Cover To Cover Being There's staff reflects on 25 of their favourite album covers.

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Cover To Cover

In the age of the Internet, many forget about the ever-so-important album cover.  This month, those Internet rebels, The Being There staff, have selected 25 of their favorite album covers. 

Here’s what we came up with:

1. The Clash – London Calling (Epic, 1979)

 

The cover of the Clash's famous London Calling is both a direct homage and a direct rip-off of Elvis Presley's debut album on RCA, as far as the bold type.  But the photo itself was taken at New York's Palladium in 1979 and features a striking image of bass player Paul Simonon in a moment of rock and roll frustration, destroying his instrument a la Pete Townsend.  On all counts it is a tribute to what came before them and the way those musical elements combined to create their groundbreaking sound. (BM)

 

2. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – This Year’s Model (Radar [UK] and Columbia [US], 1978)

 

The photo is simple.  Elvis Costello is set up behind a camera, prepared to take a photograph.  He is staring right at us with eyes that seem to carry the fury expressed in tracks like “No Action”, “Pump It Up”, and “Lipstick Vogue.”  His wardrobe is vintage Costello: black suit, horn rim spectacles, and slightly ruffled hair.  This was the image that would define Costello in his “angry young man” years.  (ADM)

 

3. The Beatles – Abbey Road (Apple, 1969)

 

How many album covers can say they have prompted thousands of people to make pilgrimages to obscure London crosswalks to have their picture taken?  I don’t have the raw data, but I’m pretty sure that there’s only one.  The cover of Abbey Road is an insanely simple concept: photograph the band crossing the street in front of the studio on a recording break.  I have no idea why it works, but it’s one of the most recognizable images in pop culture.  People who don’t know anything at all about the Beatles know Abbey Road when they see it.  It’s been parodied countless times, from folks as wide-ranging as the Powerpuff Girls to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Its visual influence is huge.  And yet very little time was reportedly spent getting the shot.  It was so spontaneous that Paul forgot to put his shoes on, which (added to his being out of step with the others and the enigmatic “28 IF” license plate just behind) helped perpetuate the rumor that the cute one was actually the dead one (which he is).  (No he’s not. – Ed.)  And as it contains the last music the band would record together, what could be more fitting than to show them walking off to who knows where?  (RB)

 

4. The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve, 1967)

 

The Velvet Underground & Nico’s self-titled debut was a radical experiment in loud, experimental rock ‘n’ roll, with controversial drug-themed songs like “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting For The Man.”  In contrast, the cover is quite simple.  Painted by Andy Warhol, the artist who managed and promoted the band, the cover featured nothing more than a painted bright yellow banana.  While the compact disc lacks this feature, the original vinyl was interactive.  On close inspection, the cover read "Peel Slowly And See."  Those who carefully removed the banana peel found a pink banana beneath.  Since then, this image has been considered one of Warhol’s most recognizable. (ADM)

 

5. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Capitol, 1967)

 

Do a Google search for “best album covers” and click whatever compendium comes up.  I bet you a dollar that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is on most of them, and probably at or very near the top.  Why?  Because it’s a groundbreaking cover to a groundbreaking record from the most groundbreaking band ever, that’s why.  The artwork for Sgt. Pepper’s was ingeniously designed by Peter Blake, and depicts the band as its alter ego persona, surrounded by a who’s who of popular culture icons, including their younger selves.  Everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando to Shirley Temple, whether famous or infamous is there—all presented as members of the band.  More controversial figures like Gandhi and Hitler were proposed and then removed, but that hasn’t kept the album’s artwork from controversy.  Is that pot growing in front of the bass drum? (No.)  Is there a four-armed goddess in the foreground?  (Yes.)  And why is Paul facing backwards on the back cover?  (Because he’s really dead!) (No he isn’t. – Ed.)   Fitting for what is often described as the first album to elevate rock and roll to the level of art, the sleeve also boasts the first instance of an album’s full printed lyrics.  And decades before hip hop made the shout out ubiquitous, the Rolling Stones get mad props from the doll at the bottom right.  Perhaps for the first time, a rock and roll record had a cover that could stand on its own as a great work of art. (RB)

 

6. Tom Waits – Nighthawks At The Diner (Asylum, 1975)

 

Considering how many of his songs are about late nights and food (not to mention the title of this album), it seems fitting that the cover for this live-in-the-studio double album depicts Tom Waits seated at what appears to be an all-night diner.  He isn’t alone, but he may as well be: gazing out the window with a cigarette in hand.  Tom Waits music is made for late nights, and this album is no exception.  Stare at the cover while listening to “Eggs & Sausage” or “Nobody”, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. (ADM)

  

7. Peter Gabriel – Passion (Geffen, 1989)

 

