Who remembers certain Album Covers

[kphoger]

Ooh, I also have very early childhood memories of the Beatles' red album and Rubber Soul.

[Takumi]

I remember thinking the artwork for Pink Floyd's "The Division Bell"  was odd, seeing it frequently in restaurant jukeboxes (remember those?) as a kid.

The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was the first album I really enjoyed, and it has a distinctive cover, with an old picture of a woman emerging from a star.

[Henry]

I don't know if there was anything specific portrayed on Chicago's first two albums, but III was an American flag, V was woodgrain, VI was a dollar bill (and the first to show the members' faces on the cover), VII was a leather etching denoting historical events in the city, VIII was an embroidered patch, IX Greatest Hits was the band members painting the logo on a wall, X was a candy bar, XI was a map, XIII was a skyscraper, XIV was a fingerprint, and 16 was a computer chip.

Let me fill out the rest of the cover history from the beginning to present:

I--The retroactive name for "The Chicago Transit Authority", because that was the band's original name until the public transit firm of the same name threatened legal action; uses a blue shingle with gold outline and lettering
II--A blurred field of white
IV--The logo raised over a cream-colored field
XII--The retroactive name for Hot Streets, and five of the band's members are on it
XV--Various pictures of the word "Chicago" in different fonts
XVII--Possibly a bedding set with the wrinkled sheet, also the first to include the number on it (albeit in Arabic)
XVIII--Mosaic logo on a crinkly blue background
XIX--An abstract painting
XX--Greatest Hits (1982-1989), nothing special about it
XXI--The word "TWENTY" superimposed vertically on the number 1
XXII--The retroactive name for Night & Day (Big Band), with a martini glass, a trumpet, a guitar and a drum
XXIII--A field of red velvet
XXIV--Same as the previous one, but the red is now blue
XXV--A wreath on the front door, since this was a Christmas album; also the second album to have the full Arabic numbered version on it
XXVI--A semi truck speeding past a billboard proclaiming their live performance, and includes the number "26"
XXVII--The second greatest hits compilation (The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning), with gardening tools, a hose and a shrub in the shape of the logo
XXVIII--All pixels, with the logo raised over the rest
XXVIX--The retroactive name for Love Songs, with roses and a chocolate box
XXX--A marble/stone plaque, and the first to actually feature the Roman numeral
XXXI--The third greatest hits compilation (The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition), with a stamped red dot on an RSVP envelope
XXXII--The retroactive name for Stone of Sisyphus, and features such stone rolled by a man
XXXIII--The retroactive name for O Christmas Tree, featuring a candy cane
XXXIV--Live in '75, with a sun and clouds
XXXV--A microphone and a map of Nashville
XXXVI--Now, with a swirling black-and-white checkerboard
XXXVII--Chicago Christmas, with a green-and-white stripe wrapped gift and a red bow

[nexus73]

"Black Sabbath Vol. 4" had a good cover art bit with the person portrayed wearing a fringe leather jacket.  Alice Cooper's "School's Out" had a beat up school desk top.  Cheech & Chong's "Big Bambu" album had the largest rolling paper of all time included.  Plenty of others mentioned here are real classics I grew up with and loved.  What a shame we do not have album covers everywhere like we used to. 

Rick

[roadman65]

Bostons Don't Look Back had a paper inner sleeve with a drawing of the Band's iconic Guitar Spaceship in engineer form showing the plans to build it.

I thought that was cool.  In fact Tom Scholtz from Boston is an MIT grad.

[kurumi]

As a keyboard player, I was annoyed by Tom Scholz's "No Synthesizers!" brag on the Boston albums. Then I found out he played the organ solos on "Hitching a Ride", "Foreplay" and so on. "Hitching a Ride" is a mellow 70s ballad until the keyboard solo barges in like the Kool-Aid guy channeling Keith Emerson. It's hilarious and awesome.

