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This work is derived from the cover of one of the greatest albums of all time. It's amazing how such a minimalist design could be rated among the best album covers and it comes from a time when
album cover designs were pretty much part of the listening experience. The cover of the album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band underscored the significance of the cover art design
and the musicologist Ian Inglis once said that "after it's release, album covers were no longer 'a superfluous thing to be discarded during the act of listening, but an integral component
of the listening that expanded the musical experience'".
The White Album's sleeve was designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton, in collaboration with McCartney. Hamilton's design was in stark contrast to Peter Blake's vivid cover art for Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band, and consisted of a plain white sleeve. The band's name was discreetly embossed slightly below the middle of the album's right side, and the cover also featured a
unique stamped serial number, "to create," in Hamilton's words, "the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies." In 2008, an original pressing of the
album with serial number 0000005 sold for £19,201 on eBay. More
Now, for my part, my tweaks are intended for use as wallpapers. I use an 18 x 10 canvass. That's how far I've stretched the original cover art and the result is not quite like an album cover but
the plain white front of a letter envelope. There could be no question about the message inside it. So I finished the work in a minimalist way like Richard Hamilton did, by pasting a
stamp with The Beatles' image on it, and stamping it like it has been posted. "Well you know," is from the song "Revolution".
Here's the original album cover art design.
No. 5, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000; No. 10, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 12, Entertainment Weekly, The 100 Greatest Albums Ever;
No. 13, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 73, Billboard, The 300 Best-Selling Albums of All Time.
No. 3, Rolling Stone, The 100 Greatest Album Covers; No. 7, Music Radar, The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time.
Art Design by Richard Hamilton. Album produced by George Martin and Chris Thomas. Apple 1968.
Having dazzled record-buyers with the Peter Blake-designed cover for Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles had to carefully consider their next move.
They enlisted notable pop artist Richard Hamilton, who designed a plain white sleeve with the group's name lightly embossed on the right-hand side. Art dealer
and gallery owner Robert Fraser arranged for Hamilton to meet Paul McCartney at the Apple offices in Savile Row. On the day, however, McCartney was
so late arriving that the artist nearly walked out.
Paul McCartney: "I tried to get him interested in the whole thing. I laid out what it was we'd got. We'd got an album coming out,
we hadn't really got a title for it. 'I'd like you to work on the cover. We've done Sergeant Pepper. We've worked with a fine artist
before and I just had a feeling you might be right.'"
In addition to suggesting the minimalist approach, Hamilton also had the idea of consecutive numbered sleeves, which was a feature of early copies. In Michael Cooper's
book Blinds and Shutters, Hamilton described the meeting:
"Since Sergeant Pepper was so over the top, I explained, 'I would be inclined to do a very prissy thing, almost like a limited edition.'
He didn't discourage me so I went on to propose a plain white album; if that were too clean and empty, then maybe we could print
a ring of brown stain to look as if a coffee cup had been left on it - but that was thought a bit too flippant. I also suggested that they
might number each copy, to create the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies. This was agreed,
but then I began to feel a bit guilty at putting their double album under plain wrappers; even the lettering is casual, almost invisible,
a blind stamping. I suggested it could be jazzed up with a large edition print, an insert that would be even more glamorous than a
normal sleeve." Full article
(A) Back in the USSR - Dear Prudence - Glass Onion - Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, Wild Honey Pie - The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Happiness is a Warm Gun
(B) Martha My Dear - I'm So Tired - Blackbird - Piggies - Rocky Raccoon - Don't Pass Me By - Why Don't We Do It on the Road? - I Will - Julia
(C) Birthday - Yer Blues - Mother Nature's Son - Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - Sexy Sadie - Helter Skelter - Long, Long, Long
(D) Revolution 1 - Honey Pie - Savoy Truffle - Cry, Baby, Cry - Revolution 9 - Good Night
"Revolution" live from albumania on YouTube.
we hadn't really got a title for it. 'I'd like you to work on the cover. We've done Sergeant Pepper. We've worked with a fine artist
before and I just had a feeling you might be right.'"
In addition to suggesting the minimalist approach, Hamilton also had the idea of consecutive numbered sleeves, which was a feature of early copies. In Michael Cooper's
book Blinds and Shutters, Hamilton described the meeting:
"Since Sergeant Pepper was so over the top, I explained, 'I would be inclined to do a very prissy thing, almost like a limited edition.'
He didn't discourage me so I went on to propose a plain white album; if that were too clean and empty, then maybe we could print
a ring of brown stain to look as if a coffee cup had been left on it - but that was thought a bit too flippant. I also suggested that they
might number each copy, to create the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies. This was agreed,
but then I began to feel a bit guilty at putting their double album under plain wrappers; even the lettering is casual, almost invisible,
a blind stamping. I suggested it could be jazzed up with a large edition print, an insert that would be even more glamorous than a
normal sleeve." Full article
(A) Back in the USSR - Dear Prudence - Glass Onion - Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, Wild Honey Pie - The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Happiness is a Warm Gun
(B) Martha My Dear - I'm So Tired - Blackbird - Piggies - Rocky Raccoon - Don't Pass Me By - Why Don't We Do It on the Road? - I Will - Julia
(C) Birthday - Yer Blues - Mother Nature's Son - Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - Sexy Sadie - Helter Skelter - Long, Long, Long
(D) Revolution 1 - Honey Pie - Savoy Truffle - Cry, Baby, Cry - Revolution 9 - Good Night
"Revolution" live from albumania on YouTube.