This cover was for the soundtrack for the more artsy Jesus movie, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, not to be confused with the bloodier, more recent Passion of the Christ.  In the cluster of covers our staff has gathered, it was to this one I kept returning.  The figure is stark and noble and horribly doomed, and resigned to it. It makes me very sad. (SD)

 

8. David Bowie – Aladdin Sane (Virgin, 1973) 

If you’ve read my bio here, you know that I saw David Bowie with my mom.  It was my first concert, and by default the best.  Many Bowie songs remind me of my mom, and ‘Jean Genie’ is definitely one of them.  And he’s so weird and cute.  My mom’s pretty weird and cute too.  So it all works out. (SD)

 

9. Joni Mitchell – Blue (Reprise, 1971)

 

A simple image of Joni Mitchell's face, eyes half closed, washed in beautifully simple blue tones that emphasize her high check bones and well-carved features, the cover of Blue speaks nearly as loud as the voice within.  Her lips are half open into a microphone, as she seems to be deep in thought while singing the deeply emotional messages of the album. (CC)

 

10. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street (Virgin, 1972)

 

At first, this black and white cover designed by John Van Hamersveld looks like a collage of old and bizarre photographs.  In reality, it comes from a photo Hamersveld took in 1950 at an American tattoo parlor.  The photo that draws everyone’s attention the fastest is also the cover’s most famous: a man pictured with three billiard balls in his mouth.  Like the cover, Exile On Main Street is the Stones exploring a variety of styles and tempos, all the while maintaining their signature swagger. (ADM)

 

11. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (Capitol, 1975)

 

Pink Floyd's follow up album to Dark Side of the Moon featured cover art just as striking as its predecessor and just as wrought with symbolism.  A man on fire shakes hands with a man in a business suit. Personal pain disingenuously interacts with general apathy, and the only communication between them is a ritual we do without thinking or feeling. The absence of anything real or significant reflects the album's general theme of absence and isolation. (BM)

 

12. Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Atco, 1974)

 

Twenty-four year old Peter Gabriel sings the story of Rael, a naive New York hustler.  The album cover depicts Rael's journey. He's outside of his life looking in, trapped in a cocoon, stuck in a cage, and chasing after his brother in an "Alice in Wonderland" version of limbo, hell or whatever it is.  The triptych is in a simple black and white and a touch of colour highlights the band name.  Standing in the 'real world,' Rael screams in pain and tries to save his walled-off self.  He's cut-out of his life, on the outside looking in as he struggles to find himself. And damn, those are some creepy animals.  The design continues on the back, and the album's fold-out flap provides further images and expands on the story.  This is the sort of cover you stare at while listening to the music. It perfectly compliments the musical experience. My single favourite album cover.  (AL)

 

13. John Coltrane – Blue Train (Blue Note, 1957)

 

In fifty years—maybe—we’ll really understand what John Coltrane accomplished on Blue Train.  It’s a work for which the cliché “so far ahead of its time” was invented.  It’s perhaps the most thoughtful, intelligent, direct expression of an artist’s vision in music.  What does that have to do with the artwork?  Everything, because it’s much more than just a beautiful portrait of Coltrane, bathed in blue light beneath a simple, understated title. The cover of Blue Train gets right to the essence of the record—the artist with his instrument, furrowing his brow and rubbing the back of his head as he ponders how to express all the glorious music in his mind and heart.  Otherwise surrounded by darkness, Coltrane’s pensive face—and his music—is illuminated from above.  Perfection.  (RB)

 

14. Rufus Wainwright – Poses (Dreamworks, 2001)

 

A very simple profile shot of Rufus Wainwright graces the cover of his second album Poses.  A solemn face on Wainwright and the crispness of the photo are a perfect match, creating an air of sadness.  The trees in the background of the photo add to the simplicity.  In a time where all backgrounds are replaced with a white generic background, this photo stands out.  The black and white photo offset by the white matting allows the subject to virtually jump out of the photo. (AMA)

 

15. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (Virgin, 1971)

 

Controversial, unique and amusing, Andy Warhol designed this cover to what may be the best Rolling Stones album.  Sticky Fingers’ cover is a close-up of a man’s denim-clad crotch.  Complete with a real working zipper on the original vinyl that, when unzipped, revealed the underwear.  Flip to the back and you will see the same shot from behind.  Wearing tight jeans, the model’s “goodies” are clearly on display, creating quite the controversy when the album was originally released in 1971. (AMA)

 

16. Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic, 1973)

This controversial album cover was sometimes covered up before the album was sold. The concept is based on the science-fiction novel Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, at the end of which the children run off the edge of the world. The photograph, which was taken at the Giant's Causeway rock formation in Northern Ireland, was originally shot in black and white and then tinged in color giving it an otherworldly look, and is an interesting juxtaposition of innocence and destruction. (BM)

