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Sleeveface
More than 200 witty images that are as addictive as popping bubble wrap but a lot more fun.
This hilarious book immortalizes the craze that began while DJ Carl Morris was having a bit of fun in a Wales bar. Here is how Sleevefacing works: You find an old-school vinyl record sleeve with a nice head-shot of your musical icon (Elvis or David Bowie or Debbie Harry will do nicely), put the sleeve in front of your face, and strike a pose. Now get someone to snap your photo.
This growing Web phenomenon has its own Web site (sleeveface.com), Facebook presence, and thousands of inventive practitioners around the globe. Sleeveface compiles the cleverest of these images: the faux Morrisseys, wannabe Bob Dylans, and lookalike Madonnas whose posture and clothing is in perfect sync with their idols’ most classic record covers. With essays that celebrate the merits of vinyl in an age when music has gone digital, it will appeal to record collectors, music lovers across the generations, and anybody—which is to say everybody—who ever fancied him or herself a rock god.
This hilarious book immortalizes the craze that began while DJ Carl Morris was having a bit of fun in a Wales bar. Here is how Sleevefacing works: You find an old-school vinyl record sleeve with a nice head-shot of your musical icon (Elvis or David Bowie or Debbie Harry will do nicely), put the sleeve in front of your face, and strike a pose. Now get someone to snap your photo.
This growing Web phenomenon has its own Web site (sleeveface.com), Facebook presence, and thousands of inventive practitioners around the globe. Sleeveface compiles the cleverest of these images: the faux Morrisseys, wannabe Bob Dylans, and lookalike Madonnas whose posture and clothing is in perfect sync with their idols’ most classic record covers. With essays that celebrate the merits of vinyl in an age when music has gone digital, it will appeal to record collectors, music lovers across the generations, and anybody—which is to say everybody—who ever fancied him or herself a rock god.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 21, 2010
It's hard to rate a book that just compiles a blog very highly although it may be very entertaining. Sleeveface is just that, very entertaining and in an interesting way inspiring. Not inspiring like it changed my life, but inspring like those intricate lego reproduction of music videos. You know that it took some time and effort of the creators for the sole goal of doing something well and making someone else smile at your creativity.
February 21, 2025
Little late on reviewing a book from 2008….. but not only did I read it, two of my photos are in it! My Elvis shot made both the back cover & frontispiece, and Johnny Cash is on page 44!
Such a fun coffee table book and I’m obviously still honored to be a part of it. Missing my Flickr community going on 20+ years now…..
Such a fun coffee table book and I’m obviously still honored to be a part of it. Missing my Flickr community going on 20+ years now…..
January 17, 2025
Silly book purchase perhaps, but I like silly.
And I always love this sort of thing. And it was funny in Pitch Perfect as well, as seen below.-
(video of the scene with Jesse and Beca doing just this while working at the radio station)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJeR...
And I always love this sort of thing. And it was funny in Pitch Perfect as well, as seen below.-
(video of the scene with Jesse and Beca doing just this while working at the radio station)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJeR...
January 15, 2013
ISBN 1579653790 - I'm generally reluctant to dole out a 5 star review and then point out negatives in that review... but I'm in just the right mood to do that today and Sleeveface is a deserving recipient.
Hundreds of photos - no Photoshopping allowed! - of people masking a portion of their body, usually their head, behind an album cover hardly sounds like a recipe for success - no matter how you define success. That it works is a testament to the creativity of the photographers (which I'll get back to). And it does work! Some images are so "well-done" (a matter of opinion, because these aren't the ones I liked most) that the line between sleeve and reality is difficult to pick out. The best ones are fewer, and are usually an intentional mis-alignment of the two parts - a naked male chest below the sleeve of Peggy Lee's "I Like Men!" or a Barbra Streisand cover on a dog's body - they catch you off-guard and almost force you to laugh.
Carl Morris and John Rostron have no business, in this case, calling themselves authors and I have to admit that annoyed me, even though I'm not certain that the mis-lead was intentional on their part. They are compilers, at best. The introduction explains how the Sleeveface idea and the book came about and how the many photos came to them. Each photo is properly attributed to the photographers, so it's not like they stole anyone's work without acknowledgment, it just annoyed me.
My minor annoyance aside, the book is fun, light-hearted amusement at its best, a superb gift idea for almost anyone. The pages are glossy, the photos are full color and the creativity of the photographers and their models is sometimes surprising, often funny and always entertaining.
- AnnaLovesBooks
Hundreds of photos - no Photoshopping allowed! - of people masking a portion of their body, usually their head, behind an album cover hardly sounds like a recipe for success - no matter how you define success. That it works is a testament to the creativity of the photographers (which I'll get back to). And it does work! Some images are so "well-done" (a matter of opinion, because these aren't the ones I liked most) that the line between sleeve and reality is difficult to pick out. The best ones are fewer, and are usually an intentional mis-alignment of the two parts - a naked male chest below the sleeve of Peggy Lee's "I Like Men!" or a Barbra Streisand cover on a dog's body - they catch you off-guard and almost force you to laugh.
Carl Morris and John Rostron have no business, in this case, calling themselves authors and I have to admit that annoyed me, even though I'm not certain that the mis-lead was intentional on their part. They are compilers, at best. The introduction explains how the Sleeveface idea and the book came about and how the many photos came to them. Each photo is properly attributed to the photographers, so it's not like they stole anyone's work without acknowledgment, it just annoyed me.
My minor annoyance aside, the book is fun, light-hearted amusement at its best, a superb gift idea for almost anyone. The pages are glossy, the photos are full color and the creativity of the photographers and their models is sometimes surprising, often funny and always entertaining.
- AnnaLovesBooks
March 24, 2009
Honestly, overall I wasn't that impressed.
Although the premise behind the book is great, and some of the images were amazing, there were too many that just didn't fit the original at all.
It's a good book to use as a conversation-starter, but it's not something I would have bought on my own.
Although the premise behind the book is great, and some of the images were amazing, there were too many that just didn't fit the original at all.
It's a good book to use as a conversation-starter, but it's not something I would have bought on my own.
April 19, 2011
This humor book could easily find a home in a dorm room or on a hipster’s coffee table. The subjects’ attempts to “be the vinyl” sometimes works, and other times falls flat. Either way, “Sleeveface” is an art form that could not be repeated with CDs or digital music.
November 15, 2008
My wife and I are on page 85. So read this book. It's good!
February 13, 2009
People with too much time on their hands + bunch of old album covers = comedy gold!
January 4, 2010
Nice mashups. My favorites: John Travolta and Pantera.
October 15, 2010
So cool! Check out the Website http://www.sleeveface.com/
June 15, 2013
Genius.
February 4, 2016
Quirky and cool.
November 1, 2008
great idea
February 9, 2010
Brilliant idea. And instead of complaining about pictures you didn't like you can make your own.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews