#74 - Steve Miller Band: Book of Dreams (1977)

Good Lord!  Has this guy been around forever or what?  It’s hard to believe, but the Steve Miller Band actually dates all the way back to 1966.

Steve Miller, then and now

“The Joker,” “Fly Like an Eagle”? Whoa, it’s like I’m back at Gateway Senior High School.

I love the ’70s feel on this one. The lettering, the shiny stuff, that horse. In fact, that horse is pretty darn iconic. Indeed, the band really rang the changes on that horse thing:

Book of Dreams was designed by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, credited as "Kelly and Mouse." 

Kelly (l), Mouse (r)

The two also get credit for all of Journey’s rather cool stuff and a lot of great work with the Dead. They also did some classic psychedelic posters as well. You might be seeing a little bit more of these guys. They’re pretty much total geniuses.

As for the album, it’s not bad. No big hits, though seven of the tracks got covered on another album – Greatest Hits 1974-1978.

And for all you bronies out there - yes, I did find a parody of this one:

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#75 - Avalon: Roxy Music (1982)

Roxy Music!  Boy, did I love those guys. So smart, so arch, so cool, so elegant, so ‘80s. I had everything they ever recorded.

They were glam, they were new wave, they were a little punk, and they were pretty darn great. I’m sure you’re familiar with Bryan Ferry. Not everyone, though, knows that Brian Eno started with them as well.

Brian Eno, then and now

Honestly, though, Avalon’s not their typical stuff. Not a lotta dance music here. Much more sedate, stately even “adult,” someone called it. The title track and “More Than This” were the singles off of this one.

It was their last real album, released in 1982. Yup, 1982. All their other stuff really dates back to the ‘70s. Indeed – they were way ahead of their time.

Interestingly, this is another Peter Saville album. A little different than the stuff he did for Joy Division, for sure.

Even more interestingly, the model in this photo continues an old Roxy Music tradition of featuring women on their covers. The person under the Viking helmet is no less than Brian Ferry’s wife, Lucy Helmore.

Marie Antoinette (er, Lucy Helmore) & Brian Ferry

Another very attractive cover model (and girlfriend) was Gerry Hall, one-time spouse of Mick Jagger, and now married to Rupert Murdoch:

Marilyn Cole was a Playboy model (and Ferry girlfriend as well):

Kari-Ann Muller, a former Bond girl, somehow managed to resist Ferry’s charms:

Some more cool Ferry covers:

And here's, not a parody, but an alternate:

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#76 - License to Ill: Beastie Boys (1986)

I don’t know nuthin about no Beastie Boys. That said, that is one cool album cover.

What’s really interesting, though, is the full cover:

Some people thinks it looks kinda like a joint. And, of course, if you hold it up to a mirror, “3ATM3” says “eat me.” Great stuff, great stuff.

The idea was producer Rick Rubin’s. According to genius.com “after reading a biography about Led Zeppelin’s success, he saw that they had a private jet. Rick Rubin then thought about how the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Big Bopper, and some of the original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were taken by airplane crashes. What better way to announce a new band than crashing their jet into the side of a mountain? He also said that it was like a Mad Magazine Fold-In. Looking at the standard album cover and opening up the gatefold imitates that same feeling.” Man, the guy’s a genius!

The painting was by David Gambale, AKA World B. Omes. 

Not sure if he’s known for anything else.  His only other credit on discogs is for a parody!

Interestingly, the original was sold on Antiques Roadshow.

So, the Internets tell me they’re a white rap group from the 80s and 90s. In fact, they were the biggest selling rap group ever. They have no less than 7 platinum albums, and are in the Rock’n Roll HoF. Sorry, I tuned out at “white rap group.”

Yo, yo, yo

They were very diverse with their album covers. Here are a few more I like:

Surprisingly few parodies out there. Eminem, though did a very direct homage to the cover – and Los Beasty Ones – with his Kamikaze:

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#77 - Unknown Pleasures: Joy Division (1979)

Joy Division is one of my favorite bands of all time. Kind of hard to believe that they lasted less than 2 years, and that front man Ian Curtis was dead at age 23.

They were one of the first post-punk bands, and had a huge influence on numerous musicians that came after. Groups that have cited them include U2, the Cure, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Interpol, and others. They would, of course, reform after Curtis’s suicide as New Order.

This is probably Joy Division’s best album, though it didn’t really make much of a splash when it was released in 1979. Since then, it’s often recognized as one of the most influential albums ever. “She’s Lost Control” is one song from it you might recognize.

The image is an interesting one. It was designed by Peter Saville and is “radio waves from pulsar CP 1919.” It actually became quite iconic.  

Peter gets his own treatment

Though quite simple, it’s also pretty powerful. A critic at the BBC described it quite well saying, “It speaks volumes. Its white on black lines reflect a pulse of power, a surge of bass, and raw angst. If the cover doesn't draw you in, the music will.”

Saville would design some more stuff for Joy Division and pretty much everything for New Order. He also designed the cover for the first group’s Closer, Les Bains Douche, and Preston 28 February 1980, all of which are pretty darn cool as well.

Saville has over 200 credits. Here’s a couple that are fairly well known:

And here's the band (Peter Hook, Ian, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris):

There are some good parodies out there (here’s a whole page dedicated to them):

... and lots and lots of merchandise:

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#78 - Blue: Joni Mitchell (1978)

It’s super simple, but it’s also super effective – and a lot more complex that it looks. I also think it’s very reflective of Joni and of the album.

The designer was Gary Burden, who you’ve seen here before. 

Gary and friend

His goal was to mimic a “ferro cyanotype from the 1880s.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, but it’s a wonderful effect.

I don’t think I mentioned it before, and I don’t think I have any of these as blog posts, but Burden did a ton of stuff for the other guy in that picture. Here are a few of my favorites:

The actual photo was taken by Tim Considine. A former child actor, he was Mike in My Three Sons, as well as Soldier Who Gets Slapped in Patton. Incredibly, this is his only visual credit on discogs.

Equally hard to believe, this is the only album cover that Joni didn’t make herself. Everything else was along the lines of these:

Indeed, she was a very talented person – painter, poet, and musician. She also did a fair amount of covers for her friends:

A couple of critics see her as the greatest female musician of all time. And if you just think of some of her hits – “Clouds,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Woodstock,” “Chelsea Morning” – you’d have to agree. Oh, she’s also won no less than 9 Grammys. I’m pretty sure I had every one of her albums as a teen and 20-something.

The album itself was ranked 30th all-time according to Rolling Stone. As with a lot of Joni’s stuff, it deals primarily with relationships, and is very confessional in nature. 

Indeed, her lovers over the years are quite a hall of fame in themselves – Graham Nash, James Taylor, David Crosby, Leonard Cohen, Jackson Browne, John Guerin, Sam Shepard, Jaco Pastorius … 

Two of my favorite people

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