With a few exceptions, I wanted to highlight some all-timers that might be otherwise overlooked...
The Mothers of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh - for a cover that married technique and dissonance just like the music on the disc.
The Dwarves - Blood, Guts, and Pussy - for bumping up the punk from Roger Daltry in the baked beans.
P.J. Harvey - 4 Track Demos - for a cover as raw as the record.
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers - referenced above, but that cover image was planting a flag that the Wu was something more than crime rap and kung fu movies.
The Clash - London Calling - for the best live photo cover for one of the best albums ever.
Born Against - 9 Patriotic Battle Hymns For Children - For a cover that took me months to determine was ironic and that must have limited the success of the record in their scene.
Fugazi - Instrument - Because somehow that cover sounds like the record
Handsome Boy Modeling School - So How's Your Girl - For a photo that finds the very specific tone of a very specific sense of humor that is poured all over a bravura record
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer - For the best head and shoulders cover since Medulla that whispers toward the afro futurism of the earlier records but embraces the ultra modern sounds within.
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain - There are plenty of good covers by the musicians on the record, but few great ones. This might be the greatest (except for the one you just thought of that I forgot about).
The Replacements - Let It Be - While the album bores me (heresy, I know) every time I see the cover I want to listen again to hang out with these dopes
Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary - When the lyrics are this important to you, just start the lyric sheet on the cover, whydontcha?
Lifetime Achievement Award- Rick Froberg - Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Plosivs, Obits - If he was on the record he probably did the cover. R.I.P. last year.
And one that should have won. I love to think of all the people who allowed their teenager to play this in the car because of the cover and then were horrified.
Herb Alpert - Whipped Cream and Other Delights - How is this not on the wins list from the early noms? That Paul Horne cover is pretty nice, but come on...
No particular order…and I’m sure I have missed so many brilliant pieces of art.
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies, King Crimson - IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, Pink Floyd - Animals, Lou Reed - Blue Mask, The Velvet Underground and Nico - The banana album (still haven’t removed my peel)
Yikes, "Broadway hits with an Afro-Cuban beat" and the cover featuring bullfighters. Cuba, Spain, it's the same thing! Right. Ha. The album's kinda fun though.
With a few exceptions, I wanted to highlight some all-timers that might be otherwise overlooked...
The Mothers of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh - for a cover that married technique and dissonance just like the music on the disc.
The Dwarves - Blood, Guts, and Pussy - for bumping up the punk from Roger Daltry in the baked beans.
P.J. Harvey - 4 Track Demos - for a cover as raw as the record.
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers - referenced above, but that cover image was planting a flag that the Wu was something more than crime rap and kung fu movies.
The Clash - London Calling - for the best live photo cover for one of the best albums ever.
Born Against - 9 Patriotic Battle Hymns For Children - For a cover that took me months to determine was ironic and that must have limited the success of the record in their scene.
Fugazi - Instrument - Because somehow that cover sounds like the record
Handsome Boy Modeling School - So How's Your Girl - For a photo that finds the very specific tone of a very specific sense of humor that is poured all over a bravura record
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer - For the best head and shoulders cover since Medulla that whispers toward the afro futurism of the earlier records but embraces the ultra modern sounds within.
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain - There are plenty of good covers by the musicians on the record, but few great ones. This might be the greatest (except for the one you just thought of that I forgot about).
The Replacements - Let It Be - While the album bores me (heresy, I know) every time I see the cover I want to listen again to hang out with these dopes
Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary - When the lyrics are this important to you, just start the lyric sheet on the cover, whydontcha?
Lifetime Achievement Award- Rick Froberg - Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Plosivs, Obits - If he was on the record he probably did the cover. R.I.P. last year.
And one that should have won. I love to think of all the people who allowed their teenager to play this in the car because of the cover and then were horrified.
Herb Alpert - Whipped Cream and Other Delights - How is this not on the wins list from the early noms? That Paul Horne cover is pretty nice, but come on...
No particular order…and I’m sure I have missed so many brilliant pieces of art.
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies, King Crimson - IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, Pink Floyd - Animals, Lou Reed - Blue Mask, The Velvet Underground and Nico - The banana album (still haven’t removed my peel)
Really interesting read! Bit of a shame the award wasn't given for much of the album era, but some deserved winners here.
That Thelonious cover goes so hard
Peggy Lee – Latin Ala Lee!
Yikes, "Broadway hits with an Afro-Cuban beat" and the cover featuring bullfighters. Cuba, Spain, it's the same thing! Right. Ha. The album's kinda fun though.
Thanks for this rundown Rachel!
Yeah- definitely not the greatest. The Grammys are definitely not known for their politically correct past... ha!