The Greatest Album Covers of All Time - Press Sampler

THE GREATEST ALBUM COVERS OF ALL TIME

T S E T A E R G E TH S R E V O C M ALBU E M I T L L A F O

BARRY MILES GRANT SCOTT JOHNNY MORGAN

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BARRY MILE S GRANT SCO T JOHNNY MO T RGAN

THE GREATEST ALBUM COVE R OF ALL TIME S

This edition first published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by Collins & Brown 1 Gower Street London WC1E 6HD An imprint of Pavilion Books Company Ltd Copyright Š Essential Works 2005, 2016

THE GREATEST ALBUM COVE R S OF ALL TIME

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BARRY MILES GRANT SCOTT JOHNNY MORGAN

Contents PICTURE CREDITS: 10 RECORDS/UK 173;

UNIVERSAL 231; FONTANA/BOPLICITY 46 (left);

RADIO ACTIVE RECORDS/US 189 (left); RCA/UK

4AD 181 (bottom); ALLEGRO 57; A&M RECORDS/

FONTANA/VERVE 41; GEFFEN/US 182, 195, 196,

83, 115 (top), 134 (right); RCA/US 33, 58, 266;

US/UNIVERSAL 59 (right); ABC RECORDS/US

197, 199, 201 (top), 251 (bottom); GOOD MUSIC/

REPRISE RECORDS/US 101 (right), 109;ROC-A-

96 (right); ABC-PARAMOUNT/US 30 (left); ACE

DEF JAM 244; GREENSLEEVES 131; GRITRECORDS/

FELLA/DEF JAM 245; ROC NATION/ATLANTIC 243;

35 (top); ANIMAL RECORDS (CHRYSALIS)/US

US 236; GROVE-ISLAND RECORDS/UK 130;

ROLLING STONE RECORDS/UK/EMI 129; ABCKO

159 (bottom); APPLE CORPS LTD/UK 52, 53, 70

ILLEGAL RECORDS/UK/EMI 158; IMMEDIATE/

THE ROLLING STONES 88; PROMOTONE BV: THE

(bottom); ARGO RECORDS/UK 17; ARISTA/SONY

UK/SANCTUARY 71, 75 (right); IMPULSE!/VERVE/

ROLLING STONES 87, 89; ROUGH TRADE/UK 251

35, 192, 247; ARTEMIS 249 (bottom); ASYLUM/

US 42 (bottom), 44; INTERNATIONAL RECORDS

(top); ROUGH TRADE/UK/WARNER 157 (right);

US 95; ATLANTIC/US 28, 34 (top), 39, 49, 70 (top);

SYNDICATE (IRS)/A&M 153 (left); ISLAND RECORDS/

RUFFTOWN/US 238; SANCTUARY RECORDS/

BEGGARS BANQUET/UK 159 (top); BELLA UNION

UK 82, 85, 100, 108, 127, 128 (right), 150 (top), 152,

UK 111 (left); SELECT 56; SELF IMMOLATION/

179; BIZARRE RECORDS/US/RYKODISC 68, 92;

155, 180; K7 218, 227, 232; ISO/COLUMBIA 268,

SOME BIZARRE/US 162 (bottom); SHAMELESS/

BLUE NOTE/US/EMI 27, 31, 40, 47, 118; CAPITOL

289; KAMERA RECORDS/UKCASTLE/SANCTUARY

INTERSCOPE 263 (left); SHANACHIE 128 (left);

US 11, 12, 20, 35 (bottom), 262; CBS/SONY/US 175;

162 (top); LIBERTY/US 15; LICKING FINGERS 253

SIRE/US 136 (top), 151 (top), 156, 157 (left), 209

CHARLY/SPECIALTY/US 34; CHARLY/UK 120, 122;

(bottom); LIVERPOOL TATE GALLERY/UK 243 (right);

(left); SONY 123 (left), 235; SONY/INVICTUS 124

CHARLY/VEEJAY 59 (left); CHRYSALIS RECORDS/

MATADOR RECORDS/US 233, 249 (top); MATADOR

(right); SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT/COLUMBIA/

UK 93, 183 (top); COLUMBIA/CBS/SONY 111 (right);

RECORDS/US/BEGGARS 174 (bottom), 181 (top),

US 205 (right); SONY/US COLUMBIA 45; SOUL

COLUMBIA/CBS/US 150 (bottom); COLUMBIA/SONY/

253 (top); MAU5TRAP/ULTRA 235; MAVERICK/

JAZZ RECORDS/UK 244; SOUTHBOUND/ACE 124

US 77, 237; COLUMBIA/US 29, 64 (top),65, 66, 84,

WARNERS 230 (bottom); MCA RECORDS/US 204,

(left), (bottom); STIFF/UK 137, 138 (left); SUB POP

91, 94, 99, 101 (left), 149, 213 (top); COMMAND-

212 (top), 213 (bottom); MERCURY/US 117, 134

200; TOO PURE 190; TOP DAWG/AFTERMATH/

PROBE/US 76; CONTEMPORARY RECS/FANTASY

(left); MERCURY/VERVE 48; MERGE 193 (left); MPS

INTERSCOPE 267; TRACK/UK 64 (bottom), 67 (left),

JAZZ 30 (right); CREATION RECORDS/UK/SONY 189

RECORDS/GERMANY/VERVE 46 (right); NEMS/UK/

96 (left); UNITED ARTISTS/MGM/BMG/SONY 123

(right); CREATION/SONY 188; DEBUT/FONTANA/

ANAGRAM/CHERRY RED 136 (bottom); NIXA/UK 21;

(right); UNIVERSAL RECORDS/US 119, 212 (bottom),

US 43; DECAY/MANIFESTO 163; DECCA/UK 14, 63;

NONESUCH 242, 243 (left); NONESUCH/WARNER

121 (bottom); VERTIGO/GERMANY 113; VERVE/US

DEF JAM RECORDS, CBS RECORDS/US 170, 171,

241, 248; NOTHING/INTERSCOPE/US 203; ONE

25, 26, 55, 67 (right); VICTOR/PRESTIGE 23; VIRGIN/

207; DOMINO RECORDINGS/UK 220; DUOPHONIC

LITTLE INDIAN 185, 186, 187; OUTPOST/GEFFEN

UK 110, 114, 115 (bottom), 133, 139, 140 (top), 153

UHF DISKS 219; EG RECORDS/UK/WARNER

280; PANKAY RECORDS/UK 228; PARKWOOD/

(right), 191, 215, 217; VIRGIN/US 250; WARNER

161; EIGHTEENTH STREET LOUNGE MUSIC 234;

COLUMBIA 263 (right); PARLOPHONE/UK 18, 51,

BROS/US 81, 107, 121 (top), 167, 174 (top), 183,

ELEKTRA /US WARNER 69, 97; EMI HARVEST/

73, 245; PHILIPS/UK 60, 61; POLYDOR 138 (right);

205 (left); WARNER CHAPPEL/UK 193 (right); WARP

UK 104, 105; EMI/UK 166, 209 (right); EMI/US 13;

POLYDOR/UM/US 74; PRESTIGE/FANTASY JAZZ 24,

221; WARP RECORDS 230 (top); XL RECORDINGS

EMPEROR NORTON 229; EPIC 239, 252 (top); EPIC/

42 (top); PRIORITY RECORDS/US ISLAND RECORDS/

216, 225, 226, 264; YOUNG MONEY/CASH MONEY/

UK 151 (bottom); EPIC/US 125; EPIC/US SONY

UK 208; PROHIBITED RECORDS/FRANCE 252

REPUBLIC 242; YOUNG TURKS 265; ZOMBA

165, 201 (bottom), 211; FACTORY/UK/LONDON/

(bottom); RADAR RECORDS-WEA/UK 140 (bottom);

RECORDS, RCA/SONY 169

WARNER 141, 145, 146, 147; FFRR/LONDON/

RADARSCOPE/ WARNER/US/CHARLY 75 (left);

6 Introduction 1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

10 Pop

38 Jazz

80 Pop

144 Factory

178 Pop

224 Dance

16 Exotica

50 The Beatles

86 The Rolling

148 Pop

184 Rock

236 Hip-hop/R&B

22 Jazz

54 Pop

Stones

154 Rock

194 Sonic Youth

246 Chill Out

32 Rock ’n’ Roll

62 Rock

90 Rock

160 Agit Rock

198 Grunge

252 Alt Rock

72 Psychedelia

98 AOR

164 Metal

202 Alt Rock

260 Post-Pop

102 Pink Floyd

168 Rap

206 Rap

106 Prog Rock

172 Soul

210 R ’n’ B

112 Euro Rock 116 Funk 126 Reggae 132 Punk

270 Index The authors and publishers have made every reasonable effort to credit all those who have been involved in the design and production of each record cover and have made every reasonable effort to contact all copyright holders. Any errors or omissions that may have occurred are inadvertent and anyone who has not been contacted is invited to write to the publishers so that full acknowledgement may be made in subsequent editions of this work.

214 Dance

Introduction When this book was first published, music downloads

song at a time onto iTunes or similar and allowing streaming

omissions. It should be pointed out here, for instance, that

album artwork and design. It is no coincidence that the

(and soon after, streaming), where the product is delivered

services access to the track.

there is not one Yes, Led Zeppelin or Electric Light Orchestra

band members took active roles in creating their sleeves.

straight to the consumer without packaging, was all the

album sleeve. This is because none of the authors (nor the

While at first there was a temptation to skew the volume

rage. In the introduction to the first edition we bemoaned

mainly by selling movies, mobile telephones and books

editor) consider them to be of any great artistic or cultural

of actual covers included here towards the 1960s and

how the idea that the same product was once delivered in

alongside diminishing numbers of CDs – once again installed

worth. In other words, they made no great artistic or graphic

1970s, we have attempted to offer as fair a representation

huge, cardboard sleeves and was made of black, shiny vinyl,

racks to form aisles of 12-inch vinyl records.

impact on anything in the field of album art that came after.

of each decade (and the musical genres spawned by each)

Such sleeves all look very much like a product of their time,

as possible. In reality this has meant that the slimmest

seemed strange and archaic. Today we wonder, what were

For the first generation of rock and rollers, the Baby

we thinking? After working in the music, print and publishing

Boomers who were there at the birth of rock music, the 12-inch

rooted in early and mid-1970s pomposity, oozing delusions

“chapters” are the 1950s, when album production was

business for more than two decades, we should have known

vinyl album is more than just a recording. Every album they

of grandeur but looking like the jacket for a silly sci-fi novel.

in its infancy, and the 1980s, when the major change in

that what goes around always comes back around again.

owned is etched song-by-song into their memory, and all

Similarly, the daft sexist confection that was Whipped Cream

format from vinyl to CD that the music industry forced

that is needed to prompt reminiscences of a particular time

and Other Delights by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass

upon designers seems to have stumped them for a while.

is the sight of the sleeve that contained a particular treasure.

So it is that, 10 years after first publication of this book, music lovers everywhere are once again buying vinyl LP

(1965) is not here. That’s because by the time of its release,

In the 1990s it seems that designers and artists finally got to

This book is a visual-musical history lesson. It is part

using the photo of semi-clad females who have nothing to

grips fully with the smaller CD booklet format to create some

they dumped in the 1990s when they were replaced with

catalogue, part palimpsest and part art journal. It offers

do with the record on the cover, was already a tired cliché.

truly innovative work. We have been pleasantly surprised,

CDs. For proof of that, one only needs to wander through

a visual journey through seven decades of recorded pop

record racks in stores where you’ll be presented with a large

music – “pop” is used in its original, abbreviated form

the inclusion of all 250+ sleeves will help to justify their

number of covers that are to be found in the pages of this

here, as shorthand for popular – and takes in as many of

presence to readers. The sleeves in this book are not here

book. A big part of the “new” vinyl buying market consists of

the dominant genres of pop music in each decade as time

simply because they look nice – they are here because

the art of album cover design in 2005, we posited the idea

people recouping their youth. Or at least the musical sights

and space allows. The title of this book is The Greatest but

they are important, although their importance does not

that there would always be designers who cling to the

and sounds of their youth.

in truth it should be Some Of The Greatest, because there

necessarily extend to the music that the sleeve is selling.

conventions and skills of the past and who would continue

In some ways, the music business of 2005 mirrored

just isn’t the space to fully do justice to the breadth and

Indeed in some cases in this book the records are terrible,

to design 12-inch sleeves in the hope that the rare “album”

the music business of the early 1950s. Before Elvis Presley

imagination of the people who, between 1956 and 2016,

but the cover is sublime.

be recorded for sequential listening and released as a CD

rocked the world – and even for a time after, too – musical

created some of the wittiest, sharpest, smartest and most

There are, of course, quite a few great albums with

entertainers predominantly recorded and released singles.

bizarre art to ever be mass-produced. We have attempted

equally classic sleeves. Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, the

designers stick to doing what they did best, but they’ve

These were usually sold either as 78 rpm slabs of shellac

to put together a kind of scrapbook of popular music

Rolling Stones, Factory Records and Sonic Youth each have

inspired a new generation who have made some truly great

or as 45 rpm slices of vinyl and contained two songs. In

development, with that development being represented

a stand-alone section, for instance, one in each decade from

vinyl artwork. Which is just as well given the resurgence in

the early part of the 21st century, once again, musical

by the artwork and design that has been used to sell it.

the 1950s through to the 1990s. These artists (and in the

popularity of the format.

records. Doubtless many of them will be replacing discs that

6

Ten years later those music shops which survived –

entertainers built careers (albeit often extremely short-lived

There will undoubtedly be many album sleeves not

ones) by “releasing” singles. That is, putting one recorded

included in this book that people will consider to be huge

Hopefully, however, the critical reasons we’ve given for

1980s, a record company, Factory) created truly astounding and influential music and this has been reflected in their

too, by how many great sleeves have been created since the millennium, especially those intended for vinyl release.

