jim henson

An alternate title for this batch of sincerely perused album covers: "Ring wear I have known"...

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Trumpeter, musical arranger and composer Tutti Camarata had been one of the founders of the London record label in the 1940's, and in 1956 was hired by Walt Disney to form the Disneyland record label and be their musical director.

He produced over 300 records for the label during his 16-year tenure with the label, including his own series of
'Tutti's Trumpets' LPs and his 4 'seasonal' albums.








Click here to see a variation on the 'In' image above ▲ repeated on the back cover of this 1968 Ronnie Aldrich LP, with liner notes.

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◀ From 1959, the cover of actress / singer Polly Bergen's 7th LP on the Columbia label. Though still very active on stage, screen and TV, she classifies herself first as a business executive, overseeing her
Polly Bergen line of cosmetics, jewelry, and shoes.


'The Creed Taylor Orchestra' ▼ was the name given to a series of compelling mood albums performed by bandleader
Kenyon Hopkins and his orchestra and produced by
A&R man Taylor, released under Taylor's name on the ABC/Paramount label while Hopkins was under contract to the Capitol label.



You can hear an excerpt from 1960's 'Lonelyville - Nervous Beat' LP ▲ in a 'tribute clip' at YouTube

◀ Always nice to find another example of artwork by
David Stone Martin (1913 - 1992).
Many albums are as sought-after by collectors for his cover designs as much as for the music on the record. (It's win-win with regards to the Edison album)

There are lots of other examples of DSM's work in the galleries at LP Cover Lover.





The graphics on the 1956 J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding Trombone Octet LP ▼ is by Arnold Roth.
The much-beloved illustrator has done plenty of cover art over the years, including several early efforts by his friend, Dave Brubeck.

(For more on Roth, please follow link to my previous post on his work and his 1960's children's book, 'Pick A Peck Of Puzzles'.)

Speaking of Brubeck, recordings of his 1948 Octet ▼ were not released until 1951, after his group (now a quartet) had become more popular.
Arnold Roth's art showed up on a later 12" Fantasy label collection of that material, but I couldn't tell you who the 'Johns' signature belongs to on the cover of this outré '51 Fantasy 10" cover.
(The pretty disc within is translucent red vinyl, as was the fashion of the day)





Canadian jazz vibraphonist Jimmy Namaro ▲ was a regular fixture at the Westbury Hotel's Polo Lounge on Yonge Street in Toronto at the time of this early-'60's recording.

◀ Billy May's 'Pow!' album came out in 1960, the title being an accurate description of his band's big sound.

It would be another 6 years or so before the word 'pow' (and other onomatopoetica) would have a resurgence via the 'Batman' TV show...

▼ ...speaking of sound effects, from 1978, a flashy-looking LP from the American funk-disco group that would lead to a minor rock history footnote; So as to avoid confusion between two different 'wham!s', George Michael's Wham! was briefly known in the U.S. as 'Wham! UK'.

This 'Wham!' LP ▼ included a couple of minor hits - - 'Lovemaker' and 'Superslick'.

▲ Above, a 'greatest hits' package of tracks by 1950's and '60's American instrumental rock group Johnny and the Hurricanes, released in the 1970's on the Canadian Birchmount label.

I've seen other Birchmount covers that have a similar look to them, but nothing with a fashion statement as extreme as the aluminum foil outfit worn on this one...

Years before his Emmy
award-winning portrayal of
Ann Romano's super, Dwayne Schneider, nightclub comedian ◀Pat Harrington, Jr. could be seen on 1950's TV playing 'Guido Panzini' and other characters for Steve Allen and Jack Paar.

This stand-up LP was released in 1962 (the discount sticker likely followed soon after). By then Harrington was transitioning into one-off TV guest appearances and small film roles. By the mid-'60's he was doing regular voice work in cartoons, including playing
'The Inspector' on the
Pink Panther show.




Above, ▲ just another celebrity caricature bonanza on just another LP cover by brilliant MAD magazine regular Mort Drucker.

Producers Bob Booker and George Foster master-minded a string of 'topical' comedy LP's throughout the '60's that played like theatrical revues, beginning with their original 'First Family' albums produced during the Kennedy administration.

This one featured impressions and characterizations by John Byner, Bob McFadden and David Frye - - whose rise to fame as a Nixon impersonator was well under way.

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◀ 'Little Mr. Banjo' - - from an era when all good children aspired to perform in minstrel shows...







...perhaps more entertaining are the graphics and 'Moppet' label logo on the back cover. ▼




































◀ The Chucho Ferrer Orchestra and the Mario Ruiz Armeol Orchestra were featured bands on this striking 1962 LP.

Below are some more albums in 'the Latin manner', the 'Cha-Cha' craze of the '50's and '60's being just another in a never-ending string of Latin-beat fueled dance mania.












Hey, what the- - ?

Looks like these cover models' fancy dance steps couldn't be contained on one album, or one label.

Above, ▲ 'Let's Cha Cha Cha in Hi-Fi' by Puerto Rican band leader Tito Morano was first released on the Somerset Records label in 1959.

