We’ve established the importance of an album’s cover art in part 1, alongside five other examples of records that are visually outstanding. But that list doesn’t even begin to cover it all, and neither will this one—with a history as rich as music and art have, it’s near impossible to do so.
That, however, does not mean that it isn’t worthwhile to talk about a handful of the best works of art:
1. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
Album Cover Art Credit: Hardie, Hypgnosis
Release Date: March 1, 1973
Genres: Rock, Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock, Hard rock, Art rock, Space rock, Experimental rock
Length: 42:50
Producer: Pink Floyd
A list of album covers would be incomplete without Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. This progressive rock record muses themes of greed, time, life, death and insanity—befit of the turbulent period it was written in. The spirit of the era was shifting into modernity and their frontman had left in the face of his delirium.
The cover depicts a dispersive prism refracting light against a hypnotic black background. It was one amongst many other options Hardie and Hypgnosis had presented, but the decision on the light-refracting concept was unanimous. Pink Floyd hadn’t fed their fans a word of explanation on what the art meant—much like the non-lexical track “A Great Gig in the Sky”—leaving plenty of room for open interpretation.
2. Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery
Album Cover Art Credit: H. R. Giger
Release Date: 7 December 1973
Genres: Progressive rock, Psychedelic Rock, Avantgarde
Length: 45:02
Producer: Greg Lake
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) was a supergroup, comprised of members from the bands “King Crimson”, “The Nice” and “Atomic Rooster”. Their music was a fusion of jazz, symphonic rock and classical music—Brain Salad Surgery in particular was the result of their genre-bending sounds and experimentations with new technology, meeting. It was an album that only grew more appreciated with age, with remixes and remasters surfacing across time—and yet, the cover art stays untouched.
Brain Salad Surgery’s graphic is the work of H.R. Giger, the biomechanical artist who gained a cult following during and past his prime. His creations played large parts in important pieces of pop culture, like Ridley Scott’s Alien and the video game series Darkseed. Giger created the triptych cover sleeve for this album, where the thick shell of the vinyl split down the middle in a gate-like opening, to reveal yet another visual masterpiece. The artwork portrays Giger’s muse as a pallid, scarred woman with the markings of a frontal lobotomy—a physical manifestation of Brain Salad Surgery’s sonics.
3. The Clash: London Calling
Album Cover Art Credit: Pennie Smith
Release Date: December 14, 1979
Genres: Punk rock, New wave, Post-punk, Garage rock
Length: 65:07
Producer: Guy Stevens
Alongside acts like the “Sex Pistols” and “Ramones”, The Clash spearheaded the genre of punk rock in Britain. However, London Calling is an album that explores genres outside of the sounds they’re accustomed to. This album iterates speculative themes through styles of R&B, reggae, lounge jazz and hard rock.
The titular allusion is plastered atop a photograph of Paul Simmon smashing his bass. Pennie Smith, an English photographer, captured the moment the angered bassist destroyed his instrument in reaction to security disallowing the audience to stand. The album’s cover art aligns with the motifs of the music it contains, symbolic of rebellion against the dystopic direction London was heading towards.
4. Alice in Chains: Jar of Flies
Album Cover Art Credit: Rocky Schenck
Release Date: January 25, 1994
Genres: Grunge, Acoustic music, Hard rock
Length: 30:49
Producer: Alice in Chains
Born in the birthplace of many other greats, Alice in Chains (AIC) is a band rooted in Seattle. Much like the other bands on this list, their music is a blend of many genres. But, their spirit lies in metal, blues and rock—Jar of Flies specifically landing within grunge, hard rock and acoustic rock. It’s an album full of tracks that lament, demonstrating introspection on isolation and self-destruction. It’s a record that was Grammy nominated for its musicality—and its packaging.
Jar of Flies was photographed by Rocky Schenck, right in his dining room. AIC came up with the concept themselves—they wanted the cover to be of a young boy peering into a fly-filled jar. The colours in the shot were the result of lighting and gel sheets, producing atmospheric hues of red, orange and green. This motif of flies and rot carried onto physical releases—the first disc release of the album had plastic flies placed inside its clear spine, while the 20th-anniversary vinyl had dead ones pressed into it.
5. A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory
Album Cover Art Credit: ZombArt
Release Date: September 24, 1991
Genres: Hip-hop music, Jazz rap, Old-school hip-hop, East Coast hip-hop, Alternative hip hop
Length: 48:03
Producer: A Tribe Called Quest, Skeff Anselm
A Tribe Called Quest is an important piece of alternative hip-hop history—their second album, The Low End Theory, was seminal to the scene in the 1990s. Lyrically, the album is witty and addresses social issues like misogyny, dating violence and brutalism on jazz-infused tracks. This record is undeniably one of the greatest in hip-hop, with an album cover to match its artistry.
Sonically, The Low End Theory has the combined spirit of bebop and minimalist production. Sounds were peeled and stripped back to bring focus to their rap, drums and bass—a sentiment reflected in ZombArt’s graphics. Against a dark background are carefully painted stripes of Afrocentric green and red onto a model, alongside the first appearance of Quest’s logo. The album’s art is almost as distinct as the music itself.
Conclusion
An album’s cover art acts as a physical manifestation of its sonics—so it only makes sense that great audio brings great visuals to match. We’ve rounded up a total of 10 examples in this short-lived series, hoping there’s a record here that interests you. This concludes the visually distinctive album cover lists.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
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