Jonny Trunk’s comprehensive encyclopaedia of library music is here. Library Music, also known as source or mood music, was made exclusively for use in animations, commercials, film and TV programmes. Never commercially available and only manufactured in limited numbers, these LPs are now highly collectable. 
This book is an exhaustive compilation of cover artwork from some of the most important and beautiful library records produced throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. A fully revised and expanded version of the original Music Library book, it features 625 diverse record cover designs from 230 labels (twice the content of the first edition). 
A celebration of and graphic joyride through some of the greatest unseen and unheard music ever made.

 Despite the fervent interest in library music – and the astronomical prices of some LPs – Trunk argues music in this area is still underappreciated and underused. “Library has always been a rich and practically untraceable source for sampling – see Stereolab, Jay Z, Jurassic 5, Gnarls Barclay, Showbiz & AG, The Chemical Brothers, etc” he notes. “But I don’t think anyone has used it in any kind of fascinating way – there have been straight reissues, compilations, bootlegs. But I don’t think anyone has really stepped out of the box. I wish people would come to me for help to score films with it – think about what George Romero did with library music. If you have a good collection of this material it is amazing what can be done commercially with very little budget – you can have Brian Eno, Morricone, John Barry all scoring your film for peanuts!”

Aside from information on hundreds of library music labels, much of the book is given over to reproductions of over 600 sleeves, which makes for a wide-ranging survey of album design over the decades. “I am a fan of this hand drawn one on the Al Capone label,” he enthuses. “All the track descriptions are handwritten and each cue has a little drawing to go with it, in a vague attempt to suggest what you might use the music for – a Buddah, buildings, a bike. I also love the one issued by the label Pinciana. It is orange. It has a white circle on the front. Nothing else. No type, No nothing. Get in there.”