The first Cure album had a different cover in the US. It was drawings or paper cutouts of three Palm Trees. They were in the desert so I always just connected them to Fire in Cairo and the Arab song. I like the heavily saturated colors on the Paul Simon cover. Reminds me of the heavily saturated colors on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Probably a reflection of emerging video technology at the time, just like the Rolling Stones cover and the Talking Heads cover you mentioned were reflections of emerging infrared photography at the time.
Art Garfunkel's presence is best appreciated when listening to his music and not seeing him at all except if you are attending a concert. He looks like Larry from the Three Stooges, and stoned.
Art Garfunkel's "Fate For Breakfast" was released with 6 different covers. I suppose all equally bad since they focus on him around the breakfast table at various stages of his meal. But you have to give him some credit for the concept that was repeated by Led Zeppelin later in the year. Also, "Bright Eyes" was not on the US version of the album.
I've never thought the Revolver album cover was so hot myself. Line drawings of the Beatles with other tiny "photo-Beatles" living inside their ramen noodle hair? If one of the tape loops from "Tomorrow Never Knows" got sick and vomited out an album cover, it might have looked something like that. And a hard disagree on the Cure album cover. It's right in line with the subversion of rock cliches that punk and new wave was all about. What's the polar opposite of some sexy dudes holding guitars? Three appliances sitting in a corner.
Hey Mr.Heaton I really enjoyed this episode. I totally agree about Pet Sounds. What were they thinking. Terrible cover but then again, ALL the covers you featured are indeed, bad! Imo :)
It was the Crosby If Only I could Remember My Name that was on the Rolling Stone list that got me, it's a great cover, and I don't ever care for the music.
I quite like Radio Kaos which shows a morse code message which I think goes with the overall Radio idea of the album and the morse code at the end of The Tide is Turning. Also the latest Roger Waters album depicts redacted text which again matches the political theme of the album. Probably the worst covers (in my view) are ELP's Love Beach and Jon Anderson's latest album True. Jon Anderson's album is particularly disappointing as he has been involved in some great covers.
You have to understand the composition of the people behind the Rolling Stone magazine to understand why they would place a spiritual album on the list that has absolutely no business being on the list. I just wish you would stop referencing them in videos as if they have any merit or value. They became obsolete after the 70s.
@@shyman99 if not earlier. They slagged some great albums, like RAM. They slagged The Beach Boys, only to be forced to admit the band was the best one in the lineup of a festival that also featured counterculture darlings the Grateful Dead.
The "Pet Sounds" cover is really not good. Such a groundbreaking innovative album really should have had a more exciting cover. The main problem for me isn't the photo; it's all that text that destroys it. The only text allowed on an album cover should be the name of the band and the title of the album.
@@vandenro It seems that most artist back then didn't care what the record company did with the package. They only cared about the record, and some guy at the record company put a random photo on the cover and didn't put that much work into the layout. The Beatles were among the first bands who demanded to have control over the whole product, cover included.
Interesting that album covers followed the artistic trend and became more adventurous after the mid-sixties, prior to which they were usually pictures of the artists themselves and not much else. Some groups were slower to catch on to the change or had less of a say, hence the Beach Boys visit to a zoo. Note sure about keeping goats as pets, but to each their own. Keep up the good work.
