Says Trish:

btw, if you were wondering what the rest of the Ring covers looked like, here are quick, lo-rez vertical shots of them -and also the amusing Israel in Egypt cover. Certainly they're all droll, but none as iconic as the VW hubcaps.

Cheer up, girls. It's only opera.

For this shot Whorf must have borrowed a jar of lens vaseline from Barbara Walters' cameraman.

Too on-the-nose, or a charmingly humorous trivialization of Wagner's alleged ponderousness?

I'm going to guess that this LP was released post-Camp David Accords.

For years I'd been searching for Hans Swarovsky's LP recording of The Valkyrie with the cover designed by Peter Whorf (who designed the greatest album cover in history, for Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights), rumored to depict Brunnhilde's breastplate using two VW hubcaps.

Longtime DoC reader and Perfect Wagnerite Trish knew of my yearnings and came through with a scan (as a longing glance to the right of your computer screen will show) and the rumors were gloriously true.

I must say, the cover is even better than I'd expected. Better than Wonder Woman's brass boobs. In fact, I'll go so far as to say it gives even the deathless Dolores Erickson herself a run for her money (and coming from me, that's saying something).