Forum Home Forum Home > Progressive Music Lounges > Top 10s and lists
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Great Albums With Bad Album Covers
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Great Albums With Bad Album Covers

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 23456>
Author
Message
yogev View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: February 09 2021
Location: Israel
Status: Offline
Points: 396
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yogev Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2021 at 15:06
Originally posted by dwill123 dwill123 wrote:

I actually think this album cover is great, but I know a lot of folks don't agree.

Review of Todd Rundgrens &amp;amp;quot;A Wizard, A True Star&amp;amp;quot; album (1973) - YouTube

This album cover is one of my favorite album covers. As you can see...


Edited by yogev - March 19 2021 at 05:52
Back to Top
The Anders View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: January 02 2019
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 3535
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Anders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2021 at 15:11
Who's Next...
Back to Top
Grumpyprogfan View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: July 09 2019
Location: Kansas City
Status: Offline
Points: 12388
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grumpyprogfan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2021 at 15:33
The Beatles "White Album".

Back to Top
AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: October 02 2016
Location: Philly burbs
Status: Offline
Points: 18928
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2021 at 16:02
ELP - Tarkus 

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.
Back to Top
The Anders View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: January 02 2019
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 3535
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Anders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2021 at 16:58
Originally posted by Grumpyprogfan Grumpyprogfan wrote:

The Beatles "White Album".



That's one of my favourite album covers :)
Back to Top
cstack3 View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar
VIP Member

Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7412
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 00:18
Of course, we cannot forget Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove!"

I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!!
Back to Top
Blacksword View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: June 22 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 16130
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Blacksword Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 02:13
I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)
Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
Back to Top
Frenetic Zetetic View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: December 09 2017
Location: Now
Status: Offline
Points: 9233
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Frenetic Zetetic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 02:20
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)

This thread sure is interesting, because I personally consider Foxtrot to have an exemplary prog rock artwork!

Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

Of course, we cannot forget Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove!"

 

"What's wrong with being sexy?" Cool

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021
Back to Top
Cristi View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Crossover / Prog Metal Teams

Joined: July 27 2006
Location: wonderland
Status: Online
Points: 45661
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cristi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 02:32
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:



Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)

I don't find these albums cover you mention bad, they never bothered me in any way. Confused
Back to Top
Sean Trane View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator

Prog Folk

Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 20414
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sean Trane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 02:58
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)



point well madeLOL, but "great" is all IMHO, right? Wink


I really don't understand the deal with male nudity on Hemispheres and GFTOConfused. Both are good covers (better than 2112 , also with male buttocks in the innergatefoldTongue and the kimonos on the back coverEvil Smile), though neither would be in my top 50 artworks.

No major problems with the Whitehead (incl VdGG and Le Orme) artworks either, even with the strange sense of perspectives , but the oddest Whitehead is Pawh Hearts, IMHO.


Duke & Trilogy are indeed poor (though there is a direction in Duke's gatefold art), Sabotage is awful Deadand Fugazi is semi-sordidOuch (but it isn't a good album, let alone great).


.


Edited by Sean Trane - March 18 2021 at 03:11
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
Back to Top
Blacksword View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: June 22 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 16130
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Blacksword Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 03:05
Originally posted by Frenetic Zetetic Frenetic Zetetic wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)


This thread sure is interesting, because I personally consider Foxtrot to have an exemplary prog rock artwork!

<span style="line-height: 18.2px;">
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

</span><div style="line-height: 18.2px;">Of course, we cannot forget Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove!"<div style="line-height: 18.2px;">
<span style="line-height: 18.2px;"> 
</span><div style="line-height: 18.2px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.2px;">"What's wrong with being sexy?" Cool


I was never bowled over by those early Genesis album covers. I'm not sure why. They were just not to my taste I guess. That said, they are better than Duke, which was just a lazy failed attempt to appear 'modern' and minimalist. IMO.
Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
Back to Top
Frenetic Zetetic View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: December 09 2017
Location: Now
Status: Offline
Points: 9233
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Frenetic Zetetic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 03:18
Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)



point well madeLOL, but "great" is all IMHO, right? Wink


I really don't understand the deal with male nudity on Hemispheres and GFTOConfused. Both are good covers (better than 2112 , also with male buttocks in the innergatefoldTongue and the kimonos on the back coverEvil Smile), though neither would be in my top 50 artworks.

