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Favorite record label design(s)

J

johnbasalla

What is/are your favorite record labels to look at?

My favorite is Chelsea Records of the early 1970s when their label had lots of bright colors on it, like red and pink. Later, the while the design stayed the same, the colors were changed to darker colors (like green), which was not as appealing to my eye. Chelsea was an RCA Victor imprint.
"Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast"(1972) by Wayne Newton and "I'm Doin' Fine Now" (1973) by New York City were big hits on the brand in its brightly colored days, while "Get Dancin'" (1974) by Disco Tex and His Sex-o-lettes is an example from Chelsea's later, darker colored era.

I like many others, as well.
 
Prince's... Paisley Park label..pretty cool...plus also featured some wild colored vinyl.
 
ditto on the WB labels from the mid 70's...and im sure most noticed the Fantasy label with CCR is really John Fogerty's initials...as a sidebar the one thing missing from todays music is the album covers...so may greatones to look at over the years, inside liner notes and other pics...much missed...
 
I still have the Parliaments' "(I Wanna) Testify" 45 on the Revilot label, great color combination and design, very much in keeping with the psychedelic era.

Compare that with the label on the Fantastic Johnny C's "Boogaloo Down Broadway" on Phil-L.A. of Soul: ugly yellow with the skeleton of a fish in black. Hard to believe someone though that was clever wordplay at the time.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
The Motown map label was cool, and so was the Mercury label with the fish-eye lens shot of downtown Chicago.
Click to expand...
speaking of Motown.....one of a dozen or more Motown subsidiary labels ...Rare Earth Records-label was a pretty colorful abstract type label. The label was created for the white group Rare Earth, which many credit as being the first white group signed to Motown, but just before they signed, an obscure white groupw as actually signed first...anyone know the the name of the group..100 points for the correct answer...bonus points if you can tell me the artist that brought them to Motown.....
 
hornet61 said:
The label was created for the white group Rare Earth, which many credit as being the first white group signed to Motown,
Click to expand...

Rare Earth may have been the first (and one of the few) white groups signed to Motown, but by no means the first white artist. Debbie Dean ("Why Am I Loving You"), R. Dean Taylor ("Gotta See Jane") & Soupy Sales (an unfunny parody of "McArthur Park) all released singles on Motown or a subsidiary in 1968. None were hits at the time, though R. Dean had success with "Indiana Wants Me" a couple years later on Rare Earth.
 
johnbasalla said:
What is/are your favorite record labels to look at?
Click to expand...

I'd have to add the yellow/orange swirl & red target Capitol labels.

I also liked the yellow-label MGM promo 45s with the lion cub holding a copy of an MGM promo 45.
 
Oldbones said:
hornet61 said:
The label was created for the white group Rare Earth, which many credit as being the first white group signed to Motown,
Click to expand...

Rare Earth may have been the first (and one of the few) white groups signed to Motown, but by no means the first white artist. Debbie Dean ("Why Am I Loving You"), R. Dean Taylor ("Gotta See Jane") & Soupy Sales (an unfunny parody of "McArthur Park) all released singles on Motown or a subsidiary in 1968. None were hits at the time, though R. Dean had success with "Indiana Wants Me" a couple years later on Rare Earth.
Click to expand...
The first white group signed was "Rustix"....some say thanks to Neil young ,then part of a group called the Mynah Byrds(not sure of the spelling here),who had the same management as Rustix. their first producer at Motown was R. Dean Taylor
 
My all-time 45 favorite label is also the Capitol "Swirl" label.
And Capitol's "Rainbow" LP label that was used in the late 50's, 60's and then revived in the mid 80's was a classy looking label too.

Other favorites
Parrot 45 (Tom Jones, Zombies)
Atlantic 45 (one of the all time classics)
Swan (A simple design but I like it. It looked best silver print on black)
Columbia Stereo "3 Eye" LP label in the 50's-early 60's.
Buddah (60's bubblegum)
Laurie 45
Stax blue label
Ardent (Big Star)
U.S.A. Records (Buckinghams)
70's Bell
 
Uni 1967-1972
 
Also clever was Elektra's caterpillars for 45's 1970-75 and butterflies for LP's 1970-1978 :)
 
I am probably one of the few who liked the Capitol label design of the mid '70s. The reddish-orange color, with "Capitol" in large, gold-colored lettering across the bottom of it. They went "retro" with the Capitol label design in the late '70s, returning to the Capitol building as their logo. And I am guessing that they have used it pretty much ever since.

The Paul McCartney & Wings live album Wings Over America featured a label on one of its six sides, that, when played, looked like the weather radar that I used to see on TV back then. 8) :)
 
Roulette records second version "orange and gold"

Alladin Records

Mar-keys - "Last Night" had a rocket ship on label...i think it was "Satellite records"..part of Stax/Volt

Capitol Records......dot, dot dash dash dash dot...H_o_L_L_Y_W_O_O_D
 
How about Bell, with that little recessed strip of vinyl inside the label? Nice of them to help collectors avoid nicking the paper of the label with those yellow inserts.
 
Another I liked was the Dot Records logo that was the same as the pre-Gulf + Western era Paramount Pictures logo [Paramount owned Dot at that time].
 
Early 60's Liberty ("Take Good Care of My Baby" "Surf City"
Early '60's red Warner Bros
Parrot (Zombies "She's Not There")
Early Gordy ("My Girl")
Stax (Blue Color - "Green Onions")
ATCO (Yellow & White - "Poison Ivy" "Dream Lover")
Capitol Orange & Yellow swrill
Philles(Blue - "He's A Rebel")
Cameo (Red- " Don't Hang Up" "Mashed Potato Time")
Elektra ( catapiller design--Bread
Vee-Jay ( "Big Girls Don'T Cry" "Raindrops")
ABC Paramount Late '50's Early '60's( "Diana" "Lonely Boy" "At The Hop" "Sheila")
Gone (Yellow & Pink)
Kama-Sutra ( "Do You Believe In Magic"
Imperial - Late '50's early '60's ("Hello Mary Lou" "Walkin To New Orleans")
Dolton (Light Blue-"Walk Don't Run")
Sire
Legrande (Red & Gold "Dear Lady Twist"
Atlantic (Red & Black)
Red Bird
RCA (late '50's Early '60's)
Mushroom
Era (Green & Light Blue "Sacred")
Parkway ( "Limbo Rock", " So Much In Love")
Sue ( "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" "Stick Shift")
 
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