About The Author Ashley Ringrose is better known as Mr. Truffle and editor of Sleevage, a music design blog. He occasionally plays with Mr. Potatoheads and dresses up in … More about Ashley Ringrose …

35 Beautiful Music Album Covers

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Album cover art is often considered to be one of the “extincted” fields in modern graphics design. In times when digital copies are cheaper and quicker to get, album covers have somehow lost their importance as less and less customers actually buy CDs and LPs in the stores. That’s a pity because album covers can be extremely expressive and convey the message of the album in a number of creative ways. This post attempts to prove exactly that.

Album cover art is often considered to be one of the extinct fields in modern graphics design. In times when digital copies are cheaper and quicker to get, album covers have somehow lost their importance as less and fewer customers buy CDs and LPs in the stores. That’s a pity because album covers can be extremely expressive and convey the message of the album in some creative ways. This post attempts to prove exactly that.

Music and art go hand in hand. And the best way to get a potential buyers’ attention is with an eye-catching album cover. We all know you can’t just judge a book by its cover, but it doesn’t hurt to give a CD a spin based on a sexy piece of art.

Below we present 35 excellent examples of beautiful, creative and impressive album covers that will certainly inspire you to head down to the local record shop and start browsing through records and labels. We have tried to address various cover designs and present both CD covers and LP covers from the 60s to 2000s. However, some excellent album covers are missing. Please let us know about them in the comments to the post!

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

Album Covers

The Mars Volta “Frances the Mute”

Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask

Michael Jackson: Dangerous by Mark Ryden

Devil’s Gun - Raising The Beast

Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist by Shepard Fairey

Keane: Under The Iron Sea by Sanna Annukka

Kisschasy: United Paper People by Debaser

Editors: The End Has a Start by Idris Khan

Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue

Ground Components: An Eye for a Brow, A Tooth for a Pick by Jonathan Zawada

Arcade Fire: Funeral

Kool and the Gang - Still Cool

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon 1973

Gallows: In The Belly of a Shark by Dan Mumford

Muse - Origin of Symmetry

Linkin Park - Reanimation

Lemon Jelly: Lost Horizons by Airside

Tool: 10,000 Days

Circa Survive: On Letting Go

The Last Goodnight - Poison Kiss

Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Thom Yorke: The Eraser by Stanley Donwood

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Architecture in Helsinki: Places Like This by Will Sweeney

The Chemical Brothers: Push the Button by Tappin Gofton

Rolling Stones - Forty Licks

Rafale: Rock It, Don’t Stop It by Akroe

Dream Theater - Scenes from the memory

Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction

Relayer: Yes

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies Designed by one of today’s most influential designers Peter Saville

Soulwax - Nite Versions

Pixies - Doolittle

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Hot Chip - The Warning

Muse - Absolution

The Police - Ghost In The Machine

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…

Wow - Moby Grape

Genji Siraisi: Censorsh!t by Razauno

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

VHS Orbeta - Bring On The Comets

Van Halen - 1984

Fort-Minor - The Rising Tied Front

The Roots - Game Theory

Led Zeppelin - Mothership

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

The Cribs - Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Hot Chip - The Warning

Muse - Absolution

The Police - Ghost In The Machine

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…

Wow - Moby Grape

Genji Siraisi: Censorsh!t by Razauno

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

VHS Orbeta - Bring On The Comets

Van Halen - 1984

Fort-Minor - The Rising Tied Front

The Roots - Game Theory

Led Zeppelin - Mothership

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

The Cribs - Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever

Elton John - Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

XTC - Drums and Wires

Queens Of The Stone Age: Era Vulgaris by Morning Breath Inc

Beck: The Information by Big Active and you

“The album was issued with a blank sleeve and booklet and one of four different sheets of stickers for fans to make their own album art. Beck explained to Wired magazine he wanted no two copies of the CD cover to be the same: “The artwork is going to be customizable. The idea is to provide something that calls for interactivity.” However, because the unique album art concept was seen as a gimmick to bolster retail sales, The Information was deemed ineligible to enter the UK Albums Chart.”

Last Click

The World’s First Album Cover Alex Steinwess, a then 23 years old designer, convinced Columbia’s suits to create the first true album cover. Until then, 78s were sold in generic sleeves. Please notice that there is the word “smash” on

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