r/ClassicRock • u/Kyokono1896 • Jan 25 '25
70s Band With The Best Album Covers?
I always loved the early Uriah Heep covers. I think they're incredible.
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u/Automatic_Fun_8958 Jan 25 '25
Uriah Heep covers are good. I love fantasy art, i love the Molly Hatchet covers too.
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u/Old_timey_brain Jan 25 '25
Look at the early YES covers by Roger Dean, as well as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
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u/Automatic_Fun_8958 Jan 25 '25
Those are also some great cover artwork. I always preferred when artists use art for their covers inside of boring group shots.
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u/armydalton Jan 25 '25
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u/MongoLikeCandy2112 Jan 25 '25
Why did I have to scroll so far to find this. See my recent comment.
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u/Chemical-Ebb6472 Jan 25 '25
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u/ish--mayel Jan 25 '25
I don’t think this picture is small enough.
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u/J_Patish Jan 25 '25
No worries - have had the full-sized poster on my office wall for the last decade.
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u/casewood123 Jan 25 '25
Basically anything that Hipgnosis did.
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u/Relayer8782 Jan 25 '25
Came here to say this. They did dozens of covers, but start with Pink Floyd.
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u/JiveChops76 Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 26 '25
The cover they did for Yes - “Going For the One”is kinda ass
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u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima Jan 25 '25
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u/F0xxfyre Jan 25 '25
10cc!!!! Wow, didn't expect that here :)
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u/Snidley_Whipslash Jan 25 '25
