I found the final piece to my puzzle this week!  Appropriately it was the December 1969 release with Santa on the cover – the final issued comp from Capitol records that year and the center image that tied the whole year of covers together.  And on the back cover “Merry Christmas from Capitol.”  These kind of promotional compilations showcasing individual tracks from the labels stable of recording artists was de rigueur for the day.  And many had cover themes that tied the year of monthly releases together, but this collection is the best (and only 12-month puzzle I know of).  I was at Groove Merchant on Haight Street in San Francisco a while ago and they have this complete puzzle nicely framed on the wall.

(13 votes, average: 4.69 out of 5)

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Here’s a departure from our many years of posting interesting cover art – the inner sleeve.  I found this one today and it made me nostalgic for those innovative years during the 1960’s when the record labels hired young people to do the marketing and gave them the freedom to be creative and groundbreaking, irreverent and anti-establishment.   You can see this in the packaging, liner notes, advertisements, billboards, promotions and collateral of the time.  Unfortunately, when the business got so big and bloated in the mid-seventies, the crazies that were running the asylum got put back in their rooms and corporate suits took back the reins.   Here’s an example from the guys in the marketing dept. of Buddah Records.  (Click on the cover to enlarge!)

“Temporary Sleeve”

“We sat around for a couple of weeks, here in our offices, trying to figure out what to put on our album sleeves.  It wasn’t easy.  We didn’t want to do a hard sell, the old “show-them-the-other-album-covers” approach … and we didn’t want to get esoteric and cute.  So we blew it!  We didn’t have it ready in time to go to press.  So we did this.  A non-sleeve … the softest sell in music business history.  Just let us say, however, that the album you are now holding is only part of THE BUDDAH GROUP.”

(11 votes, average: 4.64 out of 5)

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Just four of the cool records that we’ve pulled from the LP Cover Lover bins up for sale on eBay now!  Check out LPCOVERLOVERONeBAY for these and others!

(11 votes, average: 3.73 out of 5)

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CBS Special Products (UK)  Specially created for Carr’s “Sports” biscuits (?)  “Themes from James Bond Films”

(12 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)

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Thanks to everyone that shares our site here, on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr too!  If you haven’t already, join us on Facebook now:  We’re going to be adding much more as we countdown to our 10 year anniversary in November 2016.  We’re always trying to bring you just the best cover art and things from our collection that you won’t see anywhere else!  And don’t forget to listen to music everyday!

(8 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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A fake cardboard record inside this cool cover from “Air Express” Records.  A promotional item from Air Express (a precurser to FedX?).  Includes sales puns like “An unbroken record for fastest way shipping since 1927” and “In tune with the kind of delivery consignees expect” and “Harmonizing speed in the air with speed on the ground”  You get the idea.  But I really dig the cover!  As a frequent shipper of records myself, I could use some soothing music.

(19 votes, average: 3.95 out of 5)

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The Harlem Globetrotters animated TV cartoon series on Kirschner Records and “Presenting The Sugar Bears”  on Big Three Records.  Back in the late sixties/early seventies when Saturday morning cartoons and commercials were indistiguishable from each other.  And we were glued to the tube while eating our bowls of cereal without ever looking down.  These and a hundred more cool records from the LP Cover Lover collection are up on the auction block starting this weekend.

(25 votes, average: 3.68 out of 5)

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“You asked for more, Mr. DJ …”  Recorded in 1955  featuring contemporary pop stars of the day each singing the National Guard jingle, “You’re in Style”  (as in you’re in style, when you help your country’s defense forces)  “Every time you play this … platter you help KEEP YOUR GUARD UP”

(21 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5)

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“Fun at the Zoo”  A local promotional release from the Crandon Park Zoo.  With Go-Go the Clown!

(26 votes, average: 3.12 out of 5)

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