Tie a Yellow Ribbon (album)

Released in 1973 by Bell Records as Tie a Yellow Ribbon^[1] in the UK, but elsewhere as Tuneweaving,^[2] it is the third album by American popular music group Dawn (Tony Orlando, Telma Hopkins & Joyce Vincent Wilson). In the US, the album debuted the charts on 24 March 1973 and reached a peak position of number 30 on 16 June 1973.^[3]

The UK release differs from the US version not only in name but also in cover artwork. The front of the former features the photo of Dawn which actually appears on the rear of the US sleeve. The cross-stitch concept used on the cover of the latter seemingly intended to evoke a notion of "Tuneweaving"

The track Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree reached number one in both the US^[4] and UK.^[5] In terms of sales, this single was the most successful in the group's career, starting a string of seven consecutive Hot 100 appearances. Another track, "You're a Lady" by English singer/songwriter Peter Skellern, reached number 70 on the US charts. The group changed their name to "Tony Orlando and Dawn" later in 1973.

In an interview for the Exclaim! website, Simon Robinson author of the book "The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve,"^[6] cites the Tuneweaving album cover as an example of this genre. "The idea of turning a photo of the trio into an embroidery is quite a good one, but … the end result is terrible! Any sane record label executive … would have swapped it over for the nice photo on the back…"^[7] However a review of Tuneweaving in AllMusic concludes that though it has "one of the ugliest sleeves ever concocted" this, their third album, "became Dawn's first gold album, and deservedly so."^[8]