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The “Parklife” Stamp: Even Better Than Sealing Your Letter With A Kiss

parklifeNext year, the UK will issue a series of stamps dedicated to the art of the British album cover. The Stones’ Let It Bleed, New Order’s Power, Corruption, and Lies, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, and Blur’s Parklife will all be honored in this 10-stamp issue. If the US had a similar stamp issue, I wonder what albums would get the nod? You’d think Thriller would be a no-brainer, and Madonna’s True Blue would look kinda dynamite, but after that… ? (First person to shout “Merriweather Post Pavilion!” is fired.) The full issue of stamps after the jump.


Album Art - Block new


Haha, Coldplay. Oh, you Brits.


Design Classics: Classic Album Covers - 7 Janaury 2010 [Norvic Philatelics via NME]

3:00 PM on Thu Oct 15 2009
By Maura

16 Comments

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names in the news

16 Responses to “The “Parklife” Stamp: Even Better Than Sealing Your Letter With A Kiss”

  1. by ThreeGreen at 3:45 pm

    Oh, yeah, that is absolutely the correct Pink Floyd album cover to choose. The Dark Side of the Moon cover sucks. Same with The Wall. Same with Wish You Were Here. None are as iconic as the Division Bell cover.

    Actually, maybe they should’ve chosen the cover to Pulse. Hopefully with the blinking LED, too.

  2. by Maura at 3:49 pm

    @ThreeGreen: I think Dark Side was nixed because it was too dark:

    Royal Mail began with very extensive research of existing lists and polls of ‘Greatest Album Covers’ in books, music press and the web. This trawl of literally thousands of albums uncovered many that were common to most lists.

    The editors of three of the UK’s most influential music publications together with a number of graphic designers and design writers were asked to independently list the most significant album sleeve artwork used on records by British artists.

    Royal Mail reviewed all the research to assemble a shortlist of albums that spanned the decades from the 1960s. Some albums could not be included for operational reasons (for instance, designs that were too dark), after final deliberation the ten albums were arrived at.

  3. by TheMozfather at 3:58 pm

    Does Fleetwood Mac count as American? What about “Rumors” or the s/t white album?

  4. by LHS at 4:04 pm

    Candy-O!

  5. by Chris Molanphy at 4:16 pm

    I for one would love to see an American set that paired the obvious favorites (Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Off the Wall, Sign ‘O’ the Times, Nevermind) with a Stankonia stamp.

  6. by Thierry at 4:29 pm

    I guess the Beatles were too obvious a choice, eh?

  7. by revmatty at 4:30 pm

    Manic Street Preachers

  8. by Thierry at 4:32 pm

    Also, no Oasis, Radiohead or Stone Roses (that first album is a classic cover, no?) is a bit puzzling for a British list of anything music-related.

  9. by dippinkind at 4:35 pm

    the American set should be all Molly Hatchet

  10. by dyfl at 5:27 pm

    Umm, BORN TO RUN much for the American list? Or, if we’d like a slightly more homoerotic tinge in our government programs (and we all know Americans love that!), the cover to BORN IN THE U.S.A.

    But yes, STANKONIA and/or THE BLUEPRINT included, please! I love how I now think this is actually going to happen.

  11. by chachwitablog at 5:38 pm

    @Chris Molanphy: YES YES YES!

    “The Chronic” would make a pretty great stamp too, I think.

  12. by Thierry at 5:51 pm

    Amorica?

  13. by Maura at 6:22 pm

    @Thierry: Win.

  14. by SonofaVondruke at 12:33 am

    Any of the great ’80s indie covers would work for the U.S. - Double Nickels, Daydream Nation, Murmur (or maybe later R.E.M. like Automatic), Zen Arcade.

  15. by k-rex at 5:35 pm

    It won’t happen here because of the culture wars. No matter how many people may love an album, there are millions more who hate it. And millions millions more who have never heard of it.

  16. by SonofaVondruke at 2:23 am

    Actually, the perfect American stamp would be of Talking Heads’ More Songs About Buildings and Food.

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