Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.
100. Savoy Brown - "Looking In"
Art: Jim Baikie and David Anstey
Year: 1970
From Tralfazarchives.com:
"Typical artwork for a Savoy Brown Cover. A touch of horror, a skull or two, and a few unnamed creatures not of this world."
099. Black Flag - "Slip It In"
Art: Raymond Pettibon
Year: 1984
At this point, Black Flag was a seminal part of the punk/hardcore movement, and "Slip It In" drove that point home. Considered by many fans to be the best Black Flag album, it featured more songwriting by Henry Rollins, and a more complex, heavier sound. It also featured the debut of new bassist, Kira Roessler, who was allegedly offended by the artwork on the cover, and deemed it to be offensive and degrading to women.
098. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes - "Wake Up Everybody"
Art: Edward Soyka
Year: 1975
I'm a sucker for fantasy art... so it's no surprise that Edward Soyka's illustration for this album caught my eye immediately. It is a surprise, however, that I wasn't able to find more information about the artist. Other works include an album cover for '70s R&B group, Blue Magic, and various novel covers and magazine articles.
097. Aphex Twin - "Come To Daddy"
Art: Chris Cunningham / Designers Republic
Year: 1997
From Q Magazine's "100 Best Album Covers of All Time"
- Ian Harrison:
"Cunningham was approached in early 1997 by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett, directors of Sheffield electronic label Warp to do the video and sleeve. 'Being a huge Aphex fan, I was really excited to be asked to do it', says Cunningham. 'The idea I had seemed obvious because of the name, but mainly because Richard [James aka Aphex] was using children's voices throughout the EP and big grinning pictures of himself on his sleeves. I love visual continuity, so I decided to continue the theme.'"
096. Yo La Tengo - "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out"
Art: Gregory Crewdson Photography
Year: 2000
From Pitchfork Online Magazine - Ryan Schreiber:
"Among Inside-Out's sea of gentle lullabies, it's easy to long for the stunning diversity this band is known for. However, it's clear they were shooting for something different this time around. The album's cover depicts quiet dusk in a common outer suburb. Electrical wires stretch over a standard one-story home. The backyard is crowded with pine trees. To the far right, a man stands at the end of the driveway, a spot of light beaming down around him from the darkening sky above. It's a traditional image of alien abduction that encapsulates the peaceful ringing of the record's gently picked electric guitars and serene vocals. The cover speaks to the band's intentions behind the music: a dreamlike state, lulling, serene, tranquil."
095. The VSS - S/T EP
Art: Sonny Kay / GSL
Year: 1996
Once upon a time in 1995, there existed a band from sunny San Diego, California, called the VSS. The VSS were not sunny, however. The only thing sunny about this band was their frontman, Sonny Kay, who came from the breakup of another San Diego group called Angel Hair. Sonny also ran a record label called GSL (Gold Standard Laboratories), that produced other like-minded bands, including his new one called Subpoena the Past. Both Angel Hair and The VSS played extremely dark and brooding hardcore not unlike Bauhaus, Chrome, Joy Division, and Suicide - the only difference being that the latter sounded like it was being filtered through some sort of synthesizer from Hell. They released only one full-length album, which was preceded by a series of EPs; this one being their last. The cover's cold and bizarre textures take us to a world that is familiar, yet alien - an unforgiving realm of chaos that is put back in order for only a moment and destroyed again... much like the music within.
094. Mike Hankinson - "The Unusual Classical Synthesizer"
Art: ??
Year: 1972
Not too much I can say about this record, other than the fact that I love the rendition of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor". For hip hop heads, you'll probably recognize the sample from J Dilla's "Move". Just another "switched on" type album put out in the '7os, probably to spotlight the Putney V.C.S. 3 synthesizer that is featured. The cover art is great... some sort of plug sculpture that looks like a fire waiting to happen.
