Single Album Music Map Art Prints: One Record, Ten Tracks, Sixteen Names

A single album music map takes one record and plots it track by track, so the whole print covers about forty-seven minutes of music rather than sixty years of it. The series has one map so far, and it's the Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup from 1973. This post is about what that format does, what is actually drawn on it, and who it suits.

I research and draw these myself in East Sussex, working from the credits, track by track, and plotting the results in CAD. On a career map, an album is a station. On this one, a track is a station, and every credited musician gets their own line running through the tracks they played on.

What a Single Album Music Map Shows That a Career Map Cannot

My Rolling Stones discography map runs the studio albums in order from the 1964 debut through to Hackney Diamonds in 2023 - twenty-eight studio records in one route. At that scale, a musician's line tells you which albums they were on, and nothing finer.

Goats Head Soup at track level tells you something a career map physically cannot hold. It tells you that the bass on this record was played by three different people, and that no two of them are on the same track.

That is the trade. A career map gives you a range. A single-album map shows the interior of one record.

Ten Tracks, Sixteen Credited Names, and Where They Sit

Sixteen names are credited across the ten tracks, two of them as arrangement credits rather than performances. Charlie Watts is the only person credited with one instrument on all ten, drums, and his is the only line on the map that never breaks.

The table below is the bass and keyboard split, taken straight from the credits. It is the clearest way to see what the format is for.

Three Bass Players Split the Record and Never Share a Track

Bill Wyman was the band's bassist, and on this record, he has the smallest share. He plays bass on Angie, Winter and Star Star, three of the ten.

Keith Richards takes four, Mick Taylor takes three, and between the three of them, they cover all ten tracks without a single overlap. Drawn out as lines, that reads as three short routes laid end to end rather than one long one.

I could see this in the spreadsheet before I drew it, which is why Goats Head Soup was the record I chose to start the series with.

Four Keyboard Players Cover All Ten Tracks Between Them

The keyboards do the same thing, but in only four ways. Nicky Hopkins takes five tracks, Billy Preston two, Ian Stewart two, and Mick Jagger plays the piano on Hide Your Love.

Again, there is no overlap. Four players, ten tracks, no track with two of them on it.

Winter Is the One Track With No Keith Richards Credit

Across the other nine tracks, Keith Richards is credited on electric guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, lead vocals or backing vocals. On Winter he has no credit at all.

What replaces him is worth noticing. Mick Jagger is credited on electric guitar on that track, one of only two tracks where he plays one.

Winter is also one of the quieter stations on the map, with six credited names against nine on Heartbreaker and nine on Can You Hear the Music.

Jimmy Miller Produced It and Earned His Line on Percussion

My rule across all of these maps is that a producer only gets a line if they are also credited with playing something. It keeps the map about the sound rather than the paperwork.

Jimmy Miller produced Goats Head Soup and is credited on percussion on Can You Hear the Music, so he gets a line, and it runs through exactly one station. Andy Johns, chief engineer and mixer, has no playing credit and so has no line at all.

Can You Hear the Music ends up with four separate percussion credits, counting Charlie Watts on drums, Anthony "Rebop" Kwaku Baah, Nicholas Pascal Raicevic and Miller himself.

Choosing Between the Single Album Map and the Career Map

The career map suits the fan who wants the whole arc on the wall, and who will point at the guitar chair passing from Brian Jones to Mick Taylor to Ronnie Wood. It is a map you read from left to right.

The single album map suits the listener who already knows the arc and wants one record opened up. It is a map you read downward, track by track, and it rewards anyone who has ever wondered who was actually playing on Angie.

If you are buying for someone who owns the records and has opinions about them, the track-level map is usually the one that surprises them. If you are buying for someone newer to the band, the career map is the better first print.

A Present for the Fan Who Reads the Sleeve Notes

These maps land well with the person who turns the record sleeve over before they put the needle down. There is no ranking, no opinion and no artwork reproduction on them, just the credits laid out so they can be followed.

A2 works on a shelf or in a hallway where someone will stand close to it. A1 is the one to choose if it is going somewhere people sit, because at track level, there is a lot of small text to get through.

Sizes, Paper and Framing

The map is a Giclée print on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. A2 is 420 x 594 mm, and A1 is 594 x 841mm, with US sizing of 24 x 18 in and 36 x 24 in.

Prices start at £42 for A2 unframed and £58 for A1 unframed. Both sizes are also available in a black wood frame, ready to hang.

Questions About the Single Album Maps

How many maps are in this series so far?
One. Goats Head Soup is the first single album map, and the format will be extended to other records.

What is not on these maps?
Live albums, compilations and soundtracks are excluded by editorial rule, and on the single album maps, there is no artwork, no lyrics and no chart data either. The maps contain only studio records, and this one includes the ten studio tracks and their credits.

Why is a producer sometimes missing?
Because a producer only earns a line if they are credited with playing something. Jimmy Miller played percussion here and is on the map, while the engineers are not.

Where do the credits come from?
I build a spreadsheet per record, track by track, from the published credits, then plot the result in CAD. The Goats Head Soup sheet has ten track columns and sixteen credited names.

Is the track order the same as the record?
Yes. The stations run in album order, from Dancing with Mr. D. through to Star Star.

Would it work as a first print for someone?
It works best for someone who already knows the record well. For a first print, the career map covering 1964 to 2023 is the easier one to take in.

Explore These Art Prints

The Single-Album Tube Map collection holds the series as it grows, and the Goats Head Soup map is the print itself.

For more on this record specifically, I have written up the Goats Head Soup map in detail, and the wider band story is in Rolling Stones albums in order.

The rest of the range sits in the Music Wall Art Prints collection.