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.

White face






Gölä

Z'Läbe Fägt (2008)








Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)

Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)

Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)








Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)

Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)

Rammstein

Made in Germany (1995-2011) (2011)

Contact sheet 2








The Beatles

A Hard Day's Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/US version) (1964)

Various

High Fidelity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2000)

Black Panther








Al Di Meola

Electric Rendez-Vous (1981)

The Stranglers

Feline (1983)