Customer Reviews

Blue Note: The Album Cover Art

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No doubt--this is a wonderful book. A comprehensive collection of album cover art from one of the most design-forward lables in the history of recorded music. The book, besides being a visually interesting piece has great historical notes about the art of the cover art.

Here's my problem: This book and the Volume 2 are poorly bound. The cover of my book (basically cover stock glued to the spine where the pages attach to one another) came off within one week of purchase. This with normal, careful handling. I replaced each volume of the book twice. Both with the same results. Upon contacting the publisher, they apologized in a rather, "Oh wow, that's really messed-up..." kind of way. They didn't seem too concerned but did offered to replace it. I already knew that was not going to make a difference. I suggested they find a new way of fixing the cover to the book. The person I spoke with agreed to pass along the information. (Uh, yeah, right.)

Ultimately I returned the books and my library is without them. This is a shame because the two volumes are great, particularly if you have an interest in art direction or graphic design. But the cover problem makes this book not worth purchasing, in my opinion.

This book is a great homage to the graphic work of Reid Miles and the amazing talent Blue Note records has had in it's history. In a nice, album- sized format, this book has a great collection of clean, smart graphic design. Heavy on type and simplicity, "Blue Note: The Album Cover Art" is a must for designers and jazz lovers alike. If you're both-then hot damn, you're in luck!

...the contents are great but after a month the binding has already come apart. The individual pages are bound together seperately, but the cover and spine has seperated from them. Otherwise, I would give this 5 stars. Great reproductions, the colors are fantastic. This makes a great coffee table book.

Great cover photos for most of the interesting Blue Note LPs.The covers are of the original lp's but sometimes of later releases: Page 10: "Sonny Rollins / A night in the village vanguard" has later "liberty" cover Page 22: Bud Powell 2 lps down the page have later covers.

This is a little problem.

All in all a great fun for the jazz Blue Note fan !!!!

Poor your favorite beverage; play your favorite jazz album; then sit down and enjoy this wonderful collection. If jazz were a book, this would be it! The artwork is stunning and the layout is exceptional. The covers tell a history of jazz that words cannot convey, a story of innovation, rhythm, and of music that comes from the heart.

This collection of album covers offers the opportunity for hours and hours of stories about the artists. The covers themselves are art pieces that stand alone very well. Visitors to my home are intruigued by the unique format are moved to remember the label, the perfomers, the times. The younger buffs want to hear the albums that the covers represent. This is my third purchase of this title.

I have two copies of this great book, one i keep to look at and read and enjoy each moment of the blue Note Records of the fifties and sixties, the other one i dismantled and used as great posters in my Jazz listening room. The photographes say a lot about an era of Jazz with the greats that is difficult to repeat. I recommend this book even if it has some problems in binding. Remember it has been out for a long time and the glue might have dried up... Maybe i should buy other copies and throw them around the house everywhere!!!

It's funny how history repeats itself. As one flips through this well published book. You can see where several artist (mostly hip hop) got their album cover ideas from. The photography (artist name escapes me now) is brillient! These covers legendary and why Blue Note has always set the standard of classic album covers. If you love jazz this is a must have.

Found the book great stimulation for page layout design and for revisiting a classic look. Great use of colors. Quite simplistic.