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.

Soviet aesthetics












Kraftwerk

The Man-Machine (1978)

Various

A Man and a Machine (2008)


Contact sheet




















The Beatles

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

The Rutles

A Hard Day's Rut (1964)

R. Stevie Moore

Glad Music (1986)

The Punkles

Beat the Punkles ! (2003)


Rebirth of the punk














Refused

The Shape of Punk to Come

A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts (1998)

U.D.R.

O Shape do Punk do Cão (2007)

Dead American

The Shape of Punk Is Dumb

A Musical Abomination in Short Bursts (2018)


B/w image with red stripe












New Order

Get Ready (2001)

Texas

Careful What You Wish For (2003)


Pyramid












Earth Wind and Fire

All 'n' All (1977)

Iron Maiden

Powerslave (1984)


On stamps














Charles Manson

Commemorating Sixty Years of Struggle against Cowardice, Stupidity and Lies (1994)

Bad Religion

Tested (1997)

The Divine Comedy

Victory for the Comic Muse (2006)


Tattoo












The Rolling Stones

Tattoo You (1981)

Various

Cover You: A Tribute to the Rolling Stones (1998)


Muscles and rap














50 Cent

The Massacre (2005)

50 Cent

The Massacre (Special Edition) (2005)

Fatal Bazooka

T'as vu (2007)


Curly hair and sunglasses












Ian Hunter

Overnight Angels (1977)

Richard Ashcroft

Alone with everybody (2000)


From San Francisco Bay











Big Brother and the Holding Company

Cheap Thrills (1968)

Various

Kya: 21 Golden Gate Greats Vol.2 (1969)










Fat Tuesday

Califuneral (1992)

Pond

Man it Feels like Space again (2015)


Objects of cult














Metallica

Master of Puppets (1986)

Various

Overload: a Tribute to Metallica (1998)

Hewhocorrupts

Master of Profits (2003)


Underwater













Argent

In Deep (1973)

Nirvana

Nevermind (1991)

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Off the Deep End (1992)













Catherine Wheel

Chrome (1993)

Moodswings

Horizontal (2002)

Jeanne Cherhal

L'Eau (2006)













Foals

Total Life Forever (2010)

Marvin Hood

Nevermind (2011)

B-Tight

Born 2 B-Tight (2016)


Backstage pics












Patti Smith

Radio Ethiopia (1976)

Pete Yorn

Music for the Morning After (2001)


Psychedelic teddies














The Beatles

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

The Rutles

Tragical History Tour (1967)

Tom Caruana Presents Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles

Enter The Magical Mystery Chamber (2010)


No good












Amy Winehouse

Back to Black (2007)

Various

No Good - Soulful Women with Attitude (2008)