Amazing rare find – Jayne Mansfield on this Sinter Records cover from Brazil!  “Um Saxofone em Hi-Fi”   Sandoval Dias.

Julie’s Sixteenth Birthday  John Bult   Rd Chollo Records  “You’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine”  Here’s a classic of the incredibly strange genre.  It just gets stranger, creepier, more menacing the more you look at it.

JAYNE MANSFIELD   “Amor”  Dinner Music by the Regent Concert Orchestra  Regent Records

Amazing!!  Here’s a cover that you’ll likely never see anywhere else.  A truly rare sleeve and an unknown treat for collectors of “outer space” cover art.  Tony found this one in Mexico, but it is OUTTA-THIS-WORLD!

“Pachanga en la Luna”  Eugenio Fondeur  Peerless Records

The first cover courtesy of Alex Steinweiss:  “Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart”  Columbia Records

A sampling of Alex Steinweiss early album cover designs.

A Taschen book of Steinweiss covers and life of work.

Alex Steinweiss, 1947   Photo William P. Gottlieb

Described as the father of record cover design, Alex Steinweiss, died Sunday at the age of 94.  In 1939, after designing hundreds of packages, posters and catalogues for Columbia, Steinwiess convinced Columbia Records’ to let him “design” the first true record cover. Until then, 78s were sold in generic brown sleeves.   He designed over 850 album covers for Columbia, London, Decca, and Everest Records, developing a trademark style and influencing cover artists and designers throughout the remainder of the century.

I wonder what he would have thought of LP Cover Lover.

Abbey Road   The Beatles Apple Records (1969)   One of the most iconic, celebrated and imitated LP covers ever.   The Beatles final studio recording.   Here’s a good one:

Another still from the shoot (above) and Steve just added this outtake (below) of the guys walking the other way (and note Paul’s sandals):

Jonah Jones   “I Dig Chicks!” Capitol Records     This one is in the Hall of Fame.   I’ve had this record since I was a kid.     I would sit on the floor listening with the cover on my lap dreaming of getting a job as a construction crane operator some day.   Incidentally, this album won the Grammy for best Jazz Group Performance of 1958.   (Seems hard to believe considering the amazing jazz that was being recorded that year by Miles, Monk, Mingus, etc., etc.!)

Bottom:   “Destination Moon”   The Ames Brothers   RCA Records.   Top:   From Argentina on Camden RCA

Tony is the undisputed king of the clown covers.   Here’s an amazing example – Brazilian popular clown Carequinha, in a flying saucer!   It’s great when categories cross-pollinate (where do you file this one?).

“I Love”   Monty Kelly   Essex Records   “A High-Fidelity Collection of Sensations in Sounds and Moods”   (A nice tag line for LP Cover Lover too).   This is one of a classic series of 10″ and 45 RPM records on the Essex label.   Each with a beautiful cheesecake model and fifties mod cover.     What an outfit!   Bachelor Pad gold!