Cream – Fresh Cream album art
Contributed by Robby Rhodes
on May 5th, 2024. Artwork published in
.
1967 US version on Atco Records
Fresh Cream is the debut album of UK three-piece Cream. Originally released in 1966 on Reaction Records in UK, shown above is the 1967 US album cover released on ATCO Records, featuring Roberta for the band name – vastly different than the drawn out typography on the UK cover (see the end of this post). Below is the German copy on Polydor Records featuring Ludlow Black with elongated lower halves.
The design is credited to Paragon Publicity and Public Relations Ltd., London. Chances are that this refers to the original UK release, and that the type treatments for the American and German versions were done by others.
Source: eu.rarevinyl.com License: All Rights Reserved.
German version on Polydor Records
UK version on Reaction Records
1 Comment on “Cream – Fresh Cream album art”
I have a feeling Fresh Cream uses Staudel Xenotype J rather than Roberta III.
I also feel this might use Xenotype J due to the release itself. I’ve noticed that North American releases of records not originating from there use typefaces from foundries native to North America, most commonly the USA. Of course any typeface of any kind could’ve been used, but it seems to me that it was common to just slap some Photo-Lettering or Lettergraphics font on import releases, typically PLINC ones in the 60s / early 70s. One example I’ve seen is Jimmy Powell’s Come On Down To My House album’s German release compared to the USA / Canada release.
My second reason is because of the release date of both individual typefaces. Staudel Xenotype J is listed as being released in 1962 for PLINC’s Art Nouveau Xenotypes 1895–1905, and Roberta’s is 1970 (could’ve been released earlier, though). I do believe they stem from the same source, although Xenotype J seems to predate Roberta in a way. My main conflict with all of this, though is that III and Xenotype J look identical.
I’ve attached both a GIF and its frames to compare:
Darlin’ Bill: A Love Story of the Wild West by Jerome Charyn might use Xenotype J as well, especially with the cover’s origin as NYC.