The good, finest, biggest, most iconic, most well-known album covers of all-time. It doesn’t actually matter what kind of adjective you need to put it in entrance of the phrases “album cover,” as a result of lists of this form of are all the time extremely subjective. What we are able to say for certain, although, is that album covers are vitally necessary to how a file is acquired by the general public. (It’s arduous to think about Sgt. Pepper’s with the duvet to the White Album and vice versa.) Even in at the moment’s digital age, a cool file cowl can have a big impact. (Artists as diversified as Younger Thug and Glass Animals can attest to that.) So, with out additional ado, right here is our choose of simply 100 of the best file covers of all-time.
100: The Flamin’ Groovies: Supersnazz (design by Cyril Jordan)
Bandleader Cyril Jordan’s terrific comedian artwork has turned up on quite a few The Flamin’ Groovies covers and posters over the a long time. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters have been there to remind you the way a lot enjoyable rock’n’roll was alleged to be.
99: The Bee Gees: Odessa
If The Beatles might do a double “White Album,” the Bee Gees might do a fuzzy crimson one. The crimson velvet cowl, with gold embossed lettering, served discover that Odessa was going to be distinctive and delightful, which it was.
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98: The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (design by Barry Feinstein)
Beggars Banquet is a uncommon case the place an album’s two well-known covers actually complement one another. Put the infamous rest room cowl along with the engraved invitation on the US alternative, and also you’ve obtained the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones on the time.
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97: Ol’ Soiled Bastard: Return to the 36 Chambers: The Soiled Model (design by Alli Truch, photograph by Danny Clinch)
Every time hip-hop began to take itself too critically, ODB was there to disrupt, agitate, and provides the center finger to conference. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the previous Wu-Tang member put a doctored model of his welfare ID card on the entrance cowl of his solo debut, as each a reminder of the place he got here from and to destigmatize being on public help. As he rapped on Wu-Tang’s “Dog Sh_t,”: “Got meals but still grill that old good welfare cheese.”
96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop for Now Folks (design by Barney Bubbles)
On an album that made a mad sprint via the entire of pop historical past, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a bunch of various guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to delicate balladeer (there have been completely different pics on the US and UK variations), all with tongue firmly in cheek.
95: Jefferson Airplane: Lengthy John Silver (design by Pacific Eye & Ear)
Jefferson Airplane’s Lengthy John Silver hails from the golden age of elaborate album covers. Since individuals have been already utilizing LPs to retailer and clear marijuana, the Airplane gave you a cardboard field holder for it, together with the pot, or a minimum of a realistic-looking photograph.
94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go? (design by Kenneth Cappello)
Any artist who dares to look this terrifying on the duvet of their first album deserves all of the platinum success they get. Impressed by the album’s themes of the unconscious, the darkish sleeve of Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go? served discover that Eilish was right here to mess together with your head.
93: Parliament: Mothership Connection (photograph by David Alexander, design by Gribbitth)
George Clinton’s gonzoid tackle outer-space journey discovered its excellent match within the effortlessly cool spaceship-party cowl for Parliament’s Mothership Connection. The truth that it regarded remarkably low funds solely made it funkier.
92: Geto Boys: We Can’t Be Stopped (design by Cliff Blodget)
Strolling a razor-thin line between exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys’ modus operandi, and nothing exemplified this dynamic greater than their well-known 1991 album cowl artwork. The graphic photograph of Bushwick Invoice on the hospital was as unflinching as their music.
91: The Vehicles: Sweet-O (design by Alberto Vargas)
Alberto Vargas was already essentially the most well-known pin-up artist earlier than designing the well-known cowl for The Vehicles traditional 1979 album Sweet-O, however this portray of a trendy redhead, on a automobile after all, grew to become his most well-known piece. Sweet-O is likely one of the two finest makes use of of pin-up artwork on a rock file, together with…
90: Courtney Love: America’s Sweetheart (design by Olivia De Berardinis)
For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Vehicles’ idea a step additional by enlisting the youthful, edgier pin-up artist (recognized professionally as Olivia) to color her. In fact, it obtained an additional dimension by taking part in with Love’s personal picture on the time.
