Iconic Album Covers

The Velvet Underground & Nico

If there’s one iconic album artwork
that almost everyone will know is and
Andy Warhol piece it’s this one. The 1967
self-titled album from Factory superstars,
The Velvet Underground. The band were a
plaything of sorts for Warhol who managed
the group briefly. With Lou Reed and John
Cale at his songwriting disposal, Warhol
was entrusted with the album artwork.

Count Basie

Next up was the self-titled record
of jazz pianist Count Basie which featured
a stunning portrait fo the man
himself.The musician’s face only enhanced by
the block type, it’s a classic piece of
Warhol arrangement that confirmed Basie’s
position as a cultural icon — the very kind Warhol
would make famous later in his career.

Emoitons in Motion

Billy Squier can count himself among the
plethora of stars to have been given his
very own Warhol portrait. The album was a
second consecutive top 5 entry into the
charts and featured the hit song ‘Everybody
Wants You’.Though not on the same level of
fame as the rest of the entries on our list,
there’s something about Squier that drew
Andy Warhol to him.

Blue Lights

Blue Lights is another album to be
graced by Warhol’s work as the record
from American jazz guitarist Kenny
Burrell recorded in 1958 and released
on the Blue Note label as two 12 inch
LPs entitled Volume 1 and Volume 2.While
Warhol wasn’t exactly picking and choosing
his projects at this stage in his career,
jazz offered the artist a form of
expression that he could understand.

The Academy in Peril

Warhol’s next venture would see him
reunite with The Velvet Underground’s
John Cale on his 1972 masterpiece The
Academy in Peril.The record was the
second solo album by the Camarthen
native with Warhol reverting to a more
signature aesthetic than with his work
with The Rolling Stones.Warhol is clearly
making sure his trademark was left behind.

The Painter

The New Yorker then took four years off
working on record covers before producing
this portrait of Paul Anka for the Canadian
singer-songwriter’s 1976 effort The Painter.
Paul Anka doesn’t quite hit the same levels
of rock appreciation as say the Velvet
Underground or the Rolling Stones. But he’s
an icon nevertheless and the lounge singer
gets his reward with this classic Warhol cover.

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