Horrible 70s album titles like I've Got My Own Album To Do

"I've Got My Own Movie To Do" surely.

come on, if you think that none of these bands wanted to be perceived as artists who made good music, that's just goofy. i agree with dr. casino's post that a lot of these titles / covers were meant to convey "hey, this isn't serious music! any old joe can get down and boogie with us." but surely part of the fun is that a lot of these titles were intended precisely to be "artistic statements," and the degree to which they fall short is in large part a gauge of how funny and silly they seem now. clapton's "there's one in every crowd" comes to mind. and like, if you were to ask lowell george (which you can't) about "thanks i'll eat it here," i seriously doubt he'd say "yeah, that was some dumb shit i did in the '70s because music is about having fun, not about art."

also, wiki description of cover art:

The album was released just before the death of Lowell George in 1979 and has cover art by Neon Park (a feature of almost all Little Feat albums) containing several pop-/cult references including a picnic scene, mirroring Édouard Manet's "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe", which shows Bob Dylan, Fidel Castro and Marlene Dietrich as Der Blaue Engel with an open copy of Howl beside them.

i mean, references to manet, dylan, castro, and fucking josef von sternberg don't exactly scream "i have no pretentions! this is just good time music you guys"

I've Got My Own Avant-Garde Manifesto to Pen

It's true that ''we're just a bunch of happy rocking layabouts'' isn't the ONLY thing these covers/titles convey. But still, let's not go too far ascribing sophistication to them - where literary/artistic references appear I think they're mostly on the order of high-school or freshman-year references picked up here not by drunken good ole boys but by stoned guitar nerds. They're closer to ''hey woah this concept/painting/book is cool, man'' than ''I've painstakingly constructed a concept album around this.'' Not that I want to hear the concept album - just sayiing that the deployment of Manet on a cover can be as tossed-off and dopey as the visual depiction of a limp pun.

Yeah I think if that Lowell George cover is saying anything, it's saying he knows about all that arty-political stuff but he's not joining that picnic.

dr. casino, i think you're more or less saying what i'm saying. i'm not ascribing sophistication to the lowell george record; i'm asserting that he used certain signifiers in an attempt to appear sophisticated. and yeah, it totally comes across as freshman-year malcolm X dorm room poster, but i don't think that diminishes the sincerity one bit. as i said, it's precisely the way in which those "deployments" (as you say) fall flat that make the cover an object of derision rather than something that might have held up a bit better.

and i think that, to the extent that "thanks" was a kind of "get back" record, it's not outrageous to assume that his "roots" (at least as he saw them; self-delusion may be a factor here) were just as much artsy lit and high-minded political engagement (however half-assed) as they were blues- and folk-inflected rock N roll. i really suspect that "thanks i'll eat it here" reads more like "sorry guys, i need to chill in the forest with bob dylan and allen ginsberg and get away from LA and all the coke and just be myself"

it kind of gets into a broader topic, that i don't really want to get super into, about intelligent musicians (john lennon is the case par excellence) who aren't educated but at some point in their careers feel the need to legitimize what they're doing by name dropping, espousing some sort of radical politics, but really missing the mark in embarrassing ways.

to paraphrase oscar wilde, "all bad poetry is sincere"

I agree that we're not disagreeing on most of that. I just still think it's a dumb, dopey, laugh-worthy cover and not really very interesting, but I'm not hating on Lowell George (or your appreciation for it for that matter).

from least acclaimed thread:

http://cdn.albumoftheyear.org/album/39626-heard-ya-missed-me-well-im-back.jpg

come to think of it kinda has to be somewhere upthread as well

that's
Sly & The Family Stone: Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back

oh, sly

http://covers.discorder.com/fullsize/front/0090431808924.jpg

oh joan

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, June 22, 2014 7:16 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she blames quaaludes in recent rs interview

found this cuz of the blues rock tolerance thread

Mike Bloomfield - "Try It Before You Buy It"

https://resources.tidal.com/images/79f9ff15/4d08/4de5/ba87/c54a4c4550ad/1280x1280.jpg

here's another blues classic from 1979

http://www.audiophileusa.com/covers400/112974.jpg

contrasting soft sell vs. hard sell blues approaches

was thinking recently that Stephen Stills really blew it in terms of punning on his name -- best he did was a greatest hits called Still Stills

