I am a true Beatlemaniac, so do bear with me – you’ll be seeing a lot more of them in this blog. Now, that’s not really the only reason why, of course. They were indeed groundbreakers, with their music, their attitudes, and their album covers.
Take this one, for example. By today’s standard, it’s nothing super special. Back in 1965, though, this was really out there.
First, you’ve got the tilted and elongated photo, plus all those dark, broody colors. Then, there’s the psychedelic title, the first I’m really familiar with. Finally, there’s no band name (pretty much unheard of at the time).
Just to give you some idea of what the standard fare was back then, here are some pretty lame offerings from some actually pretty cool groups:
Though Bob Freeman (photography) and Charles Front (typography) are credited with the art on this one, it’s really the first cover where the boys took over, directing the whole effort. Freeman did some other work for group. You may be seeing some more of him here.
The album itself was also the band’s first venture into being something more than just the lads from Liverpool. In it, they introduced a more folk feel, with a real emphasis on more meaningful lyrics. It’s also a wonderful example of the things that can be accomplished in the studio, as well as one of the first albums that wasn’t just a string of singles, but had a real feel and theme of its own.
It was actually pretty transitional, not only for the Beatles, but for rock and pop music in general. It is invariably ranked between 5 and 10 on numerous greatest album lists. / The hits of course were many – “Nowhere Man,” “Norwegian Wood,” “Michelle” ... On a personal note, my first record ever was a 45 of that last one.
A couple more nice covers from that era (and both Freemans as well):
Yes, he did so some stuff for people other than the Beatles:
All great covers invariably generate parodies:
This one, though, is real (and is a ukulele version of the album to boot):
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