Well, I never…

Some album covers stay with you throughout the years: Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Dark Side of the Moon, Slade Alive! (inside and out), Tutu, Madhouse (etc…) An impact never to be quite repeated as CDs. And lost completely as a digital download icon. One of my favourites from a favourite artist, Joni Mitchell's Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, sprung a surprise on me just today, even though it was released in 1977 and I've seen it a multitude of times.

Only here, in an interview with Joni and a drag-queen Joni impersonator in the LA Times, did I learn that the black man pictured on the cover next to (white) singer Joni is a photograph of Joni dressed up. Never having read that much about the album in the intervening years, I'd never heard of this (or, indeed, any "controversy" around it).

Sometimes I have to question my powers of observation, even though as a photographer and designer I shouldn't need to. Enjoyable discovery or salutory lesson in looking closer?

Anyway, classic cover – with, as often, Joni as designer as well.