15. Young Americans...it was the times. Bowie was always shuffling through the deck of his imagery and not every card is an ace. 14. Stones...with one notable exception (Sticky Fingers) they didn't have a lot of good album covers in my opinion. 13. Planet Waves...suits the homemade feel of the album, whatever else one might say about it. 12. Presence...Yeah, Zep had done better. Despite a possible homage to 2001 A Space Odyssey, the phallic reference just seemed limp. 11. SuperTramp...not the worst I've ever seen. I think the textural aspect is kinda cool. 10. High Voltage...I think we had a different cover in the USA, or am I misremembering? 9. Fate for Breakfast...it reflects the decor of the time very viscerally for me. AND thanks for giving me a song to listen to today. 8. Pet Sounds...I cannot divorce the cover from the content of the album, which for me, from the first time my older sisters put the needle down on side one to this very day, I have considered the greatest album of all time, bar none. Pepper is a close second, but it is second. Come to think of it, the Beach Boys never had a killer album cover. Some good ones but nothing overly artsy or groundbreaking. Their appeal was the simple mix of sunshine and sadness. They understood the world they lived in and portrayed it extremely well. To the rest of the world it was the California Dream; to us, in California back then, it was our reality as we grew up. So in that sense, the album cover was what the songs were, another day in California, life presented as it was. Yeah, going to the Zoo on a sunny day would have been a thing back then and still today. I went to a Zoo in London. Totally different experience. Not to slag it but it was a much more claustrophobic experience. 7. Madmen Across the Water, I have 4 words...."Seamstress for the band." 6. Harry Nillson...appropriate if nothing else, though I don't disagree about the cover. 5. The Cure...I like the surrealism. It suits the album title, don't you think? 4. Paul Simon...Kinda interesting and kinda underwhelming. 3. McCartney...Reminds me of Springsteen's "The Rising." It is an OK cover not out of line with some of his others of the time, but when you compare it with the first album you showed which was "Revolver" it pales in comparison. McCartney has always put artists in the forefront, they've done set designs for him even. Oh well, It's McCartney soI'll take it! Great song, I'm listening to it now. Thanks for always getting me queuing up some great songs, man! Always happens when I view your posts. 2. Blind Faith...yeah, that cover always bugged me. It seemed disrespectful. I was 11 back then. I agree with you, the artist statement you quoted was a load of bull, man. 1. Denny Laine...YOU GOT TO MEET DENNY LAINE, MAN! That is great! He actually thought about you as a fan when you came to see him, and signed your record. Would have been interesting to know what he was thinking with the cover. I remember reading a tell-all book by his wife and thinking "uh oh, he isn't in the driver seat and that ain't good!" Well...at least he made number one on the list, if not in the charts. Yeah, not so good cover but a decent song. Seemed like the verses were too cerebral and couldn't quite mesh with the catchy chorus.
@@paulsontag9233 I agree, as is "Surf's Up" and it happened after they left Capitol records. I think the Warner Reprise catalogue showed a different approach totally to album art for the group. The music was different, the artwork was different, everything was different. Capitol literally put borders around the Beach Boys.
@@williamneillgross3926 Thanks. I never realized they left Capitol and that explains a lot. Surf’s up has very cool artwork too. Their Capitol era covers were almost totally second rate. It was as if the Beach Boy brand was so strong that no artistic effort whatsoever was necessary for the album artwork. I feel the same way about the early Beatles American albums just bad taste abounding on them.
Agree on most, but I've always been fond of the "Fate For Breakfast" cover. Something charming about Art just in his kitchen in a bathrobe. I can't defend the back cover as much though. Ha!
"In The Court Of The Crimson King" King Crimson is probably the most popular album with the most horrible cover I have ever seen. And one day I played the album.... maybe I was wrong, and it is another "Sgt. Pepper's" .... even it it were The Bee Gees' 1978 version i'd accept it.... it was CRAP! It's as bad as "Two Virgins", both cover and recorded material are garbage.... Kardashian class, famous for being famous, hollow, no substance.... just SHIT.
McCartney III Reimagined. Wildlife. Driving Rain. These aren’t great but there are many hilariously awful Macca picture sleeves created for many of his 45rpm singles.
Driving Rain is a bloomin’ awful album cover - possibly Macca’s worst. Although, having said that, although Ram is my absolute favourite Macca album, it also has a dreadful (although quite endearing) album cover.
Yep, Extra Texture is quite dreadful. I don’t mind McCartney II’s cover - Macca looks like he can’t believe what he’s just recorded! The cover to George Harrison (his 1979 self titled album) isn’t great either.
John Lennon walls And bridges is a fabulous cover and Elton John yellow Brick Road I also agree that wasn’t the best cover with David Bowie cover, his 70s work has to be my favourite. I quite like the revolver cover Also ELO have done much better Quality album covers over the years .
@@davidleinweber I saw him live back then. The first time I’d ever seen Dylan be nice to the audience rather than combative. He actually thanked us after the last Song. Great band and as usual, nothing like any previous Dylan shows. You can count on Bob to surprise you every time.
The selfie on the McCartney album you mentioned was actually shot on a Casio digital camera watch of the time, I guess it was a big enough novelty to have a digital camera on a watch for Paul to go choose it
I recall a later Neil Young album cover that he took with a game boy advance camera, can’t quite remember it from the top of my head. (Edit, it was silver and gold, taken by his daughter)
I was going to mention 'Pet Sounds', but then you showed it. How about the album 'My Beauty'' by Kevin Rowland, now that is awful. I quite like the 'Hearts and Bones' album by Paul Simon; if the problem is that the photo is blurred, that puts it in the same category as 'Blonde on Blonde -Bob Dylan'
For Elton John, Honky Chateau isn't much better. Art Garfunkel, I quite agree. It looks like a derivation (dinner table) of Breakaway. Trying to be artsy and not quite making it on either one. If the cover had been as good as the music....
