here below the line!7
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: JennieG
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 05:34 PM
CD covers aren't the same, are they......the shrunken version doesn't look as good.
And what about the inside art, either on double albums or just fancy covers which opened to reveal all sorts of interesting goodies.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: michaelr
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 06:36 PM
Vinyl is coming back in a big way - Oasis (the major CD duplicating company in the US) are offering it as an option now. I for one am happy about it, having just bought a new turntable. A big part of the enjoyment of new music for me used to be listening while reading the lyrics and credits and looking at the artwork. It's just not the same with CDs.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: michaelr
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 06:38 PM
PS: The downside is that so much of new music these days is absolute crap...
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 06:42 PM
My first copy of "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull had textured cover. I loved that album and still play it a lot. Some of his other covers were good as well, "sOngs From The wood" and "Heavy Horses" we're good covers and pretty good albums! Also like the cover of Babacomb Lee by Fairport.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Ed T
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 06:58 PM
I suspect many folks here still have Peter Corriston's artwork on the cover of the Stones "Some Girls" album?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 15 - 10:51 PM
Oh, yeah, and you could clean dope on the double albums if they were textured right! I'd forgotten about that!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 10:18 AM
Here a few more I came across while rummaging today, Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica. Carly Simon, Boys In The Trees, Kate Bush, Hounds of Love. Ry Cooder, Into The Purple Valley.
I really do miss albums. I miss record stores and the joy of just flipping through stacks of albums. I mind that music has become so disposable. I still buy music. I never download from I tunes..but I must be a minority.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 11:13 AM
Michaelr: PS: The downside is that so much of new music these days is absolute crap...
It always was....it's just that only the good stuff stands the test of time and we forget that it represents only about 2% (or less) than the total of that issued!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 11:24 AM
I do think that there are some very interesting young artists around. Of course tastes change. What I thought was great in my teen years, does not sound great to me now but I still enjoy it. It isn't great art, but it is fun...music should be fun, should it not ? Now Back to album covers.. Bruce Springsteen, Born in The USA.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,CupOfTea at work with no cookies
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 11:34 AM
Covers were even more interesting when they opened - or had lyrics set in type you could actually read... and then liner notes! Some of those were lovely bits of artwork as well. My favorite album cover is Jethro Tull's "Stand Up" - like a woodcut in style, and when you opened it, the band popped up like a pop-up book. I gather later versions didn't have that.
I also remember having a poster of Bob Dylan that was (perhaps) a Peter Max piece included in an album - no recall of which Dylan album.
I've seen a few people decorate with framed album covers -The gift shop of the Rock & Roll hall of Fame used to have them for big $$$. Record stores used to have hanging plexi box frames for them that were easy to change out.
Joanne in Cleveland
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 12:36 PM
i'm just in from buying 'Harvest' by neil 'gawd bless i'm' young. i used to have it many moons ago (of course, have the cd -but not the same, is it?) and have been trying for a few years to get a vinyl copy at a decent price. my new copy is a first edition with 2 inserts that i had forgotten about. it's a joy to have it again - and the intro to the first song -out on the weekend- is almost worth the price in terms of feeling and memory. however, covers -Harvest is good but his 'Decade' is my favourite. i also like the artist John Byrne ( aka patrick)- he did a Gerry Rafferty album and HMS Donovan - apparently a good condition cover of that is worth £200 quid - far more than the contents (though i did enjoy 'the walrus and the carpenter')
can we like a cover if the contents mean nothing to us?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 12:47 PM
y""ou could clean dope on the double albums if they were textured right! ""
Not that anyone on Mudcat did that:)
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: michaelr
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 01:16 PM
Achmelvich, I have both of those albums. HMS Donovan is a rare collector's item that took me years to find, but I'll happily sell Gerry Rafferty's City to City for 200 quid!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 01:16 PM
I loved the sleeve and sleeve notes to The Blues Project sampler of white urban folk blues on Elektra.
the cover was designed by Ric Von Shmidt. he had this sort of collage technique that he also used to illustrate Joan Baez's songbook.
the sleevenotes mentioned various contemporary writers - Donleavy, Beckett, Genet and Sartre - which was quite educational for a dumb schmuck like me.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 01:32 PM
I have City to City...is it really worth that much ? Great Cover as well.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Guest, Tim
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 01:38 PM
Man, Be Good To Yourself at Least Once a Day, brilliant cover...
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 01:59 PM
Hi Guest Tim, I just looked that up..interesting choice. I'd be really interested to know what you like about it.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 02:17 PM
Well, it's a size thing!!
Surely, any artist would be more inspired by an LP cover than a cd cover!
ALSO, back in the day, kids would walk around with LPs under their arms, almost, it seemed, making a statement! "Hey man, look at the music I'm in to!"
That sort of thing doesn't happen with cds!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: michaelr
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 02:24 PM
HiLo, probably because of this (from Wikipedia): The LP had a prize-winning gatefold sleeve that, when opened, unfolded a 2' by 2' (61 cm by 61 cm) cartoon map of Wales, showing the origins of numerous Welsh bands, including Man, and other places of interest. The principality was shown as an island, separated from England by a large channel of water, and being pushed away from her neighbour by ten men using long poles.
