Would Sgt. Pepper's be exactly the same without Peter Blake's cover ? At a time when full-length records do not mean much any longer and album covers even less, I found interesting to make a website on sleeve design. Long before videos, record covers were the visual embodiment of music, a way to put images on sound. I remember having spent hours as a teenager detailing the cover of records while listening to them. Later on, I realised that some of them had things in common in their design, revealing either a mere sign of the times or a more deliberate connection. Some records even obviously copied famous sleeves, as a tribute or as a mockery. Here is a collection of record covers I came across, which share some common visual features.

Mansion with pool












Oasis

Be Here Now (1997)

Libido

Killing Some Dead Time (1998)


Past masters












The Beatles

Past Masters - Volume One (1988)

The Rutles

Archaeology (1996)


Denim and rings












Madonna

Like a Prayer (1989)

Melissa Etheridge

Skin (2001)


Brick Road












David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)

Pulp

Bad Cover Version EP (2002)