The 30 Greatest Album Covers of All-Time, Part 3

10) Styx—Paradise Theater (1981)  Great concept for both the front and back covers here.  Too bad Dennis DeYoung let it all go to his head and created that Kilroy debacle a couple years later.


9) The Beatles—Revolver (1966)  The Beatles had so many cool covers, but this is my favorite, even though it’s a tad arty-farty.  I don’t normally go for Avant-Garde stuff, but it was done by musician Klaus Voorman, who later played bass on Ringo’s, John’s and George’s solo albums.  Wish I could draw like that…

8) Belinda Carlisle—Belinda (1986)  I won’t deny that this one was easy on my eyes!

7) Led Zeppelin—Led Zeppelin (1969)  It’s ironic how un-subtle this cover was, compared to Zep’s subsequent album covers that were all mysterious and/or weird.





6) Foreigner—4 (1981)  I laughed out loud the first time I saw this one—brilliant idea, too!
5) Stevie Ray Vaughan—Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984)  Gotta love an album cover with a great punchline!







4) The Who—Who’s Next (1971)  Legend has it the band passed this plinth thing in a slag heap while on tour, and apparently there was no Port-a-Potty handy, so it served them well.  When ya gotta go, ya gotta go…

3) Elton John—Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)  Not only does this one make my list for the front cover—which is first-rate—but the entire package was just stunning.  I loved how each song on the album had its own appropriate and colorful illustration next to its lyrics and musician credits. It’s also my favorite album, music-wise, of all-time.


2) The Who—The Who By Numbers (1975)  The late John Entwistle was not only the greatest bass player on the planet, but also a very talented artist, as evidenced by this classic cover.  He once claimed that the faces were the easy part to draw, but the dots and the numbers were a big pain in the arse!




1) Kiss—Destroyer (1976)  They don’t get much cooler than this!  Kudos to artist Ken Kelly for creating such a beautiful and powerful album portrait that so accurately captured the Hottest Band In The World just as they were about to take it over.  Looks even cooler as a silver mylar poster…