#67 - Weasels Ripped My Flesh: Frank Zappa (1970)

Ah, Zappa again. This one was designed by the immortal Neon Park. It – and the title – was based on a 50s men’s magazine that Zappa found.  He challenged Park, "This is it. What can you do that's worse than this?" Park subsequently found an ad from the same time, put the two together … and the rest is history.

Neon, born Martin Muller, was most famous for his covers for Little Feat (at least one of which we will feature in this blog). In fact, the only cover of theirs he didn’t do was their very first one.

Neon also did covers for Bowie, the Beach Boys, Dr. John, and Lowell George, and had illustrations in Playboy and National Lampoon. He died pretty young, of ALS.

In general, his stuff combined elements of whimsy, surrealism, and Americana. I won’t possibly have room to do him justice, so let me throw in a few extra here.

Weasels Ripped My Flesh is, like Hot Rats, another instrumental done soon after the Mothers broke up. And like Hot Rats, WRMF is also one of Zappa’s better efforts. No big hits (unless, of course, you’re a fan). By the way, the title track is 2 minutes of very loud static, played in concert no less.

A few more great Zappa (and extremely bizarre) covers:

Here's one of my favorite shots of Frank. It was actually taken by Norman Seeff, whom we’ve seen here before.

Hard to believe, but there are actually some parodies (well, sort of) out there:

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#92 - Playing Possum: Carly Simon (1975)

Another portrait cover, but golly it sure is a nice one. Those portrait covers sure do make a lot of sense when you’re such a complete babe.

Indeed, they were a real theme for this genuine looker. No Secrets and Anticipation are two of my faves:

Carly Simon was also a pretty darn good singer-songwriter as well. So many hits, though my favorite has always been “That's the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” (odd choice for a 12-year-old, the year it came out).

Playing Possum maybe not so much. It did, however, get a Grammy nomination for “Best Album Package.”  And Rolling Stone ranked it #20 all time (the cover, that is).

The photographer was Norman Seeff.

He’s done more than his fair share of covers, including ones for Carly’s ex James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Zappa, Johnny Cash, the Rolling Stones (you’ll see that particular one later), and many, many more. 

He’s probably more famous, though, for his straight-up photos of rock stars, actors, entertainers, artists and other celebrities:

Recognize any of these people?

I found one parody out there. It's pretty tasteless, but pretty funny too:

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#17 - Exile on Main Street: The Rolling Stones (1972)

Our third – but not last! – Stones cover. 

A double album, it’s got some great songs (especially “Tumbling Dice”), and really hangs together, with a particular emphasis on the band’s blues and rock ‘n roll roots. Many critics consider it one of the top albums of all time. Jagger, interestingly, wasn’t a fan, preferring to have done something more new and experimental.

The cover photo was from the collection of Robert Frank, a very influential and acclaimed photographer.

It’s from his 1958 book The Americans (of which I have a copy), and was taken outside Hubert’s Museum and Flea Circus, a popular “dime museum” near New York City’s Times Square. There are pictures of burlesque queens, circus freaks, “The Human Corkscrew,” and “Congo the Jungle Creep” (that last one taken by the equally talented and famous Diane Arbus).

The back cover and inside liner have photos of the band done in the same style, by Frank and also by Norman Seef (who you’ve seen here before).

Frank actually has almost 40 more credits on discog.com, including stuff for Tom Waits, New Order, and Jerry Garcia. 

He made it to 94, passing away just last year. And here's some more of serious stuff (that second one is one of my favorite photos ever):

Frank would eventually move into film, directing the Stones’ Cocksucker Blues. Because of some rather interesting legal issues (basically, the film shows the band breaking the law numerous times), it can only be seen with Frank in attendance.

The designer was John Van Hammersveld:

He's got 146 credits, including for Jefferson Airplane, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Cream, the Doors … Here are some of my faves:

Of course, he's also responsible for this:

The album was mostly recorded at a chateau in the south of France. The band were tax exiles there – hence the title. Brave boys!

Here are some more Stones album covers I like and I don't think I've shared yet:

This one seems to have more homages than parodies:

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