Thursday 7 January 2010

Classic album cover stamps out today

Royal Mail have released their latest themed postage-stamp sets today - Classic Album Covers. Ten record sleeves in all, this collection spans mainly rock and several decades.

With releases like this there's always going to be debate, and I'll start it off by asking why Pink Floyd's "Division Bell" was included over "Dark Side of the Moon" and why Coldplay is here at all. Also, where is Duran Duran's "Rio"? Patrick Nagel did some amazing popart in his time and the Rio cover is his most notable work.

The other covers  are what you'd expect: Blur's "Parklife", New Order's "Power, Corruption and Lies", Rolling Stones' "Let it Bleed", The Clash's "London Calling", Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells", Led Zeppelin's "IV", Primal Scream's "Screamadelica" and David Bowie's seminal 1972 masterpiece "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars".

It's interesting seeing these classic covers this small. It echoes the argument of music artwork when CDs became popular and the 12" x 12" piece of art for a record was shrunk down to fit a 5" CD. Now they quite literally are postage-stamp size.

The cost varies for the set depending on how extravagent you want to be (Presentation Pack, Stamp Cards, Prestige Stamp Book, Souvenir Sheet or Cover), and you can find them all on the Royal Mail site. A collection featuring all the permutations can be had for a little over £12.

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