The Top Ten album covers
Published June 19, 2004
I ask the reader to please keep in mind that this is my personal top ten favorite album covers. In no way am I insisting that these are the best album covers ever, just the ones that are my favorite.
Onward ...
10. London Calling - The Clash: This must rate as one of the most iconoclastic albums of its time. The shot of Joe Strummer about to smash his guitar against the stage floor of the New York Palladium in September 1979 is punk photography par excellence. It also served as a visual aid to the frustration that echoes in the music itself. You only needed to view the cover to London Calling to know what to expect.
9. Ramones - Ramones: Another iconoclastic front cover. Annie Leibovitz' classic shot of the burgeoning punk group attracted as much attention as the music itself. The shot was deceptively simple enough - just line the four dudes in their leather jackets and worn jeans up against a graffiti-marked brick wall. Point taken. This, much like the aforementioned London Calling, was good punk photography. But how come drummer Tommy, barely 5-foot-6, looks nearly as tall as the 6-foot-3 inch Joey? Leibovitz played a classic visual trick: Tommy is standing on a little concrete ridge while Joey is slouched - but this is not apparent to the casual glance. But the photo works brilliantly and is the finest shot of the Ramones ever produced.
8. Turnstiles - Billy Joel: Photographer Jerry Abramovitz sets up a menagerie of city dwellers who crowd around the formal-looking Joel at the subway turnstiles, each one an exaggeration of everyday big-city folk - a flamboyant couple, on their way to the theatre, one would guess; a black man who looks like Reggie Jackson without the shades; a college student juggling several books; a teeny-bopper with huge headphones; a leather jacketed day-tripper; and a dour-faced grandmother-and-grandson duo. You can't help but feel affection for this motley cast of characters - including Joel himself, who stares with arched eyebrows at the camera as if to say, "Yep - these are the people of my city!" A great all-around album cover.
7. Nilsson Schmilsson - (Harry) Nilsson: In 1971, Nilsson had grown a bit tired of his folksy image and wanted to make the break into the rock/pop scene. One forgets that this album not only contains the tedious "Without You," but also the hard-rocking "Jump Into the Fire," and "Coconut," a song with heavy drug references. "Gotta Get Up" is angsty pop, and "Early in the Morning" and "Down" are edgy, white blues. So, against the backdrop of such a dramatic shift in style that he had taken on, Nilsson wanted an album cover to reflect a shift in his image. Those who were used to his previous album covers, showing a clean-cut boyish lad, must have done a double-take upon this album's release. Nilsson no longer reaches back into the family photo album to provide his album cover, but provides a stark, black-and-white photo of himself in a bathrobe, a week's growth of beard and long, tussled hair. The slightly bewildered look in his eyes also serves as something of a shock - it's almost as if Nilsson himself has discovered something lurking with the confines of his domestic tranquillity that not even he can quite comprehend. No doubt the listener also discovered a Nilsson that was bored and frustrated and looking to tear loose, which he did marvelously with this album.
Mark Edward Manning grew up in Boston, MA and now lives in London, England. He wrote commentaries for The Boston Herald in the mid 1990s.
![Ghost In The Machine [Digipak]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31MT74YPBQL._SY90_.jpg "Ghost In The Machine [Digipak]")
![Turnstiles [Enhanced Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Ltaywk6sL._SY90_.jpg "Turnstiles [Enhanced Version]")
- The Top Ten album covers
- Published: June 19, 2004
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Original
- Writer: Mark Edward Manning
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Comments on this articleComments
There are so many choices. Let's get a plug in here for Prince's Lovesexy cover. For one thing, it was ballsy, offering himself up for all kinds of attacks.
It's also good for how uncomfortable in has doubtless made a lot of insecure guys.
It's also a really good reflection of the actual musical content of the album, the pastel-ness of it both in the actual colors and the emotional content of the music.
Sorry, due to having entered erroneous Amazon number codes, the album covers did not appear at first. I have corrected that.
How about the NY Dolls debut album cover? Can you remember any other cover that was as controversial?
Well, open up a can o' worms, Mr. Manning! I suspect you'll get lots of replies here, and everyone will be right.
