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Queen By-Tor
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 13 2006
Location: Xanadu
Status: Offline
Points: 16111
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 13:06 |
Big Generator and 90125 are baaaad. Talk I kind of like... sort of post modern art, kind of fun. Someone complained about Open Your Eyes, and I have to disagree, it's a nice kind of minimalism and I've always liked that cover (although I don't own the album, haven't heard great things about it  ), Tormato is stupid, but I don't mind it. It certainly made me turn my head the first time I saw it. Going For The One is strange, but I like it. uhhh, Big Generator it is. Why did they have to make such crappy computer generated art??
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Norbert
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 20 2005
Location: Hungary
Status: Offline
Points: 2506
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 13:47 |
What an old thread. On the list Tormato has the worst cover, I think.
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Treasure
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 09 2008
Location: Bland Street
Status: Offline
Points: 298
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 16:06 |
Basically I voted Tormato because Big Generator is so bad, it didn't even deserve to be on the poll.
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The Quiet One
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 16 2008
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 15745
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 17:07 |
This poll is the worst
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peskypesky
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 25 2005
Location: Texas
Status: Offline
Points: 359
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 19:04 |
This poll sucks because it's missing half of Yes's albums.
If it had all their albums, as it should, I'd vote for "Close Your Eyes" because it's so plain. The use of the classic Yes logo is always welcome, but there's really no design to speak of. The other bad album cover is the US version of "Time and A Word". Again, no design to speak of and it's just sort of ugly.
I really can't believe so many people are voting for the "Tormato" cover, which I really like. I think it's beautiful in terms of graphic design, with the rich blues and reds, and it has that cool, iconic, enigmatic 1970s Hipgnosis style that I love so much. And I also think it's funny that Yes knew they would get slammed for making a prog album in 1978, so they went ahead and smashed the tomatoes themselves, beating the critics to the punch.
Call me crazy, but I think it's one of Yes's better album covers, and is by far the least dated looking.
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Prog fan since 1974.
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crimhead
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: October 10 2006
Location: Missouri
Status: Offline
Points: 19236
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 19:11 |
Is the story of the Tormato cover true? Did Wakeman really throw a tomato at the cover? Just curious.
I really don't dislike any of them. Roger Dean is a talented artist.
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peskypesky
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 25 2005
Location: Texas
Status: Offline
Points: 359
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 19:15 |
crimhead wrote:
Is the story of the Tormato cover true? Did Wakeman really throw a tomato at the cover? Just curious.
I really don't dislike any of them. Roger Dean is a talented artist. |
And now of course, I have to mention the album title and cover. Originally, the album was slated to be called Yestor, in honor of Yes Tor, a rocky hill "two-and-a-half miles from Okehampton, Devon in England. On a clear day, from the top, you can see far away places with strange sounding names" as the liner notes say. The original cover (by Hipgnosis, not Roger Dean) featured a man holding a dowsing rod, standing on said hill. The (by all accounts true) rumor says Rick Wakeman was so unimpressed by the cover art that he threw a tomato at it during a lunchtime meeting. The link between Tor and tomato was just too good to pass up, so they called the album Tormato instead. To make matters worse, they added a splattered tomato to the front and back cover photos as well. History does not record Hipgnosis' reaction to this, though they still have credit for the cover.
-Grzcyrgba
http://everything2.com/e2node/Tormato
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Prog fan since 1974.
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crimhead
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: October 10 2006
Location: Missouri
Status: Offline
Points: 19236
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 19:38 |
peskypesky wrote:
crimhead wrote:
Is the story of the Tormato cover true? Did Wakeman really throw a tomato at the cover? Just curious.
I really don't dislike any of them. Roger Dean is a talented artist. |
And now of course, I have to mention the album title and cover. Originally, the album was slated to be called Yestor, in honor of Yes Tor, a rocky hill "two-and-a-half miles from Okehampton, Devon in England. On a clear day, from the top, you can see far away places with strange sounding names" as the liner notes say. The original cover (by Hipgnosis, not Roger Dean) featured a man holding a dowsing rod, standing on said hill. The (by all accounts true) rumor says Rick Wakeman was so unimpressed by the cover art that he threw a tomato at it during a lunchtime meeting. The link between Tor and tomato was just too good to pass up, so they called the album Tormato instead. To make matters worse, they added a splattered tomato to the front and back cover photos as well. History does not record Hipgnosis' reaction to this, though they still have credit for the cover. -Grzcyrgba
http://everything2.com/e2node/Tormato
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I did see that somewhere I was just wondering if it was the real deal or just an urban myth.
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Dean
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 20:27 |
crimhead wrote:
peskypesky wrote:
crimhead wrote:
Is the story of the Tormato cover true? Did Wakeman really throw a tomato at the cover? Just curious.
