Awesome classical album cover art

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61PB8QyPWJL.jpg

Wow!

I have a soft spot for the very 1960s designs of the World Record Club. UK/Aus mailorder operation with regional in-house designs for licenced recordings. They're some of the most common sights in charity store bins here and are sometimes more striking than expected.

eg. some of the first few I found online just now

https://images2.imgbox.com/d7/4b/9Y5zlLKz_o.jpg

Haha. Meant to embed it but that will do.

the v. williams symph. 9 art reminds me of:

https://img.discogs.com/Ba1Ok9uYQM07aOreWfsmfopUT3Q=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-322191-1487004156-9867.jpeg.jpg

I bought this box of Shostakovich symphonies purely based on the cover art (and the price at the time). Good thing it rules.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/617556aGV7L.jpg

It's not the most idiomatic set by any means but it's my favourite Western take on Shosty's symphonies, by far. Even the 14th, with its (imo) ill-advised move away from Russian, is incredible thanks to Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's contributions. And if you like the 14th, it's also worth hearing the Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarotti, which is sometimes called Shostakovich's 16th symphony.

Not entirely sure of the chronology but I guess it's possible that World Record Club and Sonic Youth were BOTH ripping off this series:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/144a4414d773b2673ee9c0f3855d2246/tumblr_p4b9etckY21qk5u0to9_500.jpg

I still quite like Kairos's CD covers. Variations on a very limited number of themes, I guess, but my eyes often linger...

https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0015025KAI_andreyev_webcover.jpg
https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0015086KAI_nono_frontcover.jpg
https://images2.imgbox.com/b5/e2/wn6G1quz_o.png