Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers [Hardcover]

Benjamin Darling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Vinyl record albums--wow!--they're back. Could it be for the swinging sounds and nightlife nostalgia? Mmmmaybe...but get a load of those covers. Barroom beauties, kittens in Capri pants, seductive sirens--enchantresses everywhere! Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers is a dazzling tour of over a hundred beguiling album covers, designed to appeal to the bachelor audiophiles of the hi-fi era. Such retro luminaries as Martin Denny, Esquivel, Andre Kostelanetz, Perez Prado, and many more draped their record sleeves with women whose charms transcended the strictly musical. Even the decidedly less hip entertainers like Lawrence Welk found they could reach a wolfish new consumer base with a little satin and cleavage. Vixens of Vinyl is a head-turning musical gallery of femmes from a decidedly pre-feminist era. Sure, vinyl is hot again--but the covers are hotter.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Benjamin Darling is the author of the improbably popular Cakes Men Like and Helpful Hints for Housewives, both published by Chronicle Books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 132 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811831345
• ISBN-13: 978-0811831345
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, June 11, 2001

By 

Press (No. California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers (Hardcover)

If you're a collector of cheesecake album cover art, I'm afraid that you will find this book disappointing. The dust jacket refers to the author as a collector on these types of covers, but I must say that if this represents his best, he's got a pitiful collection. Most of the covers featured are standard thrift store items like 101 Strings and other pedestrian 60's stuff.

There are virtually no truly collectable albums like Johnnie Mann's "Night", Herb Jeffries' "Say It Isn't So" (with a young Barbara Eden), or the incredible "Speak Low" by Hal Otis (featuring a photo of Jayne Mansfield falling out of an evening dress). Nor are ANY of the most beautiful covers of the 50's highlighted, as it seems Mr. Darling is unaware of the truly beautiful covers of that era (like Hugo Peretti's "And So To Sleep" and George Cates' "Exciting").

Additionally, the book lacks other elements that would have made up for the omission of quality covers: the text is nearly worthless, no dates are given, nor is there any mention of the photographers from the studios of Capitol, Liberty and others who made these otherwise lack-luster recordings fly off the record store shelves. Kudus for the Sandy Warner section though.

The book includes a few (I mean less than 5) truly worthwhile covers and the rest is filler. Even many of the samples used are shelf-worn or damaged. Makes me want to write a book on the subject.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cool little book, April 13, 2001

By 

M. Miller (cuba, ny USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers (Hardcover)

for the money, this is a cool little book. great layout and design. of course this is only the tip of the iceberg and several more volumes need to follow. better yet, a whopping huge volume with a hefty price tag should be devoted to this subject matter. 50s era george shearing lps (there are a couple in here) alone could fill a chapter. i can picture such a lavish book on my coffee table. if Mr. Darling needs more examples of beautiful, sexy lp covers, i have a bunch. until that book gets made, however, this book is a treat.

5.0 out of 5 stars Models, not musicians, March 12, 2011

By 

M. Gheesling - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers (Hardcover)

There's a big difference between vintage music collectors and vintage album art collectors. It should be obvious by the previous sentence.

A music collector will jump at a vintage mint-condition Esquivel! vinyl at the thrift store. This person can't wait to get it home to play it on his or her vintage hi-fi equipment. An album art collector will jump at an old scratched Hugo Winterhalter album just because Exotica Girl Sandy Warner is on the cover. When this person gets home, he or she will probably play frisbee with the disc inside and frame the album art for his or her wall. In short, music collectors are interested in music and album art collectors are interested in the dust jacket regardless of the music inside.

"Vixens of Vinyl" *isn't* for music collectors. It's for album art collectors. And it lives up to its name. This book has lots of wonderful album covers featuring lots of vixens from the 50s and 60s. Fans of kitsch, the lounge scene, or vintage graphic design will appreciate this book. Who cares whether a cover model is on a Martin Denny album or a 101 Strings album ?

Really, shouldn't a book about album art be about the *art* and not the musicians it's schilling for ?