I Am Somebody is the title of a spoken word album by Reverend Jesse Jackson that was released on Respect, a sublabel of Stax Records. It contains a recital of the poem “I Am – Somebody”. The cover typography by David Krieger of The Graffiteria features Folio in its mager and fett weights.

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Jackson became active in civil rights protests already as a student. In 1960, he was one of the Greenville Eight, a group of African American students that successfully protested the segregated library system in Greenville, South Carolina. Since 1966, he was involved in the Operation Breadbasket movement, a department of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

The album came out in 1971, three years after Martin Luther King Jr. – the SCLC’s first president and a close friend and mentor of Jackson – was assassinated. The same year, the “Country Preacher” broke off from SCLC and formed Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). In 1996, it merged with the National Rainbow Coalition, another organization founded by Jackson to pursue social justice, civil rights, and political activism, into Rainbow/PUSH. He served as the organization’s head until July 16, 2023.

Jesse Jackson died February 17, 2026, at the age of 84. The New York Times commemorates him as “charismatic champion of civil rights”. RIP.

The quotes on the back cover are set in Helvetica.

The gatefold shows photographs of Jackson together with several of his companions and fellow campaigners, including Martin Luther King Jr., his widow Coretta Scott King, as well as Richard G. Hatcher and Carl Stokes, the first elected African-American mayors of Gary, Indiana, and Cleveland, Ohio, respectively. The liner notes by Rev. G.E. Redic are set in Helvetica, and the credits at the top right in News Gothic.

Two years after 1970’s Doing the Push & Pull at P.J.’s, Stax Records released Rufus Thomas’s Did You Heard Me? album, the fourth out of many forthcoming albums. Allan Ulmea Studios is credited for front photography, and David Krieger / The Graffiteria for the album’s cover design, which uses Davison Bimbo in the “Contour A” style, with a green/teal fill. Additionally, art direction was handled by Larry Shaw and Ron Gorden.

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Track names and credits on the back are set in two weights of Folio.

Gloria Gaynor’s debut album was released by MGM Records in January 1975. With hits like
the titular “Never Can Say Goodbye” – originally by the Jackson Five – and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, it was central in popularizing disco music.

The cover design is by David Krieger, with photography by Bernie Block and art direction from Bill Levy.

Gaynor’s name is shown in a three-dimensional treatment based of Riverside Drive. The geometric letterforms conceived by Peter Max are filled with a gradient and sprinkled with stars. Krieger didn’t quite trust the legibility of his typeface choice, and gave the G a less ambiguous form. The A was modified, too, and opened up at the bottom.

“Never Can Say Goodbye” is added in caps from Broadway Graphic Engravers. This variation of Broadway Engraved shown by Photo-Lettering in 1971 is wider and heavier than the 1928 original.

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Detail

Think, a 1968 jazz album by Pat Williams, utilizes Plywood for the title and artist name, with included song titles in Hamilton Gothic Fineline below it. David Krieger is credited for art direction, along with Joel Brodsky for photography.

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Funk and soul album One Step Beyond was released in 1970, by Johnnie Taylor on the Stax record label. Both David Krieger and The Graffiteria served for this album's art direction, with model and dancer Pat Evans appearing on both front and back covers.

Photo-Lettering's Bauhaus Geometric is appropriately used for “JOHNNIE TAYLOR” and “STS-2030 STEREO” only, with Futura for the tracklist and credits on the back cover.

A rare sighting of the Dellacroce Beta typeface, specifically variant #3 (6180) is used for “one step beyond” on both front and back. Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles only displays #1 (6178), #2 (6179), #5 (6194), and #6 (6195), with #2 being the closest style to Beta #2.

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Dellacroce Beta as shown in Art Deco, 1970

Dellacroce Beta plus four of the shaded variants (#1, #2, #5 and #6) as shown in the One Line Manual of Styles, 1971. Carl P. Dellacroce’s family name is accidentally spelled with one l in four of the captions.

This album was recorded by the Boston Pops orchestra under conductor Arthur Fiedler (1894–1979) and released by Polydor Records in 1971. Norman Green did the cover art, with direction from David Krieger. The display typeface is Impacta Shaded, drawn by Dave Davison for Photo-Lettering. Track titles are in Alternate Gothic (or maybe the largely identical Trade Gothic Bold Condensed).

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If the name Norman Green sounds familiar, that’s probably because we recently published a series of Uses featuring Green Buzzard, which is his only known typeface design. I was curious to find out more about the man who conceived that intricate alphabet.

Norman Green was born in New York City in 1934. A Century of American Illustration, published by The Brooklyn Museum in 1972, has some biographical info:

Attended Pratt Institute, graduated from the School of Visual Arts, and later studied at Cooper Union. A member of Push Pin Studios, his illustrations have appeared in a number of magazines, including Ladies’ Home Journal, Life, New York magazine, and Esquire. He has also done book illustration and work for various advertising agencies. Several years ago he established the Green Buzzard Studios, Inc., in New York City.

You can see him on a Push Pin Studios group photo standing right behind Seymour Chwast.

By 1976, Green had moved to Redding, Connecticut – this is mentioned in Judith Viorst’s adaptation of A Visit from St. Nicholas (to a liberated household), for which he did the illustrations. In 1985, he still lived in Connecticut with his family, and worked on Knights of the Round Table. Discogs credits Green with the cover art for five albums, the latest one dating from 1989.

There are a couple of common traits running through his works. For example, the multiple frames with concentric circles in the cover art shown above echo details of the Green Buzzard typeface. So do the geometric patterns with diagonal bands drawn for The Best Of Donny Hathaway (1978). Green is also fond of romantic motifs: the colored clouds at sunset can be found back in his art for Marilyn Horne’s Beautiful Dreamer (1986), see the comments.

