Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Album Cover Art is a Lost Art Form

Before the emergence of digital music, album covers were an integral part of music buying. I can recall spending time thumbing through the record racks, looking for eye-catching album covers that would sometimes play a deciding factor on whether or not I would purchase it.  The art was usually very creative and super cool to look at.  Many of the album covers have become classics, such as the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy to name a few.  
In the digital age, people hunt for music on computer screens, and album art is often reduced to a thumbnail image, that is, if it even accompanies the music. Its kind of sad that album art is something of a dying art form now.  At least I still have all my old records to comfort me.  
Below are some of my favorite Album Art covers:  What are yours?  


The Beatles had some amazing artwork on their albums!!

Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy full spread....simply amazing!

Who doesn't love a little Devo?  I can remember my parents being horrified watching Devo on Saturday Night Live in the early 80s...one more reason I loved these guys!  Hee!

Love these colorful retro style albums...but I guess when this was designed...it wasn't retro.

This is so vibrant and Mod!  Love this!

Psychadelic fun!  This record is great too!  

Wow...just wow!

A Classic!

By S. Neil Fujita...who did many amazing covers back in the day!  Below is one of the albums I own that he did the cover for...this guy was amazing!

Sorry for the crappy quality of this photo (taken with my old crappy cell phone)


The Rolling Stones...one of my all-time favorite bands!