I liked most of your choices. My two cents' worth:
1) All time fave album cover: Heartbreaker, the last studio album by Free. A high contrast black & white reversal of singer Paul Rodgers in front of Simon Kirke's drum kit.
2) Close second: Boots by Nancy Sinatra. No explanation necessary.
Those darn subjective worms! Vern, your Nancy Sinatra pick is excellent. No explanation necessary. Mark, I see what you are saying about the late Harry Nilsson. Great album, 'Jump Into the Fire' was always a mind blower. I'm with you on Dark Side of the Moon also.
Anyway, hhhmmm..., I guess the rule I would use in rating album covers is that the content inside is good also (well, sometimes not). I like the fun factor also.
Anyway, let me pull a few off the top of my head (no particular order).
Jethro Tull, "Stand Up". The front cover design is cool, but I like when opening the cover a pop up of the band appears.
Alice Cooper, "Schools Out". The classic school desk that opens to reveal the album. I bought one of the early releases that had a pair of panties around the disc. OK, I was one of those junior high kids that had to get every album first.
Rolling Stones, "Sticky Fingers". Another one of those records with something to play with (zipper). Problem is that any album with things to play with usually meant having to return the album due to warping caused by the plaything.
Jimi Hendrix, "Electric Ladyland" (original cover). Naked ladies? No explanation necessary. Well, i like the group portrait pose instead of doing some sensual thing.
Rolling Stones, "Exile On Main Street".
The collage of B&W photos could be hours of fun. The Ubange tribesman with 3 cue balls in his mouth was my favorite.
Philadelphia Harmonic Orchestra, "Finlandia". One of my earliest musical influences. As a tot I called it the 'black tree' album. Music is great, Eugene Ormandy was the wall of sound for orchestras.
Life In General, self titled E.P.. A five song E.P. put out independently by a Seattle scene band in '82. A B&W cover that goes from black to white and every shade of grey in between. Looks like a James Turrell installation. OK, some cool obscurities out there also.
Beatles, "Yesterday and Today" (original butcher cover). The good ol' English humor at work. Need I say more?
Beatles, "Sgt. Peppers...". It keeps you busy for hours checking out the famous faces in the group picture. Very colorful. I liked the pull out of the stand ups also. I never cut mine up. It got stolen instead...
Grateful Dead, "Live, Europe '72". Nice art, the boot stepping out of a rainbow on a white background.
Mothers of Invention, "We're Only In It for the Money". Good parody on Sgt. Peppers.
And the list goes on...
peaceloveguidance
Smashmouth? Lame. I hope you were kidding.
Most of that artwork and most of those bands are truly horrible taste.
Everyone knows the best cover ever was by an awful band, so awful I don't even remember the name of the album. But it was an album by Ween in the mid to late 1990s with a slut on the cover.
That is all.
Oh, Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" and Rolling Stones "Some Girls" for the same reason. The record jacket acting as part of the cover art concept. More fun.
peaceloveguidance
AND MORE! Grand Funk's "E Pluribus Funk". Round cut and shiney silver. Small Face "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. Round cut also. PIL's "Metal Box. A round metal box, like a film reel case.
peaceloveguidance
It's A Beautiful Day (self titled). A pleasent painting...
peaceloveguidance
Another one to "play with": Led Zeppelin III
Oh shoot, can't forget the Columbia Records original pressings of Claude Bolling's 'Suites for Flute and Jazz Piano' (and others in that series). I like the Dali influenced art.
OK, I'll shut up now, unless I think of something else worthy...
peaceloveguidance
JR, right on! I forgot about the rotating wheel! Deserves a vote for sure.
peaceloveguidance
OK, Jethro Tull "Thick As a Brick". The newspaper concept was fun to read.
plg
1) West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Vol. 3 - cover by John Van Hamersveld
also rans:
Sgt. Pepper
Soft Machine (vol 1)
Axis: Bold as Love
Matching Mole's "Little Red Record"
Nice - Ars Longa Vita Brevis
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Zappa/Mothers - We're Only in it for the Money
Joe Farrell - Canned Funk
Doors - Strange Days
Honorable Mention:
Stones - Sticky Fingers (Andrew Warhola)
Talking Heads -Speaking in Tongues (Robert Rauschenberg)
Jeff Beck - Beckola (Magritte)
Jefferson Airplane - Long John Silver
Not so much just the picture on the cover, but it was an elaborate construct that was supposed to fold up into a cigar box.
