strangelove: Album Art

During the past holiday season I got into a conversation about album art and it's importance to the music listening experience. It got me thinking. Lately, with mp3s dominating how we purchase and listen to music, album art seemed to be on the decline. However, thanks in part to Apple and the multiple ways which they have brought album art and album covers back as part of the music experience (i.e. cover flow), album art has lived to see another day. Some of you may already know that album art is one of my obsessions. So...

Here are some of my favorites, and some of the best, album covers—the first bunch anyway:

There are few artists who have consistently featured such iconic album art as the Stones. From the Andy Warhol designed "Sticky Fingers" cover to "Tattoo You" to "Exile on Main Street", the Stones have one of, if not the best, collections of album art. In fact, I like too many to include them all. "Some Girls" (below) is by far my favorite, especially the vinyl version, which has two sides of faces that line up with the heads on the cover.

Again, the vinyl version of this one is far better as it has a interactive element. The kaleidescope effect is enhanced when you turn the wheel that is built into the cover.

Illustrated by Robert Crumb.

For those of you who remember, this one hung on my wall at 542 forever.

Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", "Atom Heart Mother" and "The Wall", deserve metions. But this is my favorite and you most likey know those ones well enough.

The Beatles are another one of those artists with many covers that could, and maybe should, be on any best album art list, but since you undoubtedly know all of them, I'll just stick to one here.

This is the alternate and Canadian cover.

Sadly due to licensing issues, the Superman image has since been removed.

Miles Davis, is another one of those artists who consistently have had great album art and many of them are my favorites. Because I couldn't pick one, here are a few.