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

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It may be a more glamorous cover after her first two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare’s Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer image comes at a cost. Known for his alchemistic collaborations with the late artists MF Doom and J Dilla, and his remixes of Blue Note Records,Madlib’salbum Sound Ancestors was a rare instance of the lauded music producer releasing a solo record –sort of. Although the base material was created solely byMadlib, the record was arranged and mastered by Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, over the course of several years. Okay, so it was a little graphic and provocative, but as the single most controversial thing The Beatles ever did (and the most expensive for an original), the cover of Yesterday and Today surely earns a place on a list of the greatest album covers. 66: Alice Cooper: School’s Out (design by Craig Braun)

RCA wasted no time in cleaning up Elvis, who’d look completely respectable on all future albums. Meanwhile, his debut allowed him to look like the crazed hillbilly everyone’s parents feared he was, captured in mid-song at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which of course leads us to… 2: The Clash: London Calling (photo by Pennie Smith, design by Ray Lowry) The work was chosen from a diverse and striking shortlist of 50 nominations of the very best in vinyl record cover art from 2021, chosen by a panel of illustrious artists, designers and music industry experts. All 50 nominations form an incredible art installation in the window of the Hari, London from 27 Jan -17 Feb. Though Steely Dan was long associated with Los Angeles, the cover for Pretzel Logic (actually shot at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York.One of the psych era’s great hallucinations, the famous album cover for Moby Grape’s 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly landscape with the world’s largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed. 77: Kayne West: Yeezus (design by Kanye West and Virgil Abloh)

The abstraction of the Talking Heads’ beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 record Speaking in Tongues couldn’t have better represented the music within. It would have been rated higher if the thing wasn’t so tough to store. 73: The Mothers of Invention: We’re Only In It for the Money (design by Cal Schenkel)

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There were nearly as many copies of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out in 1970s high schools as there were actual school desks. Ten points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve. 65: Aerosmith: Draw the Line (design by Al Hirshfeld) Matthew Cooper, Designer mrcooper – cover art credits for Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Noel Gallagher. Best Art Vinyl 2016 winner for Last Shadow Puppets – 'Everything You've Come toExpect' The Led Zeppelin “III” cover is a far more Original and Iconic Cover even though “HOTH” is one of Hipgnosis’ most beautiful designs. It should, however, have been pictured with the “Belly-Belt”.