An album cover (also referred to as album art ) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to:
69-1019: Hipgnosis were an English art design group, based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd , Def Leppard , T. Rex , the Pretty Things , Black Sabbath , Wishbone Ash , UFO , 10cc , Bad Company , Led Zeppelin , AC/DC , Scorpions , the Nice , Paul McCartney & Wings , the Alan Parsons Project , Yes , Genesis , Peter Gabriel , Electric Light Orchestra , Rainbow , Styx and Al Stewart . Hipgnosis consisted primarily of Cambridge natives Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell , and later Peter Christopherson . The group dissolved in 1983, though Thorgerson worked on album designs until his death in 2013. Powell has worked with Paul McCartney and
138-516: A San Francisco Bay Area record collector. The physical design of album covers has been the subject of creative innovation. Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces was originally in a circular metal tin, and Happy to Meet – Sorry to Part by Horslips was in an octagonal package. Anyway by Family was originally issued in an opaque plastic package through which a design (a Leonardo sketch) could be seen. Magical Mystery Tour by
207-463: A monophonic recording (the mono record players of the time were not always compatible with stereo records). This system was begun in the 1960s to reduce packaging costs. Packaging formats for compact discs widened the variety of presentations as well, even as the size of the CD meant that album covers were no longer so large. Besides the practicalities of identifying specific records, album covers serve
276-438: A 1999 interview, he talked about his hopes for the role of science fiction in society: How much science fiction is being published now that's set in worlds that are better than ours? Not that have bigger shopping malls or faster space ships, but where the characters are morally superior, where the society works better, is more just? Not many. It becomes difficult to do it, and that's a feedback relationship with what's happening in
345-737: A Warhol-designed cardboard banana on the cover that could be peeled back. The record company Vertigo had a black-and-white design on the centre label that produced a hypnotic optical effect when the disc revolved on the turntable. The album cover is a component of the overall packaging of an album. These could be done in a single or a multiple ( gatefold ) sleeve. Especially in the case of vinyl records with paperboard sleeves, these packages are prone to wear and tear, although wear and tear does often take place to some degree on covers contained within plastic cases. A variety of treatments could be applied to improve both their appearance and durability, such as clear plastic wrap. Many products have been available for
414-526: A child sees the parental advisory label on an album cover they will be more likely to listen to it because there is an increased attractiveness to the music. There are many adolescents that follow the "forbidden fruit" theory as a way to either lash out at their parents or to make themselves feel more mature than they are. They may use explicit music as a way to be rebellious and to appear cooler to their friends, even if they are much too young to be exposed to that kind of music. The "tainted fruit" theory states that
483-619: A film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called photoshopping . Hipgnosis mainly used Hasselblad medium format cameras for their work. Hipgnosis covers were noted for their quirky humour, such as the cover for the Pink Floyd double-LP compilation A Nice Pair , which featured an array of visual puns. Another example was the album There's the Rub for Wishbone Ash using a picture of cricketer and ball. Such humour once angered Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin , when Hipgnosis created
552-523: A front cover that contained a revolving disc which brought different images into view through small cut-outs in the outer sleeve. A similar effect was used for the band's later album Physical Graffiti with cut-outs of the windows of a brownstone building. The original issue of Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones had an actual zipper incorporated into the picture of the crotch area of a pair of jeans. The Velvet Underground and Nico album had
621-409: A great deal of money for the trip, Moussa's parents believe that she will learn more with a true wanderjahr rather than a subsidized tour, so they give her little but a voucher for a one-way ticket home. Moussa becomes a "ruespieler" or storyteller, and takes the name "Wendy" in honor of Pater Pan, the man she meets, loves, and loses during her wanderjahr. The wanderjahr bears a superficial resemblance to
690-642: A more desirable packaging for the CD format, for example the reissue of Sgt. Pepper , which had a cardboard box and booklet, or the use of oversized packaging. The importance of design was such that some cover artists specialised or gained fame through their work. Such people include the design team Hipgnosis , through their work on Pink Floyd albums and others; Roger Dean , famous for his Yes and Greenslade covers; Cal Schenkel , for Captain Beefheart 's Trout Mask Replica and Frank Zappa 's We're Only in It for
759-476: A popular alternative form of packaging in recent years, but remains supplanted by the jewel case due to higher manufacturing costs and lower durability). Typically the album cover component of these packages is approximately 4.75 in (12.1 cm) square. In the 1980s and early 1990s, CDs were often sold as jewel cases enclosed within cardboard longboxes measuring 12 in (30 cm) by 6 in (15 cm), which provided more space for album artwork than
