David Hepworth - A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives

1971 Never a Dull Moment

Uncommon People The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars

Nothing is Real The Beatles Were Underrated and
Other Sweeping Statements About Pop

For more information on David Hepworth and his books,
see his website at www.davidhepworth.com

The invention of the long-playing record in 1948 meant all the music on this towering stack of 78s could be contained in the new 33 rpm LPs under the arm of inventor Peter Goldmark. The term album derives from the wallets in which the 78s had been kept.In May 1967 the Beatles unveiled Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts ClubBand and its soon-to-be widely pastiched cover to the media in Brian Epsteins Belgravia home (below). For the first time, you could read their words while listening to their songs.In 1968, young people couldnt afford to simply splash out on LPs and so budget-price compilations like The Rock Machine Turns You On provided an affordable bridge to the songs of people such as Leonard Cohen (below), here embraced by Joni Mitchell at the Newport Folk Festival.Bruce Findlay outside his Edinburgh record shop in 1969, the year he ordered 250 copies of the first King Crimson LP and was forced to replenish his stock by the end of the week.Barry Godber, a computer programmer and friend of the band, painted the striking cover picture of the first King Crimson LP (below) in 1969. He died from a heart attack at the age of twenty-four within months of the albums release.The Band broke all the rules when making their magical second LP. They faced each other in the swimming pool house of a rented Hollywood home. Levon Helms drum kit had been bought at a thrift store. Producer John Simon has his boots on the recording desk.Above and below: Record labels responded to the threat of bootlegs by putting out their own officially sanctioned recordings in covers which consciously mimicked the outlaw-chic of the illegal variety.In the seventies, when hip people didnt have TVs and it was still possible to invite somebody up to listen to your new Van Morrison record without risking mockery, an impressive hi-fi system was the dream of every bachelor.Jack Nicholson gives Crosby, Stills & Nash his undivided attention on his new headphones in 1969. The Buffalo Springfield are poised on the auto changer of his record deck, ready to follow.The cover of the twelve-inch LP record, here modelled by Mick Jagger, was, in the words of one record executive, the most powerful marketing tool the music business had. It made the music on the record inside seem, if anything, more impressive than it actually was.With the encouragement of Atlantic boss Ahmet Ertegun(on the left), Cream made sure their breakthrough LP Disraeli Gears was packed with radio-friendly rockers. The one LP by Claptons next project, the super-group Blind Faith, came in a cover (below) which proved too much for America but could be bought on any UK high street.Above and below: Neil Youngs first big long player, 1970s After The Gold Rush, wasnt just about the music. It also promoted a lifestyle which seemed tantalizingly achievable to anyone who could grow their hair and look deep while reclining on a couch.The back of the LP jacket features a close-up of the artists backside with the credit patches: Susan Young. Youngs look was widely emulated.Above and below: Released in 1972, the first Roxy Music LP marked the arrival of a new aesthetic which self-consciously quoted from the past in both music and pictures and had more credits for people involved in the cover than the record. Like the King Crimson record a few years earlier, it sold right out of the shop window (Overleaf).Neil Bogart of Casablanca Records (on theleft) demanded that Donna Summers Love To Love You Baby be long enough to accompany an orgy. When her album came out in 1975, he had its image baked on a cake and booked two airplane seats to fly it to New York.