One of the greatest joke album covers, the boxer was already a perfect image for the Pogues, but don’t miss the subtle bit of play here. (The word “peace” of course has five letters.) 71: Rush: Moving Pictures (design by Hugh Syme) This album cover was more of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the die-cut edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall design and giving an instant visual image to the top-hatted Dave Mason. 50: Elton John: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (design by David Larkham and Michael Ross)

One of the psych era’s great hallucinations, the famous album cover for Moby Grape’s 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly landscape with the world’s largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed. 77: Kayne West: Yeezus (design by Kanye West and Virgil Abloh) Most of the classic Blue Note coverswere full of bright graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of exclamation marks!). Not so with John Coltrane’s Blue Train, whose cool album cover photo and mood lighting marked it as a work to take seriously. The abstraction of the Talking Heads’ beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 record Speaking in Tongues couldn’t have better represented the music within. It would have been rated higher if the thing wasn’t so tough to store. 73: The Mothers of Invention: We’re Only In It for the Money (design by Cal Schenkel) This is a one-time only, strictly Limited Ddition box set, never to be remade, showcasing why Devo was, and still is, one of the most important bands in American history. De-evolution is real. The art of Devo is real. Here is the evidence. The winning Fever Dreams cover by Paul Phillips at True Spilt Milk Designs, sees a figure floating in a swimming pool, a Doe sleeping peacefully beside the pool, star light and dreams bouncing off the water, whilst seemingly growing from the surrounding trees, a giant sleeping bear hovers over the scene. Playing with the idea of scale, the image conveys Villagers' singer/songwriter Conor O'Brien's creative ideas of serenity juxtaposed with a feeling of threat and the Ursa Major constellation connection from the record. The artwork continues with a unique design concept of three more die-cut interchangeable sleeves by the artist, using images of a 'fever dream' of an Elk, Eagle and Snake that are also represented by constellations.Jefferson Airplane’s Long John Silver hails from the golden age of elaborate album covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Airplane gave you a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photo. 94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (design by Kenneth Cappello) This Reagan-era concept album makes its visual point by using a photo of Beatles records being burned that followed John Lennon’s “more popular than Jesus” remarks. But in this case, the photo is a Mobius strip, and the album they’re burning is the very one they’re standing in. 41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (design by Austin Hale and Amy Fucci) I totally Agree with the one that Requested “Crime Of The Century” rather than “Breakfast In America” of Supertramp’s Covers. Their debut album pictured Oasis in the world’s coolest crash pad, showing every band of the era how it ought to be living. 36: Grace Jones: Island Life (design by Jean-Paul Goude) The design-centric 4AD label did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering image is undeniably beautiful, yet you never know just what it means…just like their music. 81: James Brown: Hell (design by Joe Belt)

The Nominees and Winners of the Best Art Vinyl Award feature in numerous exhibitions in the UK and across Europe, and can be viewed on artvinyl.com. All of the designs will be displayed in the unique Art Vinyl Flip Frame which allows instant access to the music and additional inner sleeve designs.

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The first Flip Frame 'Play & Display' now has over half a million customers that are passionate about art and music. With a host of music and design clients, Memory Box under the 'Art Vinyl' banner is well qualified to reach out to the people that are passionate about art and design in music. It may be a more glamorous cover after her first two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare’s Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer image comes at a cost. Though Steely Dan was long associated with Los Angeles, the cover for Pretzel Logic (actually shot at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York. as their life’s calling, likening it to the art of comedy. “It’s putting someone at ease, helping their

The perfect cover for a cool, sensual and futuristic concept album, this captures Janelle Monáe’s depth and mystery and is a beautiful piece of art in its own right. 26: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (design by Mati Klarwein)PiL’s follow-up to their famous Metal Box album cover was even cooler, showing non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous look in her eyes. 87: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (design by Andy Warhol) If The Beatles could do a double “ White Album,” the Bee Gees could do a fuzzy red one. The red velvet cover, with gold embossed lettering, served notice that Odessa was going to be unique and beautiful, which it was. Discourse around the relevance of the album format and physical records have waxed and waned in the streaming era. Listen here 57: The Mamas & The Papas: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (design by Guy Webster)

With all four bandmembers together in a bathtub, the cover said more about The Mamas & The Papas than what was probably intended. The toilet on the original cover of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears also proved to be a no-no in 1966. The Allmusic review stated "This series of studio sessions from 1960 [...] find the trumpeter in great form". [3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the album as "close to perfect, [...] measured, unflashy but deeply felt". [4]

The ubiquitous Hipgnosis team outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is not only inspired by one of the songs (the phone sex-themed “Don’t Hang Up”) but is full of hidden gags, with the same people turning up in each of the four main photos. 17: XTC: Go 2 (design by Hipgnosis) For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Cars’ concept a step further by enlisting the younger, edgier pin-up artist (known professionally as Olivia) to paint her. Of course, it got an extra dimension by playing with Love’s own image at the time. 89: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (design by Michael Cooper) RCA wasted no time in cleaning up Elvis, who’d look completely respectable on all future albums. Meanwhile, his debut allowed him to look like the crazed hillbilly everyone’s parents feared he was, captured in mid-song at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which of course leads us to… 2: The Clash: London Calling (photo by Pennie Smith, design by Ray Lowry) Art is an album by trumpeter Art Farmer, featuring performances recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Argo label. [1] :18 Farmer stated in 1995 that the album, which consists mainly of ballads, was his favorite.