# Best album covers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215 "2005-03-18T22:13:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/21 "2005-03-19T14:11:18Z")
Apparently, so does **ccwaterback**! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mambocrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mambocrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mambocrow)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/22 "2005-03-19T14:45:06Z")
I liked the cover of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s “Happy Trails” album (it’s on the CD too). They had quite a few albums with nice artwork back in the day. Here’s a link to a page with that cover: [http://www.penncen.com/quicksilver/happy.htm](http://www.penncen.com/quicksilver/happy.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/23 "2005-03-19T15:18:00Z")
Agree about the album covers of **Quicksilver.** Always liked the blue-sky-with-one-cloud cover of **The Plastic Ono Band**. Absolute favorite: **Stand Up** by **Jethro Tull**. The front was a woodblock print of their faces, the back was another print of them walking away. You opened up the album and it was a pop-up photograph of the band. ‘Get it?’ Stand up. 🙂 Still have that one. Today’s CD experience pales a bit in comparison to the good old vinyl days of poring over album covers. ---
**Author:** ![Berserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Berserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berserker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/24 "2005-03-19T16:26:26Z")
Frank Zappa - Weasels Ripped My Flesh King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/25 "2005-03-19T17:33:22Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Agree about the album covers of **Quicksilver.** > Always liked the blue-sky-with-one-cloud cover of **The Plastic Ono Band**. > Absolute favorite: > **Stand Up** by **Jethro Tull**. > The front was a woodblock print of their faces, the back was another print of them walking away. You opened up the album and it was a pop-up photograph of the band. ‘Get it?’ Stand up. 🙂 Still have that one. > Today’s CD experience pales a bit in comparison to the good old vinyl days of poring over album covers. Speaking of **Jethro Tull** (and poring over, too), how about **Thick as a Brick**? An album, a newspaper AND a crossword puzzle! Woohoo! I always liked the cover to **The Tubes** album (don’t know the album name but it was the one with **White Punks on Dope** ) that showed a woman’s hand ripping the cardboard. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/26 "2005-03-19T17:42:14Z")
**Yessongs** [cover art](http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/Y/yes.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/27 "2005-03-19T17:48:22Z")
I’m fond of the cover of Young Marble Giant’s [Colossal Youth](http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Tips/Youngmarblegiants.htm). It’s very striking on its own, but it perfectly represents the music. It’s minimalist and elegant, and the portraits, like the instrumentation of the songs, show just enough for you to fill in the rest of the image in your mind. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/28 "2005-03-19T17:50:19Z")
I tend to like all Hypgnosis covers (best know for Pink Floyd), but if I had to pick one, it would be **Ummagumma**. There’s also the “banned” cover for **Blind Faith**. And a second vote for **Thick as a Brick** ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/29 "2005-03-19T17:51:43Z")
What? No Dark Side of The Moon? Surely the other Pink Floyd lovers should have posted that!! ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/30 "2005-03-19T18:14:07Z")
Some of my favorites include **American Beauty** by the Dead, **Tale from Topographic Oceans** by Yes, **Pink Moon** by Nick Drake, **Chocolate and Cheese** by Ween, **Wow** by Moby Grape and the infamous & never released original cover art from The Beatles [Yesterday & Today](http://www.eskimo.com/~bpentium/beatles/myt2553.jpg). (Warning: features dismembered babies and grinning Beatles in butcher coats) I tend to think the banned **Blind Faith** cover is a little skeevy - I know it wasn’t intended that way, more of an artistic statement, but I still get the irrational feeling that if I downloaded a picture of the cover to my computer, the FBI would be a-knockin’ on my door shortly. (For those unfamiliar with the cover, it features a topless - nude? can’t remember - pubescent girl of about 12 or 13, who is most definitely not over the age of consent) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/31 "2005-03-19T18:37:51Z")
I still have a soft spot in my heart for all of Roger Dean’s old Yes album covers. Of course, when I was 14, I’d have told you that NOBODY had better album covers than the Ohio Players!! I mean, back in 1975, I couldn’t buy porn… but I could buy an Ohio Players record, with naked girls covered in oil or honey, and nobody batted an eyelash! ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/32 "2005-03-19T18:49:41Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Apparently, so does **ccwaterback**! :smack: Your link is MUCH better though. Gotta love the '60s 🙂 [http://www.crumbmuseum.com/ct15.html](http://www.crumbmuseum.com/ct15.html) ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/33 "2005-03-19T21:21:29Z")
**Nick Lowe** , [_Pure Pop for Now People_](http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/L/nick_lowe.html). (Or \*Jesus of Cool \* if you’re a U.K. Doper.) **Flipper** ’s \*Gone Fishin’ \* had photos of the band members, their instruments and their van helpfully outlined with dashes that could be cut out to make little standup figures. IIRC, their label, Subterranean Records, offered empty album jackets for sale in their catalog so one could cut out the figures without destroying one’s own cover. And the cover of the two-record \*Public Flipper Limited Live 1980-1985 \* folded out to form the board for a “Flipper on Tour” game. ---
**Author:** ![iggy\_popov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@iggy\_popov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iggy_popov)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/34 "2005-03-19T21:33:04Z")
I’m gonna have to second London Calling. I better like it, it’s tattooed on my arm. The Clash’s self-titled album is among my favorites though. Nothing like some angry young men. The cover for Velvet Underground & Nico is up there too. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/35 "2005-03-19T21:42:21Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > What? No Dark Side of The Moon? Surely the other Pink Floyd lovers should have posted that!! Well, I would have, but I thought it was pretty obvious judging by my username. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/36 "2005-03-19T21:47:32Z")
I’ve always liked _Rumors_ by **Fleetwood Mac.** My all time favorite is \*\*Zappa’s \*\* _Ship arriving too late to save a burning witch_. Four lines that tell the entire story. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/37 "2005-03-19T23:15:08Z")
[Sin Gallery](http://forbiddendimension.exophagy.com/images/sin1.jpg) - Forbidden Dimension [Paranoid Time](http://www.ssmt-reviews.com/images/minute/paranoid.jpg) - The Minutemen [The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus!](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002NCL.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg) - Jim White ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/38 "2005-03-19T23:32:35Z")
> [@Mr. Goob](#): > > My all time favorite is Zappa’s Ship arriving too late to save a burning witch. Four lines that tell the entire story. _counts in his head_ More like five. Nine if you count the square border. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/39 "2005-03-19T23:38:43Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > _counts in his head_ More like five. Nine if you count the square border. Oops, I just went into the other room and looked at it again. I forgot there was a line showing the water and it was framed in a box. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215/40 "2005-03-19T23:42:01Z")
While I’m at it, it’s “Drowning Witch”, not “burning witch”. Anyway, I dig George Carlin’s album covers. Most all of them, particularly “Complaints and Grievances.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-covers/295215.md?page=3)