Product 45: Australian Punk / Post Punk Record Covers is very literally a solid offering, really, it is heavy AF, but that’s a good thing as every one of its 400 odd pages is wonderfully dense, both in content and the luxurious calibre of the paper stock.

Celebrating a period of DIY releases and authentic punk output in Australian music, Product 45 cuts its niche from the years between 1975 & 1980, looking specifically at the art of 7” records and how restriction and adversity in many ways led to its own brand of freedom, creativity and exploration. Moving from year to year, it offers a critical review of the packaging of Australian Music with striking and precise renderings of the records and sleeves interspersed with insightful commentary and colour from a daunting list of artists, musicians, writers, label heads and luminaries like Reg Mombassa, Raymond Ahn & Bruce Callaway. All told there are more than 320 records on show from more than 200 bands and stories from a ludicrous list of contributors, all of it looking a real treat and making for a wonderful overall package.

Product 45 received a silver medal in the performing arts category of the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards this year and it’s easy to see why. A ridiculous amount of care and detail has gone into this book, from the beautiful flyleaf lining collages and vivid posterised dust cover, to its standout splash pages and bold, purposeful typography; it doesn’t ooze passion, it deftly contains it and has the heft to prove it.

This beautiful, thick, hardback release isn’t just for fans of early Aussie punk, but for anyone with an interest in music history, art or design, and especially for fans of giant glossy conversation pieces they can throw down on their coffee table for instant cred.

- Nic Addenbrooke