DAVID BOWIE - Space Oddity & The Man Who Sold The World. The US RCA covers are both faaarrrrrr SUPERIOR to the original Mercury UKs. Not only superior, but the RCA covers are both PERFECT for the material within. Most especially The Man Who Sold The World in "Black" with the b&w cool kicking shot of Bowie on the cover! The material is dark yet cool and modern. And that black cover with Bowie and the sparkle font "defines" the LP! And SPACE ODDITY is way better on RCA as well. Way better! Both Ziggy era shots, and both perfect! Space Oddity works so well, b/c "Major Tom" is an intelligent yet wired out, emotionally confused character. And that alien, Ziggy era head shot for the cover sort of naturally becomes Major Tom. Then you e got the cool, futuristic FONT as well. And man, that way cool back cover shot of Bowie in the spacy outfit, loosely sitting on the chair in his son Zowie's bedroom. This whole cover and back cover art on RCA is brilliant and perfect! And both of the RCA versions came with the cover art posters, and color-centric lyric sleeves as well.
Grant, the bottom AC/DC High Voltage cover is excellent! Forget the top one. But that orange bottom cover with the dog lifting it's leg is fantastic! ⚡
Absolutely right! Both of these covers for Let There Be Rock are fantastic! Both the original Albert and the ATCO covers are brilliant, and they both speak to the content within perfectly! Marc ⚡
I guess “Sabotage” by Black Sabbath was so perfectly bad that they never put out an alternate cover? Grant, you kept saying you were scraping the bottom of the barrel, scrambling to find examples, etc., but I think you had a lot of good ones.
Amazing episode! One of my favorites ever. LOL! Great comments from all the panelists. You guys should be comedians too. Interesting finds all! Thanks for sharing and providing us with such good entertainment.
You do realise, folks, that the original QOTSA cover is only shown half? The whole bottom part is missing - it's a foldout. Classic 60/70's pulp material.
Great, fun show. That Elton John album cover of Empty Sky reminded me of the 1983 cover for The Best of The Alan Parsons Project.This was very difficult. Every time I thought of one it ended up being mentioned. The only ones I can now think of are Gentle Giant's Three Friends, Gong's The Flying Teapot, Saga's World's Apart and Renaissance Novella.
The rat on the MJ cover is there because the song is in the 1972 movie "Ben". It's a lower budget horror film about a boy and his relationship with a violen rat. Explains the cover which is pretty bad though.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading that the black model in the panties on the QOTSA album is not a biological woman. That being said, the album cover never really bothered me. It fits the grimy desert rock vibe.
I do too. Both great. But I will say that I far prefer the US cover. Not only due to it being cooler, but when you're a kid, even the colors of the cover stick to your rock n roll ribs. Any time I hear songs from this album, I think "BLUE" And this sort of more personal aspect goes the same way for those who had the UK, I'm sure.
@@CathyLahn yeah I’ve got the UK and US pressings and I love em both. I think it was very creative and ahead of its time. And it just fits the Stones’ attitude.
Uriah Heep Salisbury. I would imagine the reason for the tank design is that Salisbury in the south west England has an area called Salisbury Plain where the British army train
That Fabulous Beach Boys cover Grant featured is a budget Australian repress of Pet Sounds on the music for pleasure label. One I would add also would be Stevie Wright - Hard Road had 2 alternative covers, both a North America and European ones respectively and both such compared to the original Australian Alberts one.
LOL, I never saw that version of Relics with the mask before. There is a version from the early 2000s that is a physical model of the quirky machine that appeared in the original pencil drawing, against a blue background. I think that version actually looks quite cool.
Agreed on the Virgin Killer albums. I got the US cover when it first came out & while I loved the music it never occurred to me that there was a cover like the original until I saw it in an import bin.
FAO the Contrarians panel: I hope next week you are doing Two Different Album Covers...One Good, One Bad! Especially in the 60s it seems that the UK covers were generally better that the US ones (as a Brit I'm somewhat biased though). Also, not sure if you've already done this, but what about albums where the UK and US versions have different track-listings and one sequence of songs works better as a unified album than the other?
How old are you, Aussie guy? Peter, is it? I ask because some of your choices are totally non connected to purchasing these albums in the 70s. If you are as old as you look, then you'd realize that the Empty Sky (US Sphinx), the Diamantina Cocktail (bottom US..I understand that they're from Oz) and both of the RCA David Bowie covers are great. Most especially for the RCA Bowies, which both perfectly define the music within! And both have killer back covers as well. The original Mercury UK covers are both lame. But the US RCAs completely FIX that problem.