The inner sleeve featured "Man's Family Jungle", Man's family tree, similar to those prepared by Pete Frame, but in a scrawled version drawn by Leonard, despite him having been recently fired from the band, as is acknowledged on the chart. Unfortunately on the earlier CD issues (prior to 2007) the map was unreadably small and the "Family Jungle" was missing.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 02:43 PM
Ok, thanks.i did not see the Inside. Will gO have alook.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 02:54 PM
Album covers are like book covers - where one is letting an artist create a mood or telegraph a message about the contents. It's a risky business.
SRS
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,achmelvich
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 03:22 PM
i liked the cartoons on the lyric sheets on 'sandinista' and 'london calling' by ray lowry. but would i have liked them if the albums were not also great works of art?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Tim
Date: 17 Jan 15 - 04:22 PM
Thanks MichaelR for explaining about the Man cover, another good one was Bandstand by Family.
As you can probably guess I'm at a certain age....
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 18 Jan 15 - 10:31 AM
I continue to rummage through my albums, here are a few more of what I think are great covers/ London Calling, The Clash. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd. The Noah's Ark Trap, Nick Jones...and does anyone remember the band Gryphon. Their cover for Red Queen To Gryphon Three was really very good.
I had not thought to compare book covers to album covers...But having read SRS' comment I gave it some thought and I think that album covers are far more interesting because they not only reflect the musical content but they tell us quite a lot about the musicians. Book covers seem , at times, to be the random choices of Publishers and authors often don't have much say. Perhaps when I start sorting out my books, I will change my mind.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 18 Jan 15 - 04:38 PM
The S Pepper LP cover was quite a talking point I remember when I was younger it was great just to see how many icons could be identified apart from it being a great album. I can't imagine sitting down with my sons discussing the picture at length on the CD cover somehow, the last time we did that was regarding Nirvana's Nevermind album because of the baby appearing to swim underwater.
The cover on a CD is not quite the same as the cover on a vinyl because you have to draw attention to it to discuss and not normally as I am aware bought with the artwork in mind. With an album it is laid out there in front of you to observe and enjoy. It was also a different time, before the mobile phone existed where we would get together with friends and talk rather than text.
Living and storage space dictates the way I listen and store my music so for me it has to be on CD even though that can be a pain at times to house it. But I do miss the days when it was a thrill to buy a work of art and remove the brand new album from the sleeve for the first time.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 18 Jan 15 - 05:25 PM
Agreed. I have been goIng through albums fOr days and reading the sleeves for the first time In years. I really love seeIng who the session musicians were. I find it really interesting hOw the younger generation are really taken with the concept of albums.
When I Play them I always seem to have "the kids" about. I love that they interested!
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: PHJim
Date: 18 Jan 15 - 08:33 PM
I found this Facebook album I posted over a year ago in response to Rolling Stone's top album covers article.
Jim's Top Ten Album Covers
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Airymouse
Date: 18 Jan 15 - 11:09 PM
Ben Shawhn drawings(e.g. Cowboy Songs)
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 12:56 AM
Hi Jim, can't access face book. Could ya give us a hint as to your list. I'm really interested. Thanks
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: PHJim
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 07:29 AM
No particular order:
David Bromberg - Midnight On The Water
John Hartford - Mark Twang
Charlie Poole - You Ain't Talkin' To Me
Thelonius Monk - Underground
Ragged But Right - Down Harmony Road
Big Brother & The Holding Co. - Cheap Thrills
John Hartford - Aereo Plain (sic)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice - Skaggs & Rice
The Cheap Suit Serenaders - Number Three
If I had it to do today, I might make a few subs, but I like these a lot.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 11:21 AM
What an interesting list, I am not familiar with a lot of these so will have to look them up. Another one I like a lot, but had forgotten is "McGear" by Mike McGear (McCartney) Not a bad album either.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 04:50 PM
Jim - I have 7 out of ten of those LP's you listed.
And the other night I found an oversized poster of the Thick as a Brick LP by Jethro Tull. Probably 5 feet tall or thereabouts. I used to have an oversized - almost life sized - poster of the Candy-o cover by the Cars.But it got lost when I moved.
Anyone remember picture discs?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,Hilo
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 06:42 PM
Ihave a Kate bush picture disc. I love her music. I was really disappointed not tO get tickets for "before the dawn". Anyone else get them?
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Jan 15 - 09:25 PM
I worked in a record store during the 70's and early 80's. I may be the only one here with a Sex Pistols picture disc. I still have a little over 2,000 LP's but I'm considering getting rid of a bunch of them. They are just to heavy to move from place to place.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 20 Jan 15 - 05:04 AM
The Clash, London Calling, it is based on the cover of Elvis' first lp.
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: Wesley S
Date: 20 Jan 15 - 07:46 AM
Other threads at Mudcat have linked to sites like this but I couldn't find them. So here for your "enjoyment" :
Bad cover art
Subject: RE: BS: Album covers..A lost art ?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 20 Jan 15 - 07:55 AM
Some of those are so bad they're good. Thanks for the link.entertaining indeed!