Whipped Cream & Other Delights
When I was sixteen I spent the summer in California as an exchange student. The most noteworthy thing about that summer, besides it being the first and last time I’ve ever been on a date, was the discovery of an original LP of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass : Whipped Cream & Other Delights. I had never seen anything that beautiful… the girl, the design, the incredibly rich green colors of the cover.
In the latter half of the ’60s, Herb Alpert was the fourth best selling artist right behind the Beatles, Elvis and Frank Sinatra. There is little doubt that the cover artwork on Whipped Cream caused his sudden rocket climb up the charts. The album spent eight weeks at no. 1, over a year in the top 10 and almost three years in the top 40.
This year it is released as a remastered reissue with two additional food-oriented bonus tracks. The cover is still missing the original LPs A&M Records logo though, which is a shame since it was an important part of the original artwork. Still I want a copy. (I also want a time machine and a large cake spoon).
Vinyl Record Day recently held a survey to learn what people saw as the greatest album covers of all time, and Whipped Cream & Other Delights was voted second, after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper cover.
Meanwhile, Dolores Erickson, the cover model has a web page milking her ’60s fame for all it’s worth. One good thing about her web page is that you can see some of the other album covers she posed for.
Read more about Dolores here. MeMag endorses all swingin ’60s chicks.