89: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (design by Michael Cooper)
The Rolling Stones in all probability couldn’t beat the Beatles for a psychedelic album in 1967, however they arguably had the cooler album cowl, the primary 3D sleeve in rock. Ten factors if you could find the place the Beatles are hiding within the 3D picture on Their Satanic Majesties Request.
88: Public Picture Ltd: The Flowers of Romance
PiL’s follow-up to their well-known Metallic Field album cowl was even cooler, exhibiting non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her tooth, a weapon in her hand, and a murderous look in her eyes.
87: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (design by Andy Warhol)
It was bizarre, it was witty, it was Warhol. The well-known minimalism of The Velvet Underground & Nico peel-away banana album cowl grew to become an affect on punk visible model a few years later and stays one of many biggest album covers.
86: The Miracles: Hello, We’re The Miracles (design by Wakefield & Mitchell)
The cool album cowl for The Miracles’ 1961 debut encapsulates the old-school showbiz that Motown would quickly lead the world away from. But it surely’s so cheerful that you just nonetheless must find it irresistible.
85: The Go-Gos: Magnificence & the Beat (design by Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)
The Go-Go’s sense of playful subversion prolonged to their sendup of glamorous cowl pictures on their hit debut, Magnificence & The Beat. It was their occasion; you might be a part of in the event that they allow you to.
84: Dr. Dre: The Power (design by Michael Benabib)
This well-known album cowl did wonders with its easy technique. On his Dr. Dre’s solo debut The Power, the design assumed that Dre was already an icon and offered him accordingly.
83: Quincy Jones: The Dude (design by Fanizani Akuda)
Jeff Bridges’ obtained nothing on the unique “The Dude,” the effortlessly cool and quixotic album cowl character that seems on Quincy Jones’ genre-blending solo debut. Q all the time had an ear for expertise – as his cross-cultural LP proved – however he additionally had a watch for design. (He noticed the eponymous “Dude” statue at an artwork gallery and took it house for inspiration.)
82: Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas (design by Paul West)
The design-centric 4AD label did a few of its most interesting work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering picture is undeniably stunning, but you by no means know simply what it means…similar to their music.
81: James Brown: Hell (design by Joe Belt)
Arriving one 12 months after his milestone album The Payback, Brown delivered the double-album Hell, which known as out societal ills each on file and on the elaborately illustrated cowl. Designed by artist Joe Belt, who made his identify capturing the characters of the Wild West, Belt educated his intention on one other darkish chapter of American historical past, depicting fallen troopers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. One of the vital well-known funk album covers ever.
80: Slayer: Reign in Blood (design by Larry Carroll)
One of many biggest metallic covers ever designed, designer Larry Carroll packed a thousand nightmares into this Bosch-like portray for Slayer’s thrash masterpiece Reign in Blood, which influenced metallic imagery for many years to return.
79: King Crimson: Within the Court docket of the Crimson King (design by Barry Godber)
Robert Fripp noticed this dramatic portray after Within the Court docket of the Crimson King was accomplished and knew it completely suited the music, with the crazed cowl determine because the twenty first century schizoid man. Sadly, the artist handed away solely months afterwards.
78: Moby Grape: Wow (design by Bob Cato)
One of many psych period’s nice hallucinations, the well-known album cowl for Moby Grape’s 1968 double LP Wow confirmed an otherworldly panorama with the world’s largest bunch of grapes. Wow certainly.
77: Kayne West: Yeezus (design by Kanye West and Virgil Abloh)
One of the vital well-known album covers of latest classic. Kanye West brings the minimalist “White Album” idea to the CD period. You can additionally see Yeezus because the final celebration of the bodily CD earlier than it disappeared.
76: Elvis Presley: 50,000,000 Elvis Followers Can’t Be Mistaken (design by Bob Jones)
Extremely-cool Elvis (in his shiny gold Nudie go well with) will get multiplied in probably the most enduring early 60s photographs and biggest album covers. If there are that many Elvis followers, we’ll, after all, want 15 Elvises.
75: Black Flag: My Conflict (design by Raymond Pettibon)
Black Flag’s trailblazing punk-metal wouldn’t have been the identical with out Pettibon’s grisly comedian photographs, although on this case, not fairly as grisly because the album itself.
