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An album cover is a cover used to package commercial audio recordings such as the printed cardboard covers that were typically used to package 12" gramophone records from the 1960s through to the 1980s when the 12" record was the major format for distribution of popular music. The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967) as a 33 â…“ LP vinyl record A gramophone record (also phonograph record, or simply record) is an analogue sound recording medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc. ...
Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. ...
The cover served three main purposes:
- To protect the record, whose grooved surface was delicate.
- To advertise the contents, as the record had little room on its own record label.
- To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists (see Cover art and Alex Steinweiss).
The cover became an important part of the culture of music at the time. As a marketing tool and an expression of artistic intent, gatefold covers, (a folded double cover), and inserts, often with lyric sheets, made the album cover a desirable artifact in its own right. Notable examples are The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which had cut-out inserts, lyrics, a gatefold sleeve though a single album; and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon which had gatefold, lyrics, no title on the sleeve and poster inserts. The move to the small (less than 1/4 the size of a record) CD format lost that impact, though attempts have been made to create a more desirable packaging for the CD format, for example the re-issue of Sgt. Pepper, which had a cardboard box and booklet, or the use of oversized packaging. An example of a regular cardbox for a 1998 PC game. ...
Alex Steinweiss (March 24, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York) is a graphic designer. ...
A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records which was popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
The Beatles (1960-1970), often nicknamed the Fab Four, were an English musical group from Liverpool, and are usually regarded as the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful popular music artists in history. ...
For other uses, see Sgt. ...
Pink Floyd are an English rock band noted for philosophical lyrics, classical rock compositions, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art, and elaborate live shows. ...
The Dark Side of the Moon is a 1973 concept album by Pink Floyd. ...
The importance of cover design was such that some artists specialised or gained fame through their work, notably the design team Hipgnosis (through their work on Pink Floyd albums amongst others) and Roger Dean famous for his Yes (band) and Greenslade covers. Hipgnosis was a British art design group that formed in 1968 which specialized in creating cover art for rock albums, most notably for Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zeppelin & Black Sabbath. ...
Arches Mist, 1996 Roger Dean (born August 31, 1944, in Ashford, Kent, England) is a contemporary British artist best known for his work on album covers, which began in the late 1960s. ...
Yes are an English progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968. ...
Greenslade is an English progressive rock band Discography 1973 : Greenslade 1973 : Bedside Manners Are Extra 1974 : Spyglass Guest 1975 : Time and Tide 2000 : Live (recorded in 1973-75) 2000 : Large Afternoon 2002 : Greenslade 2001 - Live The Full Edition Category: ...
A number of companies specialised in the manufacture of album covers. In the UK, for example, Garrod and Lofthouse were the leading company - the G & L mark was seen on the majority of albums at the time.
Album covers were prone to wear and tear. In part this was due to the construction. Album covers were almost universally made of cardboard. A variety of treatments could be applied to improve both their appearance and durability; typically they were covered in a clear plastic foil. A small industry arose providing storage for albums and album cover covers, typically clear plastic.
The record surface was readily damaged, so aside from the cover, there was usually a further protective cover to protect against dust and handling. The inner sleeve (as it was known) was either thin white paper, often unprinted, or a paper sleeve supporting a thin plastic bag. These quite often had a circular cut out so that the record label could be seen without directly handling the record, though when the sleeve was used to print lyrics, which became quite common, then there was usually no hole. Decca Records used a system of colour-coding on these sleeves where a blue colour denoted a stereophonic recording while red denoted 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. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Label for 2. ...
Monophonic can mean: In rrded audio, a monaural recording with only one channel. ...
There is also a website about awful album covers, the Museum of Bad Album Covers. The users there made a ranking, in which the worst was Scorpions's Virgin Killer. Scorpions are a hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, best known for their 80s rock anthem, Rock You Like a Hurricane and their singles Wind of Change, No One Like You, and Still Loving You. // Rudolf Schenker, the bands rhythm guitarist, set out to find a band in 1965. ...
Virgin Killer is an album by the German band The Scorpions, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music). ...
See also This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
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