nightcat
Member
I've followed A&M from since around 1965. Like most of us, I was a big fan of the music the A&M label produced. In addition to the great sound of the label, were the excellent album covers. It was evident that a lot of thought went into creating the covers. Great photography combined with creative designs and cool fonts were the the trademarks of A&M jackets. Then suddenly at some point in the very early 70s, there was a major change in album cover design. Gone was the thought and preparation. The covers suddenly lacked the imagination and creativity that the earlier ones had. And things seemed to get even worse in the 80s. Recently I looked at 2 Sergio Mendes lps from the early 80s. One just called "Sergio Mendes" and "Confetti", The covers looked like they were hastily put together by someone with no artistic ability. Now compare these covers with "Equinox" or "Fool On The Hill", and you'll see what I mean. Now, I'm sure there are some examples of decent A&M covers after the early seventies and even into the eighties, but in general, I see a huge decline in quality. Did A&M have make a change in the art director or the graphic designer around 1970? And was a similar change made in the early 1980s? Also, I'm curious if anyone else concurs with my viewpoint?