Honorable mention also for the gatefold sleeve of Prince's Around the World in a Day with the woman's figure for the landscape, and the little icons for each of the songs.
Also, props must be given for the cover of Spike, with the image of Elvis Costello's evil smiling head mounted like a rock critic's hunting trophy that might yet climb off the wall and bite you.
Kiss-Love Gun
Nazareth-Hair of the Dog
All Molly Hatchet covers
All Motorhead covers by Joe Patagno, or whatever the dude's name is
Iron Maiden-Number of the Beast, and Powerslave
Metallica-Master of Puppets
Led Zep-4
The Who-one with the baked beans
So, so, so many of today's mainstream album covers REALLY suck! It's just a photo of the singer, or the band, or some really lame computer graphic that some nimrod like me could do if he had the time. They look like they put less than ten seconds of thought into the artwork. And if the tiny lyrics were not hard enough to read anyway, they smear or shadow or try some other non-creative, creative technique on them to make it impossible.
Oh, and of course, any Yes album with Roger Dean graphics.
Al, good memory with JA/Long John Silver!
plg
BRICKLAYER, you bring up a good point about the lack of quality in today's cover art. A picture with some computer graphics that anyone can buy.
Back in the days of the LP an artist had 144 square inches to deal with. Now with the CD an artist has 36 square inches to work. The problem is that I have not seen (like BRICKLAYER says) anything that really qualifies as good original art.
There are some alright covers out there, but the art of a CD cover has a long ways to go.
I'm with you on that one, BRICKLAYER.
peaceloveguidance.
Though I was the right teen age for it, I never gave a rat's ass about Farrah Fawcett and her famous poster.
Instead, I was fairly fixated on the cover of Rickie Lee Jones eponymous debut album, with the photo of her in the beret.
That may be more a personal thing than any indication that it's a particularly great album cover. Also, the fascination was based on this being a picture of the girl who's singing stuff like "The Last Chance Texaco."
I'll just say it made a big impression on me.
...and R.Crumb's Big Brother & the Holding Co. cover qualifies as an instantly recognizable icon.
BTW: I believe the albums WORTH the most these days are the original:
Beatles "butcher" cover
Velvet Underground (Warhol's peelable banana)
Sticky Fingers (Warhol's zippable zipper)
Rauschenberg's collage on the Talking Head limited edition EP
======
And here's a tip for the collector/investor on some great deals:
Look for *Family Dog artists' (and other famous **graphic artists') album covers; they will end up being highly collectible pieces of mid-20th century art work a lot of money to your kids and grandkids; you can still get them for next to nothing, and some day, they might attain the "art museum" level of graphic art.
*Rick Griffin - Eagles ‘On The Border’, Grateful Dead’s ‘Aoxomoxoa’, the first Quicksilver Messenger Service album, Neil Young’s ‘On The Beach’, various albums by the Cult. See also - Victor Moscoso(!!), Mouse Kelly (American Dead cover!!), etc. etc.
**Gary Burden, Jimmy Wachtel, Rodney Matthews, Ralph Steadman, et al.
PS: Don't tell anybody. I'd hate to see the prices go up just yet.
I'd have to agree that the Beatles' "butcher" cover to "Yesterday and Today" is a classic.
All of the Roxy Music "girl" covers up through Siren are classic.
Lou Reed's Transformer
Blues For Allah is my favorite, but all of the Kelly Mouse covers are iconic
Hipgnosis was usually interesting
Al, I'm with you on the Rickie Lee Jones cover. "Danny's All Star Joint" (that the right song title?)was my fave. During that era I was in love with Karla Bonoff album covers. Yeah, I had posters and all that good, obsessive stuff.