So: a lot of his respect for his work (except Third Stage; but disappointing 1980s rock albums were not just Boston's problem) 

[kphoger]

As a keyboard player, I was annoyed by Tom Scholz's "No Synthesizers!" brag on the Boston albums. Then I found out he played the organ solos on "Hitching a Ride", "Foreplay" and so on. "Hitching a Ride" is a mellow 70s ballad until the keyboard solo barges in like the Kool-Aid guy channeling Keith Emerson. It's hilarious and awesome.

So: a lot of his respect for his work (except Third Stage; but disappointing 1980s rock albums were not just Boston's problem) 

Queen used to print 'No Synthesizers!' on their albums (or in the liner notes)  The reason is that Brian May was especially proud of the electric guitar sound on their debut album–and then a music critic praised the synthesizer on that album, which was actually the guitar.  Eventually, several albums later, they removed the 'No Synthesizers!' and did indeed begin using some synth in their arrangements.

[ethanhopkin14]

Smell the Glove - Spinal Tap

[plain]

My first album was Thriller, which has a pretty iconic cover.

Kansas City's Tech N9ne parodied Jackson's album cover for his own album, Killer.



moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL)

[roadman65]

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with the man on fire.

Then the Wall by Floyd had no writing on it, just a white brick wall.  Another thing was the label didn't list the time span of each track, which was odd as most albums would list the time on the label.

[ErmineNotyours]

As a keyboard player, I was annoyed by Tom Scholz's "No Synthesizers!" brag on the Boston albums. Then I found out he played the organ solos on "Hitching a Ride", "Foreplay" and so on. "Hitching a Ride" is a mellow 70s ballad until the keyboard solo barges in like the Kool-Aid guy channeling Keith Emerson. It's hilarious and awesome.

So: a lot of his respect for his work (except Third Stage; but disappointing 1980s rock albums were not just Boston's problem) 

Queen used to print 'No Synthesizers!' on their albums (or in the liner notes)  The reason is that Brian May was especially proud of the electric guitar sound on their debut album–and then a music critic praised the synthesizer on that album, which was actually the guitar.  Eventually, several albums later, they removed the 'No Synthesizers!' and did indeed begin using some synth in their arrangements.

Hot Space (1982) was written on a bass synth, had hardly has any guitar in it, to show how far they became.

[hbelkins]

Hot Space (1982) was written on a bass synth, had hardly has any guitar in it, to show how far they became.

Mid-to-late '80s Queen was a bit reminiscent of that era's Rush. They went away from the guitar-driven rock that propelled them to stardom and embraced the keyboards. Innuendo was closer to the classic Queen sound than several of its immediate predecessors, similar to Rush's Presto. Makes one wonder where the sound might have gone had Freddie Mercury not died. I believe I've read that he already knew he was terminally ill when Innuendo was recorded. BTW, the title track sounded like it could have come right off Physical Graffiti so it was fitting that Plant sang "Innuendo" during the Mercury tribute concert.

[amroad17]

Just thought of one.  My father had this one.  Interesting to look at.

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass--"Whipped Cream and Other Delights"
https://youtu.be/gRGOm071sE0

[Stephane Dumas]

My first album was Thriller, which has a pretty iconic cover.

Kansas City's Tech N9ne parodied Jackson's album cover for his own album, Killer.



moto g(7) optimo (XT1952DL)

That reminds me of "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody of Nirvana cover.

[mgk920]

Just thought of one.  My father had this one.  Interesting to look at.

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass--"Whipped Cream and Other Delights"
https://youtu.be/gRGOm071sE0

An interesting aside for that cover, the model (Delores Erickson, now 86) was 3 months pregnant with her son Brett when she posed for that cover photo in 1965.

Mike

[bwana39]

As a keyboard player, I was annoyed by Tom Scholz's "No Synthesizers!" brag on the Boston albums. Then I found out he played the organ solos on "Hitching a Ride", "Foreplay" and so on. "Hitching a Ride" is a mellow 70s ballad until the keyboard solo barges in like the Kool-Aid guy channeling Keith Emerson. It's hilarious and awesome.

So: a lot of his respect for his work (except Third Stage; but disappointing 1980s rock albums were not just Boston's problem)

Third stage was a REAL let-down except for COUNTDOWN-LAUNCH-COOL the ENGINES!