When we attempted to predict what might happen to

and vinyl item. Thankfully not only did some old-fashioned

For anyone thinking of taking up designing LP covers as a career, we hope that this book might prove useful.

7

Introduction When this book was first published, music downloads

song at a time onto iTunes or similar and allowing streaming

omissions. It should be pointed out here, for instance, that

album artwork and design. It is no coincidence that the

(and soon after, streaming), where the product is delivered

services access to the track.

there is not one Yes, Led Zeppelin or Electric Light Orchestra

band members took active roles in creating their sleeves.

straight to the consumer without packaging, was all the

album sleeve. This is because none of the authors (nor the

While at first there was a temptation to skew the volume

rage. In the introduction to the first edition we bemoaned

mainly by selling movies, mobile telephones and books

editor) consider them to be of any great artistic or cultural

of actual covers included here towards the 1960s and

how the idea that the same product was once delivered in

alongside diminishing numbers of CDs – once again installed

worth. In other words, they made no great artistic or graphic

1970s, we have attempted to offer as fair a representation

huge, cardboard sleeves and was made of black, shiny vinyl,

racks to form aisles of 12-inch vinyl records.

impact on anything in the field of album art that came after.

of each decade (and the musical genres spawned by each)

Such sleeves all look very much like a product of their time,

as possible. In reality this has meant that the slimmest

seemed strange and archaic. Today we wonder, what were

For the first generation of rock and rollers, the Baby

we thinking? After working in the music, print and publishing

Boomers who were there at the birth of rock music, the 12-inch

rooted in early and mid-1970s pomposity, oozing delusions

“chapters” are the 1950s, when album production was

business for more than two decades, we should have known

vinyl album is more than just a recording. Every album they

of grandeur but looking like the jacket for a silly sci-fi novel.

in its infancy, and the 1980s, when the major change in

that what goes around always comes back around again.

owned is etched song-by-song into their memory, and all

Similarly, the daft sexist confection that was Whipped Cream

format from vinyl to CD that the music industry forced

that is needed to prompt reminiscences of a particular time

and Other Delights by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass

upon designers seems to have stumped them for a while.

is the sight of the sleeve that contained a particular treasure.

So it is that, 10 years after first publication of this book, music lovers everywhere are once again buying vinyl LP

(1965) is not here. That’s because by the time of its release,

In the 1990s it seems that designers and artists finally got to

This book is a visual-musical history lesson. It is part

using the photo of semi-clad females who have nothing to

grips fully with the smaller CD booklet format to create some

they dumped in the 1990s when they were replaced with

catalogue, part palimpsest and part art journal. It offers

do with the record on the cover, was already a tired cliché.

truly innovative work. We have been pleasantly surprised,

CDs. For proof of that, one only needs to wander through

a visual journey through seven decades of recorded pop

record racks in stores where you’ll be presented with a large

music – “pop” is used in its original, abbreviated form

the inclusion of all 250+ sleeves will help to justify their

number of covers that are to be found in the pages of this

here, as shorthand for popular – and takes in as many of

presence to readers. The sleeves in this book are not here

book. A big part of the “new” vinyl buying market consists of

the dominant genres of pop music in each decade as time

simply because they look nice – they are here because

the art of album cover design in 2005, we posited the idea

people recouping their youth. Or at least the musical sights

and space allows. The title of this book is The Greatest but

they are important, although their importance does not

that there would always be designers who cling to the

and sounds of their youth.

in truth it should be Some Of The Greatest, because there

necessarily extend to the music that the sleeve is selling.

conventions and skills of the past and who would continue

In some ways, the music business of 2005 mirrored

just isn’t the space to fully do justice to the breadth and

Indeed in some cases in this book the records are terrible,

to design 12-inch sleeves in the hope that the rare “album”

the music business of the early 1950s. Before Elvis Presley

imagination of the people who, between 1956 and 2016,

but the cover is sublime.

be recorded for sequential listening and released as a CD

rocked the world – and even for a time after, too – musical

created some of the wittiest, sharpest, smartest and most

There are, of course, quite a few great albums with

entertainers predominantly recorded and released singles.

bizarre art to ever be mass-produced. We have attempted

equally classic sleeves. Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, the

designers stick to doing what they did best, but they’ve

These were usually sold either as 78 rpm slabs of shellac

to put together a kind of scrapbook of popular music

Rolling Stones, Factory Records and Sonic Youth each have

inspired a new generation who have made some truly great

or as 45 rpm slices of vinyl and contained two songs. In

development, with that development being represented

a stand-alone section, for instance, one in each decade from

vinyl artwork. Which is just as well given the resurgence in

the early part of the 21st century, once again, musical

by the artwork and design that has been used to sell it.

the 1950s through to the 1990s. These artists (and in the

popularity of the format.

records. Doubtless many of them will be replacing discs that

6

Ten years later those music shops which survived –

entertainers built careers (albeit often extremely short-lived

There will undoubtedly be many album sleeves not

ones) by “releasing” singles. That is, putting one recorded

included in this book that people will consider to be huge

Hopefully, however, the critical reasons we’ve given for

1980s, a record company, Factory) created truly astounding and influential music and this has been reflected in their

too, by how many great sleeves have been created since the millennium, especially those intended for vinyl release.

When we attempted to predict what might happen to

and vinyl item. Thankfully not only did some old-fashioned

For anyone thinking of taking up designing LP covers as a career, we hope that this book might prove useful.

7

POP Frank Sinatra Frank Chacksfield Peggy Lee Julie London

EXOTICA Dylan Thomas Peter Sellers Robert Frost The Kingston Trio Lonnie Donegan

JAZZ Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins The Young Bloods Ella Fitzgerald Ella and Louis The Jazz Messengers Ornette Coleman Charles Mingus

Quincy Jones The Cecil Taylor Quartet Kenny Burrell

ROCK ’N’ ROLL Elvis Presley Ray Charles Little Richard Johnny Otis Gene Vincent

1950s

POP Frank Sinatra Frank Chacksfield Peggy Lee Julie London

EXOTICA Dylan Thomas Peter Sellers Robert Frost The Kingston Trio Lonnie Donegan

JAZZ Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins The Young Bloods Ella Fitzgerald Ella and Louis The Jazz Messengers Ornette Coleman Charles Mingus

Quincy Jones The Cecil Taylor Quartet Kenny Burrell

ROCK ’N’ ROLL Elvis Presley Ray Charles Little Richard Johnny Otis Gene Vincent

1950s

1960s Pop 1950s Lorem ipsum 02 subsection Although the long-playing text first para record had been

There were also orchestral versions of

introduced by Columbia in 1948, it wasn’t

hits released in the album format in the early

until the mid-1950s that the industry began

1950s, however, and because there was no

to recognize the marketing possibilities of

“star” to sell the album, the sleeve design

ROTHSCHILD | PHOTOGRAPHY

the 12-inch record that played at 331⁄3 rpm.

had to be more inventive. Alex Steinweiss,

BY KEN VEEDER | ART DIRECTION

Originally the format had been thought

the art director for Columbia, is usually cred-

most suitable for classical music because

ited with the idea of creating original artwork

of the length of the pieces involved. The Pop

in order to sell records. His work drew upon

market continued to be dominated by three-

classical painting, modern art and cartoons

minute songs released on 78 rpm shellac

of the era, and created the “look” of pre-

singles. Bing Crosby was still the world’s

1950s Pop albums – all high-colour, fizzing

most successful singer in the mid-1950s,

graphics and angular images.

despite Frank Sinatra having been the first

Jim Flora drew his own covers for RCA

teenage scream dream a decade earlier, and

Victor in the late 1940s and early 1950s,

Crosby’s records were all singles. Columbia

making the lettering a part of the design.

had been the recording home to both, but

His covers were cartoonish and made the

Sinatra had been “let go” in 1952 when he

albums look fun, too. When he left RCA in

was going through a downturn in popularity.

1956 he became a children’s book illustrator.

To Columbia’s and Bing’s regret, no doubt,

Dutch photographer Paul Huf’s pictures

Frank was on the verge of the greatest

of women in surreal surroundings were used

comeback in the history of Pop music. He

by designer Herry van Borssum Waalkes on

was the first major artist to take advantage

light classical recordings on the then new

of the 12-inch album format, and the first to

Philips label in the mid-1950s. The covers

use the packaging to its fullest advantage.

are now regarded as classics of high camp.

Because albums until 1954 tended to

In the Pop market, though, no recording

be compilations of hit singles, the covers

artist was more involved in the process of

were almost universally plain: the name and

sleeve design than Frank Sinatra. In fact it

picture of the singer were often the only

was for that, rather than his singing, that he

features to be found on the front.

won his very first Grammy Award. [JM]

A Songs For Young Lovers / Frank Sinatra RELEASED 1955 | CAPITOL | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY

BY FRANK SINATRA | ALBUM PRODUCED BY VOYLE GILMORE

It wasn’t Sinatra’s first album for Capitol, the label that had given him his second stab at singing for a living, but it was the most important he had released up to that date. In 1954 Frank Sinatra was just beginning to turn his life around. After taking the best deal that Capitol (launched in 1942 b­­­y Sinatra’s friend, the singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer) could make, he declined a big advance in favour of total artistic control, including deciding how the covers would look. The first Capitol Sinatra 10-inch album had been Swing Easy, which showed not the skinny kid who made the girls scream, but a suited and hatted, smiling Frank.

But for this, his first themed release, he opted for a more adult look. Alone, cool-looking with hat and cigarette, standing under a dim (if short) street lamp he watches unsmiling as happy couples walk by. It was the debut of a new, serious Sinatra, heard for the first time singing standard American songs as if they were 11 Blues DETAILS numbers. [JM] 11

1960s Pop 1950s Lorem ipsum 02 subsection Although the long-playing text first para record had been

There were also orchestral versions of

introduced by Columbia in 1948, it wasn’t

hits released in the album format in the early

until the mid-1950s that the industry began

1950s, however, and because there was no

to recognize the marketing possibilities of

“star” to sell the album, the sleeve design

ROTHSCHILD | PHOTOGRAPHY

the 12-inch record that played at 331⁄3 rpm.

had to be more inventive. Alex Steinweiss,

BY KEN VEEDER | ART DIRECTION

Originally the format had been thought

the art director for Columbia, is usually cred-

most suitable for classical music because

ited with the idea of creating original artwork

of the length of the pieces involved. The Pop

in order to sell records. His work drew upon

market continued to be dominated by three-

classical painting, modern art and cartoons

minute songs released on 78 rpm shellac

of the era, and created the “look” of pre-

singles. Bing Crosby was still the world’s

1950s Pop albums – all high-colour, fizzing

most successful singer in the mid-1950s,

graphics and angular images.

despite Frank Sinatra having been the first

Jim Flora drew his own covers for RCA

teenage scream dream a decade earlier, and

Victor in the late 1940s and early 1950s,

Crosby’s records were all singles. Columbia

making the lettering a part of the design.

had been the recording home to both, but

His covers were cartoonish and made the

Sinatra had been “let go” in 1952 when he

albums look fun, too. When he left RCA in

was going through a downturn in popularity.

1956 he became a children’s book illustrator.

To Columbia’s and Bing’s regret, no doubt,

Dutch photographer Paul Huf’s pictures

Frank was on the verge of the greatest

of women in surreal surroundings were used

comeback in the history of Pop music. He

by designer Herry van Borssum Waalkes on

was the first major artist to take advantage

light classical recordings on the then new

of the 12-inch album format, and the first to

Philips label in the mid-1950s. The covers

use the packaging to its fullest advantage.

are now regarded as classics of high camp.

