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Clearly there are a lot more 'bad' album covers than good ones. For what it's worth, here are some of my choices for worst covers. Click on the cover photo to see a detailed review of the work, or click on the link at the bottom to return to the home page. Feel free to send comments and suggestions to me at: RDTEN1@aol.com
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Akkerman, Jan Profile Sire SAS 7407 1972 John van den Berg not applicable Dolf Straatemeier |
Well this one pretty much speaks for itself. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Akkerman, Jan Jan Akkerman Atlantic SD-19159 1977 Hi Hi Hi |
Maybe it's just me, but there's just something about this cover that gives me the heebie jeebies ...
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Butthole Surders Electriclarryland Captiol CDP 529842 1996
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Wow, someone needs to adjust their meds ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Blodwyn Pig Ahead Rings Out A&M SP-4210 1969 Tom Wilkes not listed not listed |
Hum, bet the PETA folks would have a field day with this one ... Glad I didn't have to design this one. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Cale, John Caribbean Sunset Ze ILPS 7024 1984 Rob O'Connor not listed Rise |
Cale's actually a good looking guy - wish my genes were as good. No, this cover gets on the list for one reason ... the hideous 1980s sweater he's wearing. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Cavaliere, Felix Felix Cavaliere Bearsville BR-6955 1974 Pure Alex Rutch not applicable |
Let me start by saying that I'm a big Felix Cavaliere fan. He's one of those guys who deserves far wider recognition from today's audiences. With that out of the way, you've got to admit that the cover for his 1974 solo debut was butt ugly ... Yeah, I'm sure there was some sort of artistic integrity to this portrait, but from a marketing perspective ... Well I'll let the image speak for itself. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Charity Brown Voice Passport PPSD-98004 1973 Hipgnosis Hipgnosis Hipgnosis |
The UK design group Hipgnosis seems to routinely attract rave reviews for the cutting edge ad occasionally disturbing designs. Well to my eye this one clearly leans to the disturbing end of the spectrum. Wonder if they ever considered superimposing a zipper on a guy's pair of nuts - imagine a Motley Crue call the LP "Zip It Up".
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer
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Choice 4, The The Choice 4 RCA APL1-0913 1973 not listed Acy Lahman not applicable
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This is one of those great 'lost' soul albums of themid-1970s. Unfortunately RCA marketing chose to wrap it in a throwaway cover that was more suitable for one of those 101 Easy Listening Strings albums. 'Okay guys, are design budget for this one is $7.50. Wait, we've still got some gold spray paint lying around and Mike brought in a couple of apples. Our budget is now reduced to $4.25."
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer
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Climax Blues Band, The Tightly Knit Sire SASD-7517 1971 n n n |
Not that I have anything on Colin Cooper in the looks department (at least I've always thought the cover photo was Cooper), but what was Sire thinking about in marketing terms? Most companies would slap a hot looking, scantily clad female ... these guys put a hair challenged guy with socks stuffed in his mouth !!! |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Copeland, Ruth Self Portrait Invictus SASD-7517 1971 n n n |
Judging by the photos I've seen of Ruth Copeland, she was incredibly easy on the eyes. With that going for her you have to wonder why Invictus slapped such a butt ugly drawing of the woman on her LP. Yech !!! |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Dance Haul Dance Haul IBaby Grand SE-1045 1977 not listed not listed Paul Ross |
Ouch ... talk about one unhappy lookin' woman. Oh yeah, let's do the cover in stark black and white to make it even more ugly. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Dynamic Superiors, The Pure Pleasure Motown M6 841S1 1975 Frank Mulvey not applicable Olivier Ferrand |
C'mon there's nothing remotely sexy about a pair of wet legs with manicured hands on top of them ... Yech, yech, yech ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Emotions, The Sunshine Stax STS-4100 1974 -- -- -- |
Too dull to even be considered dull !!! Blame Stax for releasing this set on its corporate deathbed. Guess they just didn't have any money left for designing a cover ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Emotions, The Sincerely Red Label RLLP-001 1984 Joe Kotleba Jim Ladwig (art director) Hans Rott |
The first time I saw this cover it took me a moment to figure out that I wasn't looking at a human heart, rather a wet sponge. I'm still not sure what it represents, but it has that instantly aged '80s feel to it (as does much of this LP). |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer
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Fogerty, John Eye of the Zombie Warner Brothers 25449-1 1986 -- -- not applicable
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Wow, talk about a stinkeroo cover. No wonder it didn't sell nearly as well as "Centerfield". |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Gas Mask Their First Album Tonsil T-4001 1970
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Total charmer !!! Not a lot more to say about this one ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Impressions, The We're a Winner ABC ABC/S-635 1968 David Perell, Henry Epstein not listed not listed |
It's kind of ironic that an album sporting one of the civil rights movement's 'theme' songs would be packaged in something this amazing ugly. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a design concept with less appeal. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Jackson, Millie Back To the S**t Jive 1186-1-J 1989
