A fascinating survey of cover art (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition) Record covers are a sign of our life and times. Like the music on the discs, they address such issues as love, life, death, fashion, and rebellion. For music fans the covers are the expression of a period, of a particular time in their lives. Many are works of art and have become as famous as the music they stand for?Andy Warhol's covers, for example, including the banana he designed for The Velvet Underground. This special edition of Record Covers presents a selection of the best 60s to 90s rock album covers from music archivist, disc jockey, journalist, and ex-record publicity executive Michael Ochs's enormous private collection. Both a trip down memory lane and a study in the evolution of cover art, this is a sweeping look at an under-appreciated art form.
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About the Author
Michael Ochs developed an addiction to rock and roll in the early fifties. To feed his habit, Ochs headed the puplicity departments of Columbia, Shelter, and ABC Records in the 60s and 70s. He has also been a disc Jockey, taught a rock-history course for UCLA and written for such magazines as Rock, Melody Maker, Cashbox, and Crawdaddy. Michael Ochs established the Michael Ochs Archives in the mid-70s. The archives currently house millions of photographs and over 100,000 albums and singles.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I don't know if there was a full size "coffee table edition of 1000 Record Covers produced. This is an undersized book but the reproduction of the album covers will bring back the excitement and creativity of each of the eras - 1950's, 60's,70's, 80's and 1990's.
The commentary is left to a minimum, without more than a few words of interest just every so often.
I guess I want my cake and to eat it too. The small size is easy to read in bed or while relaxing. But a full size (12" X 12") edition would be marvelous.
I spend a lot of hours looking through this intriqueing book.
John row
The commentary is left to a minimum, without more than a few words of interest just every so often.
I guess I want my cake and to eat it too. The small size is easy to read in bed or while relaxing. But a full size (12" X 12") edition would be marvelous.
I spend a lot of hours looking through this intriqueing book.
John row
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book of "just" album covers is put together so brilliantly, it seems to actually have a plot. As Ochs goes through his collection of covers, (some obscure, some not) they tell the story of Rock and Roll from the 50's, forward. His groupings of related covers accurately describe the many stages, styles, and trends that Rock music has gone through. You can pick it up and browse through it, but it really is better to go page by page. This is a work of love. Ochs (for all his success with his Archives) really gets it.
32 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As soon as I saw this title, I plonked it onto my amazon wish list, as it combines two of my main passions (music and design). But after flipping through a copy, I had to remove it from my list - maybe if rents plummet and I can afford more space for bookshelves it'll make a reappearance, but until then I'll do without it.
The title - "1000 Record Covers" - at least makes no false claims, e.g. "1000 Great Record Covers", or "1000 Essential Record Covers". However, such a claim is made on the back cover, and I must refute it. Too many of the entries are mediocre, and there are too many masterpieces that are ignored. I would blame this less on the author - all the choices come from his collection, which is by its nature limited - and more on the editors, who should have realized the shortcomings of such a scheme. My personal interest would be in covers from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and I can't forgive the absence of (for starters) Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, Gang of Four, the Slits, Buzzcocks, the Fall, Wire, the Pixies, Eno, Magazine, the Cramps, the Residents, the Pop Group, Pere Ubu, Avengers, Angry Samoans, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Romeo Void, Monochrome Set, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, X-Mal Deutschland, Coil, Chrome, Crass, Delta 5 - all of whom released LPs with compelling cover designs.
Labels such as Z, Dischord, les Disques du Crepescule, Two Tone, Rough Trade, Factory, Postcard, TVT, are virtually or completely ignored, and designers such as Malcolm Garrett (his Duran Duran work doesn't count - not at the expense of "A Different Kind of Tension"), Vaughan Oliver, tomato, Peter Saville (Roxy Music's "Flesh + Blood" gets in, but it's one of Saville's weaker efforts and his name is misspelled!), Barney Bubbles, Neville Brody are similarly slighted.
The book could also use an index of designers.
It may seem like I'm harping on about bands from mainly one genre (punk/new wave/whatever), but the truth of the matter is that much of the really innovative cover design in the last 30 years has come from that area.
To be fair, the book does include covers of LPs by the Dead Kennedys, Clash, XTC, Ramones, Echo & the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Public Image, Patti Smith, Altered Images (yay!), so some credit is certainly due.
Also happy to see the a Soft Machine record in there.
And this book did make me recognize what a subtle piece of work TheCure's "...happily ever after" is.
I'm writing this review not to slag the book off, but to inform people with similar expectations to what I had that while there is a lot of good material in here, there are gaping holes as well. Again, I think the weakness lies in limiting the choices to one person's record collection instead of directing the author to choose from the entire gamut of record covers available to him.
