The Artwork of Progressive Rock, Part 1

A large part of Progressive Rock's character and finesse comes from the album sleeves that go along with it. This month, we'll be taking a look at what goes into those album covers. A cursory glance at a group of prog albums will reveal a few patterns. For one, there's either going to be an abundance of color or very little color at all. Secondly, nature plays heavily into the artwork. Last but not least, unlike pop genres, little emphasis is placed upon the name of the group or the album title on the cover.

Much like the music itself, the panache of the prog cover traces back to its mother genre, late 60's psychedelic rock. As well chronicled in Strom Thorgoson's Classic Album Covers of the 1960's, around 1966 there was a sudden explosion of vibrant, experimental and colorful album covers which replaced the boring, run-of-the-mill endless array of men in suits that had dominated 50's and early 60's covers. Just look at the difference between the covers of Early Rolling Stones albums and the holographic Their Satanic Majesty's Request and you can see that sudden burst of energy in action. The new art matched the new music with its sense of daring and adventure. Then, it disappeared just as suddenly as it came in around 1968 or 1969, with covers going back to the basics. This is a little harder to explain. I think it might have to do with the return to minimalism of the Beatles and the Stones covers in 1968, since they were always trend setters.

Prog artwork took a bit longer right out of the gate. Dark colors or heavily altered photos or cartoons of the band donned a lot of the albums in the 69-71 period. However, there were many exceptions, including King Crimson's Medieval and Mythological themed Lizard and In the Wake of Poseidon, as well as some psychedelic throwbacks. One of the most interesting is Van Der Graff Generator's H to He Who am the Only One, with it's time on strings theme. It was during the next couple of years following that things really took off, with Roger Dean landscapes and Hipignosis studio photographs making their powerful statements.

To be Continued