Those 2 MAGAZINE album covers look like they are mail orders you get from Readers Digest... :) That XTC album with the text can be a doppelganger to Alice Cooper's Zipper Catches Skin! :) I also loved the Dokken Tooth and Nail cassette album cover... I NEVER liked the one with the claw coming out of the water... Didnt the Dokken Breaking the Chains have THREE covers? The first one had Don Dokken chained to a wall or post?
Megadeth Risk. It's not a good album, granted, but the original didn't bear the recognizable Megadeth logo. I feel Dave made a mistake in recasting that with the more familiar logo.
Was never a big fan of the first covers of The art of self defense by High on Fire. The one with the statue had very dark or strange colors and i found the hawk cover just ugly. Do like the latest one with the templar.
Both Blind Faith album covers are bad: the UK version of the pre-pubescent girl because it's really inappropriate and the US version (a band shot) because its so dull.
Sorry Martin, but the U.S. cover for "Are You Experienced" is a classic - yes, it's dated but it fits the music & time and still looks cool
It is one of the reasons I got into Hendrix as a kid. Looks awesome!
@@channelsurfer3710 Wow. It was your destiny!
I concur. Its a killer cover.
Those Aftermath covers are cool, also it was the first Stones album to have all originals.
DAVID BOWIE - Space Oddity & The Man Who Sold The World.
The US RCA covers are both faaarrrrrr SUPERIOR to the original Mercury UKs.
Not only superior, but the RCA covers are both PERFECT for the material within. Most especially The Man Who Sold The World in "Black" with the b&w cool kicking shot of Bowie on the cover! The material is dark yet cool and modern. And that black cover with Bowie and the sparkle font "defines" the LP!
And SPACE ODDITY is way better on RCA as well. Way better! Both Ziggy era shots, and both perfect! Space Oddity works so well, b/c "Major Tom" is an intelligent yet wired out, emotionally confused character. And that alien, Ziggy era head shot for the cover sort of naturally becomes Major Tom. Then you e got the cool, futuristic FONT as well. And man, that way cool back cover shot of Bowie in the spacy outfit, loosely sitting on the chair in his son Zowie's bedroom. This whole cover and back cover art on RCA is brilliant and perfect!
And both of the RCA versions came with the cover art posters, and color-centric lyric sleeves as well.
What came up to my mind was Point of entry by Judas Priest
I dig both QOTSA covers.
I like how Martin pronounces boogie. BEWGIE.
Fates Warning: Night On Bröcken now there's a pencil case art for you😂!
Grant, the bottom AC/DC High Voltage cover is excellent!
Forget the top one. But that orange bottom cover with the dog lifting it's leg is fantastic!
⚡
Sorry Martin, both
Let there be Rock covers are fantastic.!
The shot of Angus on stage is iconic.
Absolutely right! Both of these covers for Let There Be Rock are fantastic! Both the original Albert and the ATCO covers are brilliant, and they both speak to the content within perfectly!
Marc
⚡
I guess “Sabotage” by Black Sabbath was so perfectly bad that they never put out an alternate cover?
Grant, you kept saying you were scraping the bottom of the barrel, scrambling to find examples, etc., but I think you had a lot of good ones.
Amazing episode! One of my favorites ever. LOL! Great comments from all the panelists. You guys should be comedians too. Interesting finds all! Thanks for sharing and providing us with such good entertainment.
You do realise, folks, that the original QOTSA cover is only shown half? The whole bottom part is missing - it's a foldout. Classic 60/70's pulp material.
Great, fun show. That Elton John album cover of Empty Sky reminded me of the 1983 cover for The Best of The Alan Parsons Project.This was very difficult. Every time I thought of one it ended up being mentioned. The only ones I can now think of are Gentle Giant's Three Friends, Gong's The Flying Teapot, Saga's World's Apart and Renaissance Novella.
The rat on the MJ cover is there because the song is in the 1972 movie "Ben". It's a lower budget horror film about a boy and his relationship with a violen rat. Explains the cover which is pretty bad though.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading that the black model in the panties on the QOTSA album is not a biological woman. That being said, the album cover never really bothered me. It fits the grimy desert rock vibe.
I love the Aftermath album covers! Very cool for its time and it’s very rock n roll. Love it
I do too. Both great. But I will say that I far prefer the US cover.
Not only due to it being cooler, but when you're a kid, even the colors of the cover stick to your rock n roll ribs. Any time I hear songs from this album, I think "BLUE"
And this sort of more personal aspect goes the same way for those who had the UK, I'm sure.