74: Speaking Heads: Talking in Tongues (design by Robert Rauschenberg)
The abstraction of the Speaking Heads’ stunning, moving-parts cowl for his or her 1983 file Talking in Tongues couldn’t have higher represented the music inside. It will have been rated greater if the factor wasn’t so robust to retailer.
73: The Moms of Invention: We’re Solely In It for the Cash (design by Cal Schenkel)
Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie tradition We’re Solely In It for the Cash in an equally vicious parody of the well-known Sgt. Pepper album cowl to nice success.
72: The Pogues: Peace and Love (design by Simon Ryan)
One of many biggest joke album covers, the boxer was already an ideal picture for the Pogues, however don’t miss the delicate little bit of play right here. (The phrase “peace” after all has 5 letters.)
71: Rush: Shifting Footage (design by Hugh Syme)
Rush’s biggest album covers expressed each their grand ideas and their cerebral humorousness. On this staged cowl for Shifting Footage, which options lots of the characters from the songs, we detect a minimum of three completely different visible performs on the album’s title.
70: The Beatles: Abbey Highway (design by John Kosh)
Because it seems, The Beatles have been simply too lazy to go to Mt. Everest – sure, that was the unique plan – in order that they got here up with one thing simply as memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the road, ensuing within the well-known Abbey Highway album cowl. It’s since gone finished as one of many biggest of all time.
69: Marvin Gaye: I Need You (design by Ernie Barnes)
All of Marvin Gaye’s cool album covers are artworks in a manner, however Ernie Barnes’s ‘Sugar Shack,’ which graces the duvet of I Need You, is the one one at the moment hanging in a museum. Barnes’s sensual figures and jubilant dancers mirrored the carnal nature of Gaye’s 1976 album.
68: Joe Jackson: I’m the Man (design by Michael Ross)
There’s loads of punk perspective on Joe Jackson’s album cowl for I’m the Man, the place he portrays the hero of the title music – a sleazy character who’ll promote you something – so long as you don’t actually need it.
67: The Beatles: Yesterday and At the moment (design by Robert Whitaker)
Okay, so it was a little bit graphic and provocative, however as the only most controversial factor The Beatles ever did (and the costliest for an authentic), the duvet of Yesterday and At the moment certainly earns a spot on an inventory of the best album covers.
66: Alice Cooper: Faculty’s Out (design by Craig Braun)
There have been almost as many copies of Alice Cooper’s Faculty’s Out in Nineteen Seventies excessive colleges as there have been precise college desks. Ten factors if you happen to obtained the unique with the underwear interior sleeve.
65: Aerosmith: Draw the Line (design by Al Hirshfeld)
Anybody who went to performs or learn the New York Occasions within the 70s will acknowledge the work of the line-drawing caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who did his magic on Aerosmith’s members right here. As all the time, his daughter Nina’s identify was hidden a couple of instances on this well-known album cowl.
64: Eric B. & Rakim: Paid in Full (design by Ron Contarsy)
Between the rappers’ Gucci-style outfits and the piles of cash within the background, the duvet for Eric B. and Rakim’s sophomore album Paid in Full mentioned all of it about going bigtime in 1987 and is taken into account one of many biggest album covers in hip-hop.
63: Pleasure Division: Unknown Pleasures (design by Peter Saville)
The duvet of Pleasure Division’s 1979 debut file is an precise depiction of radio waves. This stark black-and-white cowl grew to become so iconic that it’s now worn proudly on T-shirts by teenagers who’ve by no means heard of the band.
62: Funkadelic: Maggot Mind (photograph by Joel Brodsky, design by The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca)
P-funk’s wild fusion of funk, surrealism, and pop artwork prolonged past music, leading to among the most provocative LP covers of the period. Mannequin Barbara Cheeseborough’s screaming visage on the duvet captured the swirling chaos of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Mind.
61: Household: Fearless
Ah, the times when bands had the cash to hold out their wildest concepts. The duvet for the British prog-rock outfit Household’s 1971 album is a multi-foldout extravaganza and options an early pc graphic, including the person band pictures to one another till they turn out to be the gorgeous blur at prime proper.
60: The Beatles: Meet the Beatles! (design by Robert Freeman)
The somber, shadowed photograph featured on each the US and UK album model of Meet The Beatles! was simply the alternative of the grinning pic that everyone anticipated to see, and the primary of many carry-overs from the Beatles’ art-school days.