The title - "1000 Record Covers" - at least makes no false claims, e.g. "1000 Great Record Covers", or "1000 Essential Record Covers". However, such a claim is made on the back cover, and I must refute it. Too many of the entries are mediocre, and there are too many masterpieces that are ignored. I would blame this less on the author - all the choices come from his collection, which is by its nature limited - and more on the editors, who should have realized the shortcomings of such a scheme. My personal interest would be in covers from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and I can't forgive the absence of (for starters) Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, Gang of Four, the Slits, Buzzcocks, the Fall, Wire, the Pixies, Eno, Magazine, the Cramps, the Residents, the Pop Group, Pere Ubu, Avengers, Angry Samoans, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Romeo Void, Monochrome Set, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, X-Mal Deutschland, Coil, Chrome, Crass, Delta 5 - all of whom released LPs with compelling cover designs.
Labels such as Z, Dischord, les Disques du Crepescule, Two Tone, Rough Trade, Factory, Postcard, TVT, are virtually or completely ignored, and designers such as Malcolm Garrett (his Duran Duran work doesn't count - not at the expense of "A Different Kind of Tension"), Vaughan Oliver, tomato, Peter Saville (Roxy Music's "Flesh + Blood" gets in, but it's one of Saville's weaker efforts and his name is misspelled!), Barney Bubbles, Neville Brody are similarly slighted.
The book could also use an index of designers.
It may seem like I'm harping on about bands from mainly one genre (punk/new wave/whatever), but the truth of the matter is that much of the really innovative cover design in the last 30 years has come from that area.
To be fair, the book does include covers of LPs by the Dead Kennedys, Clash, XTC, Ramones, Echo & the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Public Image, Patti Smith, Altered Images (yay!), so some credit is certainly due.
Also happy to see the a Soft Machine record in there.
And this book did make me recognize what a subtle piece of work TheCure's "...happily ever after" is.
I'm writing this review not to slag the book off, but to inform people with similar expectations to what I had that while there is a lot of good material in here, there are gaping holes as well. Again, I think the weakness lies in limiting the choices to one person's record collection instead of directing the author to choose from the entire gamut of record covers available to him.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Just so, so : /
This was portrayed as a coffee table book with high quality images. It is not. It is very small 5. Read more
Published 16 months ago by T. Arwood
A book to look at over and over again...
If you are a music or vinyl fan, you MUST have this book. Lots of common covers make it in but lots of far less popular ones do also. Read more
Published on April 18, 2010 by Clint Greer
Great book, great gift
Like all Taschen books, this one does not disappoint. Taschen is famous for their great curation, and this is no exception. Read more
Published on January 20, 2010 by Maurice Freedman
NOT WORTH IT.
There is entirely too much nudity. I feel like a scum-bag for buying it.
Published on October 28, 2008 by Karey L. Ochs
Quick Service
I bought this book as a gift to my dad, an avid record collector. The book was in good condition, and arrived sooner than I anticipated. Read more
Published on July 28, 2008 by Nicole A. Williams
Great Reference and "Memory Stimulator"
As the son of an Old School Disc Jockey my family received Albums in the mail every month from all the major labels. Read more
Published on June 13, 2008 by John Mitchell
helpful for the collector....
I wish it were more descriptive but the images of the covers make the purchase worthwile for the collector. Read more
Published on February 22, 2008 by glennross
Buy It and then Buy It Again
As an absolute lover of music, I have come to miss that era of the vinyl album cover, when we rushed to the record store and purchased someone's long awaited first or follow up... Read more
Published on June 18, 2007 by I. Johnson
Great book, better deal
This is really a great book for those who miss the great art we used to get with vinyl albums. Unfortunately, I just purchased this book on vacation, at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino... Read more
Published on January 1, 2006 by J. Saylor
So Many Great Album Covers!
Just as the title suggests, this book is full of 1,000 record covers. Full color and in all their glory. Read more
Published on April 29, 2004 by Kelly Irish
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
"When rock and roll and I were both very young, we started a friendship that has had its ups and downs, but has lasted many years." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
les rangs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Art Direction, Warner Bros, New York, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, San Francisco, Doris Day, Ricky Nelson, Cat Stevens, Chuck Berry, Loring Eutemey Photo, Pat Boone, Buddy Holly, Elton John, Five Shillings, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Turner, John Lennon, Julie London, Manfred Mann, Alice Cooper New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
"When rock and roll and I were both very young, we started a friendship that has had its ups and downs, but has lasted many years." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
les rangs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Art Direction, Warner Bros, New York, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, San Francisco, Doris Day, Ricky Nelson, Cat Stevens, Chuck Berry, Loring Eutemey Photo, Pat Boone, Buddy Holly, Elton John, Five Shillings, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Turner, John Lennon, Julie London, Manfred Mann, Alice Cooper New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 32
books:
See all 32 books this book cites
- Pat Boone by Paul Davis on 6 pages
- Pink Floyd by Barry Miles on page 366, page 367, and page 369
- Jimi Hendrix by Bruce Mann on page 192, page 194, and page 195
- Carole King by Paula Taylor on page 365, page 367, and page 369
- Rock and roll by J. Brent Bill on page 33, and page 53
See all 32 books this book cites
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