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#1732772796984828-475: A pre- cyberpunk tale of a cynical, exploitative talk-show host who gradually uncovers a conspiracy concerning an immortality treatment and the methods used in that treatment, was serialised in the British magazine New Worlds during Michael Moorcock 's editorship. With its explicit language and cynical attitude to politicians, it roused one British Member of Parliament's ire at the magazine's partial funding by
897-409: A publisher willing to print Bug Jack Barron as a book. Publisher Michael Moorcock printed the novel in installments in the magazine New Worlds . The newsstand company WHSmith refused to distribute one of the issues because of the installment of Spinrad's novel. The Arts Council of Great Britain , which subsidized New Worlds , put public pressure on WHSmith and forced the company to distribute
966-511: A robot rapist about to be punished by a metal avenger, and Kanye West 's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy depicted West naked and being straddled by a phoenix with her bare breasts and buttocks showing. Norman Spinrad Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including
1035-531: A shelf upright, like a book, and suspending the fragile records above the shelf, protecting them. Starting in the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78-rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled collections. These albums of several 78-rpm records could include a collection of popular songs related by either performer or style, or extended-length classical music, including complete symphonies. In 1938, Columbia Records hired Alex Steinweiss as its first art director. He
1104-442: A shelf. Parental advisory labels are warning labels that are required to be placed on album covers when the music on the album contains explicit content such as vulgar language. These labels have been known to be controversial when it comes to keeping underage audiences from this content. There are a few different theories on this, such as the "forbidden fruit" and "tainted fruit" theories. The "forbidden fruit" theory states that when
1173-516: A studio located at 6 Denmark Street . When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffiti they found on the door to their apartment. Thorgerson said they liked the word, not only for punning on "hypnosis", but for possessing "a nice sense of contradiction, of an impossible co-existence, from Hip = new, cool, and groovy, and gnosis , relating to ancient learning." Hipgnosis gained major international prominence in 1973 with their cover design for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of
1242-466: A visual pun based on " (tennis) racquet"/" (noise) racket" for the album Houses of the Holy . Hipgnosis almost lost Led Zeppelin as a client as a result. Another trademark was that many of their cover photos visually related to the album's lyrics, often depicting puns or double meanings of words in the album title. Since both Powell and Thorgerson were film students, they often used models and staged
1311-552: Is a critical review of the novel and its aftermath. According to Spinrad, the book was banned for twenty-five years in Germany, but was finally exonerated after appeals. More accurately, the book was indexed by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons , thus the sale of the book was permitted, but the public display of the book or its covers was prohibited, despite the fact that there were no swastikas on
1380-413: Is credited with inventing the concept of album covers and cover art, replacing the plain covers used before. After his initial efforts at Columbia, other record companies followed his lead. By the late 1940s, record albums for all the major companies featured their own colorful paper covers in both 10- and 12-inch sizes. Some featured reproductions of classic art while others utilized original designs. When
1449-416: Is not an accurate way of describing themselves and their culture. The stereotypical rasta lifestyle depicted on many reggae album covers is only displayed that way because this is what the white audience seemed to appreciate the most. This version of the reggae artists is what many people take notice of and what makes them unique in regards to other genres. However, these album covers do not accurately represent
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#17327727969841518-403: Is seldom included on the cover, and is usually contained on the rear or interior of the packaging, such as a track listing together with a more detailed list of those involved in making the record, band members, guest performers, engineers and producer. On the spine of the package, the artist, title, and reference number are usually repeated so that albums can be identified while tightly packed on
1587-691: Is the iTunes LP format for interactive album artwork introduced by Apple in 2009. Resolution for digital album covers should be at least 800×800 (1:1 aspect ratio); lower resolutions might not look good on newer devices. Some artists have used Internet technology to generate even more cover art. For instance, Nine Inch Nails initially released its album The Slip as a free download on the band's website, attaching separate but thematically connected images to each individual track. Some album covers have been banned due to depicting violence, nudity, or other offensive imagery. For instance, Guns N' Roses 's 1987 album Appetite for Destruction ' s cover depicted