No major problems with the Whitehead (incl VdGG and Le Orme) artworks either, even with the strange sense of perspectives , but the oddest Whitehead is Pawh Hearts, IMHO.


Duke & Trilogy are indeed poor (though there is a direction in Duke's gatefold art), Sabotage is awful Deadand Fugazi is semi-sordidOuch (but it isn't a good album, let alone great).


.

I've always found H to HE to be Whitehead's strangest, most intriguing piece. 

I still see it as a pair of lungs with a pocket watch attached, lol.

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021
Back to Top
cstack3 View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar
VIP Member

Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7412
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 03:40
Originally posted by Frenetic Zetetic Frenetic Zetetic wrote:

Of course, we cannot forget Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove!"

 

"What's wrong with being sexy?" Cool
[/QUOTE]

Bless your heart, you remembered!!  

I once played in a Spinal Tap tribute/satire band, sort of a Mobius strip of bad....It was an amazing experience! 

The ultimate cover selected was, of course, the "black" cover....Spinal Tap confronted Metallica over their appropriation of the concept!!  

https://www.metalinsider.net/columns/remember-when-spinal-tap-confronted-metallica-about-a-certain-album-cover
I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!!
Back to Top
Blacksword View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: June 22 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 16130
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Blacksword Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 04:14
Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:



Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)


I don't find these albums cover you mention bad, they never bothered me in any way. Confused


All down to personal taste. Some folk hate the cover to And then there were three, I think it's beautiful.

Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
Back to Top
Cristi View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Crossover / Prog Metal Teams

Joined: July 27 2006
Location: wonderland
Status: Online
Points: 45661
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cristi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 04:22
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:



Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)


I don't find these albums cover you mention bad, they never bothered me in any way. Confused


All down to personal taste. Some folk hate the cover to And then there were three, I think it's beautiful.


obviously it's all subjective. 
The ATTW3 cover is great, I agree. Tongue
Back to Top
chopper View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20032
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 06:05
Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Good record...bad cover.
The man v. civilization theme works, but what the hell does it have to do with the music in Going for the One?
Another album, along with Hemispheres, that I had to take to school in a brown bag for fear of people taking the **** as to why I had a guy's butt on an album. 
Still, the inside photo is amazing.
Back to Top
Sean Trane View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator

Prog Folk

Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 20414
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sean Trane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 07:03
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Good record...bad cover.
The man v. civilization theme works, but what the hell does it have to do with the music in Going for the One? >> you'd have to look into Jon's mumbo jumbo to find the answer to that

Another album, along with Hemispheres, that I had to take to school in a brown bag for fear of people taking the **** as to why I had a guy's butt on an album. 
Still, the inside photo is amazing.
 

yeah, I can understand with the late-70's context, but still make an issue 40 years down the line

Do you find the following threatening your heterosexuality?


let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
Back to Top
chopper View Drop Down
Special Collaborator
Special Collaborator
Avatar
Honorary Collaborator

Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20032
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 07:12
Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by patrickq patrickq wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Good record...bad cover.

The man v. civilization theme works, but what the hell does it have to do with the music in Going for the One? >> you'd have to look into Jon's mumbo jumbo to find the answer to that

Another album, along with Hemispheres, that I had to take to school in a brown bag for fear of people taking the **** as to why I had a guy's butt on an album. 
Still, the inside photo is amazing.
 

yeah, I can understand with the late-70's context, but still make an issue 40 years down the line

Do you find the following threatening your heterosexuality?

I didn't have a problem with it then and don't know - it was just schoolboy humour.
Back to Top
moshkito View Drop Down
Forum Senior Member
Forum Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
Status: Offline
Points: 18064
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2021 at 10:11
Hi,

I've always been one to appreciate art and its history. To me, album covers were a sort of extension of the art history ... with multi media added to the whole thing, which made it even more different, but not any less "meaning" about the cover.

I kinda side with Hipgnosis, whose covers were always a sort of "editorial" about the music itself ... and it meant it right and then some, although it is hard to figure out what it might be considering covers like Flash 1 and 2, which I keep thinking were Sherry who used to post here on Flash's behalf for a long while. Not that it makes any difference, but I wonder if in some ways, that was the great inspiration for a lot of the music, and to me, that is valid, even if some of us might find it distasteful, however at the time, both Playboy and Penthouse were doing their picture spreads, and in my book, these 2 covers were far more exciting than the pictures in the magazines.

