Sunday, August 24, 2008

Planet Sleeves

Those of us who remember the days of LPs (long playing records), before the birth of CDs and DVDs, sometimes mourn the loss of the wonderful creativity often to be found in LP covers. The art on the record sleeve, and the occasionally hilarious purple prose on the reverse, reviewing the record's contents and performers, offered additional value and encouragement to buy. Some LP sleeves have become valuable, rare, and sought after by collectors.

Here are some examples of the art from a few of those old LP sleeves, chosen to represent our planets and luminaries. I hope they'll bring back memories for the few who remember, and serve as an introduction for those who don't.

In no particular order:

MARS



Illustration: Wilson McClean (1976)


VENUS



Design: Abie Sussman; Illustration: Larry Kresek. (1975)


MERCURY




Clearlight Symphony. Illustration: Jean Claude Michel (1975)


SATURN



Design: Dieter Fischer; Illustration: Peter Lorenz. (1975)

JUPITER



Quintessence. In Blissful Company.
Design: Barney Bubbles/J. Moonman; Illustration: Gopala. (1969)


URANUS




Design; Hardie/Hipgnosis. (1976)


NEPTUNE



Design: John Pasche, Gull Graphics; Photo: Phil Jude; Re-touching: T.&S. (1975)


PLUTO



Santana - Santana(3 set).
Design: Heavy Water Light Show/Joan Chase & Mary Ann Mayer. (1971)


SUN



Hapshash & The Coloured Coat.
Design: Hapshash & the Coloured Coat; Photo Ekim Adis. (1967)


MOON



Thelonious Monk - Monk's Blues.
Design: John Berg; Illustration: Paul Davis. (1969)


~~~Small pic, top of post = Jefferson Starship - Dragonfly.
Illustration: Peter Lloyd. (1974).
My own favourite.

6 comments:

  1. Good work on the collection, T:
    So reminiscent of those dear old days and now we're in Ipod and MP3.
    I gave away all my LPs about fifteen years ago. I should have kept the rarer ones.....
    Hindsight.
    XO
    WWW

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  2. Ah, I'm with you there. Not only great covers, but a wealth of information on the back, sadly lacking on today's CDs (or, should I say, "yesterday's"?)
    For audiophiles, it's not just the covers we mourn. The sound of vinyl was so much more enjoyable than CD digital, where much of the signal is 'guessed at' by a computer. I'll take the occasional 'click and pop' of a vinyl LP any day over digitized music, clinically clean, and as unappealing, as a dentist's chair.

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  3. Hi WWW ~~~ Thanks. Oh my goodness, I haven't caught up with Ipods yet ! MP3s on the computer is my limit in that direction.
    Paperless, sleeveless, pictureless and, I think, soul-less!

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  4. Hi RJ!~~~~ I'm not an audiophile, so can't comment on the sound quality. I'm useless in that regard, which causes frequent raised eyebrows from himself.

    I was equally happy, soundwise, with old gramophone records, audio tapes, LPs, CDs, and radio broadcasts - I must have a tin ear 'cos I can tell no difference, unless the record is warped, or the tape stretched. Yes, I know - I'm a Philistine.

    I do like the record sleeves though. Just as I liked index cards, paper files, accounting ledgers and the like. Things of the past, but fondly remembered.

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  5. Yes, the old LP used to be a complete package. Many of mine were lost during a move - all those rock classics from the 70s!
    Hearbreaking. And now all I've got are those boring little CDs.

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  6. Same here AN. Mine were lost in a fire. My husband, though, has a huge collection of LPs, carefully stored and treasured.
    :-)

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