In The Stills of the Night, I'm Stills Here, etc

illegal stills was pretty good (as a title)

haha yeah i guess that one works
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Illegalstillsss.jpg

Would have liked to see Nash Brownies

should have done a play on "Still Bill" by Bill Withers. maybe a picture of Stills sitting at a desk, frustrated, going through a pile of letters. Call the album "Stills' Bills"

or Stills Kills, with Steve aiming a rifle at the camera

A hits comp called "Gold in Them There Stills"

Stilling The Waters, with a shot of Stills in a rowboat or some shit.

Stills Got the Blues

Album of ELP covers: Stills...You Turn Me On

Stills: Crazy After All these Beers

i have nothing to add, but great work all around

Standing Stills

http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_feature/public/legacy/files/Stills.jpg%3Fitok%3DUZGgCk7F

Gah, image didn't work.

http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_feature/public/legacy/files/Stills.jpg?itok=UZGgCk7F

re Joan Baez - fake clouds backdrops are quite a sub-theme in this thread

every once in a while there is a current day album that fits this genre, but Beady Eye's "Different Gear, Still Speeding" is pretty exceptional, every element of this from the photo to the typography to the title to the the design could pass for something from 1974

http://www.allyngibson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Beady-Eye-Different-Gear-Still-Speeding.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/RuNNfIzy89zYbXXvUn30USbBdcw=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-460924-1392835710-3219.jpeg.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Gimme_Some_Neck_-_Ron_Wood.jpg

Ron Wood - Gimme Some Neck

lame dadjoke title and an album cover done by a beach resort tourist vendor who spells out your name with photographs

The Stanky Brown Group, "If the Lights Don't Get You the Helots Will" (yep, no idea either)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71vizckUorL._SL1032_.jpg

Mel Deacon - It's been a privilege

http://www.bobego.com/It

http://www.bobego.com/It

The Stankey Brown Band.... That's quite a band name

The helots (/ˈhɛləts, ˈhiːləts/; Ancient Greek: εἵλωτες, heílotes) were a subjugated population group that formed the main population of Laconia and Messenia, the territory controlled by Sparta. Their exact status was already disputed in antiquity: according to Critias, they were "slaves to the utmost",[1] whereas according to Pollux, they occupied a status "between free men and slaves".[2] Tied to the land, they primarily worked in agriculture as a majority and economically supported the Spartan citizens.

That doesn't make the album title make anymore sense though

Reading up on Stanky Brown, they were on Sire same time as the Ramones but to me they look like a band that would have played similar circuit to something like Southside Johnny. I'm going to have to go to Youtube and see what they actually sound like.

Can't believe we never made our way to "Gimme Some Neck"!

Ronnie was on a roll--The followup, his fourth album, was called...wait for it...1234

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/HansHolbein/loggins_zpshvfqhcp1.jpg

Whenever I see this thread has bubbled up to the top and there are new posts, it's a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

^^^ title of obscure Ray Davies / Morris Day collab LP.

https://img.discogs.com/Le_r6xXt115-HfUjrGTkrcIH9sA=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1636591-1235641016.jpeg.jpg

Chris Rea - Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? (1978)

A sampling of the career of Charlie Musselwhite may be of interest here also - - - no classics of the form as such, and from what I can gather he may actually be an important or at least rather well-liked blues musician. Nonetheless he carried the torch for genially lame titles across several decades, and if Wiki is to be trusted, at least fourteen record labels.

https://img.discogs.com/MClA41kIYtDeyHVzm0SIvcUYy98=/fit-in/400x387/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2577887-1296308414.jpeg.jpg

