Art Sleeves: Album Covers by Artists sidesteps redundancy by eschewing covers of ancient classics for albums mostly released over the past three decades and showcasing covers solely for their intrinsic art value rather than the music contained inside. Not that there aren’t some classics included: editor DB Burkeman included such well-known items as The Pixies’ Doolittle, The Breeders’ Pod, New Order’s Power, Corruption, & Lies, and Radiohead’s Amnesiac. But Art Sleeves is unique because its visual artists are often more familiar than its musical ones. It contains works by Cindy Sherman, Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Matthew Barney, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, and other household-name artists. Sometimes there is overlap between cover artist and musical artist as when Art Sleeves presents the collage work of Robert Pollard, the whimsical doodles of Daniel Johnston, the photography of Alan Vega, and the flyer art of Kim Gordon. Such variety puts the artfulness of album covers in stark relief. Pop art, comic art, classical painting, sculpture, and pure design are also represented in Art Sleeves. Morning Breath Inc.’s double-picture disc, cover, and inner sleeve design for Extraterrestria by former Rock Steady Crew member DJ Q-Bert is the most complete and eye-popping piece of visual-vinyl art I’ve ever seen.
