Major Symphony – Prophetic Soul (1974) and Odyssea (1976) album art

In the 1970s, Ted Scotto aka Yan Tregger released two disco albums under the name Major Symphony. From BBE Records:

Born in Algeria to French parents of Italian origin, Edouard Joseph Scotto Di Suoccio released a number of chanson singles in the late sixties as Ted Scotto. He began making music under the name Yan Tregger with the easy listening meets jazz funk LP Freezing Point in 1974. Only the deepest of jazz funk diggers would know his killer LP from the same year Schifters recorded with Jacky Giordano for the small Freesound label. During this period he was working for the prolific French library music label L’Illustration Musicale, recording the psych tinged The Pop World of Yan Tregger under the name The Yan Tregger Group. But it was under the moniker Major Symphony that Scotto Di Suoccio first fired up the dancefloors of clubs like Le Palace in Paris. Recorded for the Philips label in 1974/76 Prophetic Soul and Odyssea have become much sought after amongst fans of the headier more psychedelic end of disco.

The cover artwork for both albums was provided by Jacques Wyrs. Born in Berlin in 1938 to a family of Russian origin, Wyrs developed an interest in drawing very early on. At the age of 16, he wanted to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, against the will of his parents. After he had shown his work to Karl Hubbuch, Wyrs was made the academy’s youngest student in a hundred years. He moved to Paris in 1957 where he opened his gallery in 1977. His Surrealist works adorn the covers of many science-fiction books and album records issued in the 1970s. In an interview conducted in 1985, Wyrs says he’s “not interested in the present. I live in it. What’s exciting is the future. I dream. It gets a little metaphysical.” While he participated in science fiction congresses and won a first prize at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1971, he claims to “hate the term ‘science fiction’. It is terribly overused. […] Today, science fiction lacks poetry; it has become ‘political-fiction’.” The artist died prematurely in 1988.

The uncredited cover typography features two display faces issued by Mecanorma for dry transfer lettering: On Prophetic Soul, “Major Symphony” is shown in Domino (J.C. & M. Demarchi, 1972). The album title is set in Futura Light (front) and Folio Medium Extended (back). For the follow-up, the project name is presented in the Dropshadow Condensed style of Bronx. Designed by Belgian graphic artist Michel Waxmann, Bronx was first issued by Hollenstein for phototypesetting around 1973. Two shaded styles were added to Mecanorma’s range in 1975, but disappeared from their catalogs again after only a few years. “Odyssea” is set in Churchward Design, or probably Mecanorma’s adaptation named Churchward Galaxy, with straight quote marks. The track list for both albums uses Univers.