59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design by Hipgnosis)
Most of Pink Floyd’s covers can be within the working for an inventory of the best album covers, however we wished to spotlight one thing that wasn’t Darkish Aspect of the Moon. This burst of Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis creativeness options 4 variations of the identical photograph (besides that the band rotates one place in every), matching their sense of surrealism.
58: Metallica: …And Justice For All (design by Stephen Gorman)
Metallica’s trademark mixture of shock worth and social commentary had few higher expressions than this picture of a contemporary tackle Woman Justice for his or her well-known 1988 album cowl to …And Justice For All.
57: The Mamas & The Papas: If You Can Consider Your Eyes and Ears (design by Man Webster)
With all 4 bandmembers collectively in a tub, the duvet mentioned extra about The Mamas & The Papas than what was in all probability supposed. The bathroom on the unique cowl of If You Can Consider Your Eyes and Ears additionally proved to be a no-no in 1966.
56: Madonna: Madonna (design by Carin Goldberg)
All of Madonna’s album covers are placing in their very own manner, however there’s one thing particular about her 1983 self-titled debut. She seems like she will be able to see all the pieces that’s going to occur to her within the subsequent 40 years.
55: 10cc: Ten Out Of 10 (design by Hipgnosis)
The duvet for Ten Out Of 10 stays one among Hipgnosis’ fiendishly intelligent 10cc covers and one among their extra neglected albums. Right here they’re on the tenth ground of a lodge standing on the precipice, and solely one of many guys appears involved about it.
54: Thelonious Monk: Underground (photograph by Horn Grinner Studios; artwork path/design: John Berg and Richard Mantel)
A nod to how Thelonious Monk should’ve felt as a pioneering jazz artist, Underground casts the pianist as a French Resistance fighter in WWII. Columbia Information artwork director John Berg was answerable for iconic covers like Bob Dylan’s Best Hits and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run, however this was possible one among his dearer: They constructed a complete set, full with costumed extras, to create Monk’s arresting album cowl.
53: Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin II (design by David Juniper)
It was an art-school buddy of Jimmy Web page’s who created this mythic cowl by superimposing the bandmembers over a well-known shot of WWI German fighter pilot the “Red Baron” and his crew. Many People questioned what Lucille Ball was doing there but it surely was really French actress Delphine Seyrig.
52: The Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (design by Nick Tweddell and Pete Brown)
One of many first round covers, the tobacco-tin design for this psychedelic gem stood out within the racks and ready you for the cheerful surrealism of the album’s major suite.
51: Dave Mason: Alone Collectively (design by Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)
This album cowl was extra of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the die-cut edges and the marble-swirled disc into the general design and giving an immediate visible picture to the top-hatted Dave Mason.
50: Elton John: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Solely the Piano Participant (design by David Larkham and Michael Ross)
A few of Elton’s biggest album covers have been a bit splashy, others a little bit somber. The one for Don’t Shoot Me I’m Solely the Piano Participant was good, drawing from his soon-to-be-legendary love of flicks.
49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (design by Barney Bubbles)
Certainly one of many nice Stiff Information album covers, this caught Ian Dury’s character and stood in stark distinction to the flowery sleeves available on the market at the moment. Barney Bubbles additionally did the handwritten notes, oft mistaken for Dury’s.
48: Dave Brubeck: Time Out (cowl by Neil Fujita)
Dave Brubeck’s 1959 album Time Out is probably going essentially the most well-known use of pop artwork on a jazz cowl. On this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visible reply to the album’s revolutionary time signatures.
47: Wendy Carlos: Switched-On Bach (design by Chika Azuma)
Sporting a photograph of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos’ pioneering digital album Switched-On Bach was not like something individuals had seen (or heard) earlier than in 1968. As the primary classical album to go platinum in America, Carlos helped to convey Bach… to the long run. Increase your hand if you happen to additionally thought the cat was a head of lettuce.
46: Pink Floyd: Animals (design by Hipgnosis)
Not each band would fly a pig over Battersea Energy Station, however few different bands would make an album that completely known as for it.
