The worst album cover ever

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Kaleea
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 05:32 AM

I recall that some folks thought the Ethel Merman Disco albumn (I can't seem to remember the exact title?) was the worst in both the Music & albumn cover departments. I prefer to believe, however, that Ms. Merman had a terrific sense of humor.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 04 - 08:48 AM

pigeon from the late 60's
pigeon on ahero breadon cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,woodsie
Date: 03 Apr 04 - 06:06 AM

Toe Fat - horrible name - crap music - sick cover. See here

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,jay rosen
Date: 02 Apr 04 - 11:24 PM

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Dreadnought
Date: 27 Feb 04 - 06:56 AM

I know this thread petered out a while back but you might be interested in this contribution:

http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/000302.html

It's "Julie's sixteenth birthday" that worries me most.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Nerd
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:49 PM

The worst in the Celtic music realm far surpasses (or sub-passes) Andy M. Stewart, I'm afraid. My favorite bad album cover was by Lyonesse, a French-based Celtic band with Breton, French, Italian and Cornish members (Trevor Crozier was in the group). Their first album was the same turquoise color as el rayo-x, but featured a blurry, hideous black and white photo that obscured every band member's face. Mireille Ben, who was the lead singer, is sitting in the back, and the guitar's headstock is right in front of her face. I can't find a jpg of the whole cover, but the photo is here. It's the first image down.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Shelley C at work
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 08:47 AM

'Trout Mask Replica' by Captain Beefheart. Scary.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Ballyholme
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 11:13 AM

Moonman, pdq: El Rayo-X! My favorite album. The cover is (presumably intentionally) gross but the music is superb. Lindley is a sponge and this album combines a lot of different influences with reggae right up there. I've enjoyed his subsequent albums but this one has never been bettered, IMHO.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Willie-O
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:58 AM

As soon as I saw this thread I thought of the Blind Faith cover.

(And the Beatles "butchers" cover--so why make fun of the "White Album" concept which replaced it--didn't it? in retrospect the whole thing looks like a planned 'manufacture a legend' kind of thing, thought up by Lennon in a cynical moment and passed to his pr people to pull off. Let's say they were tired of the relatively wholesome image they had developed...and wanted to shock the "in-crowd" but still end up selling a lot of records...)

But to get back to Blind Faith, I absolutely loved that band, an early version of the "supergroup"--a combination of well-known players from other bands. Great great arrangements, playing, vocals. The lyrics were the weakest link--had they been stronger the album would have been in top-ten rock albums ever.

The pedophile-fantasy cover is certainly an arresting image in more ways than one--I would say it is not so much BAD design, technically, as very, very disturbing, especially in its context of "buy this record". For those who haven't seen it, there is nothing overtly sexual in the picture, it exudes a combination of innocence and oddness. Certainly didn't belong on an album cover but neither would the work of Robert Mapplethorpe or any of a bunch of other controversial but talented artists.

...y'know, I just thumbed through a shelf of album covers lookiong for something just plain bad. The worst I found was the Allman Brothers' hokey gambling motif "Win, Lose or Draw", a saloon table scene surrounded by a cliched psychedelic border.

My larger conclusion was that I sure miss album covers, most of them were pretty good. A five-inch square CD only gives you room for a glorified logo. It was always a nice touch, especially for a locally popular band or performer, to get a cover done by a local artist who really understood something about their music and how to portray it.

And Nicole's got a point, as usual. Whether you loved or hated Aqualung, you sure remembered what it looked like...

W-O

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:34 AM

Gotta be this one: Andy M. Stewart---Donegal Rain.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 07:44 AM

I saw an album cover that was extremely rare. I wish i had bought it in the record Store in Goldberg when i saw it. There is no information that i could find anywhere about it. But a few German friends gave me a theory as to its origins. They say a local artist may have made it as a joke/art project and put it up for sale as a prank/experiment. It was about 200 DM for the album because of the specially made cover. It was a Scorpions Album (Love at first STing) i think. Instead of the Lady with a scorpion in front of her it had a dog (Doberman) in front of her performing fellatio. It was a very hot looking album cover and no doubt could not ever be sold in record stores. If anyone has any info about this cover please post something about it on a Scorpion fan website or official site.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: CraigS
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 06:25 PM

But some covers are so bad, they're almost good - like BJ Cole's New Hovering Dog, which was a picture of a terrier in mid-air, and this -

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000011LI.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: CraigS
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 06:13 PM

The Mothers of Invention had some bad covers, too - Live At The Fillmore looked like someone scribbled on the Beatles White Album, and there's this -

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000009S6.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 09:23 PM

Did Pat know the secret life of Richard N??????

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 06:00 PM

Amazing. An astonishingly bad album cover. Even William Shatner would gasp and step back, momentarily at a loss for words. Who is it supposed to look like? Oprah Winfrey and Richard Nixon?

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:04 PM

Craig S. = thanks for that lead. That is truly one of the worst album covers I've ever seen.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 02:15 PM

Sorry mooman, my review was a bit negative. Musta' ben grouchy at the time. It still ranks with "Phosphorescent Rat" by Hot Tuna as one of the most disappointing records I ever bought.