093. Budgie - "Squawk"
Art: Roger Dean
Year: 1972
What hasn't already been said about British fantasy artist/designer Roger Dean? In addition to illustrating almost every album cover by prog-rock band Yes, Dean's artwork has graced albums by Osibisa, Uriah Heep, Asia, Gentle Giant, Greenslade, and this masterpiece by Budgie. I chose the "Squawk" cover because of it's simple composition, and it's amazingly eye-catching graphics. This was an early one in Dean's portfolio - his later work would prove to be much more elaborate and other-worldly. More to come...
092. Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"
Art: Marcus Keef
Year: 1970
I could've easily picked 1970's "Black Sabbath" - also photographed by Keef - as number 92, but something about this cover has always intrigued me. A "war pig" dressed in a warrior costume, complete with sword, plastic shield, and helmet springs from behind a tree in battle mode. A neurotic and comical scene that creates a perfect atmosphere for the music within.
091. Sleepytime Trio - "Songs and Stories" EP
Art: George Buckett
Year: 1996
Sleepytime Trio was a post-punk mathcore group that formed from the ashes of Maximillian Colby, sometime in the mid-90s. They played amazing music and broke up well before their time. I can't think of any other reason why they would've chosen this cover - illustrated by '60s children's book artist, George Buckett - as their introduction, other than the fact that it goes very well with the whole "Songs and Stories" theme.
090. The Who - "Who's Next"
Art: Ethan Russell Photography
Year: 1971
From "Who's Next" 1995 remastered edition:
"The album cover shows a photograph of the band having just urinated on a large concrete piling protruding from a heap of mining refuse; the photo is often seen to be a reference to the monolith discovered on the moon in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been released only about three years earlier. The featured structure was actually at the Easington District Colliery in County Durham. In 2003, the United States cable television channel VH1 named Who's Next's front cover the 2nd greatest album cover of all time (see VH1 All Time Album Top 100)."
I wouldn't exactly call anything designed by Ethan Russell underrated. He's responsible for photographing The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Linda Ronstadt, and John Hiatt. I felt the need to include this cover because it's a perfect example of what can be done with a simple idea and a lot of talent.
089. Demon Fuzz - "Afreaka"
Art: Demon Fuzz photography
Year: 1970
This cover is just badass. Period. The album is equally badass. Imagine if Santana and Sly and the Family Stone formed a trippy funk rock band and you get Demon Fuzz. The cover was apparently photographed by the band, and features one incredibly-ripped member wearing a crazy ski mask. On the back of the album is the mirror image of said member, and you can visibly see a scar down his back. The imagery was supposed to represent slavery, but I have no source for that bit of trivia. One of the most underrated groups of the early '70s.
088. Men's Recovery Project - "Botanica Mysteria" EP
Art: Neil Burke
Year: 1996
From Wikipedia:
"(Neil) Burke (formerly of the New York band Life's Blood) and (Sam) McPheeters originally co-founded the hardcore punk band Born Against in 1989, although Burke left the group later that year. The group's strident radical leftist message slowly gave way to cynical absurdism over their four year career, and Men's Recovery Project, founded in 1993 after the demise of Born Against, further developed these sensibilities."
Neil Burke has done most of the cover art for M.R.P., and has actually been a big influence on my own art. His absurd collages and illustrations are the perfect compliment to the strange sounds that he helped create.
087. Dinosaur Jr. - "Green Mind"
Art: Joseph Szabo
Year: 1991
From the artist:
"The girl in the photo is a mystery and will ever remain so. One day as I was photographing at Jones Beach I saw "Priscilla" in front of me and my immediate reaction was to make a photo(s) before the moment changed. I
took a few photos, looked down to rewind the film, and put in another roll.
When I looked up she was gone! ...but I had the photo and it is my most sought after image."
086. David Axelrod - "Earth Rot"
Art: ??
Year: 1970
No info about the artist on this cover... Axelrod's environmentally-conscious effort that is enclosed within this incredibly bleak vision of the future.
