Best album with the worst cover?

Philly_Q · May 2021

EricTheWeary said:
Their Born Again regularly makes it to worst album art lists. By no means their finest hour but not entirely terrible either so deserved something better than a lino print done by a ten year old.

Artwork by former Kerrang! art director and late-night TV presenter Steve "Krusher" Joule, if I remember correctly.

Neill · May 2021

It's maybe a marmite thing but I can't stand the 'Stones "Sticky Fingers" artwork. I don't think it's aged well but I always thought it was crass anyway.

Mind you, apart from Brown Sugar the music isn't that great (ducks to avoid flying objects).

ICBM · May 2021

Cols said:

Beyond a doubt, Black Sabbath - Paranoid. A terrible album cover in its own right which looks like it was shot on a budget of 50p, but doubly jarring compared to the evocative brilliance of the debut album cover.

I think it's a great cover, which accidentally almost represents the album title in some ways.

Master Of Reality is a terrible cover though... that really does look like it was done on a budget of about 5p.

yocky · May 2021

Scorpions - Lovedrive is pretty terrible considering who is responsible for it

Philly_Q · May 2021

yocky said:

Scorpions - Lovedrive is pretty terrible considering who is responsible for it

Scorpions had a whole string of crass album covers, though, it was almost a trademark... at least on Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism the standard of photography was better.

I still like those covers. I think they were "of their time" even though it may not be socially acceptable to say so.

Reverend · May 2021

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:
Their Born Again regularly makes it to worst album art lists. By no means their finest hour but not entirely terrible either so deserved something better than a lino print done by a ten year old.

Artwork by former Kerrang! art director and late-night TV presenter Steve "Krusher" Joule, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, it seems he really didn't want the job and sent in something he thought would get rejected.

fob · May 2021

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Electric_ladyland_nude_front_and_back.jpg

I remember seeing the cover when I bought a reissue and it was included for completeness. I thought it was tasteless and, frankly, a bad image - it had been stretched out slightly which made them all look a little odd. I was relieved when I found out that Hendrix hated it too.

ICBM · May 2021

fob said:

I remember seeing the cover when I bought a reissue and it was included for completeness. I thought it was tasteless and, frankly, a bad image - it had been stretched out slightly which made them all look a little odd. I was relieved when I found out that Hendrix hated it too.

I quite like it, even though by modern standards it's pretty sexist and in poor taste. It does capture the vibe of its time quite well, including the slight photo-distortion... it's like a pushing-the-boundaries Rubber Soul.

I had an original vinyl copy years ago... sold it when I cleared out all my vinyl. Of course it's now worth about ten times what I got for it.

Philly_Q · May 2021

ICBM said:

fob said:

I remember seeing the cover when I bought a reissue and it was included for completeness. I thought it was tasteless and, frankly, a bad image - it had been stretched out slightly which made them all look a little odd. I was relieved when I found out that Hendrix hated it too.

I quite like it, even though by modern standards it's pretty sexist and in poor taste. It does capture the vibe of its time quite well, including the slight photo-distortion... it's like a pushing-the-boundaries Rubber Soul.

I had an original vinyl copy years ago... sold it when I cleared out all my vinyl. Of course it's now worth about ten times what I got for it.

Yeah, to me it's the cover I saw in the record shops when I was a kid and it's the "right" cover, whether Hendrix liked it or not! It annoyed me when Experience Hendrix didn't use the picture when they did their first batch of "authentic" reissues.

HAL9000 · May 2021

The Fleetwood Mac dog and dustbin album where the graffiti has so obviously been added to the picture at a later date...

Not awful, but it just annoys me.

yocky · May 2021

Philly_Q said:

yocky said:

Scorpions - Lovedrive is pretty terrible considering who is responsible for it

Scorpions had a whole string of crass album covers, though, it was almost a trademark... at least on Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism the standard of photography was better.

I still like those covers. I think they were "of their time" even though it may not be socially acceptable to say so.

I don't have an issue with its social acceptability. I'm just a bit confused about how you go to Storm whatshisface and end up with that. They got slightly better value for money next time with Animal Magnetism.

mart · May 2021

Led Zep IV is a pretty good album, and Rolf's cover of Stairway is pretty awful, so does this count?

axisus · May 2021

One of my fave ever albums is Rush, Signals. I HATED the cover though - a dog sniffing a hydrant???? what a load of rubbish!

I never like Moving pictures either - blokes moving pictures ....

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Rush_Signals.jpg

Springywheel · May 2021

Metallica - Kill Em All

viz · May 2021

The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette. Well the cover’s ok but doesn’t have universal appeal shall we say.

Alterlifeson · May 2021

axisus said:

One of my fave ever albums is Rush, Signals. I HATED the cover though - a dog sniffing a hydrant???? what a load of rubbish!

I never like Moving pictures either - blokes moving pictures ....

Yeah I'm not a fan of the Signals are either.

I can get behind Moving Pictures though with the double/triple entandres.

There are 5 man physically moving pictures
The pictures themselves are well known and 'moving' (with the starman as a bit of tongue in cheek)
The people to the right are being moved by the pictures.

Similar stories with Power Windows.
Dated now, but of its time.

JohnS37 · May 2021

DrCornelius said:

Blind Faith

To this day I can’t work out why that was approved

But what a cracker of an album!

axisus · May 2021

Alterlifeson said:

I can get behind Moving Pictures though with the double/triple entandres.

There are 5 man physically moving pictures
The pictures themselves are well known and 'moving' (with the starman as a bit of tongue in cheek)
The people to the right are being moved by the pictures.

That's all to 'clever' for my liking. It's basically just a naff photo. I think great albums should have a powerful image - Rainbow Rising, Brain Salad Surgery, News of the World etc.

ICBM · May 2021

axisus said:

I think great albums should have a powerful image - Rainbow Rising

That's actually so bad it's almost great.

proggy · May 2021

I'd like to nominate 'Presence' Led Zeppelin.
Just weird........

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Best album with the worst cover?

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