ART RECORD COVERS BY LEGENDARY ARTISTS

Gone are the days where you would sit back and take the time to admire the artwork of an album cover. Today you just stream or download your music as an MP3 file and don’t even think about looking at the small pixelated artwork on your digital device. That said Taschen always finds an answer putting together 500 record covers that have been made by artists such as Basquiat, Banksy, Damien Hirst or Salvador Dali and many more on Art Record Covers. The book will take you on a time travel going back from the 1950’s to today. Historian and writer Francesco Spampinato explores how modernism, pop art, postmodernism and various forms of contemporary art have informed the art of album covers for decades. It underlines the strong relation between music and visual art production that, put together, emanate a stronger message. You will find insightful information on each album cover with facts sheets listing the artist, performer, album name, label, year of release, and information on the original artwork. Interviews with Tauba Auerbach, Shepard Fairey, Kim Gordon, Christian Marclay, Albert Oehlen, and Raymond Pettibon add personal accounts on the collaborative relationship between artists and musicians. Price: $70. (Buy)

Did you know: The Velvet Underground & Nico debut album Designed by Andy Warhol had a peelable banana sticker which would reveal a pink fleshed banana underneath. But for Verve records it was a production nightmare as someone had to manually place the sticker on each album so this was dropped in 1968.