@@quaid667 Yes! There is an interview with Genesis on John Eddington's TH-cam channel where it turns out the Led Zeppelin "Presence" cover was offered to Genesis - and they passed on it! Zeppelin cover is rejected Genesis cover...
revolver is a great cover pauls driving rain is the most tackie cover ever i thought zeps presence was quite good with that object making a mark in every day life last album coda bad cover
It’s just like the old cinema canopies stating what the film is. I remember being really disappointed with it after Venus & Mars. I don’t think there is any artistic value to it.
It is an old cinema sign, at Leicester Square. I quite like it myself, and I’ve always enjoyed the album - much better than the badly mixed Venus and Mars, which at times just annoys me.
![[[OFFICIAL MV]] เอิ้นขวัญให้อ้าย- อ๊ะอาย สกุณาพร | ค่ายเพลงเป็นหนึ่ง](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/83x6L3X3qh0/mqdefault.jpg)
A fridge, a lamp and a Hoover, hahahaha
The first Cure album had a different cover in the US. It was drawings or paper cutouts of three Palm Trees. They were in the desert so I always just connected them to Fire in Cairo and the Arab song. I like the heavily saturated colors on the Paul Simon cover. Reminds me of the heavily saturated colors on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Probably a reflection of emerging video technology at the time, just like the Rolling Stones cover and the Talking Heads cover you mentioned were reflections of emerging infrared photography at the time.
The Pet Sounds photo shoot was an after thought by someone at the record company. Great list John, thanks for sharing.
Art Garfunkel's presence is best appreciated when listening to his music and not seeing him at all except if you are attending a concert. He looks like Larry from the Three Stooges, and stoned.
I like that Saved album cover better than the version that just has a drawing of Dylan on stage.
Art Garfunkel's "Fate For Breakfast" was released with 6 different covers. I suppose all equally bad since they focus on him around the breakfast table at various stages of his meal. But you have to give him some credit for the concept that was repeated by Led Zeppelin later in the year. Also, "Bright Eyes" was not on the US version of the album.
I've never thought the Revolver album cover was so hot myself. Line drawings of the Beatles with other tiny "photo-Beatles" living inside their ramen noodle hair? If one of the tape loops from "Tomorrow Never Knows" got sick and vomited out an album cover, it might have looked something like that. And a hard disagree on the Cure album cover. It's right in line with the subversion of rock cliches that punk and new wave was all about. What's the polar opposite of some sexy dudes holding guitars? Three appliances sitting in a corner.
Hey Mr.Heaton I really enjoyed this episode. I totally agree about Pet Sounds. What were they thinking. Terrible cover but then again, ALL the covers you featured are indeed, bad! Imo :)
It was the Crosby If Only I could Remember My Name that was on the Rolling Stone list that got me, it's a great cover, and I don't ever care for the music.
Look at the covers of the Scorpions: one more dreadful than the other. I‘m not shy, but that was pornography! „Virgin Killers“ just criminal.
Bruce Springsteen
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Rising
Both are great albums with poor covers.
Radio Kaos is a dreadful album cover - but I’ve always loved the album, even if Roger Waters doesn’t!
I quite like Radio Kaos which shows a morse code message which I think goes with the overall Radio idea of the album and the morse code at the end of The Tide is Turning. Also the latest Roger Waters album depicts redacted text which again matches the political theme of the album.
Probably the worst covers (in my view) are ELP's Love Beach and Jon Anderson's latest album True. Jon Anderson's album is particularly disappointing as he has been involved in some great covers.
Yeah, the Radio Kaos album cover was something that required active learning. Pretty cool.
You have to understand the composition of the people behind the Rolling Stone magazine to understand why they would place a spiritual album on the list that has absolutely no business being on the list. I just wish you would stop referencing them in videos as if they have any merit or value. They became obsolete after the 70s.
@@shyman99 if not earlier. They slagged some great albums, like RAM. They slagged The Beach Boys, only to be forced to admit the band was the best one in the lineup of a festival that also featured counterculture darlings the Grateful Dead.
So true, they’ve been a woke joke for some time now
The Cure first album cover is a goodie - sorry John
The "Pet Sounds" cover is really not good. Such a groundbreaking innovative album really should have had a more exciting cover. The main problem for me isn't the photo; it's all that text that destroys it. The only text allowed on an album cover should be the name of the band and the title of the album.
Using a ratio of what was on vinyl compared to the cover, Pet Sounds is by far the worst album cover of all time. What were they thinking.
