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Whaddya know--turns out size does matter. In this stunning collection of album cover art from 1940 to 1960, it is instantly apparent that despite the advantages CDs may have in the technology or convenience departments, vinyl albums--even based on their sheer proportions--have always been way cooler. This is especially true for this particular era, when cover art was truly an art form, with talented designers handcrafting individualized jackets influenced by surrealism, cubism, and modern artists of the day. And as Tony Bennett says in his preface, "they were large enough to make you feel like you were taking home your very own work of art."
Author Eric Kohler, a graphic designer and album cover artist himself, selected these 250 gorgeous covers from his own collection of over 3,000. He offers a captivating history of the early record industry, addressing the invention of the phonograph in 1877, the near demise of the industry due to competition with radio, and the rejuvenating introduction of the jukebox in 1935. Prior to Columbia Records' release of the 33 rpm vinyl LP in 1948, music fans were restricted to 78s--easily breakable, shellac-based records that could only hold four minutes' worth of music on each side. Victor Records made a competitive strike with the 45 (hence turntables with 33, 45, and 78 options), but its success was limited. Until the 1980s, the LP ruled the land with its roomy cardboard cover--a perfect canvas for artists.
Kohler's focus is on the graphic artists themselves--revolutionaries of the industry. Previously, albums had plain covers that advertised phonograph and record companies rather than performers. But when designer Alex Steinweiss entered the scene in 1939 (at the tender age of 23) he changed the business of cover art forever. Kohler illustrates the styles of eight such prominent cover artists--Steinweiss's trademark curly-scrawl script, Jim Flora's cartoonish images recalling Joan Miró and Paul Klee--with such accuracy that readers are able to immediately recognize and differentiate their work. Although the sun shone on these artists for only a brief time (the advent of photographic covers in the late 1950s all but obliterated their influence), these 20 years paint a fascinating portrait of popular music, modern art, and even business development. Best of all, Kohler serves up page after glorious, glossy page of big, beautiful album covers. --Brangien Davis
Eric P. Nash- New York Times Book Review
The advent of the compact disk improved sound quality, but brought an end to great album art and sophisticated liner notes. IN THE GROOVE: Vintage Record Graphics, 1940-1960, Eric Kohler's lovingly produced collection of 250 album covers, traces the beginning of this graphic design to 1947, when a young designer named Alex Steinweiss folded a thin cardboard sheet in half to create what would become the standard LP jacket for the next four decades. Early jackets by artists like Jim Flora relied heavily on graphics and hand-lettered typefaces rather than photography; the mild-mannered, bow-tied Flora's polymorphous caricatures of Bix Beiderbecke and Gene Krupa are as nutty as any underground cartoonist's work today. Some high points are Neil Fujita's cover of a pensive, red-lighted Miles Davis for "Round About Midnight" and David Stone Martin's iconic freehand logo of the Blue Note trumpet player, still in use half a century later. Delightful rarities include a Picassoesque line drawing for a 1958 Kenny Burrell album by a young Andy Warhol. The text is studded with tasty tidbits: younger vinylphiles may be surprised that the first "concept" album to structure songs around a theme was Frank Sinatra's "Songs for Swingin' Lovers." Although rock 'n' roll revitalized record sales in the 1950's, it had little impact on album cover design until the Beatles era, because songs were released as singles.
