Tag Archives: 70s album covers

ALBUM COVERS… MORE RECORDS

A further collection of album covers featuring vinyl records. * The southern hemisphere enters Spring, soon to be followed by Don’t-leave-vinyl-in-your-car season. This alternate melting moment cover from New Zealand is far superior to the original. Heat Wave — Too Hot To Handle [GTO 1976] * The original UK release of this compilation of the […]

ALBUM COVERS… WITH RECORDS!

A collection of album covers featuring vinyl records. * Let’s start globally, shall we? Van Der Graaf have it large with a record the size of the earth. VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR — World Record  [1976] * Despite it being a record obsessive’s nightmare, I do love this cover (which is not by Hipgnosis). The […]

ALBUM COVERS | FLAPS

They fold, they open, they arise, they reveal. Those hinged bits of  a record sleeve that give you something to study—or play with—while the disc spins. Here are some favourites. * US rockers Grin featured Neil Young collaborator and (later) Bruce Springsteen guitar slinger Nils Lofgren. What’s behind the toothy smile? Why gums, of course. […]

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 | PICKS AND PICS

Having launched into Instagram during lockdown, I kind of lost my appetite for its rapid digestive cycle after a year or so. More an icy pole than a proper meal, if you get what I mean. But a current September “challenge” caught my eye and so I decided to throw some records into the ring. […]

TORN BETWEEN TWO COVERS

When the Vinyl Connection collection finally moved into its new post-renovation space I was certain there was room enough to house at least five years of acquisitions. After all I was periodically doing a little weeding and pruning and the rate of purchasing had dropped substantially from an average of five LPs per week  to […]

8 ALBUM COVERS WITH GROUP PORTRAITS

From the time TheBeatles opted to use Klaus Voorman’s charming portraits of the fab four on their seminal 1966 album, bands have commissioned visual artists to represent themselves on their musical offerings. Here is a selection. * With graphics by Linda Guymon and Art Direction by Richard Roth, this 1975 compilation of Rolling Stones ‘Rarities’ […]

COVER ART | ON THE CHAIR II

Sharing some of the spins that have been enjoyed at Vinyl Connection HQ over the past little while. Any favourites amongst these? The third LP in the ‘trilogy’ of this particular period of King Crimson. While not as startling as Discipline, it remains an under-rated album from Robert Fripp’s Jedi knights. Rick Wakeman’s solo debut […]

A NICE LIE DOWN

Here’s an album cover post presenting reclining figures of various kinds: some seductive, some scary. All explore utilising the LP ‘gatefold’ to extend the field of view*. The bigger your screen, the better this gallery will look! *           * NOTES James Taylor‘s solo debut was released on Apple Records in […]

ERUPTION DOWNUNDER

As has been related elsewhere, I met Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and assorted seventies noise-makers in Rod Amberton’s bedroom. I also encountered a band less well-known outside these sunburned shores: the hard riffing Sydney band, Buffalo. Buffalo’s first two albums were popular amongst teenage boys of a certain age, and although I managed to find […]

VERTICAL HOLD

There are plenty of books on album cover art on the Vinyl Connection bookshelves, but none of them could tell me which record had the glory of being the first gatefold pop/rock album. Everyone knows Sgt Pepper was the first LP to have the song lyrics on the cover—the back, incidentally, not inside in the […]

8 AUSSIE ALBUM COVERS — PART 2

SMOKE AND MIRRORS Ariel — Rock ’n’ Roll Scars [1975] The Saints — (I’m) Stranded [1977] Carson — On the Air [1973] Skyhooks — Ego Is Not A Dirty Word  [1975] Coloured Balls — Ball Power [1973] INXS — The Swing  [1984] Kush — Snow White and the Eight Straights  [1974] Dave Warner — Mug’s […]