A Brief History of Album Covers

by Jason Draper

In this era of Vinyl revival, celebrate some of the greatest covers of the last 70 years, such as the Beatles' 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' or Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon', alongside entertaining and informative text. This great little book will make an ideal gift for any music aficionado or art and design enthusiast.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[TheNeverendingTBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this one, it was an interesting little read.

It covers a wide variety of music, it has album artwork on one side and some interesting details about that particular album on the next side.

[Zane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad this book was made, this seems like something I would’ve wished existed.
This book shows some of the influential, ground-breaking or creatively thought-provoking album covers throughout the 50s to early 00s.
This book packs in a lot of album covers and keeps each analysis of the art concise but informative. With each description briefly mentioning the album’s style, its relation to the art, what the cover meant for that artist’s career at the time and what it was influenced by or what it influenced. It was fun seeing the covers throughout the years and how they developed. Also, being able to see iconic album covers in the context of its time was fun. He also touches on interesting packaging for LPs which is something I never really considered much.
I learnt quite a bit from this book, not just from the album art but from music history in general. It doesn’t go in the greatest depth and never does a full-on analysis of the artwork or the artist’s career but for a “Brief History”, it does it pretty damn well.
Brilliant.

[Kerry O'Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book and the stories behind the making of the covers. It also opened up some debate as to why some were not included such as: Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Molly Hatchet's albums, Boston 1, Steely Dan Aja or Guacho, Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass - whipped cream and other delights.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly trivial writing but a great collection of covers nonetheless

[Rudy Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a few of these books but I love that this one starts in the 50s and goes into the new millennium. I would have liked a little more info about the albums but it was a quick enjoyable read.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts with album covers from the fifties and ends in 2017. The collections of the covers are ok. The write up on each one of them is short but has some interesting facts.

[xylatra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The guy who writes the blurbs is at times so freaking obnoxious, it makes an otherwise cute coffee table book into an exercise in anger management skills.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much a "brief history" as a scattered collection of album covers across the decades. There isn't a clear sense of how these artwoks made the cut. While I learnt some tidbits about the music artists and perhaps some interesting quotes (with no references) from them about their intentions for going with a certain image or style, a lot of this information can be garnered from wikipedia today. So what's the value really of this book? There is generally not a lot of information out there about the graphic artists who worked on album artwork, and it would have been nice to read a well researched book shedding light into this area.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Brief History of Album Covers" by Jason Draper, Paul Du Noyer
****
Brilliant collage of a diverse range of covers. Loved the background stories, and the unfolding evolution of the creativity of music & imagery.
Editing mistake: Two albums must have been omitted just prior to final publication because some of the references are four pages out of sync.
For example, on page 172 about a Talking Heads album there is a reference to 'Remain In Light' on page 194 [but it is actually p190].
Same issue occurs on p192.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this for a New Years gift. It took about an hour to go through. Have to say that I do miss album covers on the whole. I loved and still do love Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Beatles Abbey Road and of course Sgt.Peppers. Artwork and the music made it all magically.

[Nigel Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you wanted to know and see about the unspoken side of music.... And it's all going to die because of crappy invention of mp3.... I hate them with a passion!!

[Tim Laven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun if you enjoy the topic