Classic Album Covers

The Royal Mail have issued a set of postage stamps featuring classic album covers - see here.

The idea is not that these are necessarily the best albums, but that the covers have an iconic status. I guess they must have agreed not to include Sergent Pepper.

I've come up with five, in no particular order.

1. Yes Relayer

Not the best Yes album, but one of the finest Roger Dean covers. Dean created a look for Yes albums which always made, and still makes, them stand out as a Yes album.

2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon

The Royal Mail are using Division Bell, but I think the minimalism and starkness of Dark Side has the edge. There is a connection between this vivid image the music presented on this classic album contained behind a classic cover.

3. Queen Live Killers

This cover portrays the energy and excitement of the Live Killers tour, I was fortunate enough to see the Live Killers tour in Glasgow in Dec 1979. One of the truly great live albums and the cover really lets you know that.

4. The Rolling Stones Only Rock 'n' Roll

Perhaps an unusual choice, but this image shouts Rolling Stones. The crowd, dressed in flimsy clothing all focused upon the images of the band, just reaching the bottom of that impressive staircase with its red carpet. A marvellous image for a 1970's rock band.

5. Led Zeppelin In Through The Out Door

The Royal Mail are using Led Zepplin IV (or whatever its called) on a stamp. I've chosen this cover as a classic example of big band whimsy. The first image shows the outer, brown paper cover (my copy didn't have the Japanese side bar), I think the idea was that this would be discarded to reveal the inner cover - but most people kept the whole thing in the brown paper bag. The inner cover is a sepia tone image of someone in a bar, like Rick's Cafe from Casablanca. This is another image that really goes with the contents of the album.

I found this quite difficult, it is hard to separate the cover from the music and so difficult not to pick your favourite albums and assume the cover is a classic. What would your top five be?