All in all, to me, a lot of the covers are sheer non-sense and its meaning is just bollocks! And, too many of them, are just an ego thing, and basically keeping up with the live concert idea of "sexiness" and "this and that" which was not existent and it was just a fabrication in our minds by a media trying hard to sell you an album.

There was a film, I think it was called LOOKER ... but I'm not sure right now as I have not found it again, and in it was a detailed breakdown of how the EYE saw images, and sure enough it gave us a great example of a girl surfing, and where were our eyes centered in there ... 2 places mostly, and in many ways it really defined a lot of advertising ... no wonder that film has disappeared ... it was a major point in how things were done to entice your money! Prostitution of the highest order in many ways!

It doesn't bother me if it is a man or a woman ... let it be ... but there are certain things that you can imagine real quick from history ... how a church did not want to emphasize sex by making the member bigger (you know the statue!) and then all the paintings for the previous hundreds of years that had satyrs in them were oversized men, even with horns, which you know was more of a church idea than a reality, anyway.

To me, for example, the Guru Guru cover is not ... whatever ... it was a way to say that the music was RAW and no fake stuff here ... and that was what Guru Guru was all about, even though I have been told that Mani is a well known "nudist" ... and whatever, but it many ways, it was not the only time that he mentioned sexual innuendos into the band's music ... like Chuck Berry didn't either ... what a crock ... and in those days, the TV and pictures could not have shown anything below the belly, because it insinuated something not right, or improper ... I call it more evangelical bullpoop by the same folks that still define what you should see on American TV ... people whose morals are so hypocritical as to be insane and most of them should be disgraced from their roles and mandates ... sort of like the majority of the educational system folks that run the local schools ... many of which are ... totally out of touch and time, and continue to hide under the floor boards!

My only comment, is how TODAY, so many bands do not work more with other artists to create something more valuable ... the day of the DAW, means that changing a note is more important than the album ... and many of these folks don't know, or understand, what art means to many of us, and its important role in our lives ... but I don't think that folks in America can help it ... for 40 to 50 years one party has consistently taken away the money for a lot of the arts from educational systems, because it was well known that the "arts" make people become more liberal and "anti-establishment" .... guess what the result is ... 

Sad statement about the arts and what the music in many of these albums is all about. In most cases ... NOTHING!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com
Back to Top
BaldFriede View Drop Down
Prog Reviewer
Prog Reviewer
Avatar

Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 19 2021 at 05:21
Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I have to remind myself, this is about great albums with bad covers, not bad albums also with bad covers, for example, Abacab or Love Beach..

So..

I concur with regard to Yes GFTO, Rush Presto/Hemispheres,

Then there's..

Duke - Genesis
Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Foxtrot - Genesis
Sabotage - Black Sabbath
PXR5 - Hawkwind
Trilogy - ELP
Queen - A kind of Magic
Fugazi - Marillion (sorry, I think it's awful)



point well madeLOL, but "great" is all IMHO, right? Wink


I really don't understand the deal with male nudity on Hemispheres and GFTOConfused. Both are good covers (better than 2112 , also with male buttocks in the innergatefoldTongue and the kimonos on the back coverEvil Smile), though neither would be in my top 50 artworks.

No major problems with the Whitehead (incl VdGG and Le Orme) artworks either, even with the strange sense of perspectives , but the oddest Whitehead is Pawh Hearts, IMHO.


Duke & Trilogy are indeed poor (though there is a direction in Duke's gatefold art), Sabotage is awful Deadand Fugazi is semi-sordidOuch (but it isn't a good album, let alone great).

I actually consider "Fugazi" to be the best album Marillion ever made. It is the only album I like of them. The album cover also shows the covers of the Peter Hammill albums "Fool's Mate" and "Over"; the albums lie somewhere on the floor.

About the naked male rear view: At least the ass is only painted in the mentioned albums. On the Guru Guru album "Hinten" it is a real male ass (probably the ass of Mani Neumeier).

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wEz5FDrcL._SX450_.jpg

What about this album cover:

http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1102/cover_571614102008.jpg

Or this one:



I am certain you can see Mani's testicles in the last one.


Edited by BaldFriede - March 19 2021 at 05:54


BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 23456>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.205 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.