ABSTRACT
A term loosely applied to all packaging for discs, whether singles or parts of album sets, with particular reference to the graphic art involved. Most 78 rpm singles were offered in plain wrappers, possibly with advertising of the label’s other records; 78 rpm albums often had portraits of the performers or composers, or reproductions of art works. LP popular and jazz albums began to show livelier scenes, including psychedelic art on rock covers, and eventually there emerged the notion of the cover as an “artistic statement.” With the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album by the Beatles (1967) the cover was said to be “as important as the recorded material itself. The Beatles extended the theme of the album to the cover, and the ‘total-package’ idea was born.” [Denisoff 1986, p.189] On popular albums this idea often led to controversy, with nudity or representations of violence bringing organized opposition. In the 1980s offensive graphics became scarcer. In the classical field, album art has remained limited to artist portraits, evocative photographs, pictures of the instruments, and representations of paintings. An exhibition of the album cover as art, said to be the first of its kind, was presented at the Galerie Beaumont, Luxembourg, in 1989. [Denisoff 1986; Garlick 1977.]
The number assigned to an album (set) of discs by the manufacturer. In the 78 rpm era individual disc numbers bore no relation to the album numbers (e.g., Decca’s 1946 Ink Spots album is #A-477, while the discs themselves are numbered 23632 to 23635). Closer relationship between album and disc numbers can be found in LP issues (e.g., Columbia’s Dave Brubeck Quartet-Jazz Impressions of New York has album number CS 9075, and the disc within has the same number; a monophonic version, however, carried the album number CL 2275.) Album numbers can vary with the country of issue: for example, CBS #D2 37852, Rondine, was made in Holland and issued in Europe in 1983; the USA-Canadian release has a different prefix, #12M 37852. The single disc carries the same number as the album. Angel’s three-disc album of the Mozart string quartets, issued under their Seraphim label, is #SIC 6028, while the discs are numbered consecutively by side: #YRX-X-1405 to #YRX-X-1410.
