With brass bands and orchestras such male dominated musical territories, it could be seen as ironic that almost without exception the actually sleeves feature women cradling the brass instruments. Irony has very little to do with it however, as the overtly phallic nature of some of these cover shots clearly shows!
Label managers clearly felt that the combination of sex and sax was the one that was going to work best, and the cover models lick, fondle, intertwine and stand on top of the instruments in question. EMI drew the line at showing a girl using two trombones as a pair of crutches on a front seeve, so this bizarre image from the Trombones Unlimited album was relegated to the back cover.
Enjoy this selection of some of the other unsubtle images!
Hollywood Brass / Jerry Fielding
HMV EMI CSD 3546 : UK: 1966
Design : unknown. A collection of pop covers done in brass, licensed from ABC Records, USA, with the fabulous mid sixties Empire line frock and hair-do dominating the cover. Note the somewhat battered tuba too! A stock image from Colour Library International.
Instrumentals Forever / James Last
Polydor 184 059 : UK: 1966
Design : unknown. Before Last himself started appearing on his covers, Polydor did some interesting work. Here a nice abstract image is conjured up from the brass instrument.
Sounds Brassy / Various Artists
Decca MOR 8 : UK: 1973
Photograph : Rayment Kirby. A recycling of Decca's sixties orchestral brass material on a 12 album "Sounds" series, aimed at the MOR market. A slightly more in your face cover girl than they'd have risked a decade before inside a cheesy generic border "design".
These Bones Are Made For Walking / Trombones Unlimited
Liberty EMI SLBY 1327 : UK: 1966
Art direction : Woody Woodward. Photo : Peter Whorf. An American recording - if the hair do and jumper don't give it away then the label confirms! 1966 was obviously the year of the brass, and here the musicians tackle a range of popular standards.
Tijuana Style / Bill Shepherd
Allegro ALL 847 : UK: 1967
Design : unknown Allegro was budget label Pickwick's budget label! So no expense incurred here for this quick cash-in on the Tijuana craze, with possibly one of the biggest hats ever seen on a record sleeve.
Tony Bennett's Greatest Hits / Bobby Hackett
Hallmark HM 613 : UK: 1966
Design : unknown Another mid price Pickwick offering, recycling a CBS original by "trumper pundit Bobby". Just a shame they couldn't straighten the woman's blouse before they took the picture! The trumpet looks wedged in as an afterthought.
Pepe Jaramillo / Tijuana Sound
EMI Studio 2 TWOX 1012 : UK: 1974
Design : unknown EMI's long running Studio 2 series had gone mid-price by the early 70s as the market for the easy listening albums it specialised in began to dry up. A nice soft focus leggy cover model, though someone should have told her to blow not lick...!
The Very Best Of Brass / Various Artists
EMI Studio 2 TWOX 1048 : UK: 1975
Design : unknown Ten years on from Hollywood Brass (above) and another Colour Library International cover image, this time selling a compilation of military and brass band numbers from EMI's back catalogue. Studio 2 will be covered on a later page.
Hitsville 2 / Kensington Pop Orchestra
Windmill WMD 141: UK: 1972
Design : unknown The rather nice cover image is given the real budget treatment here, while the music is more pop orchestral than brass. The Kensington Orchstra did a number of such albums for budget labels in the UK.
Silver Saxophones / Knightsbridge Dance Orchestra
Boulevard 4034 : UK: 1971
Design : unknown Another Orchestra assembled for budget recordings by budget labels, though this time the saxophone does feature heavily in the covers of pop standards. The cover photo is from a library but what an amazing image, complete with see-through inflatable chair, dramatic lighting and a suggestively held sax. It's been brrowed by several clubs for flyers in recent months, Boulevard's catalogue will be covered on a later page.
Click on the sleeves for a larger image.
Hawaiian
Guitar / Stars Of Hawaii
RCA
RD 27029 : UK: 1960?
Photographer : Wendy Hilty. A UK release of a 1957 US original (which accounts for the primitive colour separation), with a very Western looking model posing on the cover, posed in a studio and surrounded by pot plants.
Hawaii
/ The Tahitis
Realm
RM 137 : UK : 1963
Photographer : unknown. A somewhat startled looking model dressed in the latest sixities one piece bathing suit, perched precariously on a tree branch while evoking a "mood of sun drenched romanticism" according to the sleeve notes! More old recordings this time recycled by Realm, an off shoot of Oriole Records in New Bond Street.
Click on the sleeves for a larger image.
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