3 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "1980s" design theme, all from the 1980s. These covers sit within the alternative, pop, punk, metal, rock tradition and feature work by Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Black Sabbath. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
Cocteau Twins' Treasure cover turns photography into atmosphere. Created by 23 Envelope, the 4AD design partnership of Vaughan Oliver and Nigel Grierson, its pale, blurred forms resist easy identification and give the album a visual language as elusive as Elizabeth Fraser's vocals.
Kate Bush turned a lyric from 'Houdini' into the cover of The Dreaming: she plays Bess Houdini, a key held between her lips as she leans toward Del Palmer. The sepia photograph turns an escape trick into an intimate, uncanny image about secrecy, trust and release.
Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell cover was never painted for the band. Lynn Curlee had already created Smoking Angels as a gallery work, inspired by a photograph of costumed performers backstage at a small-town Christmas pageant, when Sabbath's management called looking for an image that could save a stalled sleeve.