Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Some of my faves:

Their Satanic Majesty's Request (3-D cover)
Velvet Underground(Warhol Cover)
16 and Savaged(Silverhead)
Golden Earring(1st album original cover)
Wildlife(Roxy Music)

Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield)

Ry Cooder (Ry Cooder) His first solo effort, with a beautiful 1937 Airstream trailer posed on El Mirage dry lake as a prop.

Performance (Mick Jagger and others) Movie soundtrack, with Greaseball Sleazo Mick on the front and Mick in lipstick and drag on back. This one has the awesome "Memo From Turner" cut on it, along with some killer Last Poets, and some oddball Randy Newman stuff. (The stuff, not Randy...)

Into The Purple Valley (Cooder, again). From back in the days when the record companies put jillions behind relatively unknown artists. A great foldout. Ry and his wife Susan riding in a gorgeous '41 Buick (?--I'm working from memory here...) convertible, nicely restored but with a badly-cracked steering wheel. That I do remember. Strange how the mind works.

"Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra plays 12 polka Favorites" has a great cover, as does "The Ray Conniff Singers Sing Songs".
Mitch Miller's "Songs to get Your Haircut to" also has a cool cover of a barber pole.

favorite album cover

Paul...great choices, and "Memo from Turner" is amazing. The whole plot of Performance ran through my head when I read your post. But seriously: you don't think Randy Newman is an oddball?

Bob...you gotta be the only guy I know who's into UK AND Mitch Mlller...

Kent...yeah, that's a cool one for sure, but I like some of the later ones when they got to pick out their own clothes...

Yep, Dane, Randy is an oddball. I remember first hearing "Gone Dead Train" and thinking, this guy's the laziest musician I've ever heard. Then buying "Sail Away" and seeing beyond the genius into a guy who'd rather sleep and really hated to be forced to write when he didn't want to. Still, a master of sardonic humor and the author of a whole lot of thoughtful stuff. His album "Bad Love" is a recent gem. And he's one of the best interviewees I've heard.

It's oddballs like him that give the rest of us a good name...

Randy Newman can actually be very funny when performing live. His anecdotes, intros, and between-song asides are often hilarious. Talk about extremes in a show, audience response ranges from raucous howls to pin-drop quiet. Much more entertaining than I would have imagined before we started seeing him live about 7-8 years ago.

Sounds similar to a Leo Kottke show...another admirable oddball.

I'm a sucker for "gimmick" album covers (like the aforementioned Satanic Majesties & VU+Nico) ...

Jefferson Airplane - 'Long John Silver' (fold-out stash box)

Hawkwind - 'X In Search Of Space' (fold-out shaped sleeve with interlocking tab), 'Space Ritual' (6-panel fold-out) and 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' (4-panel shield-shaped fold-out)

Led Zeppelin - 3 (cutouts with rotating circle inside)

Neil Young - 'Journey Through The Past' (die-cut foldout)

Kinks - 'Misfits' promo EP (square record in round sleeve, get it?)

Uriah Heep - 'Look At Yourself' (mirror on sleeve)

Jethro Tull - someone already mention the 'Thick As A Brick' newspaper; I'll add the 'Stand Up' standup

Motörhead - 'No Remorse' (leather sleeve)

Pink Fairies - 'NeverNeverLand' (transparent plastic printed outer sleeve)

Man - 'Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day' (fold-out cartoon map of Wales)

Just one more reason why vinyl rules!

My buddy bought Steppenwolf's first album solely because of it's cover! We had never heard of them, nor had their songs hit the local radio stations when he just had to have this cool looking band's album. It turned out to be pretty damn good!

I forgot about the late Robert Palmer's "Pressure Drop" LP cover.

If you've seen in, you'll know...

I think I meant--if you've seen IT, you'll know...

Freudian slip. If you've seen the cover, you'd understand.

Tongue-tied and keyboard-cramped, that's me.

Here is another of my favorites:

Here's one of mine:

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Yo, bro!!