Good Friday morning! I happen to be going through my record albums this past week admiring the artwork gracing the covers and thought what a pity this generation is missing out on such an important art form. The art of record cover designs has nearly vanished - and no other music packaging has really been such a canvas for creative art. Thankfully vinyl is still being pressed and many new artists today use this medium to record their music and produce some great covers which might one day become classics! CDs are bland and a dying breed and as most music is downloaded today it has no accompanying visual medium. Cassettes have come and gone now as well and I wonder how many of us went blind trying to read the tiny script on the covers, especially those folded and refolded into a tiny 2 1/2 inch by 4 inch plastic box! Album covers were certainly a reflection of the time, from political statements to the sexual revolution, from hair styles to drug experimentation. They all found their place here, grabbing the eye and compelling you to further investigate the record. Those covers defined the artist and had as much power to sell the record as the music itself. My favorites here are like old photographs - the link to exact moments in my life; what I was doing, where I was or who I was with when I first saw the covers, an experience completely separate from listening to the music! I put some of my favourite groups LPs at the top. Not only were the Moody Blues the most progressive rock group to come out of the 60's in my mind but they also had some wonderful album covers. My all-time favourite though is the cover for King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King. The face is the 21st Century Schizoid Man painted by Barry Godber, a computer programmer, who said it was a mirror reflection of himself. This King Crimson debut album was released in late 1969 but Godber died a few months later in February 1970 at age 24. Covers like this were essential back then to get record buyers to check out an unknown group and as was often the case the introduction was visual before it was audible. And if you liked the music that was a bonus! Make sure you take time to watch the brilliant French video at the end - it puts album covers into a whole new sphere. And it is a work of art itself. (Don't forget to stop the music player first if you have the volume on) Enjoy, and have a great weekend! gws