Because albums until 1954 tended to

In the Pop market, though, no recording

be compilations of hit singles, the covers

artist was more involved in the process of

were almost universally plain: the name and

sleeve design than Frank Sinatra. In fact it

picture of the singer were often the only

was for that, rather than his singing, that he

features to be found on the front.

won his very first Grammy Award. [JM]

A Songs For Young Lovers / Frank Sinatra RELEASED 1955 | CAPITOL | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY

BY FRANK SINATRA | ALBUM PRODUCED BY VOYLE GILMORE

It wasn’t Sinatra’s first album for Capitol, the label that had given him his second stab at singing for a living, but it was the most important he had released up to that date. In 1954 Frank Sinatra was just beginning to turn his life around. After taking the best deal that Capitol (launched in 1942 b­­­y Sinatra’s friend, the singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer) could make, he declined a big advance in favour of total artistic control, including deciding how the covers would look. The first Capitol Sinatra 10-inch album had been Swing Easy, which showed not the skinny kid who made the girls scream, but a suited and hatted, smiling Frank.

But for this, his first themed release, he opted for a more adult look. Alone, cool-looking with hat and cigarette, standing under a dim (if short) street lamp he watches unsmiling as happy couples walk by. It was the debut of a new, serious Sinatra, heard for the first time singing standard American songs as if they were 11 Blues DETAILS numbers. [JM] 11

B In Europe Vol. 2 / Eric Dolphy

A At The Café Montmartre / Cecil Taylor

RELEASED 1965 | PRESTIGE |

RELEASED 1963 | DEBUT/FONTANA

USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY DON

| USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY FONTANA

SCHLITTEN | PHOTOGRAPH BY BURT

ART DEPARTMENT | PHOTOGRAPH

GOLDBLATT | A LIVE PERFORMANCE

BY LENNART STEEN | ALBUM

RECORDED IN THE LECTURE HALL

PRODUCED BY ANDERS STEFANSEN

OF THE COPENHAGEN STUDENTS

Steen’s moody shot of Cecil Taylor evokes the atmosphere of late-night Jazz clubs, cigarette smoke, strong drinks, cool Jazz.

This particular Café Montmartre was in Copenhagen, where the Cecil Taylor Trio (Jimmy Lyons on alto, Arthur Murray drums) had an extended residency. The thoughtful, contemplative image of Taylor contrasts strongly with the explosive violence of his piano playing. The typography is dominant, straightforward, less consciously artistic than on Blue Note albums but still makes a strong design statement.

This, combined with the brooding portrait, manages to give the listener a pretty good idea of the type of music contained within. An archetypal early 1960s Jazz sleeve.

ASSOCIATION IN SEPTEMBER 1961 | NO PRODUCER CREDITED

Goldblatt’s image of Dolphy makes several visual jokes: the pipe is shaped like an alto sax, looking as if he’s playing a tiny horn; and the smoke he exhales billows out just enough to look as if it’s coming from the instrument slung around his neck. Like many photographers, Goldblatt went for Dolphy’s profile, catching him in a rare moment of reflection which contrasts with the excited yellow 1960s lettering dancing across the top of the sleeve.

B Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus / Charles Mingus RELEASED 1963 | IMPULSE! | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JOE LEBOW | PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE ALPER | ALBUM PRODUCED BY BOB THIELE

Charles Mingus could be a difficult character but Joe Alper’s photograph shows a gentle, relaxed man; the only word to describe the look on his face would be tender. An over-life-size detail of a profile balances against a block of typography, one each side of the square. It’s tempting to speculate that the number of times Mingus’s name is repeated in the title was determined by the weight of the lettering on the page. It is obviously an early 1960s design, wide open, lots of space, adventurous and daring: a precursor of what was to come.

42

43

B In Europe Vol. 2 / Eric Dolphy

A At The Café Montmartre / Cecil Taylor

RELEASED 1965 | PRESTIGE |

RELEASED 1963 | DEBUT/FONTANA

USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY DON

| USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY FONTANA

SCHLITTEN | PHOTOGRAPH BY BURT

ART DEPARTMENT | PHOTOGRAPH

GOLDBLATT | A LIVE PERFORMANCE

BY LENNART STEEN | ALBUM

RECORDED IN THE LECTURE HALL

PRODUCED BY ANDERS STEFANSEN

OF THE COPENHAGEN STUDENTS

Steen’s moody shot of Cecil Taylor evokes the atmosphere of late-night Jazz clubs, cigarette smoke, strong drinks, cool Jazz.

This particular Café Montmartre was in Copenhagen, where the Cecil Taylor Trio (Jimmy Lyons on alto, Arthur Murray drums) had an extended residency. The thoughtful, contemplative image of Taylor contrasts strongly with the explosive violence of his piano playing. The typography is dominant, straightforward, less consciously artistic than on Blue Note albums but still makes a strong design statement.

This, combined with the brooding portrait, manages to give the listener a pretty good idea of the type of music contained within. An archetypal early 1960s Jazz sleeve.

ASSOCIATION IN SEPTEMBER 1961 | NO PRODUCER CREDITED

Goldblatt’s image of Dolphy makes several visual jokes: the pipe is shaped like an alto sax, looking as if he’s playing a tiny horn; and the smoke he exhales billows out just enough to look as if it’s coming from the instrument slung around his neck. Like many photographers, Goldblatt went for Dolphy’s profile, catching him in a rare moment of reflection which contrasts with the excited yellow 1960s lettering dancing across the top of the sleeve.

B Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus / Charles Mingus RELEASED 1963 | IMPULSE! | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JOE LEBOW | PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE ALPER | ALBUM PRODUCED BY BOB THIELE

Charles Mingus could be a difficult character but Joe Alper’s photograph shows a gentle, relaxed man; the only word to describe the look on his face would be tender. An over-life-size detail of a profile balances against a block of typography, one each side of the square. It’s tempting to speculate that the number of times Mingus’s name is repeated in the title was determined by the weight of the lettering on the page. It is obviously an early 1960s design, wide open, lots of space, adventurous and daring: a precursor of what was to come.

42

43

ROCK 1960s

66

B Cheap Thrills / Big Brother and the Holding Company

C The Who Sell Out / The Who

RELEASED 1967 | COLUMBIA | USA |

RELEASED 1967 | TRACK | UK |

SLEEVE DESIGN BY ROBERT CRUMB |

SLEEVE DESIGN BY DAVE KING AND

ALBUM PRODUCED BY FRED CATERO

ROGER LAW | PHOTOGRAPHY BY

AND OTHERS

DAVID MONTGOMERY | ALBUM

Columbia Records objected to the album’s original title, “Sex, dope, and cheap thrills”, and insisted on shortening it to Cheap Thrills. It was the group’s drummer Dave Getz who suggested getting cartoonist Robert Crumb to do the sleeve artwork.

His design was originally planned for the back cover, hence the song listing and naming the band personnel, but it was switched to the front after a pastiche highschool yearbook layout for the front didn’t work.

PRODUCED BY KIT LAMBERT

The sleeve was art directed by Dave King, assisted by Roger Law, whose wife, Deirdre Amsden, made the giant props.

John Entwistle drew the lottery for the baked bean shoot but he contrived to show up late and Roger Daltrey, who had not yet been photographed, was drafted in his place. Unfortunately the beans were straight from the refrigerator and he immediately got cramp. John arrived late and got the girl.

C A landmark album cover was the Andy Warholdesigned debut Velvet Underground release. The striking image of a yellow banana on a white sleeve that peeled back was truly scary in its simplicity ALAN EDWARDS MUSIC PR

C The Velvet Underground & Nico / The Velvet Underground & Nico RELEASED 1967 | MGM | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY ANDY WARHOL | ALBUM PRODUCED BY ANDY WARHOL

MGM’s Bob Wilson actually produced, and Andy sat and watched, having no idea of what to do in a recording studio. But the sleeve became a Rock ‘n’ Roll icon. It was designed during the few weeks in 1967 when hippies thought smoking dried banana peel would get you high. When you peeled the skin from the cover it revealed a phallic pink banana. In fact the phallic banana became a counterculture symbol in itself, particularly in Germany.

67

ROCK 1960s

66

B Cheap Thrills / Big Brother and the Holding Company

C The Who Sell Out / The Who

RELEASED 1967 | COLUMBIA | USA |

RELEASED 1967 | TRACK | UK |

SLEEVE DESIGN BY ROBERT CRUMB |

SLEEVE DESIGN BY DAVE KING AND

ALBUM PRODUCED BY FRED CATERO

ROGER LAW | PHOTOGRAPHY BY

AND OTHERS

DAVID MONTGOMERY | ALBUM

Columbia Records objected to the album’s original title, “Sex, dope, and cheap thrills”, and insisted on shortening it to Cheap Thrills. It was the group’s drummer Dave Getz who suggested getting cartoonist Robert Crumb to do the sleeve artwork.

His design was originally planned for the back cover, hence the song listing and naming the band personnel, but it was switched to the front after a pastiche highschool yearbook layout for the front didn’t work.

PRODUCED BY KIT LAMBERT

The sleeve was art directed by Dave King, assisted by Roger Law, whose wife, Deirdre Amsden, made the giant props.

John Entwistle drew the lottery for the baked bean shoot but he contrived to show up late and Roger Daltrey, who had not yet been photographed, was drafted in his place. Unfortunately the beans were straight from the refrigerator and he immediately got cramp. John arrived late and got the girl.

C A landmark album cover was the Andy Warholdesigned debut Velvet Underground release. The striking image of a yellow banana on a white sleeve that peeled back was truly scary in its simplicity ALAN EDWARDS MUSIC PR

C The Velvet Underground & Nico / The Velvet Underground & Nico RELEASED 1967 | MGM | USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY ANDY WARHOL | ALBUM PRODUCED BY ANDY WARHOL

MGM’s Bob Wilson actually produced, and Andy sat and watched, having no idea of what to do in a recording studio. But the sleeve became a Rock ‘n’ Roll icon. It was designed during the few weeks in 1967 when hippies thought smoking dried banana peel would get you high. When you peeled the skin from the cover it revealed a phallic pink banana. In fact the phallic banana became a counterculture symbol in itself, particularly in Germany.

67

FUNK 1970s

B Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul / Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul

C Ship Ahoy / The O’Jays RELEASED 1973 | CBS | USA | ART

C Guilty! / Jimmy Witherspoon / Eric Burdon

RELEASED 1973 | GSF | USA |

DIRECTION BY ED LEE | ARTWORK

RELEASED 1971 | UNITED ARTISTS

BY JAMES BARKLEY | ALBUM

RECORDS | UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY

SLEEVE DESIGN BY BARNEY/VAN |

PRODUCED BY GAMBLE AND HUFF

ERIC BURDON | ART DIRECTION BY

ARTWORK BY JOE QUARTERMAN |

The O’Jays’ Ship Ahoy is overtly political, a hymn to the millions of Africans shipped to America in the 18th century. The cover (painted by a minor artist whose best-known work was for a United States stamp and who illustrated children’s books) puts the three O’Jays in the hold of a slave ship, along with the slaves.

That a band best known as a Pop act should produce such a sleeve was enough to make even the most myopic of white music fans take note that something was about to change.

HOWARD MILLER AND PHOTOGRAPHY

ALBUM PRODUCED BY COTTER WELLS, BILL TATE AND JOE QUARTERMAN FOR MANTIS RECORD CORP

The only Sir Joe/Free Soul album was a 1990s Deep Soul classic, so maybe a clue to their lack of success lies in the cover. Drawn

by Joe, it’s a naive tableau of scenes from the world of Free Soul, hinting that there was either no budget to have a professional designer (GSF was a small New York label) or that Joe’s ego dictated they use his artwork.

122

BY MICHEL STRAUSS | PRODUCED

BY JERRY GOLDSTEIN AND ERIC BURDON

This was very much a product of the growing political awareness and radicalism in the United States, when the Black Panthers were being shot down in cold blood by the dozen, and even white students were being gunned down during antiVietnam War protests (most famously at Ohio State University in 1971). Ex-Animal Eric Burdon’s inspired cover showing black

men trapped behind bars in the white jail of a “typical” white middle-class male’s head – the idea being that it’s where he thinks all black men should be – has to be one of the most bizarre ever published on an album sleeve. The album includes the San Quentin Prison Band, recorded on location, as well as a poem by the editor of the San Quentin News on the back sleeve. [BM]

123

FUNK 1970s

B Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul / Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul

C Ship Ahoy / The O’Jays RELEASED 1973 | CBS | USA | ART

C Guilty! / Jimmy Witherspoon / Eric Burdon

RELEASED 1973 | GSF | USA |

DIRECTION BY ED LEE | ARTWORK

RELEASED 1971 | UNITED ARTISTS

BY JAMES BARKLEY | ALBUM

RECORDS | UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY

SLEEVE DESIGN BY BARNEY/VAN |

PRODUCED BY GAMBLE AND HUFF

ERIC BURDON | ART DIRECTION BY

ARTWORK BY JOE QUARTERMAN |

The O’Jays’ Ship Ahoy is overtly political, a hymn to the millions of Africans shipped to America in the 18th century. The cover (painted by a minor artist whose best-known work was for a United States stamp and who illustrated children’s books) puts the three O’Jays in the hold of a slave ship, along with the slaves.

