Album cover
The 78-rpm records were issued in both 10- and 12-inch diameter sizes and were usually sold separately, in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name.
German record company Odeon pioneered the "album" in 1909 when it released the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky on four double-sided discs in a specially designed package.
"[4] The standard portrait-based LP cover was further challenged over 1965–66 by Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home, through the inclusion of symbolic artefacts around the singer; the artificially stretched faces of the Beatles shown on their Rubber Soul album; and the darkened hues applied to the Rolling Stones on Aftermath.
The Band's 1970 release Stage Fright, which included a photograph by Seeff as a poster insert, is an early example of LP artwork quickly becoming a collector's item.
Such people include the design team Hipgnosis, through their work on Pink Floyd albums and others; Roger Dean, famous for his Yes and Greenslade covers; Cal Schenkel, for Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and Frank Zappa's We're Only in It for the Money.
), he art directed dozens of album covers including Exile on Main Street, many of which received Grammy Award nominations.
In addition to the examples mentioned previously, a number of world-renowned graphic artists and illustrators such as Robert Crumb (Big Brother & the Holding Company), Shepard Fairey (Johnny Cash), Howard Finster (R.E.M., Talking Heads), Frank Frazetta (Molly Hatchet), Derek Riggs (Iron Maiden), H. R. Giger (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Debbie Harry), Gottfried Helnwein (Marilyn Manson), Al Hirschfeld (Aerosmith), Ken Kelly (Kiss, Mati Klarwein, Santana, Miles Davis), Rex Ray (David Bowie), Jamie Reid (The Sex Pistols), Ed Repka (Megadeth), Norman Rockwell (Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper), John Van Hamersveld (The Rolling Stones), Alberto Vargas (The Cars), and Andy Warhol (The Velvet Underground,[7] The Rolling Stones) have all applied their talents to memorable music packages.
Legends from photography and video/film who have also produced record cover images include Drew Struzan (Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Iron Butterfly, The Beach Boys and others), Annie Leibovitz (John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith), Richard Avedon (Whitney Houston, Teddy Pendergrass), David LaChappelle (No Doubt, Elton John), Anton Corbijn (U2, The Killers, Depeche Mode), Karl Ferris (Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, The Hollies), Robert Mapplethorpe (Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel) and Francesco Scavullo (Diana Ross, Edgar Winter), David Michael Kennedy others.
A number of artists and bands feature members who are, in their own right, accomplished illustrators, designers and photographers and whose talents are exhibited in the artwork they produced for their own recordings.
Examples include Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin IV), Chris Mars (Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me and others), Marilyn Manson (Lest We Forget...), Michael Stipe (R.E.M.
Radiohead records), Michael Brecker (Ringorama), Freddie Mercury (Queen I), Lynsey De Paul (Surprise), John Entwistle (Who By Numbers), Graham Coxon (13 and most solo albums), Mike Shinoda (various Linkin Park albums), Joni Mitchell (Miles of Aisles and several others) as well for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (So Far), and M.I.A.
(credited variously on Elastica's The Menace, her records), and Captain Beefheart, 'Mona Bone Jakon', 'Tea for the Tillerman' and 'Teaser and the Firecat' by Cat Stevens, Mika (all albums released to date), Music from Big Pink (for The Band), Self Portrait and Planet Waves by Bob Dylan, Walls and Bridges by John Lennon.
However, these album covers do not accurately represent the core values of typical people in Jamaica but they deal with this representation because they know that the audience is familiar with the stereotypical rasta depiction.
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces was originally in a circular metal tin, and Happy to Meet – Sorry to Part by Horslips was in an octagonal package.
Led Zeppelin III had a front cover that contained a revolving disc which brought different images into view through small cut-outs in the outer sleeve.
The original issue of Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones had an actual zipper incorporated into the picture of the crotch area of a pair of jeans.
The record company Vertigo had a black-and-white design on the centre label that produced a hypnotic optical effect when the disc revolved on the turntable.
Packaging formats for compact discs widened the variety of presentations as well, even as the size of the CD meant that album covers were no longer so large.
Besides the practicalities of identifying specific records, album covers serve the purpose of advertising the musical contents on the LP, through the use of graphic design, photography, and/or illustration.
Occasionally, though more common on historical vinyl records, the cover may include a reference number; a branding (the label), and possibly a track listing.
The "forbidden fruit" theory states that when a child sees the parental advisory label on an album cover they will be more likely to listen to it because there is an increased attractiveness to the music.
The "tainted fruit" theory states that the child will see the label and immediately know to avoid this kind of content because it is inappropriate for their age.
For instance, Nine Inch Nails initially released its album The Slip as a free download on the band's website, attaching separate but thematically connected images to each individual track.