I wonder if he’s still around – he’d turn 90 this year. There are surprisingly many people – including artists – named Norman Green. One who has an “endless fascination for nature, especially flowers” participated in an exhibition in Connecticut in 2018. If you have any leads, please leave a comment.

Detail

Dave Davison’s Impacta Shaded A, shown alongside the solid Impacta in Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles, 1971

Back cover with track list and liner notes (by Paul Kresh) set in reversed News Gothic (or Linotype’s Trade Gothic?)

When Photo-Lettering added Craig Mierop’s Ginger Snap to their library in 1969, it was an instant hit: this best-of compilation by Eric Burdon & The Animals is already the seventh in-use example from the year of its release documented on Fonts In Use.

Art director David Krieger specified the shaded C style, with the open letter bodies filled in red. The back of the sleeve feature a reversed black-and-white setting.

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Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Front cover of the original release (Westbound Records WB 2001)

Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow is the second album from the funk-rock band Funkadelic led by George Clinton, released just five months after the self-titled debut.

From Wikipedia:

The album's gatefold cover forms something of a visual pun, echoing the sentiments of the album title. The woman holding her arms towards heaven in an ecstatic pose is found to be nude upon opening the sleeve.

The original 1970 issue’s artwork featured the woman facing downward, and the “Free Your Mind…” title in brown. Reissues beginning in 1990 reversed the woman’s direction (substituting an alternate photograph where her head is more inclined and her fingers are more widely fanned), and have varied the placement and color of text elements.

Cover design by Stanley Hochstadt and The Graffiteria, with Dave Davison’s Arabesque, photography by Joel Brodsky, and art direction from David Krieger. The track titles and credits are set in Dominante.

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Source: www.ebay.com doctor_of_jazz. License: All Rights Reserved.

Gatefold of the original release (Westbound Records WB 2001)

Source: www.ebay.com doctor_of_jazz. License: All Rights Reserved.

Back cover of the original release (Westbound Records WB 2001)

Source: newmusicunited.com New Music United (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Front and back cover, 1990 reissue (Westbound Records SEWA 012)

Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

Front and back cover, CD release, 1989 (Westbound Records WBCD 2001)

Hot Pants is James Brown’s first album for the Polydor label, released in August 1971 and featuring the hit title track. The album is notable for the debut of the second incarnation of The J.B.’s, his famed backing band.

Design by Paula Bisacca, with art direction by David Krieger and photography by Ralph Garcia.

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Halloween’s a good time to sift through all your summer souvenirs, organize a yard sale and trash the rest.

Summer Souvenirs (the album) is an R&B/pop rock compilation released by Bell Records in 1969. Halloween (the typeface) is an adaptation of an alphabet by lettering artist A. Bardi, reproduced as La Boule in Publicité Vignettes Lettres Chiffres Monogrammes et Rehauts Modernes (Les Editions Guérinet, Paris, 1931) – hat tip to Jay Mellor. It was added to the Photo-Lettering library sometime before 1960. The track listing is set in right-aligned Dominante.

Art direction by Beverly Weinstein, design by David Krieger / The Graffiteria.

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Beach Samba, recorded at the A&R Studios in New York on 25, 26 May and 9, 30 June 1967. Shown here is a French pressing with an unchanged design. A signature and two stamps were later added by previous album owners. Americana (1965) is used in the same way on front and back cover. The list on the back is set in what looks like some form of Bodoni. Futura is used for small print on front and back. Cover design by David Krieger / Jack Anesh, with a photo by Jerry Schatzberg.

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A relatively early and copious use of ITC Neon, in alternating line colors. The film typeface by Ronné Bonder and Tom Carnase was released one year earlier, in 1970. It’s an adaptation of Prisma (1930), Rudolf Koch’s all-caps multiline companion to Kabel. This ancestry is particularly visible in the narrow C and the wide M. Unfortunately, there’s no quality digitization of ITC Neon. My favorite detail in David Krieger’s cover design is the added entry stroke at the top left – as if this was a real neon sign where all parts need to be somehow connected and hooked up.

45worlds contributor 23skidoo notes:

Compiles the two live albums recorded for Sonet Records of Sweden and originally released in Europe in 1968. However, none of the photos included in the album actually show the lineup that performed in 1968; several images (including the one of Haley on the cover) date back to approximately 1964, while the gatefold image dates from either 1969 or 1970 (based on the musicians visible).

Gatefold with stacked and staggered ITC Neon.

The debut album from soul group, The Dramatics, released by Volt Records, a division of Stax Records. The typeface is Papirtis Pink Mouse Solid, one of many extra-heavy geometric display sans serifs issued in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The lowercase offered an alternative to Baby Teeth. which was quite prominent at the time but was caps only. Artwork credits from the liner notes:

Cover Design: Ron Gorden
Illustration: Neil Deckert
Art Direction: David Krieger
Creative Director: Larry Shaw

Third studio album by American soul musician Isaac Hayes (1942–2008), released in 1970. Art direction by David Krieger, The Graffiteria, with art supervision by Herb Kole and photography by Joel Brodsky. The title typeface is Othello (ATF), set in all caps and on a curve.

Art direction by David Krieger. Illustration by Bernie Karlin.

Art Direction: The Graffiteria / David Krieger. Creative Direction: Larry Shaw, Ron Gorden. Photography: Joel Brodsky.

The light type for “Jean Knight” is unknown to me.

[More info on Discogs]