That a band best known as a Pop act should produce such a sleeve was enough to make even the most myopic of white music fans take note that something was about to change.

HOWARD MILLER AND PHOTOGRAPHY

ALBUM PRODUCED BY COTTER WELLS, BILL TATE AND JOE QUARTERMAN FOR MANTIS RECORD CORP

The only Sir Joe/Free Soul album was a 1990s Deep Soul classic, so maybe a clue to their lack of success lies in the cover. Drawn

by Joe, it’s a naive tableau of scenes from the world of Free Soul, hinting that there was either no budget to have a professional designer (GSF was a small New York label) or that Joe’s ego dictated they use his artwork.

122

BY MICHEL STRAUSS | PRODUCED

BY JERRY GOLDSTEIN AND ERIC BURDON

This was very much a product of the growing political awareness and radicalism in the United States, when the Black Panthers were being shot down in cold blood by the dozen, and even white students were being gunned down during antiVietnam War protests (most famously at Ohio State University in 1971). Ex-Animal Eric Burdon’s inspired cover showing black

men trapped behind bars in the white jail of a “typical” white middle-class male’s head – the idea being that it’s where he thinks all black men should be – has to be one of the most bizarre ever published on an album sleeve. The album includes the San Quentin Prison Band, recorded on location, as well as a poem by the editor of the San Quentin News on the back sleeve. [BM]

123

B I knew that the video image was powerful and crude, that it would register immediately from billboards and buses, that it would have a great visual impact ADAM ANT

150

B Living My Life / Grace Jones

A True Blue / Madonna

RELEASED 1982 | ISLAND RECORDS

RELEASED 1986 | SIRE RECORDS |

| UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JEAN-

USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JERI

PAUL GOUDE AND ROB O’CONNOR

MCMANUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY

| PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN-PAUL

HERB RITTS | ALBUM PRODUCED

GOUDE | ALBUM PRODUCED BY

BY MADONNA, PATRICK LEONARD

CHRIS BLACKWELL AND ALEX SADKIN

AND STEPHEN BRAY

Grace Jones joined French avantgarde artist Jean-Paul Goude in 1978. He created her public image with extraordinary videos and album sleeves. He used cutup photographs and collages to satirize the usual primitivist images of black females, playing with stereotypes. This cover uses one of his more straightforward pictures. The photograph has been doctored, hence the piece of sticking tape. By giving Grace a crew cut, a traditional male style, he further upsets the viewer’s expectations. Together they were a powerful team. [BM]

True Blue confirmed Madonna as a superstar, featuring her at her most image conscious. From the start she carefully controlled her public persona, playing with different roles and aspects of her character. This is a very carefully calculated album, mixing serious songs with dynamic dance tracks, yet still managing to cohere.

Herb Ritts’s picture sets the tone for the whole thing; beautifully conceived, carefully framed, artificially colour-corrected, a beautifully balanced composition by one of the great masters of portrait photography. [BM]

B Kings Of The Wild Frontier / Adam and the Ants

A Faith / George Michael

RELEASED 1980 |CBS | UK |

DESIGN BY GEORGE MICHAEL AND

SLEEVE DESIGN BY JULES AND

STYLOROUGE | PHOTOGRAPHY

ADAM ANT | ALBUM PRODUCED

BY RUSSELL YOUNG | ALBUM

BY CHRIS HUGHES

PRODUCED BY GEORGE MICHAEL

Former art student and protoPunk Stuart Goddard became Adam Ant in 1976, the night his band Bazooka Joe headlined on The Sex Pistols’ very first gig.

As Adam the Punk he wore black leather and cracked a whip.

As Adam the Popstar he wore a white stripe on his face and made glorious, full-colour videos which had a story (all self-written), helping make MTV what it is today. On this, the band’s second album, Adam’s choice of image was inspired. Rather than the usual photo he opted for a video still, capturing the energy and sex appeal of Adam in full swing.

An album sleeve (and videos) perfect for the MTV age. This carefully composed photograph is raunchy and clearly spoke different things to different folks.

On the face of it we have a Tomof-Finland influenced leatherbar biker-type sniffing his armpit, but to millions of ladies he was as heterosexual as they came, and the image gave off powerful pheromones. After four years in the shallow end of Pop with Wham!, George Michael came up with a stunning debut solo album.

Faith remained in the charts for more than a year, selling more than seven million copies. [BM]

RELEASED 1987 | EPIC | UK | SLEEVE

151

B I knew that the video image was powerful and crude, that it would register immediately from billboards and buses, that it would have a great visual impact ADAM ANT

150

B Living My Life / Grace Jones

A True Blue / Madonna

RELEASED 1982 | ISLAND RECORDS

RELEASED 1986 | SIRE RECORDS |

| UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JEAN-

USA | SLEEVE DESIGN BY JERI

PAUL GOUDE AND ROB O’CONNOR

MCMANUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY

| PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN-PAUL

HERB RITTS | ALBUM PRODUCED

GOUDE | ALBUM PRODUCED BY

BY MADONNA, PATRICK LEONARD

CHRIS BLACKWELL AND ALEX SADKIN

AND STEPHEN BRAY

Grace Jones joined French avantgarde artist Jean-Paul Goude in 1978. He created her public image with extraordinary videos and album sleeves. He used cutup photographs and collages to satirize the usual primitivist images of black females, playing with stereotypes. This cover uses one of his more straightforward pictures. The photograph has been doctored, hence the piece of sticking tape. By giving Grace a crew cut, a traditional male style, he further upsets the viewer’s expectations. Together they were a powerful team. [BM]

True Blue confirmed Madonna as a superstar, featuring her at her most image conscious. From the start she carefully controlled her public persona, playing with different roles and aspects of her character. This is a very carefully calculated album, mixing serious songs with dynamic dance tracks, yet still managing to cohere.

Herb Ritts’s picture sets the tone for the whole thing; beautifully conceived, carefully framed, artificially colour-corrected, a beautifully balanced composition by one of the great masters of portrait photography. [BM]

B Kings Of The Wild Frontier / Adam and the Ants

A Faith / George Michael

RELEASED 1980 |CBS | UK |

DESIGN BY GEORGE MICHAEL AND

SLEEVE DESIGN BY JULES AND

STYLOROUGE | PHOTOGRAPHY

ADAM ANT | ALBUM PRODUCED

BY RUSSELL YOUNG | ALBUM

BY CHRIS HUGHES

PRODUCED BY GEORGE MICHAEL

Former art student and protoPunk Stuart Goddard became Adam Ant in 1976, the night his band Bazooka Joe headlined on The Sex Pistols’ very first gig.

As Adam the Punk he wore black leather and cracked a whip.

As Adam the Popstar he wore a white stripe on his face and made glorious, full-colour videos which had a story (all self-written), helping make MTV what it is today. On this, the band’s second album, Adam’s choice of image was inspired. Rather than the usual photo he opted for a video still, capturing the energy and sex appeal of Adam in full swing.

An album sleeve (and videos) perfect for the MTV age. This carefully composed photograph is raunchy and clearly spoke different things to different folks.

On the face of it we have a Tomof-Finland influenced leatherbar biker-type sniffing his armpit, but to millions of ladies he was as heterosexual as they came, and the image gave off powerful pheromones. After four years in the shallow end of Pop with Wham!, George Michael came up with a stunning debut solo album.

Faith remained in the charts for more than a year, selling more than seven million copies. [BM]

RELEASED 1987 | EPIC | UK | SLEEVE

151

POP

SONIC YOUTH

RAP

DANCE

Françoiz Breut Pulp Arab Strap Belly Rickie Lee Jones Sinéad O’Connor k.d. lang

Goo Washing Machine A Thousand Leaves Dirty

L.L. Cool J Ice Cube NWA Ice-T

GRUNGE

R ’N’ B

Nirvana Mudhoney Hole Pearl Jam

Lil’ Louis & the World Mary J. Blige Erykah Badu Maxwell The Roots

Underworld Prodigy Massive Attack Funkstörung Stereolab Jim O’Rourke Boards of Canada

ROCK Björk The Sugarcubes Primal Scream Black Grape Teenage Fanclub Hefner Laika The Rolling Stones Spiritualized Lambchop Ween

ALT ROCK Marilyn Manson Blink 182 Red Hot Chili Peppers Offspring

1990s

POP

SONIC YOUTH

RAP

DANCE

Françoiz Breut Pulp Arab Strap Belly Rickie Lee Jones Sinéad O’Connor k.d. lang

Goo Washing Machine A Thousand Leaves Dirty

L.L. Cool J Ice Cube NWA Ice-T

GRUNGE

R ’N’ B

Nirvana Mudhoney Hole Pearl Jam

Lil’ Louis & the World Mary J. Blige Erykah Badu Maxwell The Roots

Underworld Prodigy Massive Attack Funkstörung Stereolab Jim O’Rourke Boards of Canada

ROCK Björk The Sugarcubes Primal Scream Black Grape Teenage Fanclub Hefner Laika The Rolling Stones Spiritualized Lambchop Ween

ALT ROCK Marilyn Manson Blink 182 Red Hot Chili Peppers Offspring

1990s

2000s Dance A We want to make the records as gorgeous and precious and collectable as possible. That’s the joy of it: to make an artifact

As the 21st century began, it seemed the

tightly drawn and highly visible. Orbital,

music industry had distilled to just four

Underworld, The Chemical Brothers and

vibrant musical genres. While Country was

Fatboy Slim were nobody’s poster pin-up

self-contained and stable, the singles and

boys, but each of them had a clearly defined

albums charts in America and the UK were

image and their cover art was easily recog-

a churning mass of shifting styles, dominated

nizable to fans. The British scene first made

by dance sounds. Rappers worked with

inroads into America via Hollywood movies.

Hip-hop and R ‘n’ B producers to (briefly)

In 1996, U2’s Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton

produce yet another new genre – Urban –

reworked the Mission: Impossible theme

which outsold R ‘n’ B and Hip-hop. Music

and put the kind of high-energy Electro

from around the world was combined with

Punk-Funk that acts like Orbital and Leftfield

spaced-out, slow Hip-hop beats to make

had been making for some time, into shop-

chill-out sounds. Rock was dead and there

ping malls across the States. Orbital’s own

was only Alt Rock, which seemed to include

thumping reworking of The Saint’s theme

any record that had guitars on it. And then

tune for the 1996 movie starring Val Kilmer

| UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY FRED

there was Dance music. Still predominantly

pushed them into the US market, too.

DEAKIN AT AIRSIDE | ALBUM

electronic, it now included anything that

After that, a generation of American DJs

had a groove and could be played in clubs

and Hip-hoppers began to include samples

as well as on radio. In the USA it became

from their music into their own scene. As

known as EDM (Electronic Dance Music)

with the music, so with the packaging. The

and by the 2010s it was the predominant

British use of non-human images for album

club sound of the country.

covers began to be replicated in the US

In the UK, Dance acts became headline

– see Money Mark’s Push The Button and

performers at major music festivals such

Change Is Coming (page 229), and Yo La

as Glastonbury, where the tents resembled

Tengo’s The Sounds Of The Sounds Of

the rave clubs of the late 1980s. While the

Science (page 233). In the UK, the non-

performers of Dance music were largely

human imagery to sell music made on

faceless, white and almost middle-aged,

machines for humans to dance to reflected

their product and band identity were always

a particularly British sense of humour.

FRED DEAKIN, LEMON JELLY

A lemonjelly.ky / Lemon Jelly RELEASED 2000 | IMPOTENT FURY

PRODUCED BY NICK FRANGLEN

There’s no lettering on the sleeve, which folds out into a three-part canvas. Jelly’s Fred Deakin designed it, clearly influenced by psychedelia. Where there would have been shifting areas of colour on a ‘60s album though, he uses more regular, pointed blobs, in psychedelic yellow, red and green. The shapes look as if they should have some kind of industrial use and serve as an intriguing design highlighting the music’s naive charm. The attention-grabbing fluorescent packaging looks like the music sounds.