1656-557: The British Arts Council . The Iron Dream (1972) is an alternate history novel, the bulk of which is the middle part consisting of a fictional fantasy classic entitled Lord of the Swastika , written by Adolf Hitler , who took up science fiction after failing as a politician. The first part explains that the deceased author Hitler was a sci-fi writer and that this novel was widely praised by fandom . The third part
1725-544: The Grand Tour which many upper-class young men undertook after finishing school, the difference being that Children of Fortune are expected to have explored themselves as well as the world during their travels, and to come home knowing who they are and what place they want for themselves. The Druid King (2003) is a historical novel about the conflict between Vercingetorix and the Roman Empire . Spinrad wrote
1794-691: The Hugo Award and multiple Nebula Awards . Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science . In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. He has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and New York City. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. Spinrad served as President of
1863-526: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002. He has also worked as a phone-in radio show host, a vocal artist, a literary agent, and President of World SF . In an interview with Locus magazine in 1999, Spinrad described himself as an "anarchist" and a " syndicalist ". Some critics have noted utopian themes in Spinrad's works. In
1932-523: The 10- and 12-inch long-playing records (LPs) came along in 1948, and box sets of 45-rpm records soon followed (see gramophone record), the name "album" was used for the new format of collections, and the creation of artistic original album covers continued. From the 1950s through to the 1980s, the 12" LP record and the 45 rpm record became the major formats for the distribution of popular music . The LP format remains in use for occasional new releases, though other formats have largely supplanted it. The size of
2001-431: The 1920s, bound collections of empty sleeves with a plain paperboard or leather cover were sold as "record albums" (similar to a photograph album) that customers could use to store their records. (The name "record album" was printed on some covers.) These empty albums were sold in both 10- and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than the records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on
2070-727: The 1985 novel Child of Fortune . The book contains elements of confession, love story, eroticism, and horror. Child of Fortune (1985) deals with the adventures of a young woman, Moussa, in her search for her true calling. In Moussa's culture, young people of her age and class undertake a wanderjahr during which they wander from planet to planet, free to go wherever and do whatever they wish. While on their travels they are known as Children of Fortune, and are treated with indulgence and kindness by most in memory of their own wanderjahr. The Children of Fortune blend elements of gypsies , hippies of 1960s America, and other groups and legends, including Peter Pan . While some parents give their children
2139-465: The Beatles , Bob Dylan 's The Times They Are a-Changin' and the Rolling Stones ' self-titled debut album each contained a cover photograph designed to further the musical artist's public image. Author Peter Doggett also highlights the cover of Otis Redding 's Otis Blue , containing a photo of a young white woman, as a design that "played a dual role: she represented the transcendent power of
Hipgnosis - Misplaced Pages Continue
2208-522: The Beatles was first released as a double EP with a booklet between the records. Sgt. Pepper contained a cardboard sheet of images, and The Beatles (often referred to as the White Album) contained four large glossy photos of the individual Beatles along with a poster-sized collage. Live at Leeds by The Who also contained a generous supply of posters and printed material. Led Zeppelin III had
2277-852: The Holding Company ), Shepard Fairey ( Johnny Cash ), Howard Finster ( R.E.M. , Talking Heads ), Frank Frazetta ( Molly Hatchet ), Derek Riggs ( Iron Maiden ), H. R. Giger ( Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Debbie Harry ), Gottfried Helnwein ( Marilyn Manson ), Al Hirschfeld ( Aerosmith ), Ken Kelly ( Kiss , Mati Klarwein , Santana , Miles Davis ), Rex Ray ( David Bowie ), Jamie Reid ( The Sex Pistols ), Ed Repka ( Megadeth ), Norman Rockwell ( Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper ), John Van Hamersveld (The Rolling Stones), Alberto Vargas ( The Cars ), and Andy Warhol ( The Velvet Underground , The Rolling Stones) have all applied their talents to memorable music packages. A number of record covers have also used images licensed (or borrowed from
2346-543: The Money . The talents of many photographers and illustrators from both inside and outside of the music industry have been used to produce a vast array of memorable LP/CD covers. Photographer Mick Rock produced some of the most iconographic album covers of the 1970s, including Queen 's Queen II (recreated for their classic music video " Bohemian Rhapsody "), Syd Barrett 's The Madcap Laughs , and Lou Reed 's Transformer . From 1972 to 1975, photographer Norman Seeff
2415-450: The Moon , which had a gatefold, lyrics, no title on the sleeve, and poster and sticker inserts. The Band 's 1970 release Stage Fright , which included a photograph by Seeff as a poster insert, is an early example of LP artwork quickly becoming a collector's item. The move to the small (less than 1/4 the size of a record) CD format lost that impact, although attempts have been made to create
2484-406: The Moon . The final design was one of several versions prepared for the band to choose from, but according to drummer Nick Mason, the 'prism/pyramid' design was the immediate and unanimous choice. The record itself became one of the biggest-selling and longest-charting albums of all time, and the cover has since been hailed as one of the best of all time ( VH1 rated it as No. 4, in 2003). After that,
2553-573: The RIAA is unable to actually control whether or not adolescents will be listening to the music but as of now there is no way to fully control what these children are doing. In August 2008, album cover designer Peter Saville suggested that the album cover was dead. Album art is still considered a vital part of the listening experience to many. MP3, WMA, and M4A ( Apple format) music files can contain embedded digital album artworks (called cover images or simply covers) in jpeg format. One digital solution
2622-515: The Tillerman' and 'Teaser and the Firecat' by Cat Stevens , Mika (all albums released to date), Music from Big Pink (for The Band), Self Portrait and Planet Waves by Bob Dylan, Walls and Bridges by John Lennon . A genre of music that people have found issues in album covers is reggae. There are certain reggae artists that feel that the way they are displayed on their own album covers
2691-656: The Who in film and video production, and as the creative director for both Pink Floyd and their lead guitarist David Gilmour . Christopherson went on to produce music videos for many bands and shot some of the earliest promotional photography for the Sex Pistols , but worked primarily as an electronic musician in the bands Throbbing Gristle , Psychic TV and Coil until his death in 2010. In 1968, Thorgerson and Powell were approached by their friends in Pink Floyd to design
2760-477: The album cover a desirable work in its own right. Notable examples are the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , which had cut-out inserts, printed lyrics, and a gatefold sleeve, even though it was a single album; the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street , which had a gatefold and a series of 12 perforated postcards as inserts (taken by photographer Norman Seeff ); and Pink Floyd 's The Dark Side of
2829-427: The album. Album covers' design cover may also add to how an audience forms an opinion of them and their music. There are various ways in which an album cover is visualized. Some examples include artists choosing to put a photo of themselves, which is one of the factors that add to the observation of the band, the musician, and the music. The album cover eventually became an important part of the culture of music. Under
Hipgnosis - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-464: The artists to "pay what they thought it was worth". According to Thorgerson, this policy only occasionally backfired. Hipgnosis' approach to album design was strongly photography-oriented, and they pioneered the use of many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, Thorgerson and Powell's surreal, elaborately manipulated photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques) were
2967-878: The artwork they produced for their own recordings. Examples include Jimmy Page ( Led Zeppelin IV ), Chris Mars (Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me and others), Marilyn Manson ( Lest We Forget... ), Michael Stipe (R.E.M.'s Accelerate ), Thom Yorke (credited as "Tchocky" on misc. Radiohead records), Michael Brecker ( Ringorama ), Freddie Mercury ( Queen I ), Lynsey De Paul ( Surprise ), John Entwistle ( Who By Numbers ), Graham Coxon ( 13 and most solo albums), Mike Shinoda (various Linkin Park albums), Joni Mitchell ( Miles of Aisles and several others) as well for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ( So Far ), and M.I.A. (credited variously on Elastica 's The Menace , her records), and Captain Beefheart , 'Mona Bone Jakon', 'Tea for
3036-413: The child will see the label and immediately know to avoid this kind of content because it is inappropriate for their age. These children are the ones who see the label and do not even acknowledge this album or these songs because they know that it is not made for them. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced this warning label and it is now a requirement on any explicit music. However,
3105-490: The core values of typical people in Jamaica but they deal with this representation because they know that the audience is familiar with the stereotypical rasta depiction. These album covers tend to display inauthentic versions of their considerations of style and sexuality and do not accurately display "Uptown" Jamaica. Album cover art was the subject of a 2013 documentary film, The Cover Story: Album Art , by Eric Christensen,
3174-652: The cover for the group's second album, A Saucerful of Secrets . This led to additional work for EMI , including photos and album covers for the Pretty Things , Free , Toe Fat and the Gods . Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the Royal College of Art , but when they completed school, they had to set up their own facilities. They built a small darkroom in Powell's bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built
3243-1274: The cover of Fleet Foxes ; the cover of Kansas's debut album, adapted from a mural by painter John Steuart Curry , Norman Rockwell 's cowboy ( Pure Prairie League ), and Coldplay 's Viva La Vida , which features Eugène Delacroix 's painting Liberty Leading the People (a favorite in The Louvre ) with the words "VIVA LA VIDA" brushed on top in white paint. Legends from photography and video/film who have also produced record cover images include Drew Struzan ( Black Sabbath , Alice Cooper , Iron Butterfly , The Beach Boys and others), Annie Leibovitz ( John Lennon , Bruce Springsteen , Patti Smith ), Richard Avedon ( Whitney Houston , Teddy Pendergrass ), David LaChappelle ( No Doubt , Elton John ), Anton Corbijn ( U2 , The Killers , Depeche Mode ), Karl Ferris ( Jimi Hendrix , Donovan , The Hollies ), Robert Mapplethorpe ( Patti Smith , Peter Gabriel ) and Francesco Scavullo ( Diana Ross , Edgar Winter ), David Michael Kennedy others. A number of artists and bands feature members who are, in their own right, accomplished illustrators, designers and photographers and whose talents are exhibited in
3312-432: The cover of the first German edition. The Iron Dream won a Prix Tour-Apollo Award , and was nominated for an American Book Award . A World Between (1979) tells of a mildly turbulent period on the planet of Pacifica, a utopic , democratic electronically mediated society, on which lands a ship from each of the two factions in the "Pink and Blue War": the patronizingly paternalistic Institute of Transcendental Science on
3381-681: The culture, with science fiction being the minor note. People don't credit it anymore! Not just better gizmos and more virtual reality gear, but better societies. People don't believe the future will be a better place. And that is very scary. According to critic Galen Strickland, "Spinrad has never taken the easy course of artistic repetition, nor tailored his thoughts to the dictates of any editor. Each of his books are unique, and explore avenues of thought and speculation few others have traveled. Sex and power are usually his primary themes". Consciousness-altering drugs often feature prominently in his stories. According to Spinrad: If there's one gaping void in
3450-459: The extras created by Hipgnosis was the specially printed inner sleeve for Led Zeppelin 's In Through the Out Door LP, which was black and white but turned to colour when dampened with water (tying in with the main cover's photographic theme). Album cover For all tangible records, the album art also serves as part of the protective sleeve . Around 1910, 78-rpm records replaced
3519-464: The firm became highly sought-after, and did many covers for high-profile bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin , Genesis , UFO , Black Sabbath , Peter Gabriel , the Alan Parsons Project , and Yes . They also designed the cover for a UK paperback edition of Douglas Adams ' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Adams would describe Thorgerson as "The best album designer in the world"), as well as
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#17327727969843588-403: The influence of designers like Bob Cato , who at various stages in his long music career was vice president of creative services at both Columbia Records and United Artists , album covers became renowned for being a marketing tool and an expression of artistic intent. Album art has also been discussed as an important postwar cultural expression. During the early 1960s, the Beatles ' With
3657-719: The issue. This led to denunciations of Spinrad, The Arts Council, and New Worlds in the British Parliament . Spinrad could not find an American publisher for his 2007 novel Osama the Gun . "[O]ne rejection letter, foaming at the mouth, declared that no American publisher would touch it." He decided to self-publish the novel as an e-book . The book, which features several scenes set in Paris, has been published in French by Flammarion as J'ai lu (2011). The Solarians (1966),
3726-472: The jewel cases they contained, but were seen as harmful to the environment since the cardboard box was typically discarded by the buyer soon after purchase. Major record labels in the United States stopped distributing CDs in longboxes as of April 1, 1993. Album covers are one of the various ways in which first impressions affect an audience's perception of a given musician or band, or other content of
3795-472: The music, and obscured the race of its creator." The standard portrait-based LP cover was further challenged over 1965–66 by Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home , through the inclusion of symbolic artefacts around the singer; the artificially stretched faces of the Beatles shown on their Rubber Soul album; and the darkened hues applied to the Rolling Stones on Aftermath . Gatefold covers (a folded double cover) and inserts, often with lyric sheets, made
3864-497: The one side, and the rabidly man-hating lesbian Femocrats on the other. Nobody suffers a worse fate than political embarrassment, and status quo is restored by the simple fact of Pacifican society being better than that of either of the off-world factions. The Void Captain's Tale (1983) takes place three or four thousand years in the future in an era called the Second Starfaring Age, a setting Spinrad revisited in
3933-434: The original UK hardcover edition of Norman Spinrad 's Bug Jack Barron . Peter Christopherson joined Hipgnosis as an assistant in 1974, and later became a full partner. The firm employed many assistants and other staff members over the years, including freelance designers and illustrators Richard Evans , George Hardie , and Richard Manning. Hipgnosis did not have a set fee for designing an album cover but instead asked
4002-414: The phonograph cylinder as the medium for recorded sound. The 78-rpm records were issued in both 10- and 12-inch diameter sizes and were usually sold separately, in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. These were invariably made out of acid paper, limiting conservability. Generally the sleeves had a circular cutout allowing
4071-410: The photos in a highly theatrical manner. Hipgnosis covers rarely featured artists' photos on the outside, and most were in a gatefold cover format to provide ample space for their imagery. Many of Hipgnosis' covers also featured pen and ink logos and illustrations designed to appear high-tech (often by graphic designer George Hardie ), stickers, fancy inner sleeves, and other packaging bonuses. One of
4140-470: The public domain) from artists of bygone eras. Well-known examples of this include the cover of Derek and the Dominos ' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (from the painting "La Fille au Bouquet" by French painter and sculptor Émile Théodore Frandsen de Schomberg ), "The Downfall of Icarus" by Genisson on the cover of the first album by Renaissance ; Bosch on the cover of Deep Purple ; Breugel on
4209-453: The purpose of advertising the musical contents on the LP, through the use of graphic design , photography , and/or illustration . An album cover normally has the artist's name, sometimes in logo form; and the album title. Occasionally, though more common on historical vinyl records, the cover may include a reference number; a branding (the label ), and possibly a track listing. Other information
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#17327727969844278-587: The record label to be seen. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontally or stood upright on an edge, but because of their fragility, many broke in storage. German record company Odeon pioneered the "album" in 1909 when it released the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky on four double-sided discs in a specially designed package. (It is not indicated what the specially designed package was.) The practice of issuing albums does not seem to have been taken up by other record companies for many years. Beginning in
4347-430: The same company, or a paper sleeve supporting a thin plastic bag . These quite often have a circular cut out so that the record label can be read without directly handling the record, though when the inner sleeve is printed with lyrics, which became quite common, then there is usually no hole. Decca Records used a system of colour-coding on these sleeves where a blue color denoted a stereophonic recording while red denoted
4416-459: The script for an episode of the original Star Trek television series, titled " The Doomsday Machine " (1967). This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award. He also wrote an unproduced Star Trek script for Star Trek: Phase II , and episodes for Land of the Lost and Werewolf . He has been credited as a writer on two feature films, The Red Siren and Druids . Universal Pictures bought
4485-433: The storage of vinyl albums, often clear plastic sleeves. The surface of a vinyl record is readily damaged, so aside from the outer paperboard sleeve, there is usually an inner protective cover to protect against dust and handling. This is normally shaped to allow it to readily slide within the outer cover. The inner sleeve is either thin white paper, either plain or printed with information on other recordings available from
4554-437: The story of American literary history in the second half of the twentieth century as currently promulgated, it's the influence of grass and psychedelic drugs , not only on the lives of writers, but on the content of what's been written, and on the form and style too. It's hard to be critically or biographically courageous when so much creative work was done under the influences of jailable offenses. Spinrad had difficulty finding
4623-405: The typical cardboard LP sleeve cover is 12.375 in (31.43 cm) square. Starting in the mid-1990s, the compact disc (CD) was the most common form of physically distributed music products. Packaging formats vary, including the jewel case (which since 1982 has been the most popular form of CD packaging), and the cardboard and plastic combination commonly known as a Digipak (which has been
4692-605: Was Spinrad's first published novel. Unlike Spinrad's controversial later work, this novel is a mainstream space opera featuring space battles, faster-than-light spacedrives, and an alien enemy, the Duglaari . The plot of the novel concerns a fleet commander named Palmer who makes contact with a race called the Solarians, who emerge from isolation to help humanity in its long war against the Duglaari. Bug Jack Barron (1969),
4761-445: Was creative director at United Artists and in addition to his many cover photographs ( The Band , Kiss 's Hotter than Hell , Joni Mitchell 's Hejira , etc.), he art directed dozens of album covers including Exile on Main Street , many of which received Grammy Award nominations. In addition to the examples mentioned previously, a number of world-renowned graphic artists and illustrators such as Robert Crumb ( Big Brother &
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