The Art of the LP: Classic Album Covers 1955–1995

Sexy, provocative, playful, beautiful: from their earliest days, LP covers have been objects of art and fascination. This celebration of album artistry presents more than 350 of the best covers, and departs from the usual approach by organizing the images by visual theme. Many of us remember the iconic album-cover images that defined our collective and individual histories—such as the smoldering pinup girl on the Cars’ Candy-O, the plaintive baby following a dollar bill through water on Nirvana’s Nevermind, and Andy Warhol’s controversial zippered pants on the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers.

From perennial classics to lesser-known gems, here is the LP art that shook, rattled, and rolled us through music’s early formative years.

The thematic chapters include:
Art: Ornette Coleman, Empty Foxhole; Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks;
Santana, Abraxas

Death: Otis Redding, History of Otis Redding; Frank Zappa, Hot Rats; Ice Cube, Kill At Will; Metallica, Master of Puppets

Drugs: The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; the Monkees, Head; Thelonious Monk, Underground; Peter Tosh, Bush Doctor

Ego: Frank Sinatra, No One Cares; Joni Mitchell, Clouds; LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out; Björk, Debut

Escape: Johnny Cash, Orange Blossom Special; Bob Dylan, Freewheelin’; Peter Gabriel, 1 (Car)

Identity: The Jackson 5, ABC; Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon; Blondie, Parallel Lines

Politics: Funkadelic, America Eats Its Young; Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA

Rock & Roll: Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis and His Pumping Piano; Clash, London Calling

Sex: The Ohio Players, Honey; Robert Palmer, Double Fun; Pulp, This Is Hardcore

Real World: The Allman Brothers, Brothers & Sisters; Bob Marley, Catch a Fire; Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road