Vibrations from the United States Air Force album art

Vibrations is the title of a United States Air Force public service program. The Directorate of Advertising, USAF Recruiting Service, produced at least ten vinyl albums, with music by various popular artists accompanied by ads by the Air Force, and sent them to radio stations. They were made around 1972 to 1973, at a time when the U.S. forces were withdrawing from the disastrous Vietnam War, apparently with the motivation to polish up the image of military service among America’s youth.

Discogs has cataloged
#1 ft. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bread, Roberta Flack, Kris Kristofferson, Aug. 1972
#2 ft. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, Procol Harum, James Brown, Mother Earth, Sep. 1972
#3 ft. Tommy James, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rare Earth, Fanny, Oct. 1972
#4 ft. Don McLean, Jimmy Castor, Argent, Al Green, Nov. 1972
#5 ft. Harry Chapin, America, et al., Dec. 1972
#6 ft. Jim Croce, Luther Ingram et al., Jan. 1973
#7 ft. Raspberries, Johnny Nash, Gallery, Casey Kelly, Feb. 1973
#8 ft. Roxy Music, Todd Rundgren, Lou Reed, Earth, Wind & Fire, March 1973
#9 ft. Uriah Heep and Trapeze, April 1973
… and an undated sampler.

The cover design is the same for all releases. It features a trendy colorful illustration (uncredited) of some of the featured bands and artists. The title is set on a curve, in Push Pin Myopic (Photo-Lettering, 1971), and in particular its Open C style which consists of four outlined layers. The top one was filled in. The result is similar to another PLINC face, Montgomery Pousse Cafe B, which is solid with a triple open shadow.

Myopic is credited to Seymour Chwast. Chwast is a lifelong and outspoken opponent of war. It’s hard to imagine he approved of this use of his typeface design.