Best Album Covers Ever!

[Nemo]

And.....my favorite band concert movie and another great title: 'Stop Making Sense.' I love this guy.

[nightcat]

Tom Waits... Small Change.

I love this one becuase I've never seen another photograph so accurately depict the music contained on a record.

Some lines from the songs:

"Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did, got what I paid for now..."

"Smellin' like a brewery, lookin' like a tramp, ain't got a quarter, got a postage stamp..."

"Crawlin' on her belly and shakin' like jelly and I'm gettin' harder than Chinese algebra..."

[nightcat]

Blue Oyster Cult. Tyranny And Mutation.

Just a classic.

[nightcat]

Television. Marquee Moon.

When you pick this record up for the first time and look at the cover, the first things you notice are the HUGE veins in Tom Verlaine's and Richard Lloyd's hands. They look meaty and ripped and you say, "Damn! I'll bet these boys can play some wicked-ass guitar!".

They DO INDEED.

The things they can accomplish on their classic 1957 Fenders with only a bit of reverb and tremolo kicked in on their classic Fender tube amps is SCARY. Most folks need boxes and multiple tracks to be this mind-bendingly wicked. But Verlaine and Lloyd bend strings in a dual-lead-guitar attack that, when this LP came out in '77, made the previously scary dual leads of Thin Lizzy's Gorham/Robertson axis pale in comparison.

The picture, the shadows emphasizing the veins of their hands, says it all.

[Nemo]

Man, Cat, you beat me to 'Tyranny and Mutation.' I also wanted to put up their first album if I can find a large enough pic. I think I might even like the first one better.

[nightcat]

Here we go, Nemo.

The first BOC album, gatefold scan!

[Nemo]

"She's as beautiful as a foot......."

Thanks, McCat.

[Captain Kundalini]

Ah yes, some of us are secret members of the Cult of the Blue Oyster.

[Captain Kundalini]

(The Captain goes running down the hallway)
"Circledancer is a Dead Head! Circledancer is a Dead Head!"


Sweet!

[circledancer]

(The Captain goes running down the hallway)
"Circledancer is a Dead Head! Circledancer is a Dead Head!"


Sweet!

for many a long year now,

[Nemo]

This is the story of the hare who lost his spectacles.

Owl loved to rest quietly whilst no one was watching. sitting on a
Fence one day, he was surprised when suddenly a kangaroo ran close
By.
Now this may not seem strange, but when owl overheard kangaroo whisper
To no one in particular, ``the hare has lost his spectacles,’’ well, he
Began to wonder.
Presently, the moon appeared from behind a cloud and there, lying on
The grass was hare. in the stream that flowed by the grass -- a
Newt. and sitting astride a twig of a bush -- a bee.
Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with excitement, for
Without his spectacles he was completely helpless. where were his
Spectacles? could someone have stolen them? had he mislaid them? what
Was he to do?
Bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began: ``you
Probably ate them thinking they were a carrot.’’
``no!’’ interrupted owl, who was wise. ``i have good eye-sight, insight,
And foresight. how could an intelligent hare make such a silly
Mistake? ’’ but all this time, owl had been sitting on the fence,
Scowling!
Kangaroo were hopping mad at this sort of talk. she thought herself
Far superior in intelligence to the others. she was their leader;
Their guru. she had the answer: ``hare, you must go in search of the
Optician.’’
But then she realized that hare was completely helpless without his
Spectacles. and so, kangaroo loudly proclaimed, ``i can’t send hare in
Search of anything!’’
``you can guru, you can!’’ shouted newt. ``you can send him with owl.’’
But owl had gone to sleep. newt knew too much to be stopped by so
Small a problem -- ``you can take him in your pouch.’’ but alas, hare
Was much too big to fit into kangaroo’s pouch.
All this time, it had been quite plain to hare that the others knew
Nothing about spectacles.
As for all their tempting ideas, well hare didn’t care.
The lost spectacles were his own affair.
And after all, hare did have a spare a-pair.
A-pairrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[BeelzeBubbles]

This thread takes me back to memories I'd rather not revisit - and some I'd forgotten, and gladly reclaim.

"And the rabbit lost his spec-a-ta-cles". Heh. I have a very funny story about that "Passion Play" tour - but for another day.

Oh Nightcat! Heh. I'd not be surprised if you & I had some mutual friends, or more likely acquaintances. Possibly Nemo, too, but....we'll leave it at that.

Mmmm.... Tom Verlaine.... sigh.... spot on with the Marquee Moon observations. And the small change got rained on by his own .38. I could swap a lot of stories with you, but kinda don't feel right telling tales out of school.When I say the word "Cheetah", what's the first thing that pops in your mind, Nightcat?

I was very, very surprised -- and I'm not sure why -- that a lot of the album artwork everyone submitted had quite a psychedelic bent to it - to my eye, anyway. I was surprised the Talking Heads contingent didn't mention Howard Finster's contributions to the Heads and REM's record.

From my limited experience, all I know for sure about the music business is what Hunter Thompson said. That being,

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. "

Here's one of my fav. covers -because it's funny on many levels, esp. if you know the back story of the band and the label's history:

[Dera]

Okay, you guys. No laughing at Grandma. Actually, I don't remember. All of my records, 45's and albums, were taken in a burglary. The following looks REALLY FAMILIAR: