1001 Albums Summary

One of the most beautiful albums ever recorded - can be played back-to-back without fatigue.

Excellent. Timeless

From the era when records belonged to artists and not crap marketing departments. A genius album with a title that would be marketing dept rejected and a cover that has to be one of the best to ever keep the dust of a record.

A fabulous concept albume further enhanced by the astounding artwork by Barry Godber. The artwork was universally adopted and must have sold many copies of the album by those mesmerised by its power.

I didn’t buy it when it was released as I didn’t like it. I now played it 10 times back to back as it’s highly regarded just in case I was wrong. But I wasn’t. It’s rubbish. I like the sleeve though. Ron Coro – art direction Johnny Lee – design. Elliot Gilbert – photography

This is awful. I would have to be off my face to enjoy this

For posh people who don’t like music but think they do

Music is ok in a 1950's vibe. The sleeve is not so nice featuring Primitive Masks from Carlebach Galleries NewYork photographed by Lester Kraus and an average type layout. Standard b/w reverse layout by a printer. Roulette 1958 pressing has good, graphic, generic labels.

Great music wrapped in an excellent cover designed by Peter Saville and Martyn Atkins. Front layout is well considered with a fine border and some delicate type. The reverse and inner bag have been laid out with care. Factory records allowed the band's name to appear on the reverse and just the album title on the front. Very intelligent and mature attitude towards design from the record company, whilst not towing the major record company folklore about a record not selling unless the band's name was big and at the top of the sleeve. The photograph of the Appiani family tomb in Genoa's Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno was taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff in 1978. The tomb is a large work created & sculpted by Demetrio Paernio in 1910. Various versions printed on different card grades could have been on purpose, but more likely the printer's lack of consistency. Still, the overall package is lovely and enjoying the sleeve is part of enjoying the music.

Hmmm - the cover, a painting by Wayne White, is the only thing of value here; the comparisons to Ed Ruscha, just because they both use type, are lazy. Worth looking at Wayne White's other paintings too; even though they are numerous versions of the same idea, they are well executed. Much more interesting than the music.

Music is tragic and the sleeve a horror, designed by the much-respected Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen for Epic Records, Scher, who once designed covers and worked as an art director for major artists such as The Rolling Stones, admits she's “mystified” by the continued interest in this album package. “The Boston cover was designed in 1976 and is now 39 years old,” she says. “It was, and still is, in my opinion, a mediocre piece of work.” The Atlantic 2015 (edited) A space-shaped guitar destroying Earth - what were they thinking?

So a record executive has a great idea - use an unremarkable press shot for the sleeve - genius - retouch her teeth and bleach the whites of her eyes and slap some type on the top and another iconic sleeve is born. Larry Busacca, who took the photo, is often not credited. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. He's a bit cheesed. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsn8bBLlAE8/ Not much worth listening to on this album unless you like paper-thin lyrics and dull tunes. 'The beat goes on' is a nice song, but this is not a good cover.