 

17. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1963)

 

In the 2001 film Vanilla Sky, director Cameron Crowe (who often pays homage to his musical influences) recreated the cover of this, Bob Dylan’s 2^nd album, with the film’s stars, Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz.  Nearly forty years later, the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan still evokes the hipness of early 1960s folk culture.  Photographer Don Hunstein photographed Dylan and his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo on West 4^th street in New York City, walking through the slushy winter streets.  The couple appeared so happy and so in love as they walked through the parked cars along the sides of the road.  “Don’t think twice, it’s alright.” (ADM)

 

18. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon (Capitol, 1973)

 

The cover of Pink Floyd’s career-defining masterwork does not contain the name of the artist or the name of the album.  Instead it contains a centered prism, showing light entering one side and the spectrum exiting the other.  Sir Isaac Newton would have been very proud.  (ADM)

 

19. Van Halen – 1984 (Warner, 1984)

 

Hey man!  Diamond Dave!  You know, if these guys could get their shit together long enough to sit down and grow up a bit and talk about hitting the road one last time, they’d have the biggest, most kick ass tour ever.  But what do I know?  I do know that this album cover is just so nasty, this little baby holding a cig and lookin’ all smug. And I smile every time I see it. PA-NA-MUH!! (SD)

 

20. Frank Sinatra – No One Cares (Capitol, 1959)

 

Randy Newman wrote “Lonely At The Top” for Frank Sinatra (before you start looking for his version, I am sorry to tell you that he declined it).  One wonders if Newman got his inspiration for the song from Sinatra’s 1959 album No One Cares, a collection of melancholy songs about loneliness, sorrow, and self pity.  Despite being a big vocal star, Frank Sinatra was allowed to be depressed, and the cover shows a gloomy Sinatra staring down at his glass, sitting at a bar, surrounded by people smiling and socializing.  The father of Nighthawks At The Diner, only much lonelier than its 1970s counterpart.  (ADM)

 

21. Soul Asylum – Clam Dip & Other Delights (Twin/Tone, 1988)

 

This 1988 EP by Soul Asylum features of cover parodying Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights.  Its absurd cover featuring a naked woman covered in a mountain of whipped cream.  It was funny, but not funny enough for Soul Asylum, who took the extra step.  Replacing Whipped Cream with Clam Dip, and placing a man in the mountain of food did the job.  Now that the hilarious album cover was complete, they had to go even further adding fish into the dip.  Wow, this is an odd cover. (AMA)

 

22. Radiohead – OK Computer (Capitol, 1997)

 

The cover of OK Computer perfectly compliments the music inside—abstract, ethereal images, perfectly placed in a sea of airy white space.  You can make out a few concrete details in the otherwise out-of-focus collage, but ultimately it's just a combination of textures that is instantly intriguing.  There's a simultaneous sense of foreboding (the nose cone of an airplane seems to be headed for a freeway) and of utter calm (especially with the large-headed stick figures shaking hands).  You put in the disc, press play, and just as the majestic guitar line of "Airbag" begins, a little circle on the back cover reassures you that everything will be "ok." (RB)

 

23. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On (Motown, 1971)

 

Oh man.  This guy… this song… if I’m in the right frame of mind, I STILL cry, and that’s without looking at the cover art, at the wistful, almost determined look on Marvin’s face.  Such a peaceful, joyous man, cut down in his youth by his own father, a man of ‘God’.  We never, never, never learn. (SD)

24. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia, 1965)

 

Highway 61 Revisited marked the beginning of Bob Dylan’s “electric” period.  Gone were the days of Freewheelin’s social commentary.  This is the album that brought “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Desolation Row” to the forefront.  The Dylan pictured on the album’s cover is only three years older than the one looking so ambitious on the cover of Freewheelin’.  With his motorcycle t-shirt and colorful unbuttoned shirt, longer hair, and mature gaze, Dylan was challenging the listener with the same musical fury that Elvis Costello gave us on the above entry This Year’s Model.  (ADM)

 

25. The Beatles – Yesterday And Today (Capitol, 1966)

 

I voted for this as the best album cover of all time.  Look at George Harrison's face!  He's enjoying decapitating the babies.  This album was one of Capitol's butchered US albums, compiled from "rejected" tracks from Rubber Soul, Revolver and singles from that era.  The thought that some of these men would soon be vegetarian and are covered with meat and decapitated dolls is just something I can't help but laugh at.  With what has perhaps become the rarest Beatles cover, the original pressing of Yesterday & Today was pulled before it reached most stores.  Capitol pasted on a cleaner photographer of three of the Beatles around a trunk with Paul in the trunk, which added to the “Paul Is Dead” rumours that were quickly developing in the years to that followed. (AMA)

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