Happening today: A Sound Design -- The Art of Album Covers

Good morning, readers.

One of the reasons some album covers have entered the ranks of "iconic" is that they not only look the way the music folded within them sounds, but they also add something powerful to the sensory experience as a whole.

At least we think so. How can the mysterious pantheon of characters on Sgt. Pepper's cover not inform the listening experience of "Lovely Rita" or "A Day in the Life"?  Once you started dissecting the significance of the lineup, from Edgar Allan Poe to Aleister Crowley and Sigmund Freud, how could you not want to deconstruct every song on that album?

Sgt. Pepper's is one of many album covers celebrated in "A Sound Design: The Art of Album Covers" now on view at USC's Doheny Library. Close to 50 others, spanning genres and artists such as Raymond Pettibon and Andy Warhol, will be on display. We so love our CDs, but it sure was great before the art got small.

-- Bettie Rinehart