4 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 4 album covers documented under the "spiritual" design theme, spanning the 1970s, 1990s. These covers sit within the soul, r&b, funk, reggae, hip-hop tradition and feature work by Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Erykah Badu. 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.
Stevie Wonder's mystical album cover features his face emerging from cosmic darkness, created during his creative peak after negotiating unprecedented artistic control from Motown. The ethereal portrait perfectly captured the spiritual journey of his most introspective masterpiece.
Stevie Wonder's double album featured an innovative fold-out cover with intricate African-inspired border patterns and symbolic imagery representing life's journey. The artwork's cosmic and spiritual elements perfectly matched Wonder's most ambitious musical statement.
Neville Garrick's mystical cover for Bob Marley's Exodus transforms the biblical story into Rastafarian prophecy, featuring a dramatic silhouette of Marley against swirling cosmic energies that perfectly captured the album's spiritual journey from Babylon to Zion.
Marc Baptiste's warm golden portrait of Badu in her signature towering headwrap — a spiritual and cultural statement, not a fashion choice — became the visual template for the neo-soul movement, countering the chrome-and-neon imagery of mainstream 1990s R&B.