The Art of the Album Cover

Arts and Letters has a link to an interesting article about the origins of record album cover art and Alex Steinweiss. A book about his work is available at Amazon:

For the Record: The Life and Work of Alex Steinweiss

Before Alex Steinweiss invented the illustrated album cover in 1938, at the age of 23, records came in drab wrappers. Steinweiss's idea to create a package that would lure the consumer with snappy graphics while protecting the record proved an instant success; sales of the first such record, Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart, soared. This simple idea revolutionized the record business & spawned an entire new field of design--album cover art--that is now inseparable from the product it promotes. Steinweiss's covers are still regarded as icons of the genre. He designed them as miniature posters, with eye-catching graphics, distinctive & vivid colors, & creative, even playful, typography, often incorporating his much-imitated "Steinweiss scrawl" lettering. The Steinweiss style went hand in hand with the golden age of jazz, classical, & popular music dominated by Columbia, RCA, Decca, Victor, & London Records.

A nice, short biography can be found here.

And...

There is a really cool online exhibit that includes his covers and those of other artists of the 60's and 70's. You can find the exhibit about 3/4 of the way down the page. Once you click on it you will interact with a new window. You have to actually place the needle of the record player on each track to view a different decade of cover art. It is very clever.

I remember how difficult it was to pick songs off a record to play individually. And, having to replace the diamond needle every so often. I still have a box of "vinyl" up in the attic. Most of my favorites have now been replaced with CDs.