45: Hüsker Dü: Warehouse: Songs and Tales (design by Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü)
The album cowl for Hüsker Dü’s last studio album is a kind of circumstances the place a canopy is precisely just like the album: vivid, colourful and jarring in a welcoming manner.
44: Chelsea Wolfe: Hiss Spun (design by John Crawford)
Like all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a robust sense of the dramatic. The coiled-up physique on the duvet of her 2017 album embodies all the private modifications the songs cope with.
43: Blondie: Parallel Strains (design by Ramey Communications)
The beauty of the well-known Blondie Parallel Strains album cowl isn’t simply the black-and-white composition however the way in which Debbie Harry (the one one not smiling) exudes energy, whereas all the fellows look a bit goofy.
42: Utopia: Swing to the Proper (design by John Wagman)
This Reagan-era idea album makes its visible level through the use of a photograph of Beatles data being burned that adopted John Lennon’s “more popular than Jesus” remarks. However on this case, the photograph is a Mobius strip, and the album they’re burning is the very one they’re standing in.
41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (design by Austin Hale and Amy Fucci)
On a throwback-themed album, Taylor Swift presents an outdated Polaroid of herself, however incomplete and out of focus. The mysterious picture on 1989’s cowl was a straightforward one for her followers to repeat, and so they did.
40: Humble Pie: Rock On (design by John Kelly)
Why on the planet did Humble Pie get a bunch of policemen to kind a human pyramid? As a result of they might, after all.
39: The Rascals: As soon as Upon a Dream (design by Dino Danelli)
One of many many imaginative journeys from the late 60s, this assemblage – by the band’s drummer – represents numerous private goals of the band members.
38: PJ Harvey: To Deliver You My Love (design by Valerie Phillips)
It might be a extra glamorous cowl after her first two, however this photograph of PJ Harvey – through which she might simply be mistaken for Shakespeare’s Ophelia – implied {that a} newer, softer picture comes at a price.
37: Oasis: Positively Perhaps (design by Brian Cannon)
Their debut album pictured Oasis on the planet’s coolest crash pad, exhibiting each band of the period the way it must be dwelling.
36: Grace Jones: Island Life (design by Jean-Paul Goude)
Graphic designer and artwork director Jean-Paul Goude met his match, and his muse, with Grace Jones. Goude’s visible re-imagining of the androgynous singer led to among the finest album covers in music historical past, from Nightclubbing to Slave to the Rhythm and the arabesque grandeur of Island Life. “It looked right to me and how I felt,” mentioned Jones. “Athletic, artistic, and alien.”
35: A Tribe Known as Quest: Midnight Marauders (photograph by Terrence A Reese, design by Nick Gamma)
Like a proto XXL “Freshman Class”, the three alternate covers of A Tribe Name Quest’s traditional third album Midnight Marauders featured a collage of 71 hip-hop personalities from Afrika Bambaataa to the Beastie Boys, just like the Sgt Pepper of hip-hop. Concepted by Q-Tip, the Afrocentric cowl got here to fruition with the assistance of Nick Gamma, the previous artwork director at Jive Information.
34: Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (design by Desmond Strobel)
Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood regarded impeccably fashionable doing no matter it was they have been doing on the well-known Rumours album cowl. It’s truthful that the duvet was a little bit mysterious for the reason that songs revealed all the pieces else.
33: Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic (design by Raeanne Rubenstein)
Although Steely Dan was lengthy related to Los Angeles, the duvet for Pretzel Logic (really shot at Fifth Avenue and 79th Road) seems, feels, and tastes like New York.
32: Smashing Pumpkins: Adore (design by Yelena Yemchuk)
Smashing Pumpkins’ album covers have been typically softer and prettier than the music, however this cowl (created by Billy Corgan’s then-girlfriend) is the proper translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Adore.
31: Ohio Gamers: Climax (design by Joel Brodsky)
All of the Ohio Gamers covers have been legendary, and the early Westbound ones have been significantly extra daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. Because the band typically claimed, fewer individuals would have purchased the albums in the event that they’d put themselves on the covers.
30: The Louvin Brothers: Devil is Actual (design by Ira Louvin)
Trendy demise metallic bands obtained nothing on nation duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and regarded nice in white fits whereas doing it.
