#24 - Country Life: Roxy Music (1974)

Whoa! That’s some pretty direct, up-front sexuality.

Not too surprisingly, this one managed to get censored, in some prudish places … like, say, the good old U.S. of A. This is what we got in its place: 

Hmm, I don’t know. It’s just not the same. Something seems to be missing

I’m guessing the title is also a little off color as well. And, by that, I mean something along the lines of Hamlet’s saying, “Did you think I meant country matters?” to poor Ophelia. Know what I mean, know what I mean? Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Say no more, say no more.

The cameraman was one Eric Boman, a fashion photographer, originally from Sweden. 

Eric and friend

He’s got 13 album credits to his name, several of them for Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry. Here’s a sampling of his work:

 

The models were two girls Ferry met at a bar while hiding out in Portugal, Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald (in order). He talked them into the shoot and out of their clothes, as well as helping him out with some of the lyrics on the album. 

It was really just a brush with fame, though, as Constanze is a psychotherapist and Eveline is now an art teacher. Interestingly, though, Eveline would design a couple of album covers herself:

The album itself is a great one, one of their best. “The Thrill of It All,” “All I Want Is You,” “Prairie Rose,” “Casanova” - lots of top tunes.

Here’s the band, then and now:

Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Paul Thompson, Brian Eno

Hard to believe, but they’re still touring (though sans Eno). 

No shortage of homages and parodies here ...

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#25 - In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson (1969)

King Crimson’s been here before. This cover, though, gives a much better feel for the band’s dark, edgy, and – honestly – somewhat lurid aspects.

The album also just so happened to be their debut, and was arguably the first real prog rock album out there. The hits are the title track (a favorite of the true burnouts at Gateway SHS in Monroeville PA in the mid 70s) and “20th Century Schizoid Man” (a particular favorite of former Prime Minister Tony Blair).

Blair was actually in a band called The Ugly Rumors

The latter song was also the inspiration behind the cover. It’s the work of Barry Godber, a computer programmer, though trained as an artist. He would die soon after its release, at age 24, of a heart attack.

This is his only credit, though he also did the inside cover. The inspiration for that? Why, the Crimson King himself, of course.

Where are they now? Well, Robert Fripp would be the only band member to remain with the band the whole time. He’s also known as one of the best and most innovative guitarist out there (Frippertronics, anyone?).

Though he could easily be mistaken for a bank vice president

Greg Lake would go on to form Emerson Lake and Palmer. Tragically, he would die only a couple of years ago, from cancer.

Later stage Elvis?

Ian McDonald would help form Foreigner. He’s done a lot of session work since then, including guitar, sax, keyboards, flute, and vibraphone.

Random older bloke down the pub?

Drummer Michael Giles? Well, he was just the drummer.

Keep on drummin’

And here they all are in younger days:

Fripp, Giles, Lake, McDonald, lyricist Peter Sinfield

Here are a couple of more great King Crimson covers, all by artist P.J. Crook:

Some more of her very dream-like work:

And of course some parodies/homages of that original as well:

In fact, the thing has become something of a meme:

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#26 - Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin (1973)

Well, at least they didn’t name this one “Led Zeppelin V.” Interestingly, the name came from a song that didn’t make it onto the album (but would appear on Physical Graffiti).

The art – at least the idea for it – came from Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End. It’s supposed to represent the end of the book, where children are drawn to a special spot where they will ascend to another world.

The image itself came courtesy of the graphic design firm Hipgnosis, who are behind a ton of other very well-known albums. This particular one was by Aubrey Powell, one of the co-founders (along with fellow genius Storm Thorgerson, whom we’ve seen here a number of times).

Actually, Storm was the original artist. He had come up with an image of a tennis court with a racket on it. The band thought he was implying that their music was a racket. So, they fired him.

The location was the Giant’s Causeway, in Northern Ireland. A fascinating structure, it’s made up of giant crystals of basalt, formed millions of years ago when a lava flow cooled at just the right temperature.

The figures are Stefan and Samantha Gates, child models whose images were reproduced and pasted in to form 11 figures total. 

And here they are with their clothes on

Stefan is now a fairly-well known TV presenter in the UK.

He specializes in food and science shows

The interior shot is also pretty cool. It features Dunluce Castle, not too far away from the Causeway.

Overall, the art garnered a Grammy nomination. And the cover was ranked #6 overall by VH1.

I had this album as a kid, and absolutely loved it. It had a little lighter, brighter sound than their previous efforts, and was also pretty eclectic as well (vide the reggae “D’yer Maker.”). The hits on it are “The Song Remains the Same,” “The Rain Song,” and “No Quarter” (though my favorite was “Over the Hills and Far Away”).

Some more of Aubrey’s stuff:

And here's the band "at play”:

Kinda surprised I found only one parody out there:

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#27 - Infinite Arms: Band of Horses (2010)

One of my favorite groups right now, these guys might be best described as alt/indie folk/country/Southern rock. Originally from Seattle, they now live in Charleston SC, not too far from me. I’ve got pretty much all their CDs.

The band has seen many changes in its 14 years, with the one constant being front man Ben Bridwell. He’s the main songwriter and also vocalist, with a haunting, tenor style.

And the rest of the crew:

Tyler Ramsey, Bill Reynolds. Ben, Creighton Barrett, Ryan Monroe

This album was their third. No big hits, though “Laredo” might qualify. Honestly, their first two were pretty darn hard to top. Wish I knew some more details on the cover shot.

I do know that almost all of BOH’s album covers feature some hauntingly beautiful nature photography, pretty much all by photographer Christopher Wilson. 

Yup, that's only photo I could find of him

(I'm thinking he might be the guy on the left)

Here are a couple more of his that might yet make it onto covers:

And here are some other great album covers he did for the Horses:

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