Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Interesting topic; funny how you describe the images in the exact same way you describe scores.
As good as the descriptions are, an image might still be helpful.
Here is what I have found, to accompany quotes from the column...


PEYTON PLACE. Just two lovers surrounded by blue. Simple, elegant. The first PICNIC album sports a dramatic black & white photo of William Holden and Kim Novak, surrounds it in black. A dash of pink(!) behind the title adds contrast, an ever-so-slight splash of unusual color. Great concept, Decca!


http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/imag ... A20522.jpg

(note: a follow-up to this column could be a comparison of the various covers; SoundtrackCollectors, from which the image is linked, has images of such variant covers)

(note 2: although the images were displayed in teh preview, they no longer show up now I have posted the message. Hm, now it works. I copy the links below each image / red cross, just in case)


A dramatic variant of the single photo concept shows up on the American ZULU album. United Artists blows up a stunning color shot of men locked in battle, surrounds it in black, then lets a complicated title logo in bright orange dominate!


http://www.geocities.com/jaoll/barry/covers/zulu-lp.jpg


MAN IN THE MIDDLE

(Couldn't find it)


The original Project 3 LP for PLANET OF THE APES took part of the poster art campaign, (just the cage) and spread it in black & white over an all-white background. Slicing through the top are twin boxes, neatly dividing between titles (white on black) and a solitary full color photo. Someone worked on this one for awhile!


http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/imag ... RD5023.jpg


KINGS GO FORTH improves on a film campaign, takes it to high art. Starting with extraordinary black & white drawings of the actors (Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis), Capitol then judiciously assigns small blotches of color behind select parts of the drawings. No realism here, the colors are a rainbow unto themselves. Blue, green, yellow, orange, red. The results are powerful.


http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/imag ... PL1004.jpg


Paramount focused their 1961 campaign for Brando's ONE EYED JACKS with a cartoon-ish shot of the actor sporting a weird sort of grin. But Liberty Records trumped this with a stunning painting of Brando as you wanted to see him. Intense, brooding. Brando staring you down! I can't claim to know where the origins of this incredible art really start but I can say the results were stunning enough to make Paramount drop their initial campaign and embrace the LP art when they re-issued the movie later in the decade.


http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/imag ... M16001.jpg


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I know there are books on LP covers, but don't have any, nor can remember any title.

I only found out about this week, and have added it to my amazon cart. I could browse through it, and it is a splendid collection of cover art; I supposed LP cover art might be included.

I cant believe it!!!! Doug, you've gotta be kidding me. There is an LP from Canada on the Mainstream label called Elmer Bernsteien - A Man and his Movies which has got the greatest art cover ever, probably. It is the reason I bought the album. Check it out! i'm sure you'll definitely agree

The one album cover that grabbed me at an early age was the one for MGM's GRAND PRIX...the artwork was bright AND colorful. The logo was exciting and the fact that it was a gatefold cover,that had more photos and notes inside...it was my favorite. If only all movie soundtack albums were THIS good.
Another gatefold cover that was a favorite was Jack Davis art for IT"S A MAD MAD MAD WORLD, with everyone in the cast and creation on the cover...
Any thing that featured Davis' work was money well spent...My personal favorite is the cover for THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING
THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING
a cartoonist's nirvana.

Walk on the Wild Side wins hands down.
Tom

_________________
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance...that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
Herbert Spencer