@@CathyLahn yeah I’ve got the UK and US pressings and I love em both.
I think it was very creative and ahead of its time. And it just fits the Stones’ attitude.
Definitely one of your best episodes. Really interesting. 👍
Uriah Heep Salisbury. I would imagine the reason for the tank design is that Salisbury in the south west England has an area called Salisbury Plain where the British army train
That Fabulous Beach Boys cover Grant featured is a budget Australian repress of Pet Sounds on the music for pleasure label.
One I would add also would be Stevie Wright - Hard Road had 2 alternative covers, both a North America and European ones respectively and both such compared to the original Australian Alberts one.
Most tasteful covers with women on them were Roxy Music covers. Too much nudity is just overdoing it.
Agreed and also Chic's first album which looks like the same person designed it!
LOL, I never saw that version of Relics with the mask before. There is a version from the early 2000s that is a physical model of the quirky machine that appeared in the original pencil drawing, against a blue background. I think that version actually looks quite cool.
Agreed on the Virgin Killer albums. I got the US cover when it first came out & while I loved the music it never occurred to me that there was a cover like the original until I saw it in an import bin.
One of my favorite shows of yours! Some crazy cover variations!
Aftermath was the first Stones album to not have ANY cover songs.
What about an album cover that would perfectly fit another album from a different band?
Never understood the hatred for the Dirty Deeds cover, the Hipgnosis one.
Michael Jackson's Ben covers were foreshadowing his Bad album 😉
FAO the Contrarians panel: I hope next week you are doing Two Different Album Covers...One Good, One Bad! Especially in the 60s it seems that the UK covers were generally better that the US ones (as a Brit I'm somewhat biased though). Also, not sure if you've already done this, but what about albums where the UK and US versions have different track-listings and one sequence of songs works better as a unified album than the other?
The Montrose debut was released as Rock The Nation in Germany. Neither cover is any good.
How old are you, Aussie guy? Peter, is it?
I ask because some of your choices are totally non connected to purchasing these albums in the 70s.
If you are as old as you look, then you'd realize that the Empty Sky (US Sphinx), the Diamantina Cocktail (bottom US..I understand that they're from Oz) and both of the RCA David Bowie covers are great.
Most especially for the RCA Bowies, which both perfectly define the music within! And both have killer back covers as well. The original Mercury UK covers are both lame. But the US RCAs completely FIX that problem.
Those 2 MAGAZINE album covers look like they are mail orders you get from Readers Digest... :) That XTC album with the text can be a doppelganger to Alice Cooper's Zipper Catches Skin! :) I also loved the Dokken Tooth and Nail cassette album cover... I NEVER liked the one with the claw coming out of the water... Didnt the Dokken Breaking the Chains have THREE covers? The first one had Don Dokken chained to a wall or post?
There is also an alternate Highway To Hell cover which is weird and bad.
The cover for the Motors album Approved by the Motors was changed because they were deemed too ugly. The replacement cover was rubbish as well.
Great show
I like both Dirty Deeds covers, but yeah they are both weird and bad. Both Let There Be Rock covers are cool.
Martin with the Ivan Rebroff reference! Whoa! Also, about 95% of Hypgnosis covers suck, in my opinion. I've never liked most of their work.
Moms Apple Pie ...both covers....but some might think they are great.
Great topic !!
Megadeth Risk. It's not a good album, granted, but the original didn't bear the recognizable Megadeth logo. I feel Dave made a mistake in recasting that with the more familiar logo.
Love the move! Good pick!
Was never a big fan of the first covers of The art of self defense by High on Fire. The one with the statue had very dark or strange colors and i found the hawk cover just ugly.
Do like the latest one with the templar.
I prefer the one with the hawk, but you're right it's not great. They definitely got the art fixed on Surrounded by Thieves and Blessed Black Wings.
@@proggydoggie indeed. All other covers are great.
Scorpions -- Virgin Killer is an obvious choice.
Both Blind Faith album covers are bad: the UK version of the pre-pubescent girl because it's really inappropriate and the US version (a band shot) because its so dull.
What idiot said Creatures of the Night?? The original cover is amazing
I agree w/Jamie, those 60 covers from the Stones & the Who are boring, (in my opinion).
Embarrassing waste of time by " professional journalists ". Just another grift , those who can't run down the work of those who can.
It is a group of people expressing opinions. Are you threatened by that?
It’s just a bit of fun and its not a “journalist” video its music fans for music fans. It’s all totally subjective.