@@vandenro It seems that most artist back then didn't care what the record company did with the package. They only cared about the record, and some guy at the record company put a random photo on the cover and didn't put that much work into the layout. The Beatles were among the first bands who demanded to have control over the whole product, cover included.
Go forth and multiply 😅 I like that
Interesting that album covers followed the artistic trend and became more adventurous after the mid-sixties, prior to which they were usually pictures of the artists themselves and not much else. Some groups were slower to catch on to the change or had less of a say, hence the Beach Boys visit to a zoo. Note sure about keeping goats as pets, but to each their own. Keep up the good work.
15. Young Americans...it was the times. Bowie was always shuffling through the deck of his imagery and not every card is an ace.
14. Stones...with one notable exception (Sticky Fingers) they didn't have a lot of good album covers in my opinion.
13. Planet Waves...suits the homemade feel of the album, whatever else one might say about it.
12. Presence...Yeah, Zep had done better. Despite a possible homage to 2001 A Space Odyssey, the phallic reference just seemed limp.
11. SuperTramp...not the worst I've ever seen. I think the textural aspect is kinda cool.
10. High Voltage...I think we had a different cover in the USA, or am I misremembering?
9. Fate for Breakfast...it reflects the decor of the time very viscerally for me. AND thanks for giving me a song to listen to today.
8. Pet Sounds...I cannot divorce the cover from the content of the album, which for me, from the first time my older sisters put the needle down on side one to this very day, I have considered the greatest album of all time, bar none. Pepper is a close second, but it is second. Come to think of it, the Beach Boys never had a killer album cover. Some good ones but nothing overly artsy or groundbreaking. Their appeal was the simple mix of sunshine and sadness. They understood the world they lived in and portrayed it extremely well. To the rest of the world it was the California Dream; to us, in California back then, it was our reality as we grew up. So in that sense, the album cover was what the songs were, another day in California, life presented as it was. Yeah, going to the Zoo on a sunny day would have been a thing back then and still today. I went to a Zoo in London. Totally different experience. Not to slag it but it was a much more claustrophobic experience.
7. Madmen Across the Water, I have 4 words...."Seamstress for the band."
6. Harry Nillson...appropriate if nothing else, though I don't disagree about the cover.
5. The Cure...I like the surrealism. It suits the album title, don't you think?
4. Paul Simon...Kinda interesting and kinda underwhelming.
3. McCartney...Reminds me of Springsteen's "The Rising." It is an OK cover not out of line with some of his others of the time, but when you compare it with the first album you showed which was "Revolver" it pales in comparison. McCartney has always put artists in the forefront, they've done set designs for him even. Oh well, It's McCartney soI'll take it! Great song, I'm listening to it now. Thanks for always getting me queuing up some great songs, man! Always happens when I view your posts.
2. Blind Faith...yeah, that cover always bugged me. It seemed disrespectful. I was 11 back then. I agree with you, the artist statement you quoted was a load of bull, man.
1. Denny Laine...YOU GOT TO MEET DENNY LAINE, MAN! That is great! He actually thought about you as a fan when you came to see him, and signed your record. Would have been interesting to know what he was thinking with the cover. I remember reading a tell-all book by his wife and thinking "uh oh, he isn't in the driver seat and that ain't good!" Well...at least he made number one on the list, if not in the charts. Yeah, not so good cover but a decent song. Seemed like the verses were too cerebral and couldn't quite mesh with the catchy chorus.
I think “Holland” is a stunning album cover from the Beach Boys. Great album too.
@@paulsontag9233 I agree, as is "Surf's Up" and it happened after they left Capitol records. I think the Warner Reprise catalogue showed a different approach totally to album art for the group. The music was different, the artwork was different, everything was different. Capitol literally put borders around the Beach Boys.
@@williamneillgross3926
Thanks. I never realized they left Capitol and that explains a lot. Surf’s up has very cool artwork too. Their Capitol era covers were almost totally second rate. It was as if the Beach Boy brand was so strong that no artistic effort whatsoever was necessary for the album artwork. I feel the same way about the early Beatles American albums just bad taste abounding on them.
Agree on most, but I've always been fond of the "Fate For Breakfast" cover. Something charming about Art just in his kitchen in a bathrobe. I can't defend the back cover as much though. Ha!
ELO have some great album covers and i think Secret Messages was the last great one.
"In The Court Of The Crimson King" King Crimson is probably the most popular album with the most horrible cover I have ever seen. And one day I played the album.... maybe I was wrong, and it is another "Sgt. Pepper's" .... even it it were The Bee Gees' 1978 version i'd accept it.... it was CRAP! It's as bad as "Two Virgins", both cover and recorded material are garbage.... Kardashian class, famous for being famous, hollow, no substance.... just SHIT.
