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.

Italian flag














Chet Baker

In Milan (1959)

John Lewis

A Milanese Story (1962)

Chet Baker

In Italy (2015)


Red book














The Durutti Column

Valuable Passages (2-cassette box set) (1986)

Radiohead

Amnesiac (limited edition) (2001)

The Durutti Column

Chronicle XL (Box set) (2014)


Hair bun profile












Valerie June

Pushin' against a Stone (2013)

Malia

Black Orchid (2012)