Nominees: The best LP album art ever

To make your own nomination, comment on this post, or email to dale@ncpr.org.

Mary Abramson of Minerva says:

I enjoy the free spirit image of Bob Seger’s Against the Wind, and the outrageous spirit on Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell.

Varick Chittenden of Canton says:

What a good idea...and excuse to search through the cupboard full of vinyl LP's and see some long-ago favorites again. Here's my choice, (Talking Heads: Little Creatures) tho' I must say I like the cover more than the music! Heresy!!

I got to know about [the cover artist, Howard] Finster from an old and close friend, Bert Hemphill, a major collector of 20th century American folk art.

Jonathan Brown of Canton says:

Even though they're so familiar to me now, these are still two of the most arresting images I've ever seen.

Above: Relayer, Yes

Right: Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Keith Freeman of Bloomingdale says:
My favorite that I gazed at for hours was Queen’s News of the World. Thanks for the fond memories.

Tom Boothe of Saranac Lake says:

That Santana album with the black and white lion face has gotta be up there. That’s all I’m sayin’.











Jodi Tosti of Potsdam says:

I lived for liner notes that seem to have fallen by the wayside in today's recording industry. I guess there's not too much to say about the musical accomplishments of so many artists whose only qualifications are that they look good on stage. Anywho, the first album cover to come mind is one of Boston's with the flying ufo/guitar, I believe. I also always liked the Rolling Stones cover with the cake on it.

Small is not so beautiful

It's time for spring cleaning in the NCPR music library again, and there is a takeaway table outside the studio door stacked with LPs and CDs. While I don't miss the inconvenience of vinyl, I must say that the LP art drew me to the table from all the way down the hall. Something went out of music appreciation when the foot-square album cover shrank to a few inches on CD, then vanished altogether in the age of downloads.

I turned a lot of hard-earned cash into so-so music just on the strength of cover art back in the '60s and '70s. I can't say that I ever bought a CD just because of the cover. Nor have I ever memorized the lyrics of a song from the CD insert, where the type is as tiny as the fine print on a subprime mortgage.

The best album covers had enough going on to keep you occupied through both the A and B sides--front cover, back cover, overleaf, sleeve, insert, label--all crawling with images and text. The best graphic artists in the world dined out on the copious real estate. Album covers performed the job of fan newsletter and band website. The object was the promotion. I could hardly wait to tear away the plastic wrap, and I can't think of a "shopping experience" that has been so satisfying since. Send me your nominations for the best LP art of all time. Tell us why they rock, and provide an image, if you can. Email to dale@ncpr.org. We'll post the results (with disappointingly tiny thumbnails) next week.

A mountain view

There could be a whole subspecialty of psychology that focuses on the images people choose to adorn the desktops of their computers. I tend to pick paintings. For the last few months, in idle moments, I have rested my eyes on a Rockwell Kent rendition of his AuSable home, farm and studio, Asgaard. The view is across a long meadow to the barns, which are well removed from the house. Both are up against the shoulder of forested hills that rise up into the soft signature lines of Adirondack peaks. The foreground is in cloudshadow, deep green peppered with clover in bloom. The midground is flooded with sun, lambent upon the tidy miniature white barns and their lesser satellite, the home. Behind them the deep green returns, going up into dappled hills and shadowed summits. The sky is mostly overcast, with sun rays striking through.

One of the satisfactions of the piece is in its unmistakability--this is one place, in one moment, and nowhere else. And the way the landscape dominates the works of man should be pleasing to one of modest demeanor, but the way those works shine out in the sun speaks also of love and pride of hand. The foreground is dimmed to lead the eye on, the background soft to draw the eye down. The farmstead is a buttery island of work well done and rest well deserved.