Rock

Album: Zipper Catches Skin
Artist: Alice Cooper

While putting together the Fist album collection I noticed this cover from Alice Cooper and was surprised by such a progressive cover for an artist like himself. Even more surprised it was released in the 1980s. Where are the crazy colours, geometric shapes and big loud type?



Album: Journal for Plague Lovers
Artist: Manic Street Preachers
Cover Artist: Jenny Saville

Things have been pretty quiet around here, we know. But we’re back baby and if you’ve missed your fix of fresh sleeves, the good news is we’re on the job. “Females”, says British artist Jenny Saville, “are used to being looked at.” As one of the most successful painters of the last two decades, Saville [...]



Album: Mooi Besoedeling
Artist: Zinkplaat
Design Studio: Fanakalo

Is it just me or is all the innovative cover art being done for the least likely bands. Does being popular dictate that you must be safe? Beck would be the only mainstream artists who are doing anything innovative. Moldover, Menomena, ALB, Bright Eyes, Beck and Pine Bender all have innovative covers and yet they [...]



Album: Daydream Nation
Artist: Sonic Youth
Cover Artist: Gerhard Richter

“One has to believe in what one is doing, one has to commit oneself inwardly, in order to do painting. Once obsessed, one ultimately carries it to the point of believing that one might change human beings through painting.” Gerhard Richter 1973



Album: Mom's Apple Pie
Artist: Mom's Apple Pie
Cover Artist: Craig Braun, Terry Knight

In WWII, when American soldiers were asked by journalist why they were going to war the standard response was “for Mom and apple pie”. For some reason the dish of apple pie worked its way into the American consciousness as a representative of all that was wholesome and good about the nation; a reminder of [...]



Album: Dixie Chicken
Artist: Little Feat
Cover Artist: Neon Park

Okay, so here’s the lesson of today’s story: always pick up cool looking hitchhikers.



Album: Cover Artist: Storm Thorgerson

It’s always good to see the designers behind classic album covers getting critical and commercial recognition. And few designers could boast of a career as celebrated and prolific as Storm Thorgerson. Taken By Storm: The Album Art of Storm Thorgerson was published by Vision On in 2007. It’s a selection of some of his best [...]



Album: Playing Possum
Artist: Carly Simon
Cover Artist: Norman Seeff

This is the first in our series of five seminal album covers by female artists Carly Simon lead the life of 70′s dreams. The daughter of Richard L. Simon, a cultural mogul and musician, and Andrea Simon, a civil rights activist and singer, she had the perfect lineage to take a leading part in an [...]



Album: The Stone Roses
Artist: The Stone Roses
Cover Artist: John Squire

Seminal British band The Stone Roses released their self titled debut album in 1989. The cover features artwork by band member John Squire, who was largely responsible for the band’s visual identity. Squire is an accomplished visual artist who at the time was heavily influenced by Jackson Pollock. The painting featured on the cover of [...]



Album: Breakfast in America
Artist: Supertramp
Cover Artist: Mike Doud, Mike Haggerty, Aaron Rapoport

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”, reads the inscription on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated in 1886, it welcomed immigrants as they arrived by ship and fast became a potent symbol for the ‘land of opportunity’. Visitors arrived by air in 1979 and it’s [...]