

Album art by Enzo Mombrini for the 1984 album ‘Turbo Diesel’ by Italian DJ, producer and vocalist Albert One, aka Alberto Carpani.



Flemming Dalum was born and raised approximately 1000 miles away from Italy in Denmark. Starting in 1983—Dalum, considered to be one of the world’s leading authorities of Italo disco—would make eleven trips to Italy in search of records. Italo disco came into favor in the 1980s, and Dalum became recognized as an expert on the genre as it rose to prominence not only in Italy but in Germany and other parts of Europe. Since immersing himself in the music, Dalum, a self-proclaimed “Italo freak” is able to instantly identify an authentic Italo disco song. Italo disco is probably on your radar, whether you realize it or not. Do you dig Italo pioneer Giorgio Moroder or the synth jams of director and composer John Carpenter? Then it’s safe to say disco Italo style might be right up your alley. While I’d love to jaw more about the ear candy that is Italo disco, the artwork created for the records is as lit up as the music pressed deep into the vinyl inside.

The variety of album art produced during the decade of Italo disco’s height had one foot firmly planted in the realm of futuristic fantasy, often composed in an airbrush style. That’s what we’re going to focus on for this post. Airbrush art was such a huge part of the 80s, and several artists used this style for their contributions to Italo disco records such as Giampaolo Cecchini, a giant of the Italian advertising world. Italian sci-fi and comic artist Franco Storchi also successfully used this technique for Italo disco trio Time, as did Enzo Mombrini to create his provocative images for Italo disco acts, many which slipped into obscurity, as a fondness for Italo disco started to wain toward the end of the decade. If this topic has got you thinking about fog machines and neon lighting, the 2018 documentary Italo Disco Legacy traces the origins of Italo disco and includes facts and reflections from Flemming Dalum and other curators of Italo disco history. Covers by Cecchini, Storchi, Mombrini and a few others follow. Many are NSFW.





Franco Storchi’s cover for Italian superstar George Aaron’s (Giorgio Aldighieri) single “She’s a Devil” (1984). More by Storchi follows.





1982.





1984.





1984.





1985.





Artwork by Enzo Mombrini for a 1987 single by Drep. More of Mombrin’s work follows.





1983.





1984.





1985.





Giampaolo Ceccini’s cover for GeeGee & Gym Band’s 1983 record “Majic-Kaboola.” More from Ceccini follows.





1983.





1987.







1987.





There’s a lot to take in on this cover for a cosmic rarity by Gehry M. “Beirut Connection” (1984). Listen to it here.



HT: Thanks to the excellent Mike Brown, the curator of the Hyperreal Music Archive and his fantastic list of Italo disco album cover art on Discogs.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:

Italo-disco emergency room freakout

‘Born To Be Cheap’: The immortal Divine, drag disco diva

‘Disco Argento 2: The Sequel’ - even MORE Disco-Horror madness!

‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie!’: The fantastic 70s K-Pop disco funk of Bunny Girls

Appreciating the peculiar Euro-disco genius of Boney M.

Black Devil Disco Club returns with Nancy Sinatra, Afrika Bambaataa, Jon Spencer & more

