Ike & Tina Turner – River Deep – Mountain High album art
The original 1966 U.K. pressing
River Deep – Mountain High is a 1966 album from Ike & Tina Turner, produced by Phil Spector. It was originally issued in 1966 in the U.K. on Philles Records. Due to the failure of the title single to perform up to expectations in the U.S., the planned release of the album was cancelled. It was not issued stateside until 1969, on A&M Records.
The front cover features the artist name and album title set in Bookman Bold Swash Italic, with a number of swashes and alternates, while the text “An Historic Recording By Phil Spector” is set in Univers Extended.
Tina Turner died last week, aged 83.
Back cover of the original 1966 U.K. pressing, with artists’ names and album title in Permanent Headline and Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed for the line below. Tony Hall’s liner notes are set in Century Expanded or similar; the track listing is added in Vogue Extra Bold Condensed.
The front cover of the 1969 U.S. issue, with added A&M Records logo
The back cover of the 1969 U.S. reissue. The soft bold serif at the top left is a boldened version of Post Condensed. On some pressings, it also appears on the front cover. The photograph was taken by Dennis Hopper (yes, the Dennis Hopper). Liner notes and track listing are set in Trade Gothic.
2 Comments on “Ike & Tina Turner – River Deep – Mountain High album art”
Just for fun, I made a quick digital replica, though sadly haven’t found the nice curvy tilde/hyphen/dash:
That’s sweet! For those wondering: the font Rob used is Bookmania, Mark Simonson’s anthology and expansion of classic Bookman and the various pre-ITC Bookmans, including “Sixties Bookman”, a.k.a. Bookman Bold Swash.
For what it’s worth, the wavy dash wasn’t included in Letraset’s version. Judging from the wider (widened?) proportions, it probably was a phototype version.