Eric, right on about Roxy Music 'girl' album covers. Wasn't that Jerry Hall on the Siren album?
peaceloveguidance
Yes Doug, the mischievous "Danny's All Star Joint" is a great tune. However, it was the dramatics of "Night Train" and the dark night of the soul in "The Last Chance Texaco" that caused me sleepless nights.
Al, true. "Night Train" and "Last Chance Texaco" Rickie sure dug deep into the scary parts of her soul.
I hear she is living in this neck of the woods now (just south of me in Tacoma, WA).
With "Danny's All Star Joint", you can tell I'm a rocker. The moods that Rickie could touch upon are amazing.
gotta jump,
peaceloveguidance
yes, that was Jerry on Siren - a remarkable cover
Shark, right on about Big Brother & the Holding Co. (R. Crumb). Classic work!
Also, good tips from the record collector's point of view. sssshhhh...! don't tell anyone (lol)
peaceloveguidance
The cover of Ghost in the Machine is actually a digital "portrait" of the band. The one in the middle is Sting, you can see his spiky hair. The one on the right is Stewart Copeland, Sting said he had the biggest head. And the other one is Andy Summers. Most non-Police fans aren't aware of this, and makes it an even cooler cover.
Album covers eh? I think these are all
pretty cool covers:
Velvet Underground-White LightWhite Heat
Black on black with the low key skull.
Subtle but menacing.
The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
The orig. cover with all the grafitti on
the wall and the filthy toilet. I think
it's funny,others find it disgusting.
Any of R.Crumbs covers for Yazoo Records
particularly "The Memphis Jug Band" LP.
Any LP on Chess/Checker Records with a
Stan Bronstein photograph on the cover.
He was one of the best photographers of
musicians anywhere. His pictures of The
Wolf,Muddy,Little Walter,Chuck Berry and
Bo Diddley to name but a few are easily
recognizable classics of their genre.
Oh yeah,to point out the obvious time:
The "London Calling" cover is a DIE-RECT
lift of the first Elvis Presley LP cover
It is a homage/tribute of sorts. Either
way it works.
Stepping out from anything well known, but I really like the painting by one Chloe Cumming for the 2004 Box o' Clox album A Tribute to Brian Wilson
Thank you Al. It is my painting to which you refer. I have a funny feeling that I'd make my fortune if CDs were twelve inches in diameter. Sigh. I'm probably a bit late joining this thread but felt I ought to acknowledge your acknowledgement.
I met Sir Peter Blake (i.e. the man who created the Sgt. Pepper cover) backstage at the first nught Brian Wilson Smile tour in February. I showed him a tiny painting of the Beach Boys from my handbag. He revealed to me that he was doing the cover for Brian's next album (Gettin' In Over My Head.) But I got the impression it was all a bit last minute and now I've seen the cover and it's a sort of thrown together collage and I think to myself... Peter, you've done better work.
Thanks for stopping by Chloe, stunning work. Let us know when you do your site update.
Surely for a totally over the top cover-for size and visual splendour
Santana:Lotus
I think a note should be flung in the direction of Dookie by Green Day, which manages to fit any number of daft and wacky characters and scenes into the confines of a CD case (or a cassette case even, as my first purchase of it was indeed on tape).
Also, i have a 12 inch record by NOFX called Eating Lamb (which i presume came out at the same time as Heavy Petting Zoo - same art style on the cover), which has a fella 69ing a sheep. im fairly sure i only bought it so as i could walk down the street with it in full view.
And of course, the Greatest Of All Ever - Rum, Sodomy And The Lash by The Pogues, which took The Wake Of The Medusa and put the Pogues heads on the sailers. Shane still gets hsi sunglasses, of course, even in the midst of all the death and destruction.
p!nk try this album cover was really great!!!
Good stuff but two glaring omissions:
"Who's Next" by The Who. The 4 band members are seen walking away from a freshly-urine-soaked momolith.
And for sheer lunacy, check out NOFX's "Heavy Petting Zpp." Disturbinly hysterical!!
-Paul
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Excellent list, just one slight correction. The photo on the cover of London Calling is actually Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar, not Joe Strummer.