225

2000s Dance A We want to make the records as gorgeous and precious and collectable as possible. That’s the joy of it: to make an artifact

As the 21st century began, it seemed the

tightly drawn and highly visible. Orbital,

music industry had distilled to just four

Underworld, The Chemical Brothers and

vibrant musical genres. While Country was

Fatboy Slim were nobody’s poster pin-up

self-contained and stable, the singles and

boys, but each of them had a clearly defined

albums charts in America and the UK were

image and their cover art was easily recog-

a churning mass of shifting styles, dominated

nizable to fans. The British scene first made

by dance sounds. Rappers worked with

inroads into America via Hollywood movies.

Hip-hop and R ‘n’ B producers to (briefly)

In 1996, U2’s Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton

produce yet another new genre – Urban –

reworked the Mission: Impossible theme

which outsold R ‘n’ B and Hip-hop. Music

and put the kind of high-energy Electro

from around the world was combined with

Punk-Funk that acts like Orbital and Leftfield

spaced-out, slow Hip-hop beats to make

had been making for some time, into shop-

chill-out sounds. Rock was dead and there

ping malls across the States. Orbital’s own

was only Alt Rock, which seemed to include

thumping reworking of The Saint’s theme

any record that had guitars on it. And then

tune for the 1996 movie starring Val Kilmer

| UK | SLEEVE DESIGN BY FRED

there was Dance music. Still predominantly

pushed them into the US market, too.

DEAKIN AT AIRSIDE | ALBUM

electronic, it now included anything that

After that, a generation of American DJs

had a groove and could be played in clubs

and Hip-hoppers began to include samples

as well as on radio. In the USA it became

from their music into their own scene. As

known as EDM (Electronic Dance Music)

with the music, so with the packaging. The

and by the 2010s it was the predominant

British use of non-human images for album

club sound of the country.

covers began to be replicated in the US

In the UK, Dance acts became headline

– see Money Mark’s Push The Button and

performers at major music festivals such

Change Is Coming (page 229), and Yo La

as Glastonbury, where the tents resembled

Tengo’s The Sounds Of The Sounds Of

the rave clubs of the late 1980s. While the

Science (page 233). In the UK, the non-

performers of Dance music were largely

human imagery to sell music made on

faceless, white and almost middle-aged,

machines for humans to dance to reflected

their product and band identity were always

a particularly British sense of humour.

FRED DEAKIN, LEMON JELLY

A lemonjelly.ky / Lemon Jelly RELEASED 2000 | IMPOTENT FURY

PRODUCED BY NICK FRANGLEN

There’s no lettering on the sleeve, which folds out into a three-part canvas. Jelly’s Fred Deakin designed it, clearly influenced by psychedelia. Where there would have been shifting areas of colour on a ‘60s album though, he uses more regular, pointed blobs, in psychedelic yellow, red and green. The shapes look as if they should have some kind of industrial use and serve as an intriguing design highlighting the music’s naive charm. The attention-grabbing fluorescent packaging looks like the music sounds.

225

2000s HIP-HOP/R&B

HIP-HOP/R&B 2000s A Yeezus / Kanye West RELEASED 2013 | ROC-A-FELLA, DEF JAM | USA | ART DIRECTION BY JOE PEREZ, DONDA | PHOTOGRAPHY

BY KANYE WEST, VIRGIL ABLOH, MATTHEW WILLIAMS AND JUSTIN SAUNDERS | ALBUM PRODUCED BY KANYE WEST, RICK RUBIN, HUDSON MOHAWKE, CHÉ POPE, NOAH GOLDSTEIN, TEACHERS, BENJI B, BRODINSKI, GESAFFELSTEIN, JACK DONOGHUE, LUPE FIASCO, MIKE DEAN, SHAM JOSEPH, KEN LEWIS

C My Name Is My Name / Pusha T

HUDSON MOHAWKE, NO I.D., NORTZ,

RELEASED 2013 | GOOD MUSIC,

SEBASTIAN SARTOR, SWIZZ BEATZ,

DEF JAM | USA | ART DIRECTION

THE DREAM, THE TWILITE TONE

BY DONDA, PUSHA T, CAPRICORN

Pusha T’s debut album for Kanye West’s GOOD label makes an audacious claim visually – that it needs no image, no title or artist credit, because people who know Pusha T know that it’s by him. It

CLARK AND JUSTIN SAUNDERS| PHOTOGRAPHY BY FABIEN MONTIQUE | ALBUM PRODUCED BY KANYE WEST, 88-KEYS, BEEWIRKS, DJ MANO, DON CANNON, GLASS JOHN,

244

PHARRELL WILLIAMS, RICO BEATS,

was already a tired post-modern trick, and using a bar code as “art” wasn’t new by 2013, but that’s not the point. The point is that this is a product from a “new” artist who doesn’t have to “sell” himself.

The title is a line from a character named Marlo Stanfield in HBO’s The Wire – a ruthless, determined, killer power-seeker.

Kanye West’s sixth album consists of stripped-back, pared-down tracks that the artist described as “minimalist”. The idea for the cover art was that it be as “minimalist” as the music. Setting aside the fact that the music isn’t “minimalist” in the sense that musicologists understand the term (there are no Steve Reich, John Cage or Lamont Young samples to be heard), and that the cover has few elements that define the recognized art movement, West’s “concept” for the artwork is a valid and apt representation of his intent.

The artwork – or rather, lack of – should actually be termed “postminimalist”, a theory developed in 1971 by Robert Pincus-Witten to define works that are usually everyday objects, use simple materials, and sometimes take on a “pure”, formalist aesthetic. This can also be interpreted perhaps as a physical embodiment of the artist’s developing Christ complex: the CD is unadorned and sealed, hermetically, as it were, looking not unlike a communion wafer, perhaps. Or is it a “magic” pill, sealed for freshness? Once consumed, benefits are felt.

245

2000s HIP-HOP/R&B

HIP-HOP/R&B 2000s A Yeezus / Kanye West RELEASED 2013 | ROC-A-FELLA, DEF JAM | USA | ART DIRECTION BY JOE PEREZ, DONDA | PHOTOGRAPHY

BY KANYE WEST, VIRGIL ABLOH, MATTHEW WILLIAMS AND JUSTIN SAUNDERS | ALBUM PRODUCED BY KANYE WEST, RICK RUBIN, HUDSON MOHAWKE, CHÉ POPE, NOAH GOLDSTEIN, TEACHERS, BENJI B, BRODINSKI, GESAFFELSTEIN, JACK DONOGHUE, LUPE FIASCO, MIKE DEAN, SHAM JOSEPH, KEN LEWIS

C My Name Is My Name / Pusha T

HUDSON MOHAWKE, NO I.D., NORTZ,

RELEASED 2013 | GOOD MUSIC,

SEBASTIAN SARTOR, SWIZZ BEATZ,

DEF JAM | USA | ART DIRECTION

THE DREAM, THE TWILITE TONE

BY DONDA, PUSHA T, CAPRICORN

Pusha T’s debut album for Kanye West’s GOOD label makes an audacious claim visually – that it needs no image, no title or artist credit, because people who know Pusha T know that it’s by him. It

CLARK AND JUSTIN SAUNDERS| PHOTOGRAPHY BY FABIEN MONTIQUE | ALBUM PRODUCED BY KANYE WEST, 88-KEYS, BEEWIRKS, DJ MANO, DON CANNON, GLASS JOHN,

244

PHARRELL WILLIAMS, RICO BEATS,

was already a tired post-modern trick, and using a bar code as “art” wasn’t new by 2013, but that’s not the point. The point is that this is a product from a “new” artist who doesn’t have to “sell” himself.

The title is a line from a character named Marlo Stanfield in HBO’s The Wire – a ruthless, determined, killer power-seeker.

Kanye West’s sixth album consists of stripped-back, pared-down tracks that the artist described as “minimalist”. The idea for the cover art was that it be as “minimalist” as the music. Setting aside the fact that the music isn’t “minimalist” in the sense that musicologists understand the term (there are no Steve Reich, John Cage or Lamont Young samples to be heard), and that the cover has few elements that define the recognized art movement, West’s “concept” for the artwork is a valid and apt representation of his intent.

The artwork – or rather, lack of – should actually be termed “postminimalist”, a theory developed in 1971 by Robert Pincus-Witten to define works that are usually everyday objects, use simple materials, and sometimes take on a “pure”, formalist aesthetic. This can also be interpreted perhaps as a physical embodiment of the artist’s developing Christ complex: the CD is unadorned and sealed, hermetically, as it were, looking not unlike a communion wafer, perhaps. Or is it a “magic” pill, sealed for freshness? Once consumed, benefits are felt.

245

Index By artist name: 13th Floor Elevators / The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators 75 AC/DC / Back In Black 164 Adam and the Ants / Kings Of The Wild Frontier 150 Adderley, Cannonball, and John Coltrane / Cannonball & Coltrane 48 Adele / 25 264 Arab Strap / Ole 315-2 Philophobia 181 Armstrong, Louis, with Ella Fitzgerald / Ella and Louis 27 Aswad / Hulet 130 B-52s, The / The B-52s 85 Bacharach, Burt / Reach Out 59 Badu, Erykah / Baduizm 212 Bauhaus / The Sky’s Gone Out 159 BBC Cast, The / Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas 16 Beastie Boys / Licenced To Ill 170 Beatles, The / Abbey Road 52 / Rubber Soul 52 / Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 72 / The Beatles 52 / With The Beatles 50 Belly / Star 181 Benson, George / Give Me The Night 172 Beyoncé / Beyoncé 263 Big Brother and the Holding Company / Cheap Thrills 67 Björk / Debut 184 / Homogenic 186 Black Grape / It’s Great When You’re Straight Yeah 189 Blige, Mary J. / Mary 212 Blink 182 / Enema Of The State 205 Boards of Canada / Music Has the Right To Children 221 / Peel Session 221 Boogie Down Productions / By All Means Necessary 168 Bootsy’s Rubber Band / This Boot Is Made For Fonk-N 121 Bowie, David / Aladdin Sane 83 / Heroes 115 / Blackstar 268 / The Next Day 269 Breut, Françoiz / Vingt à Trente Mille Jours 178 Brown, Bobby / Don’t Be Cruel 174 Burdon, Eric, and Jimmy Witherspoon / Guilty! 123 Burrell, Kenny / Kenny Burrell 30

270

Power Corruption and Lies 147 New York Dolls / New York Dolls 134 Nirvana / Nevermind 198 NWA / Niggaz4life 209

Byrd, Donald / Street Lady 118 / Cat Walk 46 Byrd, Donald, and Phil Woods / The Young Bloods 24 Cale, John / Academy In Peril 109 Can / Landed 115 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band / Trout Mask Replica 106 Cars, The / Candy-O 96 Cat Power / The Covers Album 259 Cecil Taylor Quartet, The / Looking Ahead! 30 Chacksfield, Frank / Glamorous Holiday 14 Chairmen of the Board / Skin I’m In 124 Charles, Ray / Ray Charles In Person 34 Chicago / X 85 Cohen, Leonard / Death Of A Ladies’ Man 101 Coleman, Ornette / Change Of The Century 29 Coltrane, John, and Cannonball Adderley / Cannonball & Coltrane 48 Concretes, The / The Concretes 259 Cooder, Ry, and Manuel Galbán / Mambo Sinuendo 249 Cooper, Alice / School’s Out 80 Cow, Henry / In Praise Of Learning 111 Cramps, The / Off The Bone 159 Cream / Disraeli Gears 75 Crosby, Stills & Nash / So Far 70 Crystal Method, The / Tweekend 261 Culture / Two Sevens Clash 128 Cure, The / Three Imaginary Boys 138 D’Angelo and The Vanguard /The Black Messiah 266 Davis, Miles / On The Corner 111 Dead Kennedys / In God We Trust, Inc. 162 Deadmau5 / Album Title Goes Here 235 Dead Prez / Dead Prez 234 Dolphy, Eric / In Europe Vol. 2 / 42 / Last Date 41 Donegan, Lonnie and Skiffle Group / Lonnie 21 Doors, The / Strange Days 68 Dr Alimantado / Best Dressed Chicken In Town 130 Durutti Column / Return Of 147 Dury, Ian / New Boots And Panties!! 136 Dury, Ian & the Blockheads / Do It Yourself 138 Dylan, Bob / Blonde On Blonde 64 / Bringing It All Back Home 64 / Planet Waves 94 / Self Portrait 94 Eno, Brian, Fripp, Robert / (No Pussyfooting) 109

