Customer Reviews

Naked Vinyl - Bachelor Album Cover Art

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The back cover of this paperback has a line that says: 'A stunning collection of more than 100 nude album covers', if only that were true, well the 100 bit is true. Most of them are low budget stock shots bought by small record labels for their LP covers. Mainstream record companies were too conservative to use such blatant selling techniques. None of the covers are of any photographic or design interest (and most of the music on these LPs was produced by session musicians and is of no particular interest either).

The hundred plus covers are presented one to a page with some copy on the adjacent page, this is rather overgenerous for the text because there is really nothing to say about the covers so the author's repeat bits of the cliched copy from the back covers. I think the (mildly) most interesting covers are the ones produced for the American bachelor market during the fifties and sixties, these are now so ancient and of such awfulness that they take on a curiosity of their own.

I think it is only worth getting this book if you are interested in this very tiny corner of commercial art or maybe you'll want to own the only book that will ever be published about the subject. Worth checking out though is `Vixens of Vinyl' by Benjamin Darling, a nicely produced little book (six by six inches) of LP covers that feature females but not nudes. These covers are from major labels so at least you'll see some decent photography and design.

Face it...in the 50s & 60s, record covers sold most LPs, NOT the music. The cooler the cover, the better chance you had of selling a schlock recording. Sexy models were always in vogue, yet NUDE models were usually reserved for third party labels, bargain basement recordings and risque comedy LPs. There are a BUNCH of covers reproduced here, most of them were limited released and single pressings. This is true manna for the record collector and a great conversation piece for the average reader. Not much text but tons of full color covers featuring REAL (not enhanced or anorectic) models. Lots of topless nudity, so you may want to keep this one on the top shelf.

This is a huge amount of fun for everyone who likes to look at the fun and funky pinup girls of another era, and who likes the empowerment of women posing in nature's own. The records are incidental to the whole thing, of course; this was mainly an excuse to get some girlie-magazine stuff legitimately into the livingrooms of men around the nation. These were 'party records' or sometimes 'mood music' for the how-to-stage-a-seduction-scene right out of a 50s movie - the 'let's get you out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini' stuff that cracks up all liberated femmes fatales today. A sweet and sexy look back at another titillating time, before nudity became so mainstream as to spoil all the fun. This isn't Richard Avedon photography, folks - it is sometimes grey and grainy or down and dirty - but always with a sweet naivite that makes you smile. Not so much Annie Leibowitz - think more of the strip club in the seedy part of town like from the film 'Diner'. Nothing so naughty that you have to hide in the closet, this is a groovy coffee table book to get the conversation going at the next party or date-night at your own swinging bachelor pad. Great gift for the groovy-baby Austin Powers type in your life. Nostalgia cruise for the old guys, and vintage-style smirks for the just-over 21 set. And check those female forms ! No stick-girl supermodels there - those gals had curves. Real hips and bottoms and breasts, and, oh my ! Nice to see 'em well-fed and healthy from back in the day before anorexia had been invented and heroin-chic wasn't even dreamed of. This was more the girl next door - well, next door in your fondest dreams.

Another collector of wishy washy grab table records, who obviously bought anything as long it was cheap and had some nipples on the cover, proudly presents his collection. This was probably cheap to reproduce for the publisher, since none of the shown record sleeves were of any lasting value for the market and probably scratched from memory after release. The artwork shown is superficial and mostly shows images that could have been cut out of page 3 of nameless 3rd class girlie magazines. The music must have been secondary indeed, I have been dealing with music for 30 years and never met people who actually listened to this type of entertainment. On the 70's and 80's it runs even shorter than on the cheesecake tradition (gack...this word alone...) rest, not even classics like Hendrix' electric ladyland are included here...bare anything that was a little more specific or explicit. A complete waste if time - I wish someone would get a serious collector to produce such a book...