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.

Moulded faces (3)












The Byrds

Byrdmaniax (1971)

The Soundtrack of our Lives

Behind the Music (2001)


Jump












Maxïmo Park

A Certain Trigger (2005)

Bryan Adams

Anthology (2007)


On the road














Bruce Springsteen

Nebraska (1982)

The Kinks

Live - The Road (1988)

The Jesus & Mary Chain

Stoned & Dethroned (1994)













Hothouse Flowers

The Best of (2000)

Monster Movie

Last Night Something Happened (2002)

Weekend Players

Pursuit of Happiness (2003)













Bon Jovi

Lost Highway (2007)

Ray Manzarek/Roy Rogers

Translucent Blues (2011)

Mark Knopfler

Down the Road Wherever (2018)


B/w portrait














Sandie Shaw

Me (1965)

Nico

The Marble Index (1969)

Diane Birch

Bible Belt (2009)