Front cover featuring Burke’s head in the clouds. Burke’s name (in yellow) and the album title (in white) are set in Filmotype Quiet, surrounded by a decorative border.

I Wish I Knew (1968) is the fourth studio album by soul/gospel singer Solomon Burke, his third for Atlantic Records after Rock ’n Soul four years earlier. Originally panned upon release for “playing it safe” right as the political climate had turned into a erupting volcano, it has become a minor classic in the 57 years since. The title track – penned by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas – is a heartfelt confession of uncertainty over the possibility of being completely free, while Burke’s rendition of Allen Toussaint’s “Get Out of My Life, Woman” has been sampled (like a lot of other renditions of the song) by multiple artists – including by Dr. Dre on the intro track of The Chronic.

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Back cover featuring rainbow motif. Artist name and album title are set in Franklin Gothic Condensed. Liner notes by Philadelphia DJ and Pennsylvania representative Rev. Louise Bishop are set in News Gothic (regular, bold, italic).

Close-up of back cover. Track list (bold) is also set in News Gothic, and so are the credits (regular). Address info is set in Monotype Clarendon Condensed.

The Best of Sam & Dave is a compilation album by the American soul duo Sam & Dave, released in 1969 on Atlantic Records. The album includes some of their most iconic tracks, such as “Soul Man”, “Hold On! I’m Comin’”, and “I Thank You”.

The cover was designed by Stanisław Zagórski, using the Stencil typeface for the album title and the song selection.

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Yet another use of PLINC’s Plywood can be seen on The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble’s self-titled debut album, released in 1968 on the ATCO record label. Stanisław Zagórski is credited as being the album’s designer, featuring a painting by Dennis Corrigan.

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From Wikipedia:

Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960s. His biggest hit was his rendition of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. From the 1970s, he recorded mainly salsa and Latin jazz, before retiring in the late 1990s.

For this 1971 album on Atlantic Records, designer Stanisław Zagórski used a title typeface that was added to Photo-Lettering’s library just a year earlier: it’s Norman Green’s Buzzard. Zagórski specified the (relatively) simplified A style. Its letterforms are shown in reverse, with white parts printed in black, and black parts colored in yellow, orange, and pink.

Photography by Jim Cummins.

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On the back cover, Orplid is also shown in reverse. It’s used alongside Vogue with its Futura-style alternates. The “MONGO” sign in the photo is in Matura.

Young, Gifted and Black is the eighteenth studio album by American soul singer Aretha Franklin, released by Atlantic Records in early 1972. It reached #2 on Billboard’s R&B albums survey and peaked at #11 on the Pop charts. It contains the much-sampled cut “Rock Steady”, with drums by Bernard “Pretty” Purdie.

Cover designer Stanisław Zagórski made clever use of ITC Avant Garde Gothic’s alternate A’s for the singer’s first name, and inserted an RA ligature in her family name.

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Thelonious Monk plays Dune?

First released in late 1955 under the title Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington, with a cover designed by Paul Bacon using Corvinus, this album was reissued in 1958, featuring a painting by Henri Rousseau and condensed unicase lettering. In 1968, Riverside Records thought it was time for another rerelease, now with a cover photograph by Jim Marshall. The title was shortened again, from Thelonious Monk plays Duke Ellington to Thelonious Monk plays Duke. It’s rendered in Davison Art Nouveau, a PLINC exclusive that would later became the face of Dune and its author, Frank Herbert.

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2019 reissue by American Jazz Classics [More info on Discogs]

Roberta Flack’s debut album, featuring “Compared To What”.

This striking book cover was designed by Stan Zagorski for Simon & Schuster in 1971.

The book’s title is set in Tom Carnase’s Manhattan, released in 1970. The author’s name is set in Busorama, also designed by Tom Carnase and released in 1970. Busorama was one of the original typefaces available when the International Typeface Corporation (ITC) opened for business in 1970.

Close up of type.

The book’s spine.