29: David Bowie: Heroes (design by Masayoshi Sukita)
David Bowie has a minimum of 5 of essentially the most iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it’s arduous to select. However the elegant strangeness of this David Bowie photograph tells you all the pieces you might want to know concerning the artistic insanity of his Berlin interval. The duvet was memorably defaced by Bowie himself a long time later.
28: Kate Bush: The Kick Inside (design by Jay Myrdal)
The extra generally recognized US cowl is good sufficient however makes it seem like a standard singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush is something however. We’re referring to the unique UK “kite” cowl that launched the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all about.
27: Janelle Monáe: Soiled Laptop (design by Joe Perez )
The proper cowl for a cool, sensual and futuristic idea album, this captures Janelle Monáe’s depth and thriller and is a fantastic piece of artwork in its personal proper.
26: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (design by Mati Klarwein)
Since Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew gave the impression of no different earlier jazz albums, it couldn’t seem like one both. It took a German painter schooled in surrealism to create its mixture of African people artwork and psychedelia.
25: David Bowie: The Subsequent Day (design by Jonathan Barnbrook)
Each fan did a right away double-take once they noticed Bowie’s act of self-sabotage right here. By defacing the Heroes cowl, Bowie discovered essentially the most dramatic manner of claiming “that was then, this is now”.
24: Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (design by Roy Eldridge)
Largely written by bandmembers Ian Anderson, John Evan, and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (with assist from Chrysalis staffer and former journalist Roy Eldridge), the well-known newspaper cowl of Thick as a Brick is filled with cross-references and cerebral wit – similar to the music – and Anderson mentioned it took simply as a lot work.
23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design by Robert Fisher)
The picture of a child greedy at a greenback invoice grew to become one among grunge’s coolest and most enduring symbols, an album cowl that captured the perspective of Nevermind and the period. The child in query, Spencer Elden, even recreated the photograph 25 years later.
22: The Who: Who’s Subsequent (design by Ethan Russell)
The long-lasting cowl for Who’s Subsequent labored on two ranges: first as a futuristic picture of The Who in opposition to a monolith; and second, if you observed their zippers and realized what the fellows had been doing.
21: Uriah Heep: The Magician’s Birthday (design by Roger Dean)
This cowl is Roger Dean at his most vivid. If you walked right into a file retailer, you might see this album clear throughout the room.
20: Cream: Disraeli Gears (cowl by Martin Sharp)
Psychedelic album covers have been an artwork kind in themselves, and the explosion of shade (with the band wanting suitably avuncular) made Cream’s Disraeli Gears one of many definitive ones. The designer additionally wrote one of many album’s most vivid lyrics on “Tales of Brave Ulysses.”
19: Santana: Lotus (design by Tadanori Yokoo)
You don’t essentially get a factor of uncommon magnificence if you load a canopy with as many fold-out panels and elaborate work as an 11-inch disc can maintain, however Santana actually did on this case, due to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded dwell throughout Santana’s performances in Osaka, Japan, the total sleeve artwork is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, together with Yokoo’s signature pop artwork model.
18: 10cc: How Dare You! (design by Hipgnosis)
The ever-present Hipgnosis workforce outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which isn’t solely impressed by one of many songs (the cellphone sex-themed “Don’t Hang Up”) however is filled with hidden gags, with the identical individuals turning up in every of the 4 major pictures.
17: XTC: Go 2 (design by Hipgnosis)
One other Hipgnosis job, the well-known album cowl for XTC’s Go 2 boasts a dense block of typed copy that taunts and messes with the album purchaser’s head. No marvel the intelligent lads in XTC cherished it.
16: Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (design by Eric Meola)
It’s arduous to select one Bruce Springsteen cowl, when so many have ascended to iconic standing. It might have simply as simply been Born within the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photograph and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue denims in entrance of an American flag. We determined to go as a substitute with this kinetic photograph that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of rock’n’roll mission. Whereas the album made an immediate star out of Springsteen, the duvet did the identical for E Road Band’s sax man Clarence Clemons.
15: Ramones: Ramones (design by Roberta Bayley)
The duvet of The Ramone’s 1976 self-titled debut is pure punk rock in all its black-and-white grittiness. A very good cowl grew to become a fantastic one the second when a bored Johnny Ramone determined to present the photographer the finger.
