Category ART AND ABOUT
ALBUM COVERS | BLUESKY MINE
With the madness coursing through America’s veins, I’ve become increasingly unwilling to have any intersection between President Pumpkin’s oligarchs and my life. So, like a couple of other friends, I am transitioning from IG to Bluesky for posting records. Do I think the dead fish tech bosses will notice? Of course not. But tens of […]
ALBUM COVERS | ABACAB
The 1981 Genesis album abacab was released with four variants of the same basic cover design. GYMC – Grey/Yellow/Magenta/Cyan Cover CORG – Cyan/Orange/Red/Green Cover YRGG – Yellow/Red/Grey/Green Cover RBYG – Red/Blue/Yellow/Grey Cover Original design by Bill Smith. Feature image: 7″ single of “abacab”. abacab was a #1 album in the UK and France, top ten […]
ALBUM COVERS | IN THESE SHOES?
One of the prompts during a recent Instagram vinyl ‘challenge’ was In these shoes?, the title of an excellent Kirsty MacColl song. It was a difficult choice for Vinyl Connection, selecting just one cover. So I thought, why not share the other contenders? Please, walk 1.6km in my shoes. * And finally, three that have […]
ALBUM COVERS | AMBIENT 1—4
Influenced by minimalist composition and his own explorations of less-is-more on 1975’s Discreet Music, Eno produced the hypnotic and hugely influential Ambient 1: Music For Airports in 1978. It was the beginning of a series of four ‘ambient’ albums linked visually by their cover art, and musically by the reflective, spacious atmospheres evoked by their […]
10 SUPER CTI ALBUM COVERS
Creed Taylor’s CTI record label was founded in 1967, separating from parent company A&M in 1970. Specialising in a style of jazz that boasted instrumental excellence while keeping an eye on the pop and rock scenes, the label used staff arrangers such as Don Sebesky and Bob James to add orchestral silkiness to the jazz-based […]
PRELUDE
It was on the airwaves during the Summer of ’73 and sounded like nothing else. A mysterious, beatless opening full of space buzzes and cosmic bird calls that built thrillingly into an infectious jazz-funk epic. No words but a riveting groove. That piano! At the time I had no idea what a Fender Rhodes was, […]
ALBUM COVERS | JADE WARRIOR
Tony Duhig and Jon Field created art rock band Jade Warrior at the birth of the 1970s. After three albums on Vertigo, they shifted to the Island record label and produced a fascinating quartet of albums between and 1974 and 1978. Characterised by an eclectic range of influences and instrumentation, their albums presaged ‘Fourth World’ […]
ALBUM COVERS | THE BLUES
Anthology Of The Blues was a twelve LP series that first appeared in 1969. Some of the albums feature a single artist (often a notable one) whilst others compile regional sides from lesser known performers. All feature portraits on the covers, giving the series a visual cohesion along side the genre focus. Vinyl Connection only […]
ALBUM COVERS | 7 X 7 INCH — 2
A further selection of 7″ singles with their parent albums, this time featuring a few Aus favourites. * Midnight Oil — Diesel and Dust (1987) + “Beds are Burning” single The back cover of the 45rpm continues the theme, and indeed the photo. * Roger Waters — Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) + “Radio Waves” single Roger’s […]
ALBUM COVERS | 7 X 7 INCH
…WITH THEIR PARENT ALBUMS Having never been an avid collector of 7″ singles—or 12″s, for that matter—it was an odd feeling to have seven or eight hundred of the little blighters take up residence in the cupboard. I had no idea my friend Steven had so many. It was rather daunting, as I’m not a […]