I prefer Don't Look Back to the first album. That said the first album was recorded better. Tom had had more time to micro engineer the first one. Don't Look Back lacks depth of sound.

The remasters really removed some of the character from the originals. There was a tape stretch on the original "BOSTON" albums, cassettes, and even the early CD's. Every time I listen to the remaster, it is more obvious to me than a needle skip that it is missing.

[thenetwork]

Not necessarily an album cover, but a record label...and a question:

When Motown Records was in it's heyday in the 60s, they used a section of a old Rand McNally regional road map that used the single color all-blue legend.

By the late-70's/early 80's, Motown's familiar RMcN map was replaced with a generic "copy" of the old map, showing randomly-numbered routes and roads.

Question:  Did Motown have a falling out with RMcN  sometime in the late 70's/early 80's to cause the label change?  Or was it just getting too expensive to continue using the real map?

[amroad17]

The Clash-"London Calling"
http://vinyldistractions.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1546-scaled.jpg

[spooky]

I remember a couple from the '80s and '90s that were modified from their original cover.

Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)
The original cover was based on a painting by Robert Williams called "Appetite for Destruction". It showed a robot rapist, a semi-nude woman, and a metal "avenger" (per Wikipedia). It was replaced by the more familiar cross with the band members as skulls.

Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (1986)
The original cover featured a busty woman in a wet t-shirt that said "Slippery When Wet". (Subtle it was not.) The replacement cover was a wet garbage bag with "Slippery When Wet" traced in the water. The cover was replaced before release.

Poison - Open Up and Say...Ahh! (1988)
The original cover had a model dressed as a demon with a long, pointed red tongue. This was replaced by a mostly black cover with a strip showing only the demon's eyes. (Original versions of this album also had a misprint in the track listing, misspelling "thorn" as "thron" for "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

Black Crowes - Amorica (1994)
The original cover featured the pelvic area of a woman clad in an American-flag styled thong bikini with pubic hair showing at the top. if you think this is more 70s style grooming than 90s style, you're right - it was taken from a 70s cover of Hustler magazine. This cover was replaced for big box retailers with a black cover showing only the triangle of the bikini - no skin, no string, and definitely no pubic hair.

[davewiecking]

Album covers that opened up were more useful than those that were just 2 pieces of cardboard. The best ones had the inner paper glued down completely so that there was a channel in the middle. Many had the paper sticking up in the middle. As I recall, my copy of Electric Ladyland had the best channel. Admittedly, this feature had very little to do with the actual music on the included vinyl, but perhaps allowed for the increased enjoyment thereof...

[andrepoiy]

Given that I am quite a big GN'R fan, I can picture the album covers quite easily.

Appetite for Destruction: A cross with the skulls of the band members on it

GN'R Lies: A tabloid-style thing

Use Your Illusion I/II: A art thingy with a person on the side, I is orange, II is blue

Chinese Democracy: A Chinese bike

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Beatles' "Yesterday and Today" cover which featured pieces of butchered dolls strewn around the band members. At the time it was very controversial and it was quickly replaced with a different image of the band - some even pressed onto existing "butcher" album sleeves, where you could peel the replacement image away to see the original cover.

If you haven't heard of this album, it was a US release that consisted of a mix of songs from the UK releases of Revolver, Rubber Soul, and some non-album singles.

[hobsini2]

Of course there is the nearly nude album of a guy blowing a French horn into a woman's ass by Wasnatch called Front to Back.
NSFW image.
https://imgur.com/mLFTRkf

[amroad17]

Queen-"News of the World"
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcU3avQjWyc/Td2ZVAy30bI/AAAAAAAABi4/XWDtEM5r-kw/s1600/Queen+-+News+of+the+World.JPG

[dlsterner]

Queen-"News of the World"
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcU3avQjWyc/Td2ZVAy30bI/AAAAAAAABi4/XWDtEM5r-kw/s1600/Queen+-+News+of+the+World.JPG

Speaking of Queen, the cover to their album "The Miracle" always weirded me out a bit ...