◀ To the left; A quick costume change for the señorita but otherwise hardly a missed beat, and the dance partners were ready for this Jan August album, released roughly around the same time.



▲ Memo Salamanca in hi-fi on Audio Fidelity in 1957, the same year the label released the very first commercially available stereo records.

◀ A cheeky 1958 cover from Edmundo Ros, the 'King of Latin American Music'.






Clicking on the image of the 1950's Pepe Luis LP below ▼ will afford you the necessary opportunity to take an even closer look at the group of tough customers out for kicks on this memorable cover...

Crossing the finish line on this posting, it's clear that many thanks are due to the Space Age Pop website for being such a font of information. So glad it's out there!

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I've been doing a fair bit of traveling lately.

When passing through a new area, I'm going to assume that I'm not the only person who categorizes seeking out dusty thrift shops, junk stores and vintage vinyl emporiums as
'sightseeing'.

Here's a batch of some more visually appealing recent record scores...

An early-ish LP from
The Spotnicks, ▶
Sweden's influential rock instrumental band, formed in 1961 and still at it.

- Click over to YouTube for a couple of 1960's Spotnicks video clips:
'Please Say Yes' and 'Rocketman'



Those curious to hear the Exotica Harmonica sound of Tommy Morgan ▼ from this 1958 LP should follow this link.

A nice cover from the always-fetching Sylvie Vartan, ▼ Queen of the '60's French ye-ye girls.

I seem to recall April March paying homage to this cover on one of her mid-'90's projects, in suitable fashion.



YouTube has a clip or two of Polish actress Barbara Rylska ▼ in action in the early 1960's...

Saxophonist Vido Musso ▶ had played with Stan Kenton and several other top Big Band leaders in the '40's.
This solo album was released on the Crown record label in 1954.










Hattie Noel ▼ was a
singer / comedienne, and a stage and film actress who tended to play the maid roles not performed by Hattie McDaniel or
Louise Beavers.

In a bizarre little footnote, it's come to light recently that she also acted as the Disney studio's animators model for the dancing hippo sequence in 1940's 'Fantasia'.



'Spoonerizer' and Grand Ole Opry star Archie Campbell ▼ was still a few years away from joining the cast of 'Hee-Haw' when he released his 'Cockfight and Other Tall Tales' album in 1966.



Center-Square Paul Lynde's ▼ 1960 comedy LP can currently be heard over at Way Out Junk!

Cartoonist Mort Drucker was a staple of MAD magazine, and is no stranger to record covers, but I'd never seen this one, 'The LBJ Menagerie' from 1968. ▼

It's another '60's political humor album, full of comedic impersonations.
I suppose that just like it's precursor, Vaugh Meader's 1962 'First Family' LP, it's sales future was marred by another Kennedy assassination...

- You can read more about Mort Drucker's art and technique in a thoughtful entry over at
Illustration Art.



Speaking of MAD artists, there's Wally Wood on this risqué (by 1964 standards) 'party' album. ▼



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Above, ▲ - - well, words fail. I guess one can polka to anything, if they set their mind to it...

Below, ▼ ridin' in style with The Willis Brothers.

Starday Records was THE place in the sixties for cool country album covers. (Especially if you like cars, girls, and trucks)






















































Below, ▼ one from Buzz Martin, 'The Poet Laureate of the Logging Industry".



















































Ray Charles struck gold when he first began blending C&W with R&B.
He put out several such albums, but here's one I haven't encountered very often.▼

- Please follow this link to my flickr gallery of vintage graphics from 70 classical album covers!

Recently I posted several images of LP covers, and at one point I mentioned Alex Steinweiss, the pioneering graphic designer who first had the idea of 'album cover art'.

Prior to his efforts for Columbia Records beginning in 1939, the covers to multi-disc 78-rpm 'album' sets of records were fairly generic - - often referred to as 'tombstone' covers, a featureless square with just a plain square label of text.

Steinweiss' ideas and the bold visual language he created soon caught on, the idea became the norm, and eventually the sky was the limit for the manner in which the cover image on a record could be used to represent the music within.

The gallery of cover images that I've posted at flickr are mostly from the 1940's and 50's, and all are from albums that are some flavor of classical music or classical vocal.

I love the broad strokes and bold colors, the manner in which the artists work with the economy of the printing style available to them, and how that all changes over time.

There are several examples of Steinweiss work in the genre - - which are always fun to see - - but I suppose at this point I get more excited by the examples of other designers working in the field; often under-represented, with innovations of their own.

Certainly some of them are Steinweiss imitators, but given the context of the era, let's just call them 'followers, fellows, and the next wave'.

- Please follow this link to my flickr gallery of vintage graphics from 70 classical album covers!

One note: I'm an enthusiast, I'm not an expert.
I'm excited to share these images for the enjoyment of the graphics, and share what little information I have.

PLEASE feel free to share your own information regarding any of the cover art designers, the musical performances and performers, your own memories / experiences with these records and what it is that makes them special.

Thanks!