Rant #2,159: Old Time Rock and Roll

Yes, I could have written about Kate Upton being named the world's sexiest woman by Maxim magazine, but heck, who reads that magazine anymore anyway?

So today, I want to talk about something a bit different than boobs and beauty, I want to talk about my favorite 45 RPM picture sleeves of all time.

This topic came up in my head just the other day, as I was on the Facebook site of Mary Hopkin, the singer who had the hit "Those Were the Days" and a couple of other charting singles in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Evidently, the site is going to have an interview with the singer, and they were soliciting questions from those on the site.

So, I thought for about a minute, and I asked the following question: "Do you have any recollection of taking the picture that was on the "Goodbye" picture sleeve, and did you actually have to cry to get the tear effect, or was that put in afterward?

If you look closely at the photo, there are tears coming out of her eyes, and I always wondered that, because the photo of the very pretty lass is so expressive, and conveys the feeling brought on by the song, which, by the way, was written by two guys named John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

And yes, the Hopkin sleeve is my favorite picture sleeve of all time.

In order to qualify, a sleeve has to be different from the LP it came from, meaning that the photo on the sleeve cannot be the same photo as that from the full-length album it is from. It has to be a separate entity unto itself, standing both with and alone from the LP it is featured on.

And the song has to be more than a photo, and the photo has to be more than the song; it has to express a feeling either found on the song it is for or some other feeling, about the act, about the time it came out in, about life in general at that point in time.

And we will stick with American singles for this brief survey, because once you get into foreign singles, there is often no comparison--since the foreign single market was more vast, overseas-produced singles are often heads above their American counterparts.

So, after the Hopkin single, which hit No. 13 on the American charts in 1969, we have the single by the Buoys, "Timothy," the notorious song about cannabalism that hit #17 in 1971. What makes this single sleeve so great is that it is a two-sided single, with different graphics on both A and B side.

And read the note on the B side--if this doesn't get across the eeriness of this Rupert Holmes-penned song, I don't know what does.

It really is the perfect picture sleeve, evoking the creepiness of the song--did the survivors eat their fellow man to survive, or was Timothy the donkey? We may never know.

The third single on my list is one of the biggest hits of the 1960s, one that hit #1 in 1967. It was written by John Stewart, but his version was a bit "harder" than the version that came out by the Monkees.

"Daydream Believer" is another two-sided sleeve, and I just think the emotion shown in the photos on the sleeve are perfect, reflecting the time and the place of late 1967.

Sure, "The Monkees" was basically a TV show about a wanabee rock band striving to hit the top of the charts with their music, but in reality, the show was a showcase for not only the stars of the show, but also for the great songwriters that supplied the music for the show's soundtrack.

To me, this picture sleeve encapsulates all of that in just two photos.

And if you have to have the Monkees on your list, you certainly have to have the Beatles right there with them.

I have two favorite Beatles singles sleeves. One is one-sided, with only one photo on both sides of the sleeve, the other is two-sided, with different photos on each side of the sleeve.

Let's do the former first.

"I Want To Hold Your Hand" (#1, 1964) was the perfect picture sleeve to formally introduce the Beatles to the American audience. It is understated, yet shows off the foursome as they were in late 1963 to early 1964.

And you can't beat Paul holding that cigarette, which, believe it or not, was often edited out of subsequent issues of the single and sleeve.

But in 1964, this #1 smash was the one, the only, the original, and it can't be beat.

The second Beatles single sleeve that I just adore came out a few years later, and came with one of their best two-sided single hits ever.

Lennon and McCartney wanted to evoke their childhoods with this wonderful single, and not only did they do that with the wonderful music of "Penny Lane/"Strawberry Fields Forever," (1967, #1/#8) but the sleeve also evokes the then and now of the time.

Sure, Lennon and McCartney were steeped in the now of the 1960s, but I think one reason that they hit it so big here is that they never forgot their roots, and this single displays that perfectly with a two-sided sleeve that resonates with that sentiment.

So those are the top five 45 RPM picture sleeves in my collection, at least by my estimation.

Look, I have well over 1,000 sleeves in my collection, so to pick the top ones is a tough assignment.

I have only scratched the surface ... the next five top sleeves will be coming to your computer at a later date.

And for good measure, here is the Kate Upton cover. I guess I couldn't resist. I do like nice pictures, you know.

Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.