There Are Good Album Covers & There Are Some Bad Cover's
We are not on the same boat with Young Americans John 🤣 Top choices otherwise , always enjoy these sort of videos
I think personally Nirvana Nevermind cover is horrible and Primal Scream, Screamadelica is absolute rubbish.
steel wheels by the Stones is pretty poor by their standards
McCartney III Reimagined. Wildlife. Driving Rain. These aren’t great but there are many hilariously awful Macca picture sleeves created for many of his 45rpm singles.
Driving Rain is a bloomin’ awful album cover - possibly Macca’s worst. Although, having said that, although Ram is my absolute favourite Macca album, it also has a dreadful (although quite endearing) album cover.
Of solo Beatles which do you think? For me, Extra Texture….McCartney II
These are bloody awful indeed:)
Yep, Extra Texture is quite dreadful. I don’t mind McCartney II’s cover - Macca looks like he can’t believe what he’s just recorded! The cover to George Harrison (his 1979 self titled album) isn’t great either.
John Lennon walls And bridges is a fabulous cover and Elton John yellow Brick Road I also agree that wasn’t the best cover with David Bowie cover, his 70s work has to be my favourite. I quite like the revolver cover Also ELO have done much better Quality album covers over the years .
Sorry to correct: God touched Adams (first man according to bible) Hand (according to Michelangelo) not Abraham😬
Yes…sorry about that..of course!
The Christian Dylan albums are actually quite good, especially Sliw Train Coming
@@davidleinweber I saw him live back then. The first time I’d ever seen Dylan be nice to the audience rather than combative. He actually thanked us after the last Song. Great band and as usual, nothing like any previous Dylan shows. You can count on Bob to surprise you every time.
I quite like Madman Across The Water, but the rest are pretty awful. Denny's especially, wow that's rotten!
The selfie on the McCartney album you mentioned was actually shot on a Casio digital camera watch of the time, I guess it was a big enough novelty to have a digital camera on a watch for Paul to go choose it
I recall a later Neil Young album cover that he took with a game boy advance camera, can’t quite remember it from the top of my head.
(Edit, it was silver and gold, taken by his daughter)
Problem is, it looks like he was taking a pee when he took it.
KooKoo by Deborah Harry. Spikes through her head? Why?
I don’t think Revolver is a great cover but certainly not in the 50 worst. Rolling Stone is irrelevant.
I was going to mention 'Pet Sounds', but then you showed it. How about the album 'My Beauty'' by Kevin Rowland, now that is awful. I quite like the 'Hearts and Bones' album by Paul Simon; if the problem is that the photo is blurred, that puts it in the same category as 'Blonde on Blonde -Bob Dylan'
For Elton John, Honky Chateau isn't much better. Art Garfunkel, I quite agree. It looks like a derivation (dinner table) of Breakaway. Trying to be artsy and not quite making it on either one. If the cover had been as good as the music....
Totally agree with you on Led Zeppelin Presence. Coda was arguably worse
Genesis passed on the album cover.
@@quaid667 Yes! There is an interview with Genesis on John Eddington's TH-cam channel where it turns out the Led Zeppelin "Presence" cover was offered to Genesis - and they passed on it! Zeppelin cover is rejected Genesis cover...
@@bilburns1313 haha yes that's the one i watched. Oh well. I like Led Zep but i LOVE Genesis lol
@@quaid667 Another one Genesis rejected became a 10cc album cover, too! LOL ! Decent interviews, those John Eddington ones...
@@bilburns1313 Is that the one with the map? Yes and you can tell he's a Genesis nut as well as Floyd etc
revolver is a great cover pauls driving rain is the most tackie cover ever i thought zeps presence was quite good with that object making a mark in every day life last album coda bad cover
Pet Sounds!!!! Amazingly awful. Super weird. The opposite to art.
Hearts and Bones is a fine cover 😊
If someone could explain Wings at the speed of sound cover, I would appreciate it.
It’s just like the old cinema canopies stating what the film is. I remember being really disappointed with it after Venus & Mars.
I don’t think there is any artistic value to it.
It is an old cinema sign, at Leicester Square. I quite like it myself, and I’ve always enjoyed the album - much better than the badly mixed Venus and Mars, which at times just annoys me.
Thanks for explaining this. I really enjoy the album, still not the cover so much.
Led Zeppelin IV, one of the worst album covers ever on one of the greatest albums ever