100 BEST ALBUM COVERS: #3. Continues next week.

Caffe` Latte` presents…

THE 100 BEST

ALBUM COVERS

 

3

LET IT BLEED

THE ROLLING STONES

(1969)

Robert Brownjohn, a good friend of Keith Richards, designed the cover depicting the 'Let It Bleed' album with a phonograph needle. Stacked above it is a pizza, a tyre and a film cannister with the group and album's names on a label. Placed on top of this stack is a cake decorated with figurines of the Rolling Stones. Rising culinary writer and cook Delia Smith baked the cake. 

The beauty of this cover is that is open to a variety of interpretations. Is it a statement of the time; as the world headed towards a new decade? Was it meant to reflect the group's music?

Firstly, one must also bear in mind that Brownjohn's concept was based on the album's initial title 'Automatic Changer', which explains why all the items are on the record stacker, which would play vinyl discs in the order in which they were piled.

Secondly, the fate of the cake and the other items is revealed on the back cover. Everything ends in shambolic fashion. It is interesting that the only figurine Brownjohn left standing was that of his friend Richards. He is still strumming atop the mess, where even the vinyl is smashed.