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.
|
|
Cut Copy
Zonoscope (2011) |
Blu
No York (2013) |
|
|
Björk
Homogenic (1997) |
Fatima Al Qadiri
Asiatisch (2014) |
|
|
Loney Dear
Dear John (2009) |
Mini Mansions
The Great Pretenders (2015) |
 |
 |
 |
Roy Harper Lifemask (1973) |
Race Horses Furniture (2012) |
St Germain Real Blues (2015) |
|
|
Kate Bush
Never for Ever (1980) |
Goatwhore
Constricting Rage of the Merciless (2014) |
|
|
Pink Floyd
Ummagumma (back cover, 1969) |
I'm from Barcelona
Growing Up is for Trees (2015) |
|
|
|
Placebo
Meds (2006) |
James Blake
James Blake (2011) |
Marilyn Manson
The Pale Emperor (2014) |
|
|
Beef Terminal
Humidex (2011) |
Sinkane
Mars (2012) |
|
|
Mariah Carey
#1s (1998) |
Jessie J
Sweet Talker (Deluxe) (2014) |
|
|
Ramones
Rocket to Russia (1977) |
The Rebel Assholes
Split w/ Dumbel (2011) |
|
|
Carlos Santana
Freedom (1987) |
The Knife
The Knife (2001) |
|
|
The Russian Futurists
Me, Myself and Rye (2011) |
Woodkid
The Golden Age (2013) |
|
|
Lisa Germano
Lullaby for Liquid Pig (2003) |
Emil Bulls
Sacrifice to Venus (2014) |
|
|
|
Procol Harum
The Prodigal Stranger (1991) |
Grails
Deep Politics (2011) |
Gruff Rhys
American Interior (2014) |
|
|
Bang!
Music (1973) |
Beck
The Information (2006) |
|
|
|
Beck
The Information (included stickers) (2006) |
|
|
Circle Jerks
Group Sex (1980) |
Frank Zappa
Tinseltown Rebellion (1981) |
|
|
Beady Eye
BE (2013) |
Brother Tunes
This Woman (2014) |
 |
 |
Giant Sand Center of the Universe (1992) |
Steve Earle El Corazón (1997) |
 |
 |
Alice in Chains Black Gives Way to Blue (2009) |
Bike for Three More Heart than Brains (2009) |
 |
 |
The Veils Sun Gangs (2009) |
Dan Berglund Tonbruket (2010) |
 |
 |
The Kooks Listen (2014) |
Allen Stone Radius (2015) |
|
|
The Soup Dragons
Hydrophonic (1994) |
Spiritualized
Pure Phase (1995) |
|
|
Santogold
Santogold (2008) |
MØ
Don't Wanna Dance (2014) |