085. Minor Threat - "Minor Threat" EP
Art: Susie Josephson Horgan
Year: 1981
From Sleevage.com - Posted by Kane
"Minor Threat are credited with being one of the first hardcore punk rock groups to come out of the USA. Along with Black Flag and Bad Brains, Minor Threat are the band to know and their self-titled record (officially known as “First 2 7″s”) is the one to own. It’s debatable as to whether there weren’t a thousand other hardcore bands of that era of a similar quality and ethos, but no other band was lead by a figure like Ian Mackaye.
It is true that amongst the punk-underground-alternative-independent-etc scene this album cover, a photo of Alec Mackaye (Ian’s brother) asleep after a gig taken by Susie Josephson Horgan, has taken on an almost iconic status. And not without merit.
The strength in the sharpness of the colour and the descending print on the right-hand-side is confronting and satisfying. The bald head, the boots, the second-hand clothes and the garbage on the cement floor leave one in little doubt that, if the scene is not desperate, it is one that reflects a subculture of some sort."When I first saw this cover, it made perfect sense with Minor Threat's music. The figure on the front cover with his head down (to me) represented the entire disillusioned attitude towards society that American hardcore was trying to convey in the early '80s.
084. J Dilla aka Jay Dee - "Donuts"
Art: Jeff Jank
Year: 1981
Anyone who knows about J Dilla knows how important this album is. Released in February of 2006 (only three days before Dilla passed away from TTP and lupus), this was to be his gift to the world, and a perfect representation of his skills as a hip hop producer.
From The-Cover-Up.com - Theodore Taylor:
"Donuts is the album Jeff Jank has been most involved with on the label, through inception, editing and mastering, as well as the work he is proudest of. The process started as he and others would visit Dilla in the medical center. At one point he brought the handmade work he had done for Madlib's The Furhter (sic) Adventures of Lord Quas. Dilla was currently working on his album, The Shining, and asked Jeff if he could create some similar "bugged out" art for it.
Jeff had planned to do a panoramic illustration that followed the insert of The Further Adventures (shown above), along with Dilla's idea of taking photos in the strange medical masks they had him wear at the center. Donuts (title inspired by Dilla's obsession with junk food) came along and focus switched. At one point Jeff threw in the idea of placing the CD inside of a doughnut, having people eat their way to the music.
Soon after Dilla was out of the hospital, feeling better. He flew to Brazil with Madlib, Eric Coleman and Brian Cross from Mochilla, with plans to shoot some photos for the album. Unfortunately, he became too ill and had to fly back to Los Angeles. Stones Throw began to question the cartoon images they had planned for the cover and decided a photo was needed. This ended up being the image pulled from M.E.D's "Push" (produced by Dilla) video, directed by Andrew Gura (below). The resolution of the image was too low to use for the vinyl release, which is why it features an alternative cover.
While the album was in production, Dilla was on tour in Europe and his health was wavering. Soon after the tour was finished, Jeff had visited Dilla in December '05, during the time he was living with Common. He was excited for the release of Donuts and was playing tracks from The Shining. This would be one of the last times Jeff would see him.
Jeff Jank was never completely satisfied with using a low-res image for the cover, but it still lead to a few imitators. He mentioned that there were several, mostly tributes. I only know of a few. Not that it was an imitation, but Jeff also noted the similarities between Donuts and the cover of Common's album Be, as it also used a low-resolution image of Common smiling which had to be cleaned up in Photoshop."
083. James Brown - "Hell"
Art: ??
Year: 1974
Again, no information anywhere about the incredible artwork on this album, but it goes without saying that these are several depictions of what Brown considered to be "Hell". Junkies, homelessness, the Watergate scandal, Pete Townsend behind bars (??), gas prices, and poverty were all represented here and surrounded by flames. This cover would later be imitated by Pete Rock's "NY's Finest" in 2009.
I love what you've done here! I would have added Kate Bush "Never Forever".
ReplyDelete