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.
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The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966) |
Charles Manson Live from St Quentin (1993) |
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Turbonegro Ass Cobra (1996) |
The Surf Sluts Pot Sounds (2000) |
Boyarin Boyarin (2016) |
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Paul Simon Graceland (1986) |
El Vez Graciasland (1994) |
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Lightnin' Hopkins Lightnin' Hopkins (1959) |
Paolo Nutini These Streets (2006) |
Brimstone Howl Guts of Steel (2007) |
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Bob Marley and the Wailers Burnin' (1973) |
Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) |
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Polmo Polpo Science of Breath (2002) |
Shakedown Spellbound (2006) |
