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Worst Prog Album Cover

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Braka1 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Braka1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2019 at 10:09
Originally posted by Neu!mann Neu!mann wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

What's the worst album cover you've ever seen for a Prog-Rock band?
 
My vote goes to the German band Brainstorm for their 1972 album "Smile a While" Smile
 

There's no way this gets my vote, because it's meant to be be tongue-in-cheek. Love Beach, on the other hand, was by a major band, so that makes it 100x worse!!


That cover reminds me of Mother Goose - a New Zealand Band who moved to Australia in 1976 and had a #1 hit single with a novelty song called 'Baked Beans'.  They could really play. There's a live clip of them on youtube from 77. It goes from heavy blues to Zappa-ish prog to Chattanooga Choo Choo, all with the guitarist dressed in diapers and a bib.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2019 at 12:26
An interesting side information about the album "Smile a While": The title of the 4th track is given as "Bosco Biati weiß alles" on the album cover. The correct title would however be "Bosko Biati kennt Alles". Mark that "Bosko" is written with a "K" here. This title would refer to a card trick, in which 20 cards (10 identical pairs, so each card appears twice) are placed in 4 rows of 5 cards each. One person has to pick a pair and tell in which rows the two cards appear (example given: 1st and 3rd row). The other person will then immediately tell which pair was chosen.

If you look at "Bosko Biati Kennt Alles" closely you will notice that the sentence consists of 10 different letters that each appear twice. This does of course tell how the trick is done.

Since both the correct and the wrong title mean the same in German it is easy to see how the mistake was made.

In the example given it would be the pair of cards placed on the positions of the letter "K".


Edited by BaldFriede - September 26 2019 at 01:18


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Fischman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2019 at 19:18
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:


What's the worst album cover you've ever seen for a Prog-Rock band?
 
My vote goes to the German band Brainstorm for their 1972 album "Smile a While" Smile
 



That's freakin' hysterical! At least it's got a high amusement factor. Since it's got some redeeming value in that, I can't call it the worst.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Fischman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2019 at 19:20
I've always thought that DT cover truly bad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote M27Barney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 00:34
Yes. Tormato is the worst I reckon. By comparisson with all the rest...

Edited by M27Barney - September 26 2019 at 00:35
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Braka1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 01:56
Hawkwind had some abysmal album covers in the early to mid 80's, that looked like they were drawn by not very talented 10 year-olds. 'Sonic Attack' and 'Zones' spring to mind.  But while they were inept and juvenile, they probably aren't as catastrophically bad as some other hard rock album covers.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 02:24
Originally posted by Braka1 Braka1 wrote:

Hawkwind had some abysmal album covers in the early to mid 80's, that looked like they were drawn by not very talented 10 year-olds. 'Sonic Attack' and 'Zones' spring to mind.  But while they were inept and juvenile, they probably aren't as catastrophically bad as some other hard rock album covers.

Honestly? Here the cover of "Zones":


Just look at the drape of the pilot's suit. This was most definitely not drawn by an untalented 10 year-old; this was drawn by an artist who knew exactly what he was doing. Getting drapery right is one of the most difficult things in the art of painting.


Edited by BaldFriede - September 26 2019 at 02:25


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 04:11
The cover for Hawkwind's "Zones" album looks okay to me. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 07:17
Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

...
You are keeping yourself from a good listening experience; the album is a solid 4 star album.

...

I promise to listen to it ... there are a couple of those old things that I have not heard ... I need to find Tanned Leather and Cherubin ... I liked those and it was not the covers, btw.

The only "covers" i ever bought, for the most part were the ones done by HIPGNOSIS, and the main reason why was that their covers were ALWAYS an "editorial" about the music, and you just about knew what you were going to get. 

But, generally, covers were never the reason why I bought something ... in fact, I refused to buy the BLIND FAITH album with the young girl on it, because that cover was exploitative, and I did not think that the music was any better! But it's a fine line ... like seeing Jimi in the middle of a bunch of ladies in one album that was censored in America.

When comparing the "humor" from Brainstorm's album cover, to one by Frank Zappa sitting on the stool, at least you know that he is saying ... it's just some sh*t ... and he is not making any excuses for his thinking, while Brainstorm's is a bit on the weird side, even if it is making fun of the classical side of things ... but I'm not knowledgeable enough about underclothing to say any more about that ... I, personally, do not find it funny, or interesting and it did not help me buy the album or touch it, when AD2, KS and TD had something that was much more interesting and valuable to me!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 08:48
The design of an album cover has a big part to play for me in whether I decide to buy an album, particularly when it comes to the surreal Prog-Rock album covers designed by the creative Hipgnosis team, or Roger Dean's superb fantasy art designs for albums by Yes, Asia and Uriah Heep, amongst others.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote M27Barney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2019 at 10:59
The gatefold sleve of vinyl was a big part of the buying experience. Mind you that Love Beach cover put me off when it came out...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 27 2019 at 22:51
I didn't think ELP's "Love Beach" album cover was THAT bad, although I've heard it's generally considered to be their worst album.
 
I loved the old gatefold album cover sleeves too. Smile


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - September 27 2019 at 22:53
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Braka1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 28 2019 at 04:16
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

The cover for Hawkwind's "Zones" album looks okay to me. Smile


Well, different strokes. I reckon it's a poor album cover, not to mention just a poor album.  Moorcock had said of one of the tracks, about a year before the album was cobbled together, "We'll probably release it one day if we're desperate enough"  (fair enough Moorcock could be very self-deprecating, but I really think that Flicknife period was the nadir of Hawkwind  up to that point. I can't really comment about their new stuff.)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 28 2019 at 04:28
Originally posted by Braka1 Braka1 wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

The cover for Hawkwind's "Zones" album looks okay to me. Smile


Well, different strokes. I reckon it's a poor album cover, not to mention just a poor album.  Moorcock had said of one of the tracks, about a year before the album was cobbled together, "We'll probably release it one day if we're desperate enough"  (fair enough Moorcock could be very self-deprecating, but I really think that Flicknife period was the nadir of Hawkwind  up to that point. I can't really comment about their new stuff.)

You can consider it to be a bad album cover; that's a matter of personal taste. But to say it looks like it was done by a not very talented ten-year old is plain nonsense.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 01:16
ELP - I would rate the Welcome Back My Friends album cover as worse than Love Beach . Works Volume One also often gets cited although it I quite like that one.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote micky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:10
oh that is easy... and the root of my warfare with Photobucket years ago who deemed the cover so offensive they kept on removing .. that got so nasty there might have been a death threat or two.. and they relented and stopped deleting my uploads of the cover.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote siLLy puPPy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:21
I love the music on this album but the cover is so lame

Fuzzy Duck Fuzzy Duck  album cover

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote siLLy puPPy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:23
I wouldn't call this prog but Deerhoof is here on PA 

Deerhoof Milk Man album cover


Edited by siLLy puPPy - September 29 2019 at 08:04

https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote siLLy puPPy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:24

COLD CUTS

Nicholas Greenwood

 • 

Canterbury Scene


Nicholas Greenwood Cold Cuts album cover

Edited by siLLy puPPy - September 29 2019 at 07:24

https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:24
I like the music of Fuzzy Duck too, but you're right, the album cover is dreadful and it's enough to put you off listening to the great music contained within. Smile 
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