Prog Rock Madness: 18 Album Covers to Blow Your MindBy
Douglas Newman Share:
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Legend
Led by Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson, Henry Cow were one of the more challenging avant-garde proponents of “prog rock.” Naming the band after twentieth century composer, Henry Cowell, the band played a style of music they dubbed as “dada” blues.” Their 1973 debut is often referred to as Leg End because of the sock painting that graces the cover. Created by artist Ray Smith, it was the first of three “paint socks” to be featured on Henry Cow’s albums.
In Search of the Lost Chord An early example of prog, The Moody Blues’ second album is a psychedelic headtrip that centers around the concept of our journey for spiritual enlightenment. Mind altering drugs and mysticism are equally represented on the stunning cover design, rendered in vibrant reds, oranges, blues, and browns. The gauzy, slurred aesthetic perfectly captures the feeling of altered consciousness.
In the Court of the Crimson King
Generally considered one of the best and most influential albums of the genre, In the Court of the Crimson King is a technically stunning collection of compositions that blend rock with jazz and European classical traditions. The striking album depiction of the “Schizoid Man” was created by Barry Godber, an artist and computer programmer who died shortly after the album’s release. It would be his only painting.
Brain Salad Surgery
The cover of ELP’s most popular album features a monochromatic “biomechanical” illustration by the renowned artist, Hans Ruedi Giger. The artist also created ELP’s signature logo, first introduced on this sleeve. It’s not easy to spot, but if you look at the bottom center you can see the round E & P flanking a column that comprises the L.
II (aka Scratch) Gabriel’s second solo album, often nicknamed Scratch, after the cover art, doesn’t really have much to it, especially compared to the typical prog rock sleeve. However, it’s simplicity is what makes it so effective. The covers of his third solo album (referred to as III or Melt) is just as powerful in its simplistic design aesthetic. The Melt photo was taken during a shoot by Storm Thorgerson of the famous design group Hipgnosis, using a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera and subsequently modified by Thorgerson and Gabriel. Given his tendency for wild theatrics and elaborate costumes during his Genesis days, one has to wonder if Gabriel made a conscious decision to keep both his album titles and cover art minimal. Almost all of his records to follow kept to this formula (Security, So, Us, & Up) Hipgnosis designed a slew of famous album covers, including Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, Pink Floyd’s first seven albums (see above for Wish You Were Here) and Wings’ Venus & Mars.
Flying Teapot
Led by former Soft Machine guitarist Daevid Allen and his wife, singer Gilli Smyth, Gong represented the more whimsical side of prog rock, populating their early albums with colorful characters from the Planet Gong, including Radio Gnomes, Pothead Pixies, Octave Doctors, and Zero the Hero. The cartoon depicts one of Planet Gong’s gnomes flying through the sky in a green teapot.
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COMMENTS (38)
brian said:
This piece breaks my heart, it is so totally awesome. jimiffondu said:
How could you have missed ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’? Special kudos for Wish You Were Here and Selling England by the Pound… Top post! Adam said:
Oh god, not the Mars Volta. That album cover is all that album has going for it. It’s great though, I guess, if you define prog-rock as “YEEAAAAAHHH BLAH BLAH CACOPHONY ALTRUISTIC SINTHASOMPHONE SCARAB VESPA CRAWDAD NITROPHENYLENEDIAMINE CATARACT SYZYGY METAPHYSICAL ALBATROSS NOMENCLATURE LATIN WORD LATIN WORD SPANISH SPANISH SPANISH PART ONE TWO THREE YEEEAAAAHHH DURRRRRR *18 minute guitar solo/drum solo/bass solo/keyboard solo/other guitar solo/other drum solo/funny sounds solo MORE GOOFY WORDS FROM A THESAURUS WRITTEN FOR LIT MAJORS BEEP BOP BOOP FIELD RECORDINGS AND THEN TWELVE MORE SOLOS the end” Schahryar said:
Ya!! Awesome! Bernard said:
No Rush album !? Thos Weatherby said:
How about “Weasels Rip My Flesh”. By fz Mark said:
“Weasels Ripped My Flesh” is the correct title. adam's mom is a cunt said:
hey adam, i’m so glad you’re here to spew your inspiring opinions. go fuck yourself, the mars volta is prog. adam's mom said:
hey adam, you’re wrong! phil said:
No Magma? frances said:
@ adam Right. and i suppose de loused was SO much better, and mars volta have been going down hill since then right? Kristian said:
to adam: I gotta say, I love the mars volta and i thought your comment was fuckin HILARIOUS(Im still laughin about it). I think they are very talented but your description was so dead-on…bloody brilliant. TMV are a pretty complex band only understood/appreciated by some. To everybody else, it doesn’t matter if you not everybody likes TMV (or any band for that matter), i like their music BECAUSE only certain people like it. Chill Erik said:
Awesome list, I especially loved the ELP album art by H.R. Giger. Although I’ve never seen that cover, I instantly knew it was his. Giger’s style is all his own. Another album with stunning cover art is Hawkwind’s “Hall of the Mountain Grill.” Mark said:
@ Jim Iffondu How could you have missed the “go to page 2 >>” button? tor schjølberg said:
i think a gentle giant or/and van der graaf generator album artwork should been mentioned. f. eks pawn hearts (vdgg) and octopus (gg). shawn said:
and most prog does suck. when it’s great it is unbelievable but most is in fact bullshit and has no value for the masses. Howard said:
“but most is in fact bullshit and has no value for the masses.” ahhh of course because music should be made for the masses, in a watered down fashion so that everyone can sing along.. which is necessary when trying to make as much money as possible as an “artist”. Why would personal expression and style have ANYTHING to do with music??? Come on guys!!! We’ve all had the same lives and experiences, so why the FUCK would anyone want to come out with something that’s somewhat original sounding??? You all know DAMN WELL music should be made to please the potential listener and NOT the artist. STOP ROCKING THE BOAT!!!! for those of you who dont speak english, or are simply fucking morons, this was sarcastic. and for the record i dont like ANY of this music, i stumbled this ..ok i lied i like ELP’s Karn Evil 9, 1st movement Rick Astley said:
We’re no strangers to love Max Greinleib said:
I saw atomic Rooster in concert once in Indianapolis at the now derelect baseball stadium. This was I think 1970 they were no doubt the loudest band of their time.they used some kind of a synthesiser also an innovation.I remember that a huge glass bong was passed around withen sight of the intimidated rental cops, and some crazed stoner crawled inside one of the immense speakers-when the band would hit a chord his hair would blow as if in a hurricane. Im sure his eardrums were destroyed. quadropus said:
No Rush? Surely Hemispheres or the artwork from Counterparts are good enough to be included on here? Joe Pike said:
Getting Rick Rolled in the comments section is possibly the dumbest thing I have ever seen online. I quit. amy said:
I think you’ve been Rick-rolled. Escoofield said:
Thanks! Benimus said:
You missed the best of all!! Lateralus by Tool!! Toni Caponi said:
Osibisa ! TOni CapOni said:
The Flock Dinosaur Swamps ! Music said:
Wow, thanks nicobeat said:
COMUS – first utterance. its a great cover Desserts said:
nice! aias said:
hahaa.. cool .. my parents have that ELP album i always found it a little creepy. Starcasm said:
The Faust one is my fav. Now, back to making fun of people at Starcasm.net yahooserious said:
No Rush? No Dream Theater? No Kansas? …well ok I’ll forgive that omission. Danny said:
The Tool album covers are really genius. I love the Lateralus one when you’re flicking through it the word GOD appears in the brain. Some sort of statement? Davidb said:
Good to see Faust there. Ive got that sleeve. Firtina Ozbalikci said:
Hello, Peter said:
these bands are good but the album art’s not very good in comparison to some stuff out there that actually would blow people’s minds Kevin MacNutt said:
In the comment that Firtina made about the Can album cover is exactly correct. Actually the cover, if I remember my Can history correctly, is an exact facsimile of the actual can of Turkish okra which was chosen because it actually said Can on the top. The cover is so great because it is a very Warhol inspired concept without any connection with Warhol himself (although I would not doubt Warhol would have owned a Can album in his time). Aumgn said:
While this might make me quite unpopular here, I have to say, I thought the exact same thing that Adam did upon seeing the Mars Volta albums. I often commented that the only difference between the cacophony of Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” and Mars Volta is Lou Reed spared us from the technoflash guitar noodling and the “look what I can do” drum solos. As for the lyrics, perhaps they should have changed them so something like “We are clever, look how clever we are, didn’t we tell you we were clever, we can speak several languages, multi-syllabic palindromes for the eggheads in the crowd.” That would be a level of honesty I could finally repect them for. And the lack of Kansas and Rush? Hmmmm…try the page that features Foreigner, Bad Company, Star Castle and Ambrosia. Kansas and Rush belong there, not with prog. |
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