Best cover albums of all time?

PrittPen said:I'm talking about the Tool stuff, but not the cheap knockoffs you see here—I mean the actual American versions with that iridescent plastic finish...🙂

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Honestly, I don't think anyone in history is ever going to top a cover like that. (And by that, I mean those four specific covers)...
Personally, my absolute favorite is the one where the iris seems to be shifting away from the pupil...
hehe...

and I've always been a fan of the Amnesiac one too...

Attack said:That Charles Manson - Hollywood bit—him being crucified like Jesus—is just pure insanity.

👍 Such a killer cover piece...

I remember hearing there was some massive drama surrounding that artwork when they were prepping the release. Apparently, there was a whole thing where they were practically forbidden from putting the album out with that specific cover, or something along those lines...

But hey, he went ahead and used it anyway. 😁

It’s actually pretty solid compared to Mechanical Animals—you know, that one in the blue box with zero titles or text... just the image of Omega staring back at you.

And honestly, the booklet is incredibly well thought out. The level of detail in it is just insane. 😲 🙏

Look, if we’re talking about pure execution, the Lateralus era is easily the peak, but if I had to pull a few others out of thin air that hit just as hard, I'd say:

Sigur Ros - ( )
Brujeria - Brujerismo
A Perfect Circle - 13th step
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

I absolutely love the Azet track—you know, the one about the pheasants flying!
And that limited edition Rhode Island pressing from Siddhartha? Man, the quality is just incredible...

Personally, I’ve always loved this one. It feels like the total polar opposite of The Beatles' White Album—it's basically the dark, gritty soul of rock and roll, much like White Light/White Heat.

Bryan Barrett said:Tool - Ænima (it’s good—period.)

Him - Razorblade Romance 🙂 😁
If you saw the comment, there's no need for it.

I can never remember if Ænima is the album or the song... and then I have to figure out if it's spelled Ænima or Aenema... 😁 Anyway, regarding the cover—I was hanging out with a friend from Australia. I showed her this plain one, and she told me, "No, get the one with the eye." 😁 Honestly, though, Lateralus is better than Ænima. Don't tell anyone.

As for that Him track... look, I'll admit I'm totally clueless when it comes to whatever modern pop culture is happening on MTV. For that Him song... well, I didn't really know it, just the "good" one. So, I'm browsing the store displays between Britney and Nelly when I spot that CD. My god, I just started cracking up (of course, I realized it was that Him song). I'm standing there in front of the window, people are walking right past me, and I'm losing it laughing. Then the clerk inside spots me within a minute, comes out to see what's going on, and looks at what I'm staring at like it's the funniest thing ever. I had to make a run for it. 😳

Radiohead's OK Computer and HTTT
and then there's that Led Zeppelin record with the buried guitar....
plus Apocalyptica....you really need to have a cello strapped to your back for that one

The Cult - Beyond Good and Evil! That album cover 👍 album 👎

hollowseal33 said:I honestly can't for the life of me remember if Tool - Ænima is an album or just a song... and then I have to try and remember if it's the album title or the track name... 😁 I actually had this cover—I was swapping stuff with a friend from Australia—I gave her this basic one, and she told me, "No, get the one with the eye"... 😁 though personally, I think Lateralus is better than Tool - Ænima. But nobody ever seems to bring that up...

Man, I’ve always loved those covers where there isn't even any text on them... just plain & simple... they're so much more intriguing.
Lateralus is great too, though I think there might be some kind of limited edition version... maybe it's colorful? I don't know, I might have just misremembered something...

Lamp said:The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

🙂

👍 👍

Man, I actually have this sitting at my place! An original LP from New York City! You know, the one with the zipper on the front cover, and then once you unzip it, there’s that second cover inside showing the white underwear and the hairy belly. 😁 😁 😁 👍
It's pure genius. Design by Andy Warhol.

Album covers often distract us from whether the actual music is any good—or they can be masterpieces in their own right, regardless of what's on the disc. Some are pure art... others are total disasters. What covers do you think are the best, the most visually striking, or just your personal favorites? It’s also a decent excuse to discover some music behind a great visual that we might have missed before.

Here are a few of mine...

In my opinion, the absolute best cover art out there has to be for the Loveless / My Bloody Valentine album—it just captures the essence of the music perfectly! Even though the cover itself feels kind of hazy and blurred, the album is an absolute classic!👍

We’ve lost one of the heavyweights of the design world. 😢

Storm Thorgerson, the man behind the iconic Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon cover, has passed away at 69, according to the band's management.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22210378

Some of the artists he designed covers for:
Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Dream Theater, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Genesis, mus, The Mars Volta, Audioslave, Steve Miller Band, Alan Parsons Project, The Cranberries, Anthrax, and quite a few others...

Jea, I saw that today.
Kudos to him, honestly. He was such a massive, unique artist in his field. I think most of his covers ended up being posted in this thread
But if I had to pick, this one is my absolute favorite work of his:

I think Storm was working on Amputechture for The Mars Volta, but I guess they ended up going a different way in the end

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975). And the story behind the cover:

The 'theme' for the album is "absence." It stems from Roger Waters feeling that the band's original sense of camaraderie had vanished. There is also a dig at the music business, & its absence of morals in many areas.

The Wikipedia entry for the album has this comment on the main sleeve image: "The album's cover image was inspired by the idea that people tend to conceal their true feelings, for fear of 'getting burned,' and thus two businessmen were pictured shaking hands, one man on fire. 'Getting burned' was also a common phrase in the music industry, used often by artists denied royalty payments. Two stuntmen were used (Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers), one dressed in a fire-retardant suit covered by a business suit. His head was protected by a hood, underneath a wig. The photograph was taken at the Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles. Initially the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and the flames were forced into Rondell's face, burning his moustache. The two stuntmen changed positions, and the image was later reversed" Quora

It sounds absolutely insane that they actually set a guy on fire just to get the shot. 😵 The designer was Storm Thorgerson.

By the way, check out the whole album.

and this one -> View on imgur <- is from the south wall of my room. I received it as a gift back in high school from a guy, but even before that, it had been hanging on the wall of the house where I grew up,
and honestly, even today, I still find myself drawn back to it whenever I'm downstairs.

there it is, right here, sitting at number 46.

and over here we have the album. 🙂

Jamie Davis9 said:here it is, right at number 46.

That cover of yours isn't bad, per se, but the list itself is an absolute train wreck. For instance—take that Whitney Houston album, which is easily one of the ugliest things ever printed—and they somehow managed to squeeze it into a Top 50 of the most beautiful album covers ever released. 🤔

silverpanther13 said:Your cover isn't exactly terrible, but the rest of this list is an absolute train wreck. For instance, they included a Whitney Houston album—which is easily one of the ugliest covers out there—in their Billboard Hot 100 most beautiful album covers ever. 🤔

Fair point. I didn't really bother looking closely at everything they listed, but that Whitney Houston one is just plain eyesore.

Aphex Twin - Syro



It’s this cool fold-out cardboard packaging. It unfolds into several different sections, and stretched across all of them is this massive, detailed breakdown of the entire marketing and promo budget for the album. The list is honestly pretty huge. If some accountant picks this up, they might actually get a decent little workout trying to log all those entries. 👍

Play full album