Album Covers

I’m not a big fan of internet challenges that periodically appear on facebook. But once in a while I am almost hooked into the game. Recently, I noted with interest one such challenge: post ten album covers. I thought about the lost art of LP Record Albums. The covers jar memories and mark time. The list below is perhaps proof positive that the art that accompanies music has a certain power. The music and the marketing tell a story about a time and a place in popular culture.    

1961 Holiday Sing Along with Mitch - Initially airing on NBC, Sing Along with Mitch (Miller) went on to become a weekly series. The album was a holiday staple in our house.

1962 The First Family – A comedy album featuring comedian Vaughn Meader is a good-natured parody of then- President John F. Kennedy and his family. It was a hit before the nation endured a tragic assassination.

1963 Oliver! Charles Dickens’s story of Oliver Twist was the basis for Lionel Bart’s Oliver! which arrived on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in January and ran 774 performances and won several Tony® Awards. In our Catholic household it was easy to role play the orphan begging for “more.”

1964 Meet the Beatles! – The Beatles second album released in the United States was the first US Beatles album to be issued by Capitol Records. It topped the popular album chart and remained at number one for eleven weeks before being replaced by another Beatles album. Of course we tuned in to Ed Sullivan to see them but the music was ever-present.

1967 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan released on March 27, 1967 on Columbia. It contains every Top 40 single Dylan enjoyed through 1967. The famous Milton Glaser poster insert and all of those songs that reflect the mood of a nation.

1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, first released in 1973. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's best. An unmistakable sound track in high school. Years later the candle in the wind was repurposed for Diana.

1974 Good Evening – Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in “Good Evening,” opened at the Plymouth Theater in NYC in 1973. In the 60s and 70s, they were a major part of the new comedy era. Cook and Moore hosted Saturday Night Live in January 1976 and did a number of their classic stage routines, including “One Leg Too Few” and “Frog & Peach.” So much fun to share these bits with friends. My mom took me to see this play at the Hanna Theater in Cleveland.

1977 Saturday Night Fever is the soundtrack album from the 1977 film starring John Travolta. It is one of the best-selling albums in history, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.  album epitomized the disco phenomenon. In college I was not a fan of disco but the influence was undeniable on the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami.  

 

1978 A Wild and Crazy Guy by Steve Martin. It reached number two on Billboard’s Pop Album chart. The album was eventually certified double platinum. It contains the hit novelty single “King Tut” which Martin performed on Saturday Night Live. Silly but fun, and I could not help seeing Steve Martin at the movies in The Jerk in 1979.

1983 Thriller is the sixth studio album by Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones was producer. By the end of 1983, Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, having sold 32 million copies. Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, with sales of 66 million copies worldwide. Michael turned it up a knotch with regard to production of video and music.

1984 Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen. It was released by Coumbia Records. Born in the U.S.A. became his most commercially successful album and one of the highest selling records having sold 30 million copies by 2012. I married a Jersey girl who could listen to the Boss all day long.

1991 Nevermind is the second studio album by Nirvana. Despite the initial low commercial expectations, Nevermind became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Nevermind has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. The focus was now on West Coast Grunge.

2002 The Eminem Show is the fourth studio album by rapper Eminem. The album also saw Eminem take a substantially more predominant production role with Dr. Dre as executive producer. The album has sold 27 million copies worldwide.

2003 Chicken-n-Beer is the fourth studio album by rapper Ludacris. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 429,000 copies in its first week.