Faithfull, Marianne / Broken English 85 Fall, The / Hex Enduction Hour 162 Fatback Band, The / Keep On Steppin’ 124 Faust / The Faust Tapes 115 Fireman, The [Paul McCartney] / Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest 250 Fitzgerald, Ella / Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book Vol. 2 24 Fitzgerald, Ella, with Louis Armstrong / Ella and Louis 27 FKA Twigs / LP1 265 Foetus Interruptus / Thaw 162 Fripp, Robert, Eno, Brian / (No Pussyfooting) 109 Frisell, Bill / The Intercontinentals 240 Frost, Robert / Robert Frost Reads His Poetry 18 Funkadelic / One Nation Under A Groove 121 Funkstörung / Additional Productions 218 / Appetite For Disctruction 227 Future Loop Foundation / This Is How I Feel 229 Gaga, Lady / Artpop 263 Galbán, Manuel, and Ry Cooder / Mambo Sinuendo 249 Gil Evans Orchestra / Into The Hot 45 Gilberto, Astrud / I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do 54 Gun Club, The / Miami 159 Hawkins, Coleman / Coleman Hawkins Swing! 46 Hefner / Breaking God’s Heart 190 Herman Düne / Turn Off The Light 258 Hole / America’s Sweetheart 256 / Live Through This 201 Howard, Adina / The Second Coming 241 Humble Pie / As Safe As Yesterday Is 70 Ice Cube / Kill At Will 209 Ice-T / Original Gangster 209 Ink Spots / The Original 57 Iron Maiden / Number Of The Beast 167 Jay-Z / The Blueprint 3 243 Jazz Messengers, The / The Jazz Messengers At The Café Bohemia Volume 1 27 Jethro Tull / Thick As A Brick 93 Jimi Hendrix Experience / Electric Ladyland 64 Johnson, Linton Kwesi / Forces Of Victory 128 Jones, Grace / Living My Life 150 Jones, Quincy / This Is How I Feel About Jazz 30 Jones, Rickie Lee / It’s Like This 255

/ Pop Pop 183 Joy Division / Unknown Pleasures 140 Killing Joke / Killing Joke 160 Kingston Trio / Kingston Trio From The “Hungry I” 20 Kraftwerk / Autobahn 112 KRS-One / Keep Right 239 Laika / Sounds Of The Satellites 190 Lamar, Kendrick / To Pimp A Butterfly 267 Lambchop / What Another Man Spills 193 Lang, k.d. / All You Can Eat 183 Lee, Peggy / Black Coffee 14 Lemon Jelly / lemonjelly.ky 224 / Lost Horizons 227 Lil’ Louis & the World / Journey With The Lonely 210 Little Richard / Here’s Little Richard 34 / The Little Richard Story 59 Littleton, John / Amen 57 L.L. Cool J / Mama Said Knock You Out 206 / Radio 170 London, Julie, with the Jimmy Rowles Orchestra / Julie 14 Love Unlimited Orchestra, The / Rhapsody In White 118 Madonna / True Blue 151 Manson, Marilyn / Mechanical Animals 202 Marley, Bob & the Wailers / Catch A Fire 126 Massive Attack / Mezzanine 217 Maxwell / Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite 213 Michael, George / Faith 151 Minaj, Nicki / The Pinkprint 242 Mingus, Charles / Mingus Ah Um 29 / Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus 42 / Oh Yeah 48 Moby / Destroyed 235 Money Mark / Change Is Coming 229 Monk, Thelonius / Monk 45 Monk, Thelonius, and Sonny Rollins / Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins 22 Mothers of Invention, The / Cruising With Ruben & The Jets 68 Mudhoney / Superfuzz Bigmuff 201 Nas / Street’s Disciple 239 Newman, Randy / Sail Away 101 New Order / Low-Life 144 / Movement 147 /

Oakenfold / Bunkka 230 O’Connor, Sinéad / Am I Not Your Girl? 183 Offspring / Americana 205 Ohio Players, The / Fire 116 O’Jays, The / Ship Ahoy 123 OMD / Dazzle Ships 153 Orbit, William / Pieces In A Modern Style 249 Orbital / The Altogether 230 Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, The / Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation By The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet 38 Ornette Coleman Trio, The / The Ornette Coleman Trio At The “Golden Circle” Stockholm Volume Two 41 O’Rourke, Jim / Eureka 221 Otis, Johnny, His Orchestra and Entertainers / Johnny Otis Rock ‘n’ Roll Hit Parade Volume One 35 Palmer, Robert / Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley 101 Parliament / Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin The Tail On The Funky) 121 Pink Floyd / Animals 104 / Atom Heart Mother 102 / Dark Side Of The Moon 104 / Wish You Were Here 104 Pearl Jam / No Code 201 Pendergrass, Teddy / Ready For Teddy 174 Perry, Katy / One Of The Boys 262 Peterson, Oscar, Trio / Girl Talk / Exclusively For My Friends 46 PiL / Metal Box 138 Plastic Ono Band, The / Live Peace In Toronto 1969 70 Pop Group, The / Y 140 Pop, Iggy / The Idiot 134 Prefuse 73 / Surrounded By Silence 230 Presley, Elvis / Elvis NBC-TV Special 59 / Elvis Presley 32 Primal Scream / Screamadelica 189 Prodigy / The Fat Of The Land 217 Pulp / This Is Hardcore 181 Pusha T / My Name Is My Name 244 Rae & Christian / Sleepwalking 232 Rage Against The Machine / Renegades 258 Ramones, The / Ramones 136 Red Hot Chili Peppers / One Hot Minute 205 R.E.M. / Murmur 153 Rolling Stones, The / Black And Blue 89 / Exile On Main Street 89 / Flashpoint 190 / Let It Bleed 62 / Some Girls 89 / Sticky Fingers 86 Rollins, Sonny, and Thelonius Monk / Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins 22

Roots, The / Things Fall Apart 213 Roxy Music / Country Life 83 Russell, Arthur / The World Of Arthur Russell 250 Santana / Abraxas 77 Scaggs, Boz / Slow Dancer 98 Scott, Jill / Who Is Jill Scott? 241 Sellers, Peter / Songs For Swingin’ Sellers 18 Sex Pistols, The / Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols 132 Sinatra, Frank / Come Fly With Me 12 / No One Cares 12 / Sings For Only The Lonely 12 / Songs For Young Lovers 10 Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul / Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul 123 Sly & The Family Stone / There’s A Riot Goin’ On 124 Small Faces / Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake 75 Smith, Patti / Horses 134 Smiths, The / Meat Is Murder 157 Soft Machine, The / The Soft Machine 77 Sonic Youth / A Thousand Leaves 196 / Dirty 196 / Goo 194 / Washing Machine 196 Soul II Soul / Club Classics Vol 1 174 Spiritualized / Lazer Guided Melodies 193 / Let It Come Down 252 Springfield, Dusty / A Girl Called Dusty 61 Springsteen, Bruce / Born In The U.S.A. 148 Steely Dan / Aja 96 Stereolab / Dots And Loops 218 Strokes, The / Is This It 251 Sugarcubes, The / Stick Around For Joy 186 Talking Heads / Remain In Light 157 / The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads 157 Taylor, Cecil / At The Café Montmartre 42 Thievery Corporation, The / Radio Retaliation 234 Tosh, Peter / Bush Doctor 128 Underworld / Dubnobasswithmyheadman 214 U2 / Boy 153 Van Halen / MCMLXXXIV 167 Various / Live At The Vortex 136 Velvet Underground & Nico, The / The Velvet Underground & Nico 67 Vincent, Gene and the Blue Caps / Gene Vincent Rocks! And the Blue Caps Roll 35 Waits, Tom / Rain Dogs 155 Walker, Scott / Scott 61 / Scott 3 61 Ween / Chocolate & Cheese 193 Wilco / Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 254 West, Kanye / Yeezus 245 Who, The / Live At Leeds 96 / The Who Sell Out 67 Witherspoon, Jimmy, and Burdon, Eric / Guilty 123 Woods, Phil, and Donald Byrd / The Young Bloods 24

XTC / Go 2 140 Yo La Tengo / The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science 232 / And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 255 Zappa, Frank / Hot Rats 68 / Weasels Ripped My Flesh 93 ZZ Top / Eliminator 167 By album name: Abbey Road / The Beatles 52 Abraxas / Santana 77 Additional Productions / Funkstörung 218 A Girl Called Dusty / Dusty Springfield 61 Aja / Steely Dan 96 Aladdin Sane / David Bowie 83 Album Title Goes Here / Deadmau5 235 All You Can Eat / k.d. lang 183 Am I Not Your Girl? / Sinéad O’Connor 183 Amen / John Littleton 57 America’s Sweetheart / Hole 257 Americana / Offspring 205 And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out / Yo La Tengo 255 Animals / Pink Floyd 104 Appetite For Disctruction / Funkstörung 227 Artpop / Lady Gaga 263 As Safe As Yesterday Is / Humble Pie 70 At The Café Montmartre / Cecil Taylor 42 A Thousand Leaves / Sonic Youth 196 Atom Heart Mother / Pink Floyd 102 Autobahn / Kraftwerk 112 Back In Black / AC/DC 164 Baduizm / Erykah Badu 212 Best Dressed Chicken In Town / Dr Alimantado 130 Beyoncé / Beyoncé 263 Black And Blue / The Rolling Stones 89 Black Coffee / Peggy Lee 14 Black Messiah / D’Angelo and The Vanguard 266 Blackstar / David Bowie 268 Blonde On Blonde / Bob Dylan 64 Blueprint 3 / Jay-Z 243 Born In The U.S.A. / Bruce Springsteen 148 Born To Run / Bruce Springsteen 90 Boy / U2 153 Brain Salad Surgery / Emerson, Lake & Palmer 111 Breaking God’s Heart / Hefner 190 Bringing It All Back Home / Bob Dylan 64 Broken English / Marianne Faithfull 85 Bunkka / Oakenfold 230 Bush Doctor / Peter Tosh 128

By All Means Necessary / Boogie Down Productions 168

Candy-O / The Cars 96 Cannonball & Coltrane / Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane 48 Catch A Fire / Bob Marley & The Wailers 126 Change Is Coming / Money Mark 229 Change Of The Century / Ornette Coleman 29 Cheap Thrills / Big Brother and the Holding Company 67 Chocolate & Cheese / Ween 193 Club Classics Vol. 1 / Soul II Soul 174 Coleman Hawkins Swing! / Coleman Hawkins 46 Come Fly With Me / Frank Sinatra 12 Country Life / Roxy Music 83 Cruising With Ruben & The Jets / The Mothers of Invention 68 Dark Side Of The Moon / Pink Floyd 104 Dazzle Ships / OMD 153 Dead Prez / Dead Prez 237 Death Of A Ladies’ Man / Leonard Cohen 101 Debut / Björk 184 Destroyed / Moby 235 Dirty / Sonic Youth 196 Disraeli Gears / Cream 75 Do It Yourself / Ian Dury & the Blockheads 138 Don’t Be Cruel / Bobby Brown 174 Dots And Loops / Stereolab 218 Dubnobasswithmyheadman / Underworld 214 Electric Ladyland / The Jimi Hendrix Experience 64 Eliminator / ZZ Top 167 Ella and Louis / Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 27 Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book Vol. 2 / Ella Fitzgerald 24 Elvis NBC-TV Special / Elvis Presley 59 Elvis Presley / Elvis Presley 32 Enema Of The State / Blink 182 205 Eureka / Jim O’Rourke 221 Exile On Main Street / The Rolling Stones 89 Faith / George Michael 151 Fire / The Ohio Players 116 Flashpoint / The Rolling Stones 190 Forces Of Victory / Linton Kwesi Johnson 128 Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet / The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet 38 Gene Vincent Rocks! And The Blue Caps Roll / Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps 35 Girl Talk / Exclusively For My Friends / Oscar Peterson Trio 46 Give Me The Night / George Benson 172 Glamorous Holiday / Frank Chacksfield 14 Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin the Tail on the Funky) / Parliament 121 Go 2 / XTC 140

271

Index By artist name: 13th Floor Elevators / The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators 75 AC/DC / Back In Black 164 Adam and the Ants / Kings Of The Wild Frontier 150 Adderley, Cannonball, and John Coltrane / Cannonball & Coltrane 48 Adele / 25 264 Arab Strap / Ole 315-2 Philophobia 181 Armstrong, Louis, with Ella Fitzgerald / Ella and Louis 27 Aswad / Hulet 130 B-52s, The / The B-52s 85 Bacharach, Burt / Reach Out 59 Badu, Erykah / Baduizm 212 Bauhaus / The Sky’s Gone Out 159 BBC Cast, The / Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas 16 Beastie Boys / Licenced To Ill 170 Beatles, The / Abbey Road 52 / Rubber Soul 52 / Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 72 / The Beatles 52 / With The Beatles 50 Belly / Star 181 Benson, George / Give Me The Night 172 Beyoncé / Beyoncé 263 Big Brother and the Holding Company / Cheap Thrills 67 Björk / Debut 184 / Homogenic 186 Black Grape / It’s Great When You’re Straight Yeah 189 Blige, Mary J. / Mary 212 Blink 182 / Enema Of The State 205 Boards of Canada / Music Has the Right To Children 221 / Peel Session 221 Boogie Down Productions / By All Means Necessary 168 Bootsy’s Rubber Band / This Boot Is Made For Fonk-N 121 Bowie, David / Aladdin Sane 83 / Heroes 115 / Blackstar 268 / The Next Day 269 Breut, Françoiz / Vingt à Trente Mille Jours 178 Brown, Bobby / Don’t Be Cruel 174 Burdon, Eric, and Jimmy Witherspoon / Guilty! 123 Burrell, Kenny / Kenny Burrell 30