I really don't dislike any of them. Roger Dean is a talented artist. |
And now of course, I have to mention the album title and cover. Originally, the album was slated to be called Yestor, in honor of Yes Tor, a rocky hill "two-and-a-half miles from Okehampton, Devon in England. On a clear day, from the top, you can see far away places with strange sounding names" as the liner notes say. The original cover (by Hipgnosis, not Roger Dean) featured a man holding a dowsing rod, standing on said hill. The (by all accounts true) rumor says Rick Wakeman was so unimpressed by the cover art that he threw a tomato at it during a lunchtime meeting. The link between Tor and tomato was just too good to pass up, so they called the album Tormato instead. To make matters worse, they added a splattered tomato to the front and back cover photos as well. History does not record Hipgnosis' reaction to this, though they still have credit for the cover. -Grzcyrgba
http://everything2.com/e2node/Tormato
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I did see that somewhere I was just wondering if it was the real deal or just an urban myth. |
All of the stories about the tomato.sandwich throwing incident are uncredited. Does anyone know if this is mentioned in one of Storm's books? (none of the ones I have mention this cover).
Personally I think it is very unlikely that in the 70s Yes would have even contemplated using a cover they didn't like, so I find it difficult to believe that they'd use a cover they didn't like enough to throw vegetables at.
My guess is that they really thought the cover was a great idea, but when the public/press reaction to it was negative, Wakeman made a sarcastic comment about throwing the tomato at it.
From an artistic point of view the red tomato on a blue background is common colour-contrast effect as the blue adds vibrancy to the red, and is one that Hipgnosis used many times (Wish You Were Here (veil picture), The flags picture on The Division Bell, Nice Elegy and Frances the Mute being the most obvious examples that spring to mind).
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What?
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Statutory-Mike
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 15 2008
Location: Long Island
Status: Offline
Points: 3737
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Posted: July 07 2008 at 20:29 |
This poll is the worst
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darksideof
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 22 2007
Location: Newark N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 2318
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Posted: July 08 2008 at 02:24 |
What??ˇˇ. This poll is stupid. Every single cover is art
My vote!!
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http://darksideofcollages.blogspot.com/
http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darksideof-Collages/
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Roj
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 02 2008
Location: Manchester, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 3126
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Posted: July 09 2008 at 10:11 |
It has to be "Yes", a truly dire album cover.
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spookytooth
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 06 2008
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Status: Offline
Points: 438
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Posted: July 09 2008 at 10:44 |
Big Generator and Tormato are absolutely terrible. Seriously, the Big Generator cover is so bad it ranks among Manowar's album covers as the worst album covers ever... Well, forget the claim I made earlier. I don't think Big Generator could go as low as this:
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Would you like some Bailey's?
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crimhead
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: October 10 2006
Location: Missouri
Status: Offline
Points: 19236
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Posted: July 09 2008 at 14:19 |
spookytooth wrote:
Big Generator and Tormato are absolutely terrible. Seriously, the Big Generator cover is so bad it ranks among Manowar's album covers as the worst album covers ever...
Well, forget the claim I made earlier. I don't think Big Generator could go as low as this:

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You know this album was strictly marketed to go after the women that go to Chippendale shows.
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alanerc
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 20 2007
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 278
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Posted: July 10 2008 at 16:32 |
memowakeman wrote:
FOR THIS ALBUMS THE WORST FOR ME IS GOING FOR THE ONE BUT... BIG GENERATOR IS THE WORST COVER... |
 A huevo memo
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Jozef
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 17 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Status: Offline
Points: 2204
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Posted: July 10 2008 at 16:45 |
In my opinion, the debut album. It's just so...plain...compared to what their other album covers would look like. Well "Close to the Edge" is plain too but that has a nice green color, so I can't complain. Oh well. It doesn't really matter, as long as the music makes up for it.
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The Quiet One
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 16 2008
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 15745
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Posted: July 10 2008 at 17:51 |
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boo boo
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 28 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 905
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Posted: July 11 2008 at 03:18 |
Going for the One is not a bad cover, it just looks....... like it should be a Rush album.
Most of the Roger Dean ones are great. Big Generator is their worst, that one is so incredibly plain and tacky.
Edited by boo boo - July 11 2008 at 03:23
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ghost_of_morphy
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2755
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Posted: July 11 2008 at 03:45 |
Apologies to Mr. Banks, but the British cover of Yes is easily the worst. Awards for the Best Non-Dean Cover go to the British version of Time and a Word. The Best Dean Cover Award I hereby give to Keys to Ascension II, while the Worst Dean Cover Award goes to Drama (in a close race with Fragile.)
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boo boo
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 28 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 905
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Posted: July 11 2008 at 08:25 |
SAY WHA?
Fragile is an awesome album cover.
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