Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of record covers from the golden age of LPs


Subscribe to feed Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Tumblr

September, 2007

A Capitol idea

weston-cover.jpg

Paul Weston. “The Sweet and the Swingin'” “A fresh contrast of melodic strings and swinging vocal patterns”

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (27 votes, average: 3.63 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Divine intervention

487996816_98ca0b9bee_b.jpg

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (15 votes, average: 3.27 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Blind Faith.

screenshot007.jpg

Iconic rock album cover.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (73 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Horses

patti.jpg

HORSES Patti Smith Arista, 1975 Designer: Bob Heimall Photographer: Robert Mapplethorpe

I’ve always taken great pictures of Patti Smith,” said Robert Mapplethorpe in 1987. He described the collaboration as “like taking drugs; you’re in an abstract place and it’s perfect.” The cover of Smith’s cataclysmic debut LP, Horses, is the most celebrated document in the relationship between the photographer and the poet-songwriter, which spanned two decades. Mapplethorpe shot the cover to Smith’s album Dream of Life not long before his death in 1989.

The two met when Mapplethorpe was an art student and Smith wandered into his Brooklyn apartment looking for someone else. In 1970 they moved to Manhattan’s legendary Chelsea Hotel, where they shared the smallest room because it was all they could afford. “We used to stay up all night,” Mapplethorpe said, “and she would do her thing and I would do my thing, and then we’d take a break and smoke a cigarette and look at each other’s work.” That intimacy informs the Horses portrait: The directness of Smith’s gaze plays against the tense shyness of her stance; the androgyny of her dress counters the elegance of her fingers. The cover mirrors the intensity and sparse clarity of Smith’s music.

>In 1988 the catalog to a controversial Mapplethorpe retrospective included a poem by Smith that captures perfectly the exploratory essence of both Horses and Mapplethorpe’s photo. “The Artist machetes a clearance,” she writes. “Here one can be spared/the pain and extravagance of the entire body and/be transported by snaking thru a glittering fraction.”

Near legendary New York poetess and songstress comes up with an almost free-form rock set that is much much better than one might have expected. Produced by John Cale, the set comes closest to catching the urgency and sheer energy of the early Velvet Underground since the emergence of that group. Smith’s interesting and totally unique talk/sing song makes this set the most accessible LP of its type yet for those who do not feel at home with this type of material, and there are guest stints from Tom Verlaine and Allen Lanier. Frantic and frenetic instrumentation behind Smith’s vocals also work well. A truly powerful effort that offers the listener something new for a change. Best cuts: “Gloria (the old Them hit),” “Free Money,” “Kimberly,” “Land,” “Elegie. – Billboard,1975.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (20 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Mingering Mike!

brucelee.jpg

Check out the amazing story of Mingering Mike and his private world of records.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (19 votes, average: 2.84 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Somethin’ Else

nbn1-196.jpg

Desert Island Disc!

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (59 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Cool Struttin’

nbn1-182.jpg

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (44 votes, average: 4.64 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Lee Morgan

nbn1-120.jpg

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (23 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Hands overhead

bn10-272.jpg

The Horace Silver Quintet  Blue Note 5058  (1954) Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey!   Room 608 / Creepin in / Doodlin / Stop Time

 Design: John Hermansader   Photo: Francis Wolff

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (19 votes, average: 4.37 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Elmo Hope

bn10-246.jpg

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (31 votes, average: 4.84 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...