Extraordinary Records Taschen (393164635)

This electrifying vinyl edition creates a new and edgy definition for “album art.” Produced in collaboration with Colors magazine, it brings together more than 500 remarkable records from the collection of Alessandro Benedetti and Peter Bastine. This book forms a junction between photography, music, and design, celebrating vinyl for the integrity of sound recording and its artistic potential as a material form. With featured artists including Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, and beyond, it offers compelling insight into the most intricate details of a performer’s visual identity, from a vivid color to a futuristic mirror effect. The discs are arranged thematically to span monochrome vinyl; unusual vinyl (including silver, gold, or mirror vinyl as well as extremely rare glow-in-the-dark vinyl); multicolored vinyl; etched vinyl (where music is pressed onto only one side); shaped vinyl (cut into forms that are different from the classic round disc); and picture discs (where a photograph or design is stamped onto the surface of the record). In addition, there is a rare view into the records known today as “ribs” or “bone music.” Produced in the USSR, where western music and culture were forbidden, these were made by engraving discarded x-rays with special machines and creating bootleg disks of hit singles of artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd. Page after page, this kaleidoscopic encyclopedia of innovative and ingenious vinyl is a colorful journey through era-defining records and artists.