Mind Numbingly Awesome Album Covers

http://www.lovevinyl.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/prince-parade.jpg

Parade by Prince is one of those albums where the CD cover simply can't do the vinyl cover justice.

I just bought this Kat Mandu compilation, and what an awesome cover it has:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/katmandu.jpg

It's based on the cover of the Kat Mandu's debut LP:

http://www.goodgroove.org/discoboogie/cd10/KatManduTMB.JPG

The LP cover is cool too, and it has a better font, but IMO the colours in the comp cover make it more awesome.

The cover of Kat Mandu's second LP, OTOH, is kinda odd:

http://www.snickarsrecords.com/rec_pictures/021101.jpg?time=2008-09-08+16%3A22%3A10

"Mind numbingly" is way overstating, but I sold my copy of Horslips' "Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part" LP years ago, and kinda want one again. Octagonal, with intricate die-cuts.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61iy32mtABL.jpg

http://www.buddyhead.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/musiccatalog_b_boards-of-canada-music-has-the-right-to-children_boards-of-canada-music-has-the-right-to-children1.jpg
http://auralfloat.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/boardsofcanada-twoism19951.jpg

Kind of a lot at once and "Mind-Numbingly Awesome" might sound off in relation to some of these:
http://i.imgur.com/Vj9CG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nyJJg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uKfJn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2ZWGe.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qg5nO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DSfsW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ShKqq.gif
http://i.imgur.com/TZYlC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mdJ1Y.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nfKQH.jpg

And more:
http://i.imgur.com/N5if6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K1nMR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cgOSW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ef0Zx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WkN6s.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/B1unf.jpg

http://img.sharedmp3.net/files/pics/1028/1027669/img_1_pr.jpg

wow. fuck mine, a lot of those ^ i'd hang on the wall.

esp. the first 5

that said, i bought ride's nowhere purely b/c of the album art (ok, and it was $4) when i was about 13... in total realization joy division's unknown pleasures is the clear inspiration, and a little more iconic, but there's something about this that rly suggests that buying this album will transport you somewhere

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/r/ride/album-nowhere.jpg
and furthering shoegaze scene, mbv's were always particularly good:
http://www.filtersage.com/cover/music/mbv_glider.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_osaKxjJ33dE/S4Fob9z6VvI/AAAAAAAAAPw/8b2hbavtYnY/s400/mbv_feed_me_with_your_kiss.jpg

uno mas:
http://images.wikia.com/lyricwiki/images/0/07/Saint_Etienne_-_Foxbase_Alpha.jpg
again, i can easily see why anybody would go "so what" about this one, but there's always been something striking about this cover... maybe the particular nostalgia factor, or how utterly simple it is. i dunno. it's just yet another band i've checked out for the artwork alone.

Mmm... here's a few of the favorite ones in my collection. Not sure if they could be considered mind numbingly awesome but I love staring at them.

http://i.imgur.com/sPoHw.png
http://i.imgur.com/Uws0b.png
http://i.imgur.com/Rk4eR.png
http://i.imgur.com/YTRmT.png
http://i.imgur.com/48j6R.png
http://i.imgur.com/km7x2.png

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/4/0/8/1408.jpg

lol at horace silver

what is that sieg?

That Horace Silver was my entrypoint into jazz. I went to my local recordstore looking for jazz, not knowing anything about the genre, and singled it out based solely on the cover.

omg u racist perv

It was a simpler time... :wistful gaze:

No, but how can one not love that cover.

angry face one is ildjarn, strength and anger.

http://i30.tinypic.com/2dtvjer.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/DSfsW.jpg

What's mind-numbingly awesome about this one? Looks like a standard 80s band photo to me...

all of the following: http://tisue.net/jandek/discog.html

^^ otm

Eh? Most of those are just badly framed, blurry photos, not mind-numbing at all:

http://tisue.net/jandek/images/covers/0744.jpg

I guess I just have a very different definition of "awesome album cover" than some others...

