Some from the 70s…
No introduction necessary.
I did look on line for one that showed the embossed writing but could find one.
I too loved the Roger Dean covers back in the 70s.
In the mid 70s, I was studying Architecture at University, and in my first year there was a fine-arts element of the course. Every week we were given a theme, and each Monday morning we had to present two A2 size paintings on that theme to be critiqued in front of the class.
Now, at the time I was more into playing football than studying at University, and so my paintings were normally completed at home overnight on Sunday/Monday morning, listening to my favourite music programmes on Radio Clyde, and dried off with a hairdryer just in time for me to catch an early morning bus into Uni on Monday morning.
This normally worked out quite well for me, and my paintings were generally quite well received. However, on one occasion I was particularly short of inspiration for the given theme, and in desperation I looked towards my LP collection, and in particular a number of Yes album covers. I thought there was no way that our fine-arts lecturer at Uni would know anything about Yes or Roger Dean, and so I decided to incorporate (copy/plagiarize) a couple of elements from two of the Yes album covers into my painting. Once I was finished, I was quite pleased with the result and happily pinned them on the wall at Uni in th emorning for the critique session.
Unfortunately, Roger Dean is apparently not too great on human anatomy and sizing, because our art teacher proceeded at length to tell me that the anatomy of the figure I had plagiarized from one of the covers was completely wrong. I couldn’t very well claim that the figure was a pretty much exact copy of the figure in the album cover.
My final humiliation was on the way out of the class, when the lecturer turned to me and said -
“Nice albums by the way, aren’t they?”
Luckily, I did still pass the Fine-Arts element of my course at the end of the year.
Maybe not iconic to most music lovers but this album cover brought Magnum to heightened popularity.
Rodney Mathews did this one as well as 2 previously released albums and the last half dozen or so
It’s so tough to make a definitive decision here, but my personal choice would probably be this one;
I’ve chosen the US issue as it’s cleaner without the artist and title on the front.
@Hmack It’s funny you should mention the influence of Roger Dean…
I was an illustrator (not a painter) long before I was a Graphic Designer. I still have this pencil drawing, from when I was 14. This was just a personal project using a reference and style I liked.
The original Uriah Heep cover of Wizards and Demons was posted recently on the listening thread by @SteveC and @Debs.
Certainly caught the eye
And his hand
It seems Rodney Mathews was a bit of a busy boy back in the day because he also did this one as well
Nazareth - No Mean City
Not iconic I know but it does look pretty awesome
Yes busy from 1970’s to 2010’s
If you search Rodney Mathews Album covers and on his Studio website there is a discography
Lots and lots to look at
Some are direct commissions some are taken from his ‘normal’ output and used for album artwork
One of my thrills was to see Battersea power station through the window of the train from Heathrow to Paddington