sleeve design

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.

Hat and fur


John Phillips John the Wolfking of LA (1970)	Bob Dylan Desire (1976)

How many fans?


Elvis Presley 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong (1959)	Rod Stewart Body Wishes (1983)	Alec Bathgate Gold Lamé (1996)


Various 50,000,000 Elves Fans Can't Be Wrong - Transatlantic Pop Christmas Vol.1 (2004)	The Fall 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong - 39 Golden Greats (2004)	Bon Jovi 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004)


2 Many Dj's 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong (2005)	Various Hail to the King! (2006)

Guitar and shoes


Nick Drake Bryter Layter (1970)	Boris Akuma No Uta (2005)

Twisted horns


Tue-Loup La Belle Inutile (1999)	Interpol Our Love to Admire (2007)

The other Pepper


The Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)	Various Rutles Highway Revisited (1990)

Exclamation mark


Ornette Coleman Ornette! (1962)	Flying Padovani's Font l'Enfer (1983)

Clinic Internal Wrangler (2000)	Yesterday's New Quintet Yesterday's Universe (2007)

Cooling in water


Olivia Newton-John Come On Over (1976)	Jackson Browne I'm Alive (1993)	George Harrison Early Takes Volume 1 (2012)

Guitar girl


Melissa Etheridge Never Enough (1992)	Alexz Johnson Songs from Instant Star Vol.2 (2006)

Thin White Duke


David Bowie Aladdin Sane (1973)	El Vez Son of a Lad from Spain ? (2001)	Jay-Jay Johanson Antenna (2002)

Sixties sportscar nose


Donald Byrd Band and Voices A New Perspective (1963)	Tone-Loc Loc-ed after Dark (1989)

The James Taylor Quartet Hammond-ology - The Best of (2001)	Various Blue Note Revisited (2004)

Landscape of Fear


Angelo Badalamenti Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (1990)	Die Toten Hosen Unsterblich (2001)

Hidden in the trees


John Lennon Plastic Ono Band (1970)	Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (1970)	Travis The Invisible Band (2001)

Yellow drumset


Prince Sign 'O' the Times (1987)	Battles Mirrored (2007)

Black-and-white duet


Simon and Garfunkel Bookends (1968)	Kruder and Dorfmeister G-Stoned (1996)

Shaded font on cardboard


Soft Machine Third (1970)	Mooney Suzuki Have Mercy (2007)

The first never mind


The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks (yellow/pink) (1977)	Die Roten Rosen Never Mind the Hosen (1987)	Les Sex Bidochons On s'en Bat les Couilles (1989)


The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks (pink/green) (1977)	Opium Jukebox Never Mind the Bhangra (2002)	Pink Merkin Disregard the Genitals (2014)


Max Pashm Never Mind the Balkans (2009)	United Nations Never Mind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures (2010)	The Ukrainians Never Mind the Cossacks (2014)