270

Power Corruption and Lies 147 New York Dolls / New York Dolls 134 Nirvana / Nevermind 198 NWA / Niggaz4life 209

Byrd, Donald / Street Lady 118 / Cat Walk 46 Byrd, Donald, and Phil Woods / The Young Bloods 24 Cale, John / Academy In Peril 109 Can / Landed 115 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band / Trout Mask Replica 106 Cars, The / Candy-O 96 Cat Power / The Covers Album 259 Cecil Taylor Quartet, The / Looking Ahead! 30 Chacksfield, Frank / Glamorous Holiday 14 Chairmen of the Board / Skin I’m In 124 Charles, Ray / Ray Charles In Person 34 Chicago / X 85 Cohen, Leonard / Death Of A Ladies’ Man 101 Coleman, Ornette / Change Of The Century 29 Coltrane, John, and Cannonball Adderley / Cannonball & Coltrane 48 Concretes, The / The Concretes 259 Cooder, Ry, and Manuel Galbán / Mambo Sinuendo 249 Cooper, Alice / School’s Out 80 Cow, Henry / In Praise Of Learning 111 Cramps, The / Off The Bone 159 Cream / Disraeli Gears 75 Crosby, Stills & Nash / So Far 70 Crystal Method, The / Tweekend 261 Culture / Two Sevens Clash 128 Cure, The / Three Imaginary Boys 138 D’Angelo and The Vanguard /The Black Messiah 266 Davis, Miles / On The Corner 111 Dead Kennedys / In God We Trust, Inc. 162 Deadmau5 / Album Title Goes Here 235 Dead Prez / Dead Prez 234 Dolphy, Eric / In Europe Vol. 2 / 42 / Last Date 41 Donegan, Lonnie and Skiffle Group / Lonnie 21 Doors, The / Strange Days 68 Dr Alimantado / Best Dressed Chicken In Town 130 Durutti Column / Return Of 147 Dury, Ian / New Boots And Panties!! 136 Dury, Ian & the Blockheads / Do It Yourself 138 Dylan, Bob / Blonde On Blonde 64 / Bringing It All Back Home 64 / Planet Waves 94 / Self Portrait 94 Eno, Brian, Fripp, Robert / (No Pussyfooting) 109

Faithfull, Marianne / Broken English 85 Fall, The / Hex Enduction Hour 162 Fatback Band, The / Keep On Steppin’ 124 Faust / The Faust Tapes 115 Fireman, The [Paul McCartney] / Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest 250 Fitzgerald, Ella / Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book Vol. 2 24 Fitzgerald, Ella, with Louis Armstrong / Ella and Louis 27 FKA Twigs / LP1 265 Foetus Interruptus / Thaw 162 Fripp, Robert, Eno, Brian / (No Pussyfooting) 109 Frisell, Bill / The Intercontinentals 240 Frost, Robert / Robert Frost Reads His Poetry 18 Funkadelic / One Nation Under A Groove 121 Funkstörung / Additional Productions 218 / Appetite For Disctruction 227 Future Loop Foundation / This Is How I Feel 229 Gaga, Lady / Artpop 263 Galbán, Manuel, and Ry Cooder / Mambo Sinuendo 249 Gil Evans Orchestra / Into The Hot 45 Gilberto, Astrud / I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do 54 Gun Club, The / Miami 159 Hawkins, Coleman / Coleman Hawkins Swing! 46 Hefner / Breaking God’s Heart 190 Herman Düne / Turn Off The Light 258 Hole / America’s Sweetheart 256 / Live Through This 201 Howard, Adina / The Second Coming 241 Humble Pie / As Safe As Yesterday Is 70 Ice Cube / Kill At Will 209 Ice-T / Original Gangster 209 Ink Spots / The Original 57 Iron Maiden / Number Of The Beast 167 Jay-Z / The Blueprint 3 243 Jazz Messengers, The / The Jazz Messengers At The Café Bohemia Volume 1 27 Jethro Tull / Thick As A Brick 93 Jimi Hendrix Experience / Electric Ladyland 64 Johnson, Linton Kwesi / Forces Of Victory 128 Jones, Grace / Living My Life 150 Jones, Quincy / This Is How I Feel About Jazz 30 Jones, Rickie Lee / It’s Like This 255

/ Pop Pop 183 Joy Division / Unknown Pleasures 140 Killing Joke / Killing Joke 160 Kingston Trio / Kingston Trio From The “Hungry I” 20 Kraftwerk / Autobahn 112 KRS-One / Keep Right 239 Laika / Sounds Of The Satellites 190 Lamar, Kendrick / To Pimp A Butterfly 267 Lambchop / What Another Man Spills 193 Lang, k.d. / All You Can Eat 183 Lee, Peggy / Black Coffee 14 Lemon Jelly / lemonjelly.ky 224 / Lost Horizons 227 Lil’ Louis & the World / Journey With The Lonely 210 Little Richard / Here’s Little Richard 34 / The Little Richard Story 59 Littleton, John / Amen 57 L.L. Cool J / Mama Said Knock You Out 206 / Radio 170 London, Julie, with the Jimmy Rowles Orchestra / Julie 14 Love Unlimited Orchestra, The / Rhapsody In White 118 Madonna / True Blue 151 Manson, Marilyn / Mechanical Animals 202 Marley, Bob & the Wailers / Catch A Fire 126 Massive Attack / Mezzanine 217 Maxwell / Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite 213 Michael, George / Faith 151 Minaj, Nicki / The Pinkprint 242 Mingus, Charles / Mingus Ah Um 29 / Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus 42 / Oh Yeah 48 Moby / Destroyed 235 Money Mark / Change Is Coming 229 Monk, Thelonius / Monk 45 Monk, Thelonius, and Sonny Rollins / Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins 22 Mothers of Invention, The / Cruising With Ruben & The Jets 68 Mudhoney / Superfuzz Bigmuff 201 Nas / Street’s Disciple 239 Newman, Randy / Sail Away 101 New Order / Low-Life 144 / Movement 147 /

Oakenfold / Bunkka 230 O’Connor, Sinéad / Am I Not Your Girl? 183 Offspring / Americana 205 Ohio Players, The / Fire 116 O’Jays, The / Ship Ahoy 123 OMD / Dazzle Ships 153 Orbit, William / Pieces In A Modern Style 249 Orbital / The Altogether 230 Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, The / Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation By The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet 38 Ornette Coleman Trio, The / The Ornette Coleman Trio At The “Golden Circle” Stockholm Volume Two 41 O’Rourke, Jim / Eureka 221 Otis, Johnny, His Orchestra and Entertainers / Johnny Otis Rock ‘n’ Roll Hit Parade Volume One 35 Palmer, Robert / Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley 101 Parliament / Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin The Tail On The Funky) 121 Pink Floyd / Animals 104 / Atom Heart Mother 102 / Dark Side Of The Moon 104 / Wish You Were Here 104 Pearl Jam / No Code 201 Pendergrass, Teddy / Ready For Teddy 174 Perry, Katy / One Of The Boys 262 Peterson, Oscar, Trio / Girl Talk / Exclusively For My Friends 46 PiL / Metal Box 138 Plastic Ono Band, The / Live Peace In Toronto 1969 70 Pop Group, The / Y 140 Pop, Iggy / The Idiot 134 Prefuse 73 / Surrounded By Silence 230 Presley, Elvis / Elvis NBC-TV Special 59 / Elvis Presley 32 Primal Scream / Screamadelica 189 Prodigy / The Fat Of The Land 217 Pulp / This Is Hardcore 181 Pusha T / My Name Is My Name 244 Rae & Christian / Sleepwalking 232 Rage Against The Machine / Renegades 258 Ramones, The / Ramones 136 Red Hot Chili Peppers / One Hot Minute 205 R.E.M. / Murmur 153 Rolling Stones, The / Black And Blue 89 / Exile On Main Street 89 / Flashpoint 190 / Let It Bleed 62 / Some Girls 89 / Sticky Fingers 86 Rollins, Sonny, and Thelonius Monk / Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins 22

Roots, The / Things Fall Apart 213 Roxy Music / Country Life 83 Russell, Arthur / The World Of Arthur Russell 250 Santana / Abraxas 77 Scaggs, Boz / Slow Dancer 98 Scott, Jill / Who Is Jill Scott? 241 Sellers, Peter / Songs For Swingin’ Sellers 18 Sex Pistols, The / Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols 132 Sinatra, Frank / Come Fly With Me 12 / No One Cares 12 / Sings For Only The Lonely 12 / Songs For Young Lovers 10 Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul / Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul 123 Sly & The Family Stone / There’s A Riot Goin’ On 124 Small Faces / Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake 75 Smith, Patti / Horses 134 Smiths, The / Meat Is Murder 157 Soft Machine, The / The Soft Machine 77 Sonic Youth / A Thousand Leaves 196 / Dirty 196 / Goo 194 / Washing Machine 196 Soul II Soul / Club Classics Vol 1 174 Spiritualized / Lazer Guided Melodies 193 / Let It Come Down 252 Springfield, Dusty / A Girl Called Dusty 61 Springsteen, Bruce / Born In The U.S.A. 148 Steely Dan / Aja 96 Stereolab / Dots And Loops 218 Strokes, The / Is This It 251 Sugarcubes, The / Stick Around For Joy 186 Talking Heads / Remain In Light 157 / The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads 157 Taylor, Cecil / At The Café Montmartre 42 Thievery Corporation, The / Radio Retaliation 234 Tosh, Peter / Bush Doctor 128 Underworld / Dubnobasswithmyheadman 214 U2 / Boy 153 Van Halen / MCMLXXXIV 167 Various / Live At The Vortex 136 Velvet Underground & Nico, The / The Velvet Underground & Nico 67 Vincent, Gene and the Blue Caps / Gene Vincent Rocks! And the Blue Caps Roll 35 Waits, Tom / Rain Dogs 155 Walker, Scott / Scott 61 / Scott 3 61 Ween / Chocolate & Cheese 193 Wilco / Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 254 West, Kanye / Yeezus 245 Who, The / Live At Leeds 96 / The Who Sell Out 67 Witherspoon, Jimmy, and Burdon, Eric / Guilty 123 Woods, Phil, and Donald Byrd / The Young Bloods 24

XTC / Go 2 140 Yo La Tengo / The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science 232 / And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out 255 Zappa, Frank / Hot Rats 68 / Weasels Ripped My Flesh 93 ZZ Top / Eliminator 167 By album name: Abbey Road / The Beatles 52 Abraxas / Santana 77 Additional Productions / Funkstörung 218 A Girl Called Dusty / Dusty Springfield 61 Aja / Steely Dan 96 Aladdin Sane / David Bowie 83 Album Title Goes Here / Deadmau5 235 All You Can Eat / k.d. lang 183 Am I Not Your Girl? / Sinéad O’Connor 183 Amen / John Littleton 57 America’s Sweetheart / Hole 257 Americana / Offspring 205 And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out / Yo La Tengo 255 Animals / Pink Floyd 104 Appetite For Disctruction / Funkstörung 227 Artpop / Lady Gaga 263 As Safe As Yesterday Is / Humble Pie 70 At The Café Montmartre / Cecil Taylor 42 A Thousand Leaves / Sonic Youth 196 Atom Heart Mother / Pink Floyd 102 Autobahn / Kraftwerk 112 Back In Black / AC/DC 164 Baduizm / Erykah Badu 212 Best Dressed Chicken In Town / Dr Alimantado 130 Beyoncé / Beyoncé 263 Black And Blue / The Rolling Stones 89 Black Coffee / Peggy Lee 14 Black Messiah / D’Angelo and The Vanguard 266 Blackstar / David Bowie 268 Blonde On Blonde / Bob Dylan 64 Blueprint 3 / Jay-Z 243 Born In The U.S.A. / Bruce Springsteen 148 Born To Run / Bruce Springsteen 90 Boy / U2 153 Brain Salad Surgery / Emerson, Lake & Palmer 111 Breaking God’s Heart / Hefner 190 Bringing It All Back Home / Bob Dylan 64 Broken English / Marianne Faithfull 85 Bunkka / Oakenfold 230 Bush Doctor / Peter Tosh 128