Not sure how a thread like this gets to 121 posts without

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/K/king_crim_courtf.jpg

I mean, it's not that I'm against that sort of aesthetic, but in order for it to impress me, the photo has to be evocative in some way, not just a random pic of some guy or an apartment. The album covers of 310, for example, do this pretty well:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cAK47Uf-L.jpg http://www.vinylsearcher.com/largeImages/1130688.jpg

(x-post)

http://www.mp3crank.com/cover-album/Foetus-Hole-300x300.jpg

http://d21uwzfkfy2yiv.cloudfront.net/inner_life_inner_life_ii-RAMSH5043-1179594854.jpeg

This album came out the same year as Tron, so I assume they borrowed the aesthetic from there. It's still awesome though.

i love the jandek covers but they are pretty much a case of "sum greater than its parts"

What's mind-numbingly awesome about this one? Looks like a standard 80s band photo to me...

― Tuomas, Monday, February 21, 2011 8:31 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

Yeah I guess it's maybe not objectively too extraordinary. While it is a common approach to coverart - "a standard 80s band photo" - it comes off as iconically so to me. I don't really know. Maybe I just like the record and conflate the cover with the music...

the painting on the Surf's Up cover is the kind of awful, unfun kitsch that I would rightfully sneer at if I saw it at a flea market (its natural habitat) or on the living room wall of some crusty, humorless old coot who thinks dogs playing poker are crass and undignified & therefore decorates his home with images of depressed minorities and solemn owls.

wow, you do know that painting is based on a really famous statue, right?

I don't have a problem with the statue. I just don't think it retains a lot of its dignity when it's reproduced ad nauseum as a (almost celebratory?) cultural icon.

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/V/Various/VA_guitarsf.jpg

I always mistake that cover for this one (time to dig up the cover connections thread again...)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2903192999_9ed920465e.jpg

Also love Baroness covers:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Rlvad54FRTw/TF46SNOgpGI/AAAAAAAAANA/W-cr_aEB04c/s1600/baroness-the-red-album-cover.jpg
http://prollyisnotprobably.com/baroness_blue_record-thumb.jpg

Deluxe edition of blue had some great presentation and packaging as well:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/4952634660_fa55f01a4c.jpg

Ossman and flamin groovies remind me of inside sleeve of James Blood 'Tales of Captain Black':

http://www.hardformat.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/inner.jpg

Also entire Skull Disco catalogue to thread:

http://www.hardformat.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/skull-disco.jpg

http://static.boomkat.com/images/176536/333.jpghttp://static.boomkat.com/images/62212/333.jpghttp://static.boomkat.com/images/158689/333.jpghttp://funkyimg.com/u2/415/037/skull008.jpg

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/music/50-coolest-album-covers

One I have been loving lately:

http://storage.canalblog.com/46/73/500408/29436286.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKrhOTmmm0I/TqjO5gYZUpI/AAAAAAAAD2g/zab1KxKNjMw/s1600/NationOfUlyssesPlaysPretty.jpg

Actually never much liked the strip of photos on the bottom right, but the main cover photo is fucking brilliant.

http://www.dvdedice.cz/data/29/ma-ji-motorovou1288806229_big.jpg

^^^
Winner.

i know the gal c is above, but let's look at all 4 sides of the relevant releases...

http://weirdorecords.com/zen/images/1_9616.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_P1pcRilYUjE/TSiufaAp0GI/AAAAAAAAAn8/wViOCGfTbSo/s1600/j.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HDkP1biDsg4/SZhOAVAxuJI/AAAAAAAAExk/M_rnToAdJyE/s1600/Gal%2BCosta%2B-%2BIndia%2B%281973%29-image009.jpg
and a jpeg, but click to view: http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-1222672-1339083900-6249.jpeg

Loses something in reduction from LP size, but still

http://img12.nnm.ru/imagez/gallery/7/6/9/0/4/7690433d7154b2847859d91438461dfc.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FrYnE0kAuho/SKCXDwE4j5I/AAAAAAAAAZc/URgD7mL7Zxk/s320/THUNDER_PERFECT_MIND.jpg

hard to lose with Louis Wain but it's still striking

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/554612_10151629663827137_1088074742_n.jpg

i just got this record the other day from my next door neighbor. epic 1973 sci-fi synth musique concrete audio play about the end of the world and mutant children. kinda can't stop staring at the cover.

http://www.vinylrevival.com/likewow/vol2/thetower.jpg