14: Pixies: Surfer Rosa (design by Vaughan Oliver)
The Pixies’ debut cowl is attractive, sinister, and stuffed with secret meanings, beginning with a vintage-looking softcore photograph that was staged for the duvet shoot.
13: Sure: Relayer (design by Roger Dean)
Roger Dean’s fantasy work grew to become as a lot part of prog-rock iconography because the music. He fittingly put his coolest album cowl on Sure’ most artistic album, an icy winterscape that illuminates the album’s war-and-peace theme.
12: Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me (design by Jon Jonson)
Every one among Sinatra’s Capitol-era album covers was cool and traditional in its personal manner, from the lonely scenes on the ballad albums to the visible swagger on the swingers. The duvet of Come Fly With Me caught each Sinatra’s pure charisma and the attract of the jet-set period.
11: Patti Smith: Horses (design by Robert Mapplethorpe)
If Horses wasn’t sufficient to make Patti Smith an immediate icon of bohemian cool, the Robert Mapplethorpe album cowl actually was. No person ever slung a jacket over their shoulder that effectively.
10: Speaking Heads: Little Creatures (design by Howard Finster)
Howard Finster’s uniquely Southern people artwork was an ideal match for Speaking Heads’ back-to-roots album (and for R.E.M.’s Reckoning across the identical time). Whereas a few of Finster’s work had a darker streak, for this album he appropriately selected sunshine and wonderment.
9: John Coltrane: Blue Prepare (design by Reid Miles, photograph by Francis Wolff)
A lot of the traditional Blue Observe covers have been stuffed with brilliant graphics and exuberant pictures (and plenty of exclamation marks!). Not so with John Coltrane’s Blue Prepare, whose cool album cowl photograph and temper lighting marked it as a piece to take critically.
8: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream & Different Delights (design by Peter Whorf Graphics)
This iconic album cowl mentioned all of it about coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad model. Regardless of its daring look, if you happen to regarded carefully, the whipped-cream clad mannequin was really carrying a marriage gown.
7: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (photograph by Denis Rouvre, design by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free)
Discovering album artwork that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a tall order, however Kendrick Lamar and TDE have been as much as the duty, as Ok dot assembled his hometown crew for a victorious occasion on the White Home garden, stomping on the image of a weaponized prison justice system.
6: The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (design by Robert Brownjohn)
The Rolling Stones all the time had cool, attention-grabbing album covers. However whereas Sticky Fingers has a fantastic story, Let It Bleed was equally distinctive and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album’s authentic title Automated Changer, the entrance has the album on a turntable stacked with all types of different issues. We assume the mess on the bottom occurred after somebody pressed “start.”
5: Large Brother & the Holding Firm: Low-cost Thrills (design by R. Crumb)
Arguably the best 60s album cowl of all, the artwork for Large Brother & the Holding Firm’s sophomore file was additionally most individuals’s introduction to the model of underground comedian artwork perfected by R. Crumb. This model of artwork can be related to psychedelic music from right here on out, although Crumb was a bit anti-hippie himself.
4: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Membership Band (design by Peter Blake)
Peter Blake’s pop-art assemblage on Sgt. Pepper’s well-known album modified file covers eternally, and stored many people occupied for weeks attempting to determine all people on the ceremony.
3: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (design by Robertson & Fresch)
RCA wasted no time in cleansing up Elvis, who’d look fully respectable on all future albums. In the meantime, his debut allowed him to seem like the crazed hillbilly everybody’s dad and mom feared he was, captured in mid-song on the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida. Which after all leads us to…
2: The Conflict: London Calling (photograph by Pennie Smith, design by Ray Lowry)
A uncommon case the place a parody (of the above Elvis cowl) turns into a murals in itself. The effortlessly cool album cowl picture of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar virtually screams rock’n’roll, similar to the music inside.
1: The Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique (design by Nathaniel Hornblower/Jeremy Shatan)
This stunning, panoramic view of Ludlow Road in NYC on the album cowl of Paul’s Boutique did all the pieces potential to place you proper into the Beastie Boys’ world, making it look each funky and alluring. It additionally made it important to personal the unique, fold-out vinyl.
On the lookout for extra? Uncover the worst album covers of all time.