By All Means Necessary / Boogie Down Productions 168

Candy-O / The Cars 96 Cannonball & Coltrane / Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane 48 Catch A Fire / Bob Marley & The Wailers 126 Change Is Coming / Money Mark 229 Change Of The Century / Ornette Coleman 29 Cheap Thrills / Big Brother and the Holding Company 67 Chocolate & Cheese / Ween 193 Club Classics Vol. 1 / Soul II Soul 174 Coleman Hawkins Swing! / Coleman Hawkins 46 Come Fly With Me / Frank Sinatra 12 Country Life / Roxy Music 83 Cruising With Ruben & The Jets / The Mothers of Invention 68 Dark Side Of The Moon / Pink Floyd 104 Dazzle Ships / OMD 153 Dead Prez / Dead Prez 237 Death Of A Ladies’ Man / Leonard Cohen 101 Debut / Björk 184 Destroyed / Moby 235 Dirty / Sonic Youth 196 Disraeli Gears / Cream 75 Do It Yourself / Ian Dury & the Blockheads 138 Don’t Be Cruel / Bobby Brown 174 Dots And Loops / Stereolab 218 Dubnobasswithmyheadman / Underworld 214 Electric Ladyland / The Jimi Hendrix Experience 64 Eliminator / ZZ Top 167 Ella and Louis / Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 27 Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book Vol. 2 / Ella Fitzgerald 24 Elvis NBC-TV Special / Elvis Presley 59 Elvis Presley / Elvis Presley 32 Enema Of The State / Blink 182 205 Eureka / Jim O’Rourke 221 Exile On Main Street / The Rolling Stones 89 Faith / George Michael 151 Fire / The Ohio Players 116 Flashpoint / The Rolling Stones 190 Forces Of Victory / Linton Kwesi Johnson 128 Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet / The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet 38 Gene Vincent Rocks! And The Blue Caps Roll / Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps 35 Girl Talk / Exclusively For My Friends / Oscar Peterson Trio 46 Give Me The Night / George Benson 172 Glamorous Holiday / Frank Chacksfield 14 Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin the Tail on the Funky) / Parliament 121 Go 2 / XTC 140

271

Goo / Sonic Youth 194 Guilty! / Jimmy Witherspoon and Eric Burdon 123 Here’s Little Richard / Little Richard 34 Heroes / David Bowie 115 Hex Enduction Hour / The Fall 162 Homogenic / Björk 186 Horses / Patti Smith 134 Hot Rats / Frank Zappa 68 Hulet / Aswad 130 I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do / Astrud Gilberto 54 In Europe Vol. 2 / Eric Dolphy 42 In God We Trust, Inc. / Dead Kennedys 162 In Praise Of Learning / Henry Cow 111 Into The Hot / Gil Evans Orchestra 45 Is This It / The Strokes 257 It’s Great When You’re Straight Yeah / Black Grape 189 It’s Like This / Rickie Lee Jones 255 John Cale / Academy In Peril 109 Johnny Otis Rock ‘n’ Roll Hit Parade Volume One / Johnny Otis, His Orchestra and Entertainers 35 Journey With The Lonely / Lil’ Louis & the World 210 Julie / Julie London, with the Jimmy Rowles Orchestra 14 Keep On Steppin’ / The Fatback Band 124 Keep Right / KRS-One 238 Kenny Burrell / Kenny Burrell 30 Kill At Will / Ice Cube 209 Killing Joke / Killing Joke 160 Kings Of The Wild Frontier / Adam and the Ants 150 Kingston Trio From The “Hungry I” / Kingston Trio 20 Landed / Can 115 Last Date / Eric Dolphy 41 Lazer Guided Melodies / Spiritualized 193 lemonjelly.ky / Lemon Jelly 224 Let It Bleed / The Rolling Stones 62 Let It Come Down / Spiritualized 253 Licensed To Ill / Beastie Boys 170 Live At Leeds / The Who 96 Live At The Vortex / Various 136 Live Peace In Toronto 1969 / The Plastic Ono Band 70 Live Through This / Hole 201 Living My Life / Grace Jones 150 Lonnie / Lonnie Donegan and His Skiffle Group 21 Looking Ahead! / The Cecil Taylor Quartet 30 Lost Horizons / Lemon Jelly 227 Low-Life / New Order 144

272

LP1 / FKA Twigs 265 Mama Said Knock You Out / L.L. Cool J 206 Mambo Sinuendo / Ry Cooder and Manuel Galbán 249 Mary / Mary J. Blige 212 Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite / Maxwell 213 MCMLXXXIV / Van Halen 167 Meat Is Murder / The Smiths 157 Mechanical Animals / Marilyn Manson 202 Metal Box / PiL 138 Mezzanine / Massive Attack 217 Miami / The Gun Club 159 Mingus Ah Um / Charles Mingus 29 Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus / Charles Mingus 42 Monk / Thelonius Monk 45 Movement / New Order 147 Murmur / R.E.M. 153 Music Has The Right To Children / Boards of Canada 221 My Name is My Name / Pusha T 244 Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols / The Sex Pistols 132 Nevermind / Nirvana 198 New Boots And Panties!! / Ian Dury 136 New York Dolls / New York Dolls 134 Niggaz4life / NWA 209 No Code / Pearl Jam 201 No One Cares / Frank Sinatra 12 (No Pussyfooting) / Robert Fripp and Brian Eno 109 Number Of The Beast / Iron Maiden 167 Off The Bone / The Cramps 159 Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake / Small Faces 75 Oh Yeah / Charles Mingus 48 Ole 315-2 Philophobia / Arab Strap 181 On The Corner / Miles Davis 111 One Hot Minute / Red Hot Chili Peppers 205 One Nation Under A Groove / Funkadelic 121 One Of The Boys / Katy Perry 262 Original Gangster / Ice-T 209 Ornette Coleman Trio At The “Golden Circle” Stockholm Volume Two, The / The Ornette Coleman Trio 41 Peel Session / Boards of Canada 221 Pieces In A Modern Style / William Orbit 249 Planet Waves / Bob Dylan 94 Pop Pop / Rickie Lee Jones 183 Power Corruption and Lies / New Order 147 Radio / L.L. Cool J 170 Radio Retaliation / Thievery Corporation 234 Rain Dogs / Tom Waits 155 Ramones / The Ramones 136 Ray Charles In Person / Ray Charles 34

Reach Out / Burt Bacharach 59 Ready For Teddy / Teddy Pendergrass 174 Remain In Light / Talking Heads 157 Renegades / Rage Against The Machine 252 Return Of The Durutti Column / Durutti Column 147 Rhapsody In White / The Love Unlimited Orchestra 118 Robert Frost Reads His Poetry / Robert Frost 18 Rubber Soul / The Beatles 52 Sail Away / Randy Newman 101 School’s Out / Alice Cooper 80 Scott / Scott Walker 61 Scott 3 / Scott Walker 61 Screamadelica / Primal Scream 189 Self Portrait / Bob Dylan 94 Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band / The Beatles 72 Ship Ahoy / The O’Jays 123 Sings For Only The Lonely / Frank Sinatra 12 Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul / Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul 123 Skin I’m In / Chairmen Of The Board 124 Sleepwalking / Rae & Christian 232 Slow Dancer / Boz Scaggs 98 Sneaking Sally Down the Alley / Robert Palmer 101 So Far / Crosby, Stills & Nash 70 Songs For Swingin’ Sellers / Peter Sellers 18 Songs For Young Lovers / Frank Sinatra 10 Sounds Of The Satellites / Laika 190 Star / Belly 181 Stick Around For Joy / The Sugarcubes 186 Sticky Fingers / The Rolling Stones 86 Strange Days / The Doors 68 Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest / The Fireman [Paul McCartney] 250 Street Lady / Donald Byrd 118 Street’s Disciple / Nas 239 Superfuzz Bigmuff / Mudhoney 201 Surrounded By Silence / Prefuse 73 230 Thaw / Foetus Interruptus 162 The Altogether / Orbital 230 The B-52s / The B-52s 85 The Beatles / The Beatles 52 The Cat Walk / Donald Byrd 46 The Concretes / The Concretes 259 The Covers Album / Cat Power 259 The Fat Of The Land / Prodigy 217 The Faust Tapes / Faust 115 The Idiot / Iggy Pop 134 The Intercontinentals / Bill Frisell 257 The Jazz Messengers At The Café Bohemia Volume 1, / The Jazz Messengers 27 The Little Richard Story / Little Richard 59 Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins / Thelonius

Monk and Sonny Rollins 22 The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads / Talking Heads 157 The Next Day / David Bowie 269 The Original / Ink Spots 57 The Pinkprint / Nicki Minaj 242 The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators / 13th Floor Elevators 75 There’s a Riot Goin’ On / Sly & The Family Stone 124 The Second Coming / Adina Howard 239 The Sex Pistols / Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols 132 The Sky’s Gone Out / Bauhaus 159 The Soft Machine / The Soft Machine 77 The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science / Yo La Tengo 232 The Velvet Underground & Nico / The Velvet Underground & Nico 67 The Who Sell Out / The Who 67 The World Of Arthur Russell / Arthur Russell 244 The Young Bloods / Woods and Byrd 24 Thick As A Brick / Jethro Tull 93 Things Fall Apart / The Roots 213 This Boot Is Made For Fonk-N / Bootsy’s Rubber Band 121 This Is Hardcore / Pulp 181 This Is How I Feel / Future Loop Foundation 229 This Is How I Feel About Jazz / Quincy Jones 30 Three Imaginary Boys / The Cure 138 To Pimp A Butterfly / Kendrick Lamarr 267 Trout Mask Replica / Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 106 True Blue / Madonna 151 Turn Off The Light / Herman Düne 258 Tweekend / The Crystal Method 261 25 / Adele 264 Two Sevens Clash / Culture 128 Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas / The BBC Cast 16 Unknown Pleasures / Joy Division 140 Vingt à Trente Mille Jours / Françoiz Breut 178 Washing Machine / Sonic Youth 196 Weasels Ripped My Flesh / Frank Zappa 93 What Another Man Spills / Lambchop 193 Who Is Jill Scott? / Jill Scott 241 Wish You Were Here / Pink Floyd 104 With The Beatles / The Beatles 50 X / Chicago 85 Y / The Pop Group 140 Yeezus / Kanye West 245 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot / Wilco 254

POST-POP 2000s

268

B Blackstar / David Bowie

D The Next Day / David Bowie

RELEASED 2016 | ISO, COLUMBIA |

RELEASED 2013 | ISO, COLUMBIA |

UK | DESIGN BY JONATHAN BARN-

UK | DESIGN BY JONATHAN BARN-

BROOK| ALBUM PRODUCED BY

BROOK | ORIGINAL PHOTO BY MA-

DAVID BOWIE, TONY VISCONTI

SAYOSHI SUKITA| ALBUM PRODUCED

There have been a lot of all-black album covers, many with barely visible, embossed, black-on-black titles or designs (AC/DC, Spinal Tap, Metallica, Prince, etc.), but none have been produced in as lavish and simply beautiful style as Bowie’s final album. The star is die-cut, the vinyl album encased in a clear plastic inner sleeve is clearly visible (the CD version has a white cover with a black star printed on it). However the centre of the LP is also black, there are no signs of communication, no symbols other than the deliberately cropped sections of stars along the bottom of the outer sleeve – imagine the word BOWIE when looking at them, and it will appear. The Blackstar of the title is possibly a reference to the cancer that killed the artist within days of the album’s release.

It also, of course, conjures memories of both his first real pop success – A Space Oddity of 1969 – and of his various alienstyle reincarnations, as Ziggy Stardust, Starman, Aladdin Sane, The Man Who Fell To Earth, etc.

Astronomically speaking, there is a definition of a black star as being a theoretical alternative to the black holes of space, which seems apt. This is the only one of his album covers on which Bowie doesn’t appear. The previous two had him partly obscured, but it’s as if the final act of his career was to simply disappear, into blackness.

BY DAVID BOWIE, TONY VISCONTI

It’s hard to name another album which so clearly demonstrates the artist’s wish to be distanced from their past. Designer Barnbrook

doesn’t just deconstruct one of Bowie’s most successful and iconic album covers, he trashes it, and in doing so makes it much more interesting. The effect is of a vandalized poster, the original being completely recognizable but negated by the overlay of the plain, white square with the album’s new title rendered in an

unobtrusive and neutral font. The old title – which had been coopted by Britain’s 2012 Olympics committee as a “theme” for ads and medal winners to wallow in – is simply drawn through: Bowie’s done with “heroes” now that the world’s stripped the song of its nihilistic nuance. Time has moved on, as the title states.

269

THE GREATEST ALBUM COVERS OF ALL TIME

T S E T A E R G E TH S R E V O C M ALBU E M I T L L A F O

BARRY MILES GRANT SCOTT JOHNNY MORGAN

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THE GREATEST ALBUM COVE R OF ALL TIME S