Country Gazette's "A Traitor In Our Midst" has a truly weird cover. So does Hot Tuna's live record (blue and yellow swirls). To this day I have no idea what the title of that record is.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 01:49 PM

My complaint is about the designers who print with black ink on deep purple or some other combination that is hard to read. Much worse than weird subject matter.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: mooman
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 03:40 AM

Here it is Clinton...

David Lindley and El-Rayo-X "El Rayo-X"

She Took Off My Romeos
Bye Bye Love
Mercury Blues
Quarter Of A Man
Ain't No Way
Twist And Shout
El Rayo-X
Your Old Lady
Don't Look Back
Petit Fleur
Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas And The Sinus Blues
Pay The Man

Guest,pdq is right that there is a lot of reggae and other influences in this album but (IMHO) it is an excellent album and certainly not a waste of time or BS. Just because David Lindley is a brilliant slide guitarist (I have seen him live several times) doesn't mean he has to be rooted only into that genre.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: CraigS
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 04:05 PM

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000AFAT.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: CraigS
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 04:02 PM

Slander and libel apart, here's the cover of Shame, Shame, Shame by Shirley & Co -

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 02:27 PM

El Rayo-X was David Lindley's group circa 1980-2. If you like his brilliant slide work, do not bother with this album. Pseudo-Reggae and various forms of musical BS. A waste of your time.

Worst album cover would be anything with Michael Jackson's face on it.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 01:35 PM

nancyjo, Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that cover in 36 years and I see my memory is faulty. It's George with the doll's head on his finger and I don't see any sharp instruments nor blood stains. Still, the site refers to it as the “butcher” cover and, at the time, we all thought it was made to look as though they'd been butchering babies.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 01:30 PM

Sheen Easton deserves a spot somewhere on this thread too, don't you think? (As she pouts and seethes suggestively at the camera...) And then there's Helen Reddy...

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 01:19 PM

El Rayo-X was thre name of the band Dave was playing with no???

What's the track list for that album mooman????

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: nancyjo
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 12:30 PM

You can see the Beatles banned cover here:
http://www.geocities.com/deadpaul9/yesterday.html

as well as the replacement cover. It was from YESTERDAY AND TODAY.


nancyjo

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: mooman
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 12:01 PM

Possibly that of one of my favourite albums...El Rayo-X by David Lindley. The posture, the clothes...it has it all!

Look if you dare

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 11:47 AM

Yes, I saw that album cover and it was truly in bad taste. When it hit the U.S. they were all rounded up to have the covers replaced while new ones were being readied for the manufacturer. A few were distributed with a new cover pasted over the original. A friend had one of those and carefully steamed off the replacement cover to reveal the original.

It was a color photraph of the Beatles wearing white lab coats all spattered with blood. They were holding knives and cleavers and there was raw bloody meat all over the place. There were also dolls in various stages of dismemberment. Ringo was standing or kneeling behind those seated in front giving us “the bird” except he had placed the severed head of one of the dolls on his middle finger.

I did a quick search of the Net but didn't find it. I'm sure someone somewhere must have scanned this a put it up for everyone to see. This would be my nomination for worst album cover ever.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From:
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 11:26 AM

Hey I heard about a very early Beatles album that got pulled because it was so bad. Anybody know anything about that?

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 04:57 PM

OK, here's some more: Rick Wakeman, 'Six Wives of Henry VIII', Richard and Linda Thompson, 'Sunnyvista', Peter Frampton, 'Frampton Comes Alive' - you just want to punch him.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 02:28 PM

The Roxy Music covers were indeed kitsch...the very epitome of kitsch. I figure people would either love them or hate them. I'm sure they succeeded in their basic objective...getting noticed, and selling.

Peter - Well, "Dark Eyes" is excellent, yes. In my opinion so are "Tight Connection To My Heart", "Trust Yourself", and "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky". That's 4 really good songs. Some of the others are pretty turgid...but I like the way they sound nonetheless. It remains one of my favourite Dylan albums.

I hated it when it first came out, but loved it by a few years later. Got the vinyl one right here by the computer.

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 01:23 PM

Damn! I have to take issue with whoever knocked the Roxy Music covers. Jerry Hall as a lascivious plastic mermaid on Siren? A soaking wet, pouting model stalking the primeval forests on Country Life? Nordic ice-princesses tossing javelins on Still Life? They were the height of some kind of blend of kitsch and sexual suggestion.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Peter T.
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 09:29 AM

"Dark Eyes" is the only reason to buy Empire Burlesque. A low point in a deep valley -- "Something's Burning, Baby" (!!!) -- this from the man who wrote "When The Ship Comes In".

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,mkebenn
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 08:28 AM

That recalled Beatles cover with the meat and broken dolls, ugh... Mike

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 12:21 AM

Yeah, Peter, but there's some great music on it. I love Empire Burlesque. Now for a really UG-LY Bob picture, check out the cover of Good As I Been To You...

