From Library Journal
In this visual history of the seven-inch record-or the 45, as it is also known-Drate is out to prove that one can judge something by its cover. A graphic artist for the music industry, he divides his text by decade spanning the 1950s to the 1990s, reproducing in full color and actual size more than 200 sleeves to show the 45's evolution from Top 40 mainstay to indie rock accoutrement. Each era is introduced by a different graphic artist (e.g., Eric Kohler, Roger Dean), and the featured musicians and artists range from Sammy Davis Jr. to Stereolab and from Pablo Picasso to R. Crumb, respectively. Because pop music is part delivery and part package, record covers could be visual jams and outtakes. At best, the single scabbard reflected or complemented the music it encased. As Dean explains while kicking off the chapter on the 1970s, the single "was the natural venue for these experiments, a medium in which a designer could try things out, relax a bit, have fun." Even without an accompanying soundtrack, 45 RPM is indeed a fun look at rock'n'roll as art wearing its low-brow penchants on its sleeve. It's also the first book of its kind. Recommended for all libraries and for people who buy baseball cards for the bubblegum.Eric Hahn, Fargo, ND Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Singles, 45s, 7-inchers-they have many names, but come in only one package: a square of folded cardboard with a miniature poster on either side. The gold standard of Top 40 playlists for some four decades after their introduction in 1949, these small albums have long been the favorites of DJs and collectors, who prize them for their genius of small-scale graphic design. 45 RPM is the first ever collection of 7-inch sleeves. Organized chronologically, it juxtaposes more than 200 albums, from all genres of music, chosen for their inventive design. It includes albums by such legendary artists as Paul Anka, the Beatles, the Boston Pops, the Clash, Donovan, Dizzy Gillespie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, the Ramones, REM, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, Frank Sinatra, Talking Heads, and many others. Music historian Chuck Granata provides a general introduction to the history of the 45, its place in the music business, and the designers who created the covers. Each decade of design is introduced by a specialist in that period: Eric Kohler on the 1950s, Spencer Drate on the 1960s, Roger Dean (designer of the acclaimed albums for the band Yes) on the 1970s, Bob Grossweiner on the 1980s, and Art Chantry on the 1990s and contemporary design.


About the Author
Spencer Drate is an author and designer for the music industry whose clients have included John Lennon, the Beach Boys, U2, Bon Jovi, Bob Marley, Billy Joel, and many others. His books include Designing for Music and Cool Type. He is a member of the Grammy Award Committee for record design and lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Singles, 45s, 7-inchers-they have many names, but come in only one package: a square of folded cardboard with a miniature poster on either side. The gold standard of Top 40 playlists for some four decades after their introduction in 1949, these small albums have long been the favorites of DJs and collectors, who prize them for their genius of small-scale graphic design.

45 RPM is the first ever collection of 7-inch sleeves. Organized chronologically, it juxtaposes more than 200 albums, from all genres of music, chosen for their inventive design. It includes albums by such legendary artists as Paul Anka, the Beatles, the Boston Pops, the Clash, Donovan, Dizzy Gillespie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Curtis Mayfield, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, the Ramones, REM, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, Frank Sinatra, Talking Heads, and many others.

Music historian Chuck Granata provides a general introduction to the history of the 45, its place in the music business, and the designers who created the covers.

Each decade of design is introduced by a specialist in that period: Eric Kohler on the 1950s, Spencer Drate on the 1960s, Roger Dean (designer of the acclaimed albums for the band Yes) on the 1970s, Bruce Licher on the 1980s, and Jeff Kleinsmith on the 1990s and contemporary design.

Author Biography: Spencer Drate is an author and designer for the usic industry whose clients have included John Lennon, the Beach Boys, U2, Bon JOvi, Bob Marley, Billy Joel, and mnay others. His books include Designing for Music and Cool Type. He is a member of the Grammy Award Committee for record design and lives in New York City.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

"The '45' is here to stay, and let there be no doubt about it!" These were the words of Frank Folsom, the president of RCA Victor, who unveiled the revolutionary seven-inch, forty-five-r.p.m. record in 1949. Folsom may have been guilty of wishful thinking (the introduction of the compact disk in the nineteen-eighties spelled doom for the 45), but his statement remains fairly accurate: vintage singles, made of "indestructible" vinyl, remain the stuff of collectors' avid nostalgia, spurred on as much by the records' eye-catching packaging as by the crackly sounds retained in their microgrooves. The art of the 45 -- which included contributions from Pablo Picasso -- is explored in the forthcoming 45 RPM, a mammoth tribute to the orphaned format edited by Spencer Drate, himself a graphic designer for the music industry.

The consumer-friendly packaging of pop music predates records, as documented American Life In Our Piano Benches, by Jean M. Bonin. This tidy collection of sheet-music art includes everything from the 1882 anti-vermin anthem "Rough on Rats" to the megahit of 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag," by Scott Joplin.

Rock archivist Michael Ochs owns about a hundred thousand long-playing records. A sliver of his collection is reproduced in 1000 Record Covers, a brick-like tome that traces the colorful evolution of the twelve-inch format introduced by Columbia in 1948. From early rock-and-roll covers that actually depicted rocks and kaiser rolls to Roger Dean's "Hobbit"-inspired fantasias to a profusion of "Abbey Road" spoofs (including one featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers clad only in tube socks), "1000 Record Covers" is a tribute to the days when looking at a record was as exciting as listening to it.(Mark Rozzo)

Library Journal