The lost art of album covers
Area music lovers pick their favorite works of cover art
By Sharon Roznik • The Reporter
George Bauman holds a Buddy Holly album in his hands and peers at the face behind the horn-rimmed glasses.
He wonders where the late singer's many talents would have taken him, had he lived.
Last November the Waupun native visited Clear Lake, Iowa, and the Surf Ballroom where Holly played his final concert just hours before the crash.
"I can clearly remember the day Feb. 3, 1959, when I came from school and my mother told me that Buddy Holly had been killed in a plane crash the night before," Bauman related. "I was very upset and played his music over and over on the old phonograph we had."
Before there were MTV and DVDs, YouTube and videos, the cardboard comfort of album covers connected teens with the musicians they loved.
As rock 'n roll evolved, so did album art, with the 1967 design for the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" launching the revolution.
Local music lovers from the glory days of LPs share some of their top album cover pics:
Steve Hinkley says he doesn't have to think too hard to come up with a favorite cover. "Disraeli Gears," by Cream, (with or without a black light) surpasses them all.
"The title of the album was taken from an inside joke. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie named Mick Turner commented, 'it's got them Disraeli Gears,' meaning to say 'derailleur gears,' but instead alluding to 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious," Hinkley said.
Molly Hatchet's "Devil's Canyon" was a favorite for Tracy Peters because of the artistry.
"I am now 43, but at that time a bunch of girls, then 15, from Theisen (Middle School), not only loved the band, but were captivated by the cover and would re-draw it to hang up in our bedrooms. There were several bands that we did this to, but that one I remember the most," she said.
Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" takes Michael Pocan back to the 1980s, when he lived in Green Bay and had just returned home from the Marine Corps.
"My instant memory of that album would be sitting in the recreation room at my brother's house having some frosties, readjusting to civilian life," he said.
"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" by the Moody Blues is Sue Jones' favorite album cover.
"I loved to look at the drawing of the little boy and the magician. The boy has such a look of amazement on his face," she said.
Some nights Frank Jozefowski heads down to his basement just to thumb through his hundreds of albums for "old times sake." His all-time favorite cover is the Car's "Candy-O," done by famed pin-up artist Alberto Vargas.
"Along with other sensory notations made about vinyl records, there was always the distinct smell of the package when you would remove the protective plastic covering. I also liked the stickers that would sometimes be slapped on the plastic covering, as I have saved a few of those as well," he said.
Another great album cover artist blew David Jacak away as an impressionable teen. His love of heavy metal and Ozzy Osbourne drew him to Boris Vallejo's album jacket for "The Ultimate Sin."
"Vallejo was an artist for the popular muscle mags at the time. This art work just always intrigued me with the futuristic beast and the sexy woman (what I thought at the time)," Jacak remarked.
In some way, Journey's album cover "Escape" influenced Russell Ellison (in a cheesy way, he says) to join the U.S. Army.
"All the Journey albums were cool, but I think 'Escape' was the best. Heck, they even made an Atari game out of it. From a person who grew up in the '80s, album cover art is kind of a lost thing," he said.
In 1968, David Schaefer was just a little shaver snooping through his big brother's stuff.
"All of the albums I had seen previously were gaudy. I was drawn to one by the starkness. The original album had raised white letters but then the album was re-released with embossed silver letters. I still listen to it today on my iPod," he said.
He's talking, of course, about The Beatles famous "White Album."
Another Beatles album, "Abbey Road," charmed Cynthia Parman with the cover shot of John, Ringo, George and Paul casually walking across the street.
"The simplicity of being able to have the freedom to do just that ... take a walk. There is some peacefulness to it, I think. This album was released in September of 1969. My, how time flies," she said.
SOURCE: http://www.fdlreporter.com
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