The Best Album Covers in My iTunes Library (Hey, why not…)

Taken from my Last.fm page because as Johnny Rotten would put it, “I’m a lazy bastard”. I selected the ten best album covers out of my pitiful iTunes Library and ordered them accordingly. Perhaps, we may be able to determine what makes a great album cover great, or perhaps I will totally waste your time. The latter certainly seem to be more likely . . .

10. Transformer, Lou Reed
A very iconic image. Reed in full glam regalia, guitar in hand and in stark black and white. What’s great about it is that it makes a bold visual statement and communicates the notion to the buyer that Reed’s music is going to have a sense of theatricality to it. Plus, it’s just a damn striking picture.

9. “Heroes”, David Bowie
Bowie was always avant garde but the “Heroes” cover is just something else. In grainy black and white, Bowie strikes a completely bizarre pose. I still have no idea exactly what he’s supposed to be doing but it freaks me out. So y’know, job well done. (The cover for his next album, Lodger, almost made it on this list instead. It shows Bowie lying on the floor with a broken nose. It’s so totally uncharacteristic for the fashionable Mr. Bowie that you have to love it.)

8. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Arctic Monkeys
I’m actually not a huge fan of the band, but I’ll be damned if that’s not a great album cover. The guy is apparently a friend of the band’s, I’m assuming after a long night of doing things primarily involving drugs, booze and exposed breasts.

7. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
The cover of Wish You Were Here is a perfectly surreal accompaniment to Pink Floyd’s brand of dreamy, epic rock. Gotta love the way the edge of the picture is burning into the white. Fun Fact: the guy on the cover is actually on fire. Ah, the dangerous days before they invented Photoshop . . .

6. Teenager of the Year, Frank Black
I think the cover speaks for itself.

5. Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
Another very effective shocker and an image that sums up what rock and roll is really all about. The original vinyl featured a real zipper that actually unzips, which is totally awesome, even though it apparently dented the record and ruined it. Fun Fact 2: They wouldn’t let them sell the album with that cover in Spain, so they replaced with an image of a woman’s severed fingers in a can of beans, which is obviously far more tasteful.

4. London Calling, The Clash
This is punk. Based off of the cover of an Elvis album, The Clash replaces The King with Paul Simonon smashing his bass on stage. The “fuck you” message is just so potent and so perfect. Just a defining image, for The Clash and for punk music.

3. Things Fall Apart, The Roots
There are five different covers for Things Fall Apart, all of which are designed to make white listeners feel guilty. The photos used are from the Civil Rights struggle of the 60s and show the Roots’ connection to politics and history, giving you a clear idea of what kind of rap album this is. The only album covers I can think of that create such an impression and force us to question ourselves and society.

2. The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground
A very famous cover for The Velvet Underground’s first album, by Andy Warhol, who was their manager at the time. It’s just a great piece of pop art and The VU should’ve counted themselves lucky to have such an artistic genius provide them with a cover. The banana is in fact a sticker that can be peeled off to reveal the pink banana underneath. (You can’t see it but it says “Peel here and see” at the top.) Unpeeled copies of this album are big collector’s items.

1. Abbey Road, The Beatles
Simple and sweet. This is my idea of album cover perfection. People love Sgt. Pepper’s and it’s certainly a classic but you just can’t beat Abbey Road. The cover was apparently shot quite spontaneously. It’s been parodied a thousand times and it’s also been the source of many “Paul is dead” rumors, mainly claiming significance in the fact that he isn’t wearing shoes, and that Lennon was dressed in all white, representing the undertaker or death or heaven or something. (Lennon was just really into minimalist design at the time.) It’s inspired every idiot who visits Abbey Road to stroll across that zebra crosswalk and yes, I’d totally do it if I went there too. My favorite album and my favorite album cover.

- Sean
JULY 08