American Spring by American Spring album art
Dutch/French 12-inch sleeve.
American Spring was the American pop duo of sisters Diane Rovell and Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford — a kind of continuation of their former band The Honeys. The first image shows the cover for the Dutch and French edition of their only album. The second image shows the cover for the German release, pairing a different photograph (by Fred Valentine) with the same typography.
Its eponymous title was simply Spring in the US, as that was the duo’s name at home. Released in 1972, most of the album was recorded in 1971–1972 at the home studio of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ main composer and producer, who was Marilyn’s husband at the time. The album contains a few Beach Boys songs. One of them, Good Time, used the instrumental track that the band had already recorded, but which was released on a Beach Boys album only later.
Time for the typeface. The font used is very similar to Columbia Oldstyle, a 19th-century display face shown in an 1893 type specimen from Chicago foundry Marder, Luse & Co. Having been produced in 1972, this LP sleeve (designer unknown) must feature a photocomposition version of that 1890s display face. At the time, Columbia Oldstyle had been revived as Oakwood by several phototype companies. In later years, a few microfoundries produced digital versions under new names. See the information on the Oakwood page for details and links.
German market release, 1972.
