#65 - Bat out of Hell: Meatloaf (1977)

Not a huge Meatloaf fan. That said, this is one great cover, and makes it onto many greatest album cover lists. I’d probably have it much higher if I was more of a heavy metal kind of guy.

The cover was designed by Richard Corben, a well-known comic artist, especially for his work in Heavy Metal magazine.

He did seven other covers, of much the same genre but not as cool as #65:

This was actually Meat Loaf’s first album. Subsequent ones would play on it, both in the title (Bat out of Hell II, Bat out of Hell III, Hell in a Handbasket, Heaven and Hell, Hits out of Hell …) and the cover art:

Though that last one looks positively Aryan

Some interesting trivia about Mr. Loaf: 

• His birth name was Marvin Lee Aday
• He is very popular in the UK
• He’s a decent actor and appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fight Club, Hair (on Broadway), and numerous TV shows
• He’s a Republican supporter
• The nickname came from a high school football coach

Here's a shot of Meat and a friend:

He’s the one on the right

An homage and a few parodies:

<#66                    #64>

#66 - Go Jungle!: Bow Wow Wow (1981)

Whoa! Someone studied some art history.

In particular, that someone was photographer Andy Earl. And just in case, your art history is a little rusty, what he did was recreate Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) with the members of the band.

Now, he’s not the only one who has attempted something like that. In fact, Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Botero, Max Ernst, and Neon Park have all tried their hand. I think the Star Wars one, though, is my fave.

Earl’s version was not without some controversy. In particular, the nude on the left, the band’s singer, Annabella Lwin, just so happened to be all of 14 at the time. Her mum would, in fact, ask Scotland Yard to begin an investigation. And those prudish Yanks would get a totally different cover.

Andy Earl specialized in celebs, rock stars, architecture, and panoramic vistas. He also had over 150  album credits, mostly for inside or back cover band photos though. In fact, he only has 16 covers listed. He also did several music videos as well.

Here are a couple of covers I know are his:

Bow Wow Wow was a new wave band created by impresario Malcom MacClaren, primarily from former band members of Adam and the Ants. I was never a fan, so allow me to let Wikipedia describe them for me: “[The band] was characterized by a danceable new wave sound that drew on a Burundi beat provided by Dave Barbarossa on drums, as well as the suggestive lyrics squealed into the mic by their teenage lead vocalist.”

This particular album, their first, went by the rather unusual title of See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! (usually shortened to See Jungle!). “Go Wild in the Country” was its only real hit.

Interestingly, SJSJGJYGYCAOGAC was the band’s only album cover worth sharing, by far. A number of the rest did, though, manage to exploit the teenaged singer in a similar fashion.

BWW was Drummer David Barbarossa, Annabella, bassist Leigh Gorman, guitarist Matthew Ashman:

And are not to be confused with Bow Wow:

I did find one priceless parody out there:

And that's from a priceless collection by the extremely clever Peter Routley. 

<#67                    #65>

#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:

<#68                    #66>

#68 - 1984: Van Halen (1984)

Not a fan of the band, but that is a great cover.

It was done by Margo Nahas, who was commissioned to do “four chrome women dancing,” but found it too hard.

My guess is that the band might have seen this one and wanted something similar:

Instead, the band picked something from her existing portfolio. It’s actually based on a cute pic of one of Margo’s friend’s kids.

Margo did 12 other covers, mostly for more obscure bands like the above Autograph. She did, however, do ones for Seals & Croft, Toto, and Rick James.

These days, Margo is into jewelry. 

This album (officially “MCMLXXXIV,” but usually referred to as “1984”) was the last one they did with David Lee Roth, was their first best-selling album, and includes their only #1 hit, “Jump.” It’s also pretty famous for their very popular “Hot for Teacher” video.

That's Playboy Playmate Lillian Muller, 

by the way

As for the band? I guess you could call them good old-fashioned rock n roll, with a little glam and a little hair. Like I say, though, just not a big fan.

There are a couple other Van Halen covers I like, two of which emphasize the retro Art Deco look … and then there’s Van Halen III:

The band was, in order, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony 

... or, as I’ve always thought of them: Nastasia Kinski, Susan Boyle, Valerie Bertinelli, and Ted Bundy.

Couple of homages (though neither from anyone I’ve ever heard of):

<#69                    #67>