In 1939, Alex Steinweiss was hired by Columbia Records as the company’s first artistic director and decided to resurrect and repackage vinyl records. As we all know, the album cover art has become a huge part of music and pop culture. Many famous artists were commissioned to add their expertise and ideas for album covers. (Prior to the creative impressions of Steinweiss, records were generally stored in plain, undecorated packaging).
For collectors, an album cover art can sometimes be as valuable as the vinyl record it holds. For example, one album of the most famous covers of all time, the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club Band “‘s cover was one of the most inventive at the time and included inserts and cut lyrics. The price one would pay for a copy of this album depends on whether or not it has the original contents and is intact. There are many album covers that include band poster “perks” and other items for the buyer and all of these items are included in the resale price and collectability.
There have been many dynamic and famous world album covers. Consider the Beatles album “Yesterday… and Today” (1966), also called the “butcher’s album” because the Beatles were pictured on the front cover butchers clothed in white, covered with bloodied coats, and with severed shoulders. the album was quickly pulled by Capitol Records when the company received many complaints from reviewers and DJ’s. The company recalled the event and ordered a new cover, but did not want to lose the several hundred thousand that had already been printed. Capitol then hired part-time assistants to remove that photo from the cover and paste in a new photo for the cover. But, it seems that many lazy workers and to save time hello are pasted together, just put a new cover on top the old veil and one which was supposed to have been removed. It so happens that three different versions of that particular album and a collector’s dream, different album versions are worth several thousand dollars (variant price – check the record price guide to find out exactly what list price you can demand).
Album cover art has also spawned numerous web sites in which to browse covers and designs for readers and famous favorites and top ten charts. One such site, www.superseventies.com offers a comprehensive look at some of the most famous covers from the 1970s including Sex The Pistols’ “Never Mind Bollocks,” the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” and the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers,” among others. Additionally, www.superseventies.com offers its reader-favorite 70 covers list (more than 300) with detailed descriptions and reviews of each release. This is a great way to have a rainy day to find some of the best album cover art of the 70s.
Album cover design is an art form and allows musicians greater control over content and another important avenue in which to express themselves. In my humble opinion (and I share this opinion with countless others), with the advent of the CD, the music buying public has lost its national treasure, album art. It is part of pop culture and music in general. Sure, the CD offers you a “stripped down” version of the original cover art, but it certainly pales in comparison to the real thing. I definitely agree with Mr. Steinweiss.
As I mentioned earlier, many famous artists have been commissioned to design and produce album covers. For example, the Rolling Stones and pop artist Andy Warhol are famous for their cover art on The Stones’ album “Glutinous Fingers”. According to legend, at a party in 1969, Andy Warhol casually mentioned to Mick Jagger that it would be nice to have a real zipper on the album cover. A year later, Jagger proposed the idea of ”sticky fingers”. But there was a flaw in the shipping process, the zipper would press on the album stacked on top of it, causing damage to the . The solution? The zipper had to be removed before the album, then only the album covers. However, I have never figured out how to keep the zipper from scratching the other white covers. Additionally, some department-stores didn’t want to display the list, feeling risque and not family oriented because of the cozy pattern of jeans and zipper display. But this is a historic album that broke new ground and also saw the debut of the Stones’ now famous logo: Jagger’s lips and tongue.
If you’re a Janis Joplin fan, then you probably know that famous cartoonist Robert Crumb designed a cover for Joplin. the album “Cheap Thrills.” This venerable man, yet a misunderstood artist, drew into his favor Joplin, whom he befriended in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where they both resided. He was paid $600 for his work by Columbia Records, which later sold the artwork. Crumb was asked to do a cover for Rolling Stones, but he refused because he didn’t like their music. Crumb is also the artist for “Poster Truckin'” and “Fritz the Cat” and has more than seventy covers to his credit.
The website has a full list of related cover art and is too numerous to list. Places are dedicated to fan favourites, the weird and the unusual, particular decades and so on. Many users turn to eBay to find treasures of lost art from their childhood. But I want to share the website and album cover of the inventor’s artwork, which is not only convenient, but a must have for any art lover.
I recently spoke with Richard Nicol. (www.albumcoverfinder.com) The program has been available for over two years and is a must-see for any fan of album art. “Album Cover Finder” allows the user to not only find specific searches for album cover art, but also allows the user to download selected songs from the release. I asked Richard about his fascination with album cover art.
“I’ve always been interested in and loved album cover art and a database where users could not only view the cover art, but also experience it. The program allows the user to browse through the art of a particular artist. The band and also allows the user to search for particular songs through iTunes as well. -music- project”>musical experience, but great music art and artists are involved.
But “Album Cover Finder” is more than just iTunes and album cover art. The program allows users to view different art from different countries. Some of the artwork involved in the US release may differ from that of the UK release or the German release, just adding to the experience. The program also allows users to review artist biographies, read reviews of specific releases and add artwork to their iTunes and iPod library. “Album Cover Finder” also allows users to find additional artwork or artwork, copy artwork to the clipboard and view artist videos and applicable price information. “Album Cover Finder” is a fully functional way to search album artwork and includes free updates for registered users and is available at www.albumcoverfinder.com.
Now I only had a plan for the week, but I admit that I literally spent half a day looking at historical art and listening to the songs associated with it. This program gets a hard “thumbs up” and is a “must have”, an affordable program for album art connoisseurs and anyone with a fascination for art and music.
Needless to say, much more has been written about album cover art and the impact it has had on music and pop culture and cannot be summed up in one article. There are countless books, (I even have one that talks about bare vinyls and illustrates the white images they used to try and sell!) Unique album covers and their impact on pop culture and music. I have a short list below for you to explore:
www.albumcovers.net
www.annexus.homestead.com
www.zubeworld.com
www.superseventies.com
www.popcultmag.com/oddglimpses/albumcovers/albumsdefault.html
Additionally, there are so many websites and blogs that are associated with album cover art, there are a number of them to list. Therefore, there is also a website for the preservation of this treasure of art and fabric to be preserved for display. Do you know what your favorite album cover of all time is?
I spoke with Gary Freiberg, owner and operator of www.rockartpictureshow.com, a popular site for crafting album art. We also talked about the cover of “Sgt. Pepper” and Gary told me that the album “broke new ground and challenged the industry.” Gary and I talked about album cover art and the influences it has had on our culture. He also told me about a recent poll held by www.vinylrecordday.org that voted “Census. Pepper” the greatest album cover of all time.
Gary is world famous for his work in the album cover art industry with open media albums and his work has been recognized by the Smithsonian, Home & Garden TV, rock & Roll Hall of Fame and thousands of web content. And if you want to participate in the great album-art, you can visit www.rockartpictureshow.com.
