Taschen Books has just published 75 Years of Atlantic Records, a massive new coffee-table book honoring the record label’s illustrious history.
The book, weighing a hefty 11 pounds and measuring 14″ x 14″, features stunning photos by celebrated photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Anton Corbijn, and David LaChapelle, who captured striking images of legendary musicians in the studio and on stage.
Watch the great photogallery on TASCHEN here
Music icons like Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Coltrane, and Otis Redding, to modern stars like Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monae, Hootie & the Blowfish, Jewel, and Cardi B. Digging into Atlantic Records’ archives, the book offers a visual journey through music history. In addition to the stunning collection of photographs, the book also features essays by award-winning writers like David Ritz, Ben Ratliff, and Barney Hoskyns, with a foreword by Bruno Mars. “The Atlantic crew changed the way records were made and how people heard them,” Mars writes. “It was an explosion in Sound, and it was pure magic.” (Variety)
You see everyone from Aretha (giving a serious side-eye to producer Tom Dowd) to the Drifters, the Stones to Zeppelin, Chic to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and more in the studio, on stage, posing or just looking cool. And the editors were sure that the label’s recent history got an outsized look as well — Sheeran, Bruno, Jewel, Hootie & the Blowfish, Brandy, Janelle Monae, Cardi B and many more…
The book is plenty of archival articles and extended captions as well, but there’s little question that the real draw here are the photos.
In September 1947, Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson founded Atlantic Records with a $10,000 loan from Ertegun’s dentist. In 1948, Atlantic began putting out its first releases.
Seventy-five years later, Atlantic remains one of the most storied labels in American history as home through the decades to such artists as Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Stevie Nicks, Matchbox Twenty and Crosby, Stills & Nash; and, more recently, Twenty One Pilots, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Lizzo, Billboard reports.
The anniversary has several other components. Atlantic has partnered with high-end audiophile label Acoustic Sounds to release 75 classic titles in 180-gram, 45RPM black vinyl and SACD versions. That offering includes such Genesis albums as Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Coltrane’s Giant Steps and My Favorite Things, Otis Redding’s The Dock of the Bay and Buffalo Springfield’s self-titled set.
