This project is to get some decent images of Olivia's vinyl record sleeves. These were printed on 12" square surfaces, so resolution better than a CD cover in principle. A CD cover is typically 12cm square, nearly 6½ times less surface area than the LP cover. This is the primary reason why the pictures off albums will be clearer. In the case of Olivia's CD releases there are many secondary reasons why the CD covers of her early albums are sub-par. The last Olivia album I bought on vinyl was Back to Basics in 1992, so I have albums of most of her releases and all from her peak activity.

1970 Toomorrow 1971 If Not For You (AU) 1972 Olivia 1974 Music Makes My Day 1974 Long Live Love 1975 Have You Never Been Mellow 1975 Clearly Love 1975 Have You Never Been Mellow 1976 Don't Stop Believin' 1977 Making A Good Thing Better 1978 Greatest Hits 1978 Grease soundtrack 1978 Totally Hot 1980 Xanadu soundtrack 1981 Physical 1981 Love Performance 1982 Greatest Hits 2 1983 Two of a Kind soundtrack 1985 Soul Kiss 1988 The Rumour 1989 Warm And Tender 1992 Back To Basics 2021 Toomorrow (reissue)

Select the album picture to go to the album page, and then right-click on the link to the UHD version to save. I have targeted the image size for the height of a 4K TV (2160x2160) or the width of a 4K TV for the double inner spreads (3840x1920). You can get the album cover on the TV using the DLNA network photo feature or a USB stick.

Note that the images will be a little soft on the linked pages because they are reduced, that is so that Google doesn't gripe about huge images.

CD reprographics

The Japanese boxset in mini-LP slipcase sleeves shows what you can do with CD artwork. That Japanese boxset is a great job, subject to the limitations of the medium, but other record companies didn't reach that picture quality bar when reissuing Olivia's 1970s albums on CD.

MCA released CDs of Olivia in the late 1980s/1990s. We should be grateful for this as fans because it was before digital audio processing was common, so the curse of the loudness wars had not yet struck. So the sound quality of these MCA releases was probably the best, although the tonal balance can sound a bit thin to my ears. MCA didn't allocate a huge budget to the sleeve notes and artwork, which tends to be sparse and the back of the CD box often had a generic tracklisting. However, they did a reasonably competent job of the cover artwork reprographics.

In Australia, Festival seem to have assigned an intern to the CD artwork job, image quality is poor. Mind you, sometimes not all the tracks made it onto the CD and the less said about their digital remastered series the better, so funky artwork isn't the only issue.

The vinyl albums were issued when these albums were released for the first time, so there was some interest in the record company to make a decent fist of it to make more money, and as the 1970s went by, Olivia's proven superstar status presumably concentrated the mind a little bit. The LPs are therefore the non plus ultra of Olivia's release artwork.

About the LPs

I have been a fan of Olivia and her music long enough that most of my Olivia records were bought new or new as back catalogue rather than second-hand. Some from WH Smith in my hometown, most from the original flagship HMV London record store in 363 Oxford Street, not far from my student digs. Since I am British most of my Olivia albums are the UK releases from EMI UK. As a fan these artefacts have been revered and kept in plastic covers and not exposed to the light, so they are in decent condition, but many from Olivia's heyday are between 40 and 50 years old. I have tried to get the best image possible, the age and the ravages of time mean that in some cases so I have retouched a few blemishes, though not all.

technical note