The 20 Most Amazing Rock Album Covers
Submitted by dcstar on Thu, 07/10/2003 - 06:17
Tags:
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/ Beatles
- Wish You Were Here/ Pink Floyd
- London Calling/ The Clash
- Tommy/ The Who
- Live at Fillmore East/ Allman Brothers Band
- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere/ Neil Young
- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan/ Bob Dylan
- Houses of the Holy/ Led Zeppelin
- Axis:Bold as Love/ Jimi Hendrix
- This Years Model/ Elvis Costello
- Sea Change/ Beck
- Revolver/ Beatles
- Imagine/ John Lennon
- Dark Side of the Moon/ Pink Floyd
- Joshua Tree/ U2
- Willie and the Poorboys/ Creedence Clearwater Revival
- More Songs About Buildings and Food/ Talking Heads
- Rage Against the Machine/ Rage Against the Machine
- What's Going On/ Marvin Gaye
- Abbey Road/ Beatles
Author Comments:
SUGGESTIONS AND FAVORITES PLEASE
I wanted to limit it to one per artist, but that didn't quite work out...
Also, you'll find no Andy Warhol here, it's original but a little cheesy.
Here are a few others, off the top of my head:
- In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson
- Ege Bamyasi, Can
- We're Only In It For The Money, The Mothers of Invention
- Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Frank Zappa
- Sticky Fingers, the Rolling Stones (does this one merit an auto-disqualification because Andy Warhol designed it?)
- Blue, Joni Mitchell
- Maggot Brain, Parliament
Oh, and which "Axis: Bold as Love" cover are you refering to? There's a British pressing which is nothing more than a collection of topless women posing demurely. Hard to find unless you're a collector.
Isn't that 'topless' cover Electric Ladyland? Or is my memory failing me once again?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
OOPS! My bad. Lbangs is right once again!
I love all the bizarre pictures in the Wish You Were Here booklet. Excellent choice. But I'm gonna have to disagree with Blonde on Blonde. Don't get me wrong, I love that album, but the cover is uninspiring - it's just a picture of Dylan in wintery clothes.
Yeah, Wish You Were Here is definetely a standout with it's unusual imagery and symbolism.
Blonde on Blonde is one of the first records to have no text on the cover-that's the main reason it's on here. I agree it's not really artistic, but the blurred photo of Dylan with his wild hair and stylish scarf just sends be to 1966 for a moment or two, but oh the album...timeless.
Oh if only we had the ability to post jpg's. Here's just a handfull of my old favorites.
Blues For Allah - Grateful Dead
American Beauty - Grateful Dead
The Roger Dean covers for Yes and others
Alice Cooper - Greatest Hits
Cheap Thrills - Big Brother & The Holding Co. (I'm a huge R. Crumb fan)
Eldorado - Electric Light Orchestra
Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
One old Jazz cover from '62 that nobody remembers but has always been a great favorite: Undercurrent - Bill Evans & Jim Hall
Alice In Chains Greatest Hits CD.
a few more..
* the velvet underground & nico
* Elton John - Captain fantastic and the brown dirt cowboy
* Queen - News of the world
* Alan Parsons project - tales of mystery and imagination edgar alan poe
and i love naturally by JJ Cale, not very spectaculair, but a little weird
Andy Warhol might NOW seem a little cheesy, but it/he was a product of the sixties, and at that time it was great (and still is great). It only seems a little cheesy now because it seems cliched because it was so high-profile and over-hyped, but that was because it was (is) so original and great.
You are right, the fact that I mentioned him makes him influential. He is very original. I love the Stones logo, which he designed.