Popular music both reflects and affects its period, and the best illustration of this is the album cover. Here, then, is a visual record of our changing times. New Wave, Punk, Heavy Metal and Reggae are just a few of the variations on the pop theme fighting for the record buyer's attention. These movements, along with Jazz, Classical, the Japanese influence and the growth of picture bags for singles are included with the fad, trends, musical styles and occasional flashes of pure inspiration covered in this book's more than 500 full colour sleeve reproductions and annotated with a concise commentary.