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Peter T.
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 05:05 PM

I think the White Album cover was brilliant, only marred by some of the junk on the albums inside. The best Beatle album cover was Rubber Soul, I think. Such a beautiful photograph. The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album cover was a cheap, crummy, disaster (not in the same league as the unreleased Beatles 65 cover with the dead babies). Amazing how everything associated with that period in Beatlemania is so bad. Meanwhile -- "Their Satanic Majesties Request" is certainly one of the unintentionally funniest album covers.

The worst Dylan cover (Whew, where to begin), probably Empire Burlesque. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The back cover has probably the worst picture of Dylan ever (which is saying a great deal), at least until his recent "Vincent-Price-Back-From-The-Dead" phase.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 04:31 PM

A few more candidates: Richard Thompson, 'Henry The Human Fly' (still apparently Island Records worst-selling LP in America), Pink Floyd, 'Atom Heart Mother' (controversial, I know), Wishbone Ash, 'Argus', Byrds, 'Byrdmaniax', Cockney Rebel, 'Psychomodo', almost all the Roxy Music LPs. God, there used to be some rubbish out there!

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:17 PM

Didn't Pat Boone do a "heavy metal" album once for some reason? That would be frightening.

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Steve-o
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:10 PM

LH, you are redeemed, of course. I am strictly an acoustic player (cain't do that 'lectric stuff), but the two players mentioned are the absolute cream of the crop in that field, so I had to shoot off my mouth. When you're checking out Clapton, see if you can find "Bernard Jenkins", with John Mayall on piano- it's so tasteful, and so powerful at once. BTW, I'm with Rolfyboy6....that Pat Boone cover is frightening!

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 09:03 AM

As for Clapton, he's great, but I'm actually not as familiar with his music as I could be, specially the earlier stuff. I had my attention on other people at the time.

I've got the Clapton boxed set, so I suppose I should maybe sit down and give it a proper listen all the way through one of these days.

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:54 AM

Greatest blues album with a terrible cover: Let's Hideaway and Dance Away with Freddie King

Worst overall: mystery horror

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: YOR
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 09:23 PM

I like the "White Album" suggestion.

How about more than one of Don Henley's, they all have that "Hey look me" thingy going.

Pretenders "The Singles" is pretty boring and has no class.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 06:28 PM

Actually, Steve, I LOVE Mark Knopfler...totally love the man AND his guitar licks. I also get short of breath watching Rick Fielding fingerpick OR flatpick.

Am I forgiven?

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Steve-o
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 03:53 PM

I don't know, LH....normally your posts are quite interesting, but- you paid no attention to Eric Clapton, and Mark Knopfler is "not half bad"??!! Shatner-mania can be forgiven as charmingly low-brow, Dylan-mania is understandable since songwriters do not get any better, but you'd "rather listen to the words and singing" than catch a series of notes that flip your heart upside down and strike a bolt of lightning through your brains??!! I shall have to read your remarks with a tinge of pity in my heart from now on.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 09:25 PM

Self Portrait is quite interesting, with some great cuts and some poor ones. I rather like it, but I do think the painting is...um...well, I wouldn't hang it on my wall.

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 08:33 PM

RE: my previous posting, a word in Steeleye's defence. Please To See The King, Ten Man Mop, Below the Salt, Parcel of Rogues and Commoner's Crown were all among the best sleeves I ever saw or owned. I had friends who'd never heard of the band but who had to check out the music when they saw the sleeve. Aah, them were the days...

I also think Dylan's 'Self Portrait' sleeve is a classic but then I think the record is one of his best, too - but maybe that's another thread. Anyone want some?

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From:
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 05:21 PM

Haven't been here in a l-o-o-o-n-g time, but couldn't resist adding to this one.

My nominations for one of the worst and most boring covers of all time was the Kingston Trio Capitol Years CD box set. If you had no idea who they were, this cover would not make you pick it up to even look at it. Art work on the inside showed them and was colorful and bright, just the oustide sucked.

Form way back, I pulled out Groover's Pradise album by Doug Sahm with R. Crumb rip-off styled art. It's sorta fun to look at if you knew the area, Austin, TX, back then. Ohterwise, it's pretty bad.

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 10:18 PM

Good point, Nicole, but consider this: I have never sat down and deliberately listened to that Blind Faith album. Not once. Is that the mark of success? Yeah, I remember the cover all right, and I also remember this traffic accident I saw when I was 10 years old.

You're right about the classical album covers, though...

- LH

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: NicoleC
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 07:33 PM

Mmmm... does that fact that you vividly remember these covers tell you anything about how bad they WEREN'T? Ugly, yes, maybe even stupid, but they stuck in your head for this long and if that isn't the goal of an album cover, what is? (Exceptions for the whole psychdelia genre.)

You guys obviously have not been shopping the classical section, where album after album is a hideously ugly imitation baroque painting with the same bland, small black on white Times New Roman font on the back. Flip through 10 CDs and you can't remember what you've seen...

Subject: RE: The worst album cover ever
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 06:36 PM

I agree. I hated that Blind Faith album cover.

- LH