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Yeah, Jackson consisted to a cover showing her sitting on a toilet with her panties around her ankles. What can I say other than this is one of those career choices she must simply shudder at. Brings the concept of tasteless and offensive to a brand new level. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Judas Jump Scorch Parlaphone PAS 1001 1970 unknown not applicable unknown |
Hum lets paint a bunch of ugly guys gold. Sounds like a good idea - NOT ! |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Jefferson AIrplane, The Bark Grunt FTR-1001 1972 Acy Lehman Acy Lehman not applicable |
Hum, dead fish wrapped in paper ... great marketing concept for a rock and roll album. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit Island SMAS-9320 1971 not listed Dan Fern not applicable |
Luckily the music is a little more inspired than this dreadfully dull cover. Sure hope they didn't spend more than a couple of dollars for this sad effort. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Mann, Herbie Push Push Embryo SD 532 1971 Paula Bisacca not applicable Joel Brodsky |
Another one where I there isn't much to add ... Did Duane Allman really play on this one? |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Max and 1 Max and 1 Western Hemisphere WH-1001 1977 P not listed not listed |
Admittedly Tiger Lily was a tax scam label, but even by those standards this one was pretty lame. The color scheme certainly stood out, but that was about it. Not hard to see why didn't sell (not that many copies were pressed). |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Mud Mud on Mudd Uni 73089 1970 not listed not applicable not listed |
Okay, common sense should tell any marketing department that a photo showing a bunch of naked guys isn't going to have a great deal of mainstream appeal. A photo showing a bunch of naked guys slathering themselves in mud is even less appealing ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Designer Artist Photographer
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Navasota Navasota ABC ABCX 757 1972 Tom Gamache, Tom Gundelfiner, Philip Schwartz not listed not applicable
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Well this one kind of speaks for itself. You have to wonder what ABC's marketing department was thinking. 'Yeah we'll slap a warthog on the cover and generate an extra 100,000 sales from warthog fans ... not' |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
O'Jays, The The O'Jays Bell 6028 1975 Maurer Productions Beverly Wienstein not applicable |
Amazing how cheap and throwaway this cover looks. Why would you slap something this pathetic on a great LP by one of soul's greatest groups? |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Revolution Francaise, La C Cool CANUSA CLJ 33-112 1969 Robert Barbeau not applicable Serge Leblanc |
Yeah, that seems like a good concept. Let's cover these guys with chalk and dirt in order to up their 'hottie' appeal to horny young women. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Schaubroeck, Armand A Lot of People Would Like Mirror none 1978 not listed not listed not listed |
This one's actually also shown on my favorite list. Schaubroeck's clearly had a challenging life (if you doubt that statement then just try listening to this autobiographical three album set). On the other hand you have to give him some credit for smiling even after getting 'shot' in the head. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Sir Lord Baltimore Sir Lord Baltimore Mercury SRM 1 613 1971 Desmond Strobel John Craig not applicable |
You can't even read the band name very clearly ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Small Faces Playmates Atlantic SD-19113 1977 not listed Dan Fern Brian Aris and Yus Guvnor |
In spite of the old adage, there are times when you can judge a book (or a record) by its cover. One quick look at this one and you know the LP's a turkey. |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Steam Steam Mercury SR 61254 1969 John Craig John Craig not listed |
Nope I'm not homophobic, but a picture of a bunch of guys in a steam bath just wasn't a very good marketing idea ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Tex, Joe Hold On! It's Joe Tex Checker LP-2993 1965 not listed not listed not applicable |
Admittedly mid-1960s album art wasn't the most creative genre to be working in. That acknowledged, this cover demands some type of acknowledgement for being so boring, dull, innocuous, plain, non-descript, uninspiring. My four year old could have come up with something with more umph !!! |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Tino and the Revlons By Request Searborn DLP 1004 1966 not listed not listed not listed |
Well I probably would have paid to see go-go girls in outfits like that, but judging by the band picture, I'm not so sure about Tino and company ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer |
Wiggy Bits Wiggy Bits Polydor PD-1-6081 1976 Peter Corriston not applicable Alen MacWeeney |
Well you could at least figure out the band name ... |
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Artist Album Label Catalog Year Designer Artist Photographer
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Wright, Stevie Hard Road ATCO SD 26-106 1974 Paula Scher not applicable Arnold Rosenberg
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Stevie Wright's best known as lead singer for The Easybeats and his life story is a sad and frustrating tale of poor choices and opportunities lost. As such the album's title was apparently meant as kind of an autobiographical reference. That still didn't make the cover any more appealing. C'mon, a filthy old tire? Surely the creative minds at Atlantic could have done better than this ... |