Weather Report ‘Mr. Gone’ (1978) Illustrations by Lou Beach. Design by Nancy Donald. It’s been a while since I posted a front and back cover but both are great on this record. Done years before Jeff Koons, or me for that matter, were creating collage images. The colours are beautiful. Some of the cut-outs on the cover are pretty seemless and smooth and in the 70’s this must have been a very intricate process of hand retouching. This is from 1978 again, weird. (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)

Leonard Feather Presents Encyclopedia Of Jazz On Records - Vol. 5 (1974) Art Direction by George Osaki. Design by Roger Dyer. Illustration by Mick Haggerty. This is from a series of records, all of which show different home environments through 2 windows. I love the diagramatic style and shading quality of the image. Haggerty also illustrated the cover for Supertramp’s ‘Breakfast In America’.

Lake ‘Paradise Island’ (1979) Illustration by Jim McMullen. Design by Paula Scher. I posted some other Lake covers a while ago, thought it was time for another. This is again illustrated by McMullen. I really like the typography on the title, infact I am using it for a project at the moment.

Ronnie Laws ‘Flame’ (1978) Art direction by Bill Burks. Illustration by Bob Hickson. This is the third sleeve I’ve posted by Ronnie Laws and weirdly it’s illustrated by Hickson again - he also did the last sleeve I posted. I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for lush plantlife, especially when illustrated which I think stems from Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night artwork. (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)

Mandré ‘Mandré’ (1977) Illustration by Bob Hickson. Graphics director: Carl Overr. My wife Jaja bought me this one, she knows me so well! It’s probably the best sleeve I’ve ever seen and I’m sure it’s in Daft Punk’s record collection as well. Bob Hickson also illustrated the Brooke Shields ‘Tilt’ cover I posted a few weeks back. This sleeve is even better though, the typography and image are pure perfection. (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)

Prism ‘See Forever Eyes’ (1978) Art Direction by James O’Mara. Front cover image by Peter Beard. I love Peter Beard, never knew one of his images was used on a record sleeve. This one was licensed through Viva Magazine though, rather than any direct involvement from Beard. Glamour in the late 70’s had such a gritty edge, or at least that’s the way it looks in hindsight, it felt somehow more hedonistic and less polished, particularly the fashion that circled around Studio 54, Warhol’s Interview and people like Beard - a modern day Gatsby-like character. 1978 seems to be a golden year for great sleeves, I’ve posted quite a few from that year. (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)

John Williams ‘The Height Below’ (1973) Sleeve by Michael Halstead. This cover reminds me of a weird half dream reality, the kind from the bedroom scene in Kubrick’s 2001, or even better a classical version of Tron where the Jeff Bridges part would be played by Laurence Olivier riding and electric chariot. haha (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)  

Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie ‘Hot Butterfly’ (1978) Design by Ernie Thormahlen / Mick Rock. Photography by Mick Rock. I keep coming across amazing artwork by iconic rock photographer Mick Rock and Thormahlen, who did quite alot of disco record sleeves together in the 70’s. This one is kind of like Cher meets Rocky Horror, a great piece of fantasy photography/art. Malin from Niki & The Dove, who’s album I am designing at the moment, included it in her initial references for their sleeve art and it reminded me to post it. (Mat Maitland, Leopard Tree Dream)

Lou Reed ‘Coney Island Baby’ (1975) Art Direction and Photography by Mick Rock. Design by Ridgeway & Harris. It’s weird as I’ve never been totally convinced by Lou Reed’s more flamboyant styling but I’m not sure whether this is because nowdays he’s become a bit of a grumpy pretentious bore or because he’s actually quite butch, more like a car mechanic than an androgynous being such as Bowie. However, you can’t deny his influence on Bowie - his music at least - or the fact that this is an amazing sleeve - brilliant pose-great styling-beautiful typography. 

Cerrone V Angelina (1979) Cover concept Cerrone. Photography by Patrick Perroquin. Design by Creac. Been meaning to post a Cerrone sleeve for a while, he had some really great covers. I particularly like this one for it’s brutal graphics and surrealness which seems ahead of it’s time for it’s pre-computer release date. Love the typography as well.    

Tilt / Original Soundtrack (1979) Art Direction, Design & Concept by Stuart Kusher. Illustration by Bob Hickson/Ron Kriss. Photography by Paul Gremmler. Hand lettering by John Le Prevost/Margery Melton. I bought this because it reminded me of my own illustrations from a few years ago - the way it uses gradients and chrome balls. It’s also an amazing piece of visual pop culture, almost Japanese looking. As an added bonus it has Brooke Shields on it which adds to it’s appeal.

The Berlin Affair / Original Soundtrack (1985) Design/Image Unknown. Another amazing soundtrack sleeve. I’ve never seen this film or heard the music although that will soon change once I find a vintage Bang & Olufsen record player to go with some B&O speakers I was recently given. They have a wooden veneer so am excited to get something to go with them, probably from the 70’s or 80’s.  

Excalibur / Original Soundtrack (1981) Illustration by Bob Peak. Jasper Goodall and I pretty much did a modern take on this sleeve for Muse a few years back, although I swear we’d never seen it at the time. I bought this recently, it’s the kind of painted film image I love.

John Williams ‘Changes’ (1971) Sleeve by Hipgnosis. This could easily have influenced Peter Saville and Trevor Key’s work on New Order’s ‘Technique’ album in the 90’s - it has the same classical feel contrasted with electric colours.  

Diva / Original Soundtrack (1981) Design by René Ferracci. I’ve always loved this film poster, on which the sleeve is based. Infact, I love the film as well. The image is great here, it’s another montage of scenes within one image which I always love and the clean white background and simple colour palette is beautiful. Ferracci also designed the poster for Jules et Jim.