Leave The Blues To Us (1975)

https://img.discogs.com/LeqhJcABJ6XJ7_9zV57yggTE0iA=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-2169042-1267738327.jpeg.jpg

Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough (1978)

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0001/756/MI0001756120.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

Where Have All The Good Times Gone? (1984)

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/428/MI0002428813.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

Mellow-Dee (1986)

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/209/MI0002209486.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

Ace of Harps (1990)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61lsBMGmokL.jpg

Super Harps (1999 - with Sugar Ray Norcia, Billy Branch, and the late, legendary James Cotton!)

http://www.charliemusselwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CM_IAL.png

I Ain't Lyin'... (2015)

(Credit where it's due, 1967's Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite's Southside Band and 1968's Stone Blues both have 100% killer covers, and a few others are at least darn good.)

Meanwhile, some other finds from today's browsing:

https://img.discogs.com/rC0fFmLltPyxeeh5NdROlisWrpw=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-720302-1321634247.jpeg.jpg

http://img.cdandlp.com/2012/07/imgL/115428939.jpg

Eddie Drennon & the B.B.S. Unlimited - Would You Dance To My Music? (1977); It Don't Mean A Thing (1978)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/Penguin_%28album%29.jpg

Fleetwood Mac - Penguin (1973)

https://img.discogs.com/2Hc9imMfQm22RkFNmlc5cvEm4bg=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2900957-1418634069-8380.jpeg.jpg

Wireless - Positively Human, Relatively Sane (1979)

And finally, a quick tour of blues-rock survivors The Groundhogs:

https://img.discogs.com/cB5LGYi-QkfB9wwHkDyGAo8dbY8=/fit-in/500x490/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1971943-1255899297.jpeg.jpg

Scratching the Surface (1968)

https://img.discogs.com/5MX98CizImck9Ys_nDvS0a1-XOQ=/fit-in/412x425/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1337008-1288285275.jpeg.jpg

Blues Obituary (1969)

https://img.discogs.com/eceDCOWBhluYxHMMPThmWXM6K3A=/fit-in/600x598/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1335901-1464796019-9946.jpeg.jpg

Thank Christ For The Bomb (1970)

https://img.discogs.com/Hbb5JAYabkDRZyJU_FxYJyoX7GM=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1391310-1215632057.jpeg.jpg

Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs (1972) <<<< the comic book continues with an awesome gatefold and further unfoldings, rules pretty hard tbh

https://img.discogs.com/CmSVRtOACgIzacrR1D8nFCsQ-Pw=/fit-in/496x496/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-717253-1264674678.jpeg.jpg

Hogwash (1972)

https://img.discogs.com/_iAPJHtuFzGWXb2fN5wkKd1dm8Y=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1337037-1440006610-5674.jpeg.jpg

Crosscut Saw (1976)

https://img.discogs.com/tgTH4s_WjUia7B8A16qyA8HKrJU=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2373737-1352037050-9433.jpeg.jpg

Hoggin The Stage (1984)

http://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w555/richdfrost/2374_zpsa0f0c21b.jpg

Razor's Edge (1985)

https://img.discogs.com/cWwN4dbTGIjAsN9tOrPFq6fzC4I=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2373754-1280319562.jpeg.jpg

Hogs On The Road (1988)

https://img.discogs.com/58MB3pVOhaFkvSy5hqtzfLE9jdg=/fit-in/377x377/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2192605-1375865589-1013.jpeg.jpg

Flight No. 5 To Houston (1989)

Groundhog Night (1993)

Hogs In Wolf's Clothing (1998)

hmmm trying again on those last two:

https://img.discogs.com/LL0clrFHWLYhBo6_jy7cniyzsc0=/fit-in/600x604/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3808088-1345217642-5043.jpeg.jpg

Groundhog Night (1993)

https://img.discogs.com/PCSuLol1V0Iq68HsiqONQaB3sW8=/fit-in/600x588/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5902999-1407786573-7654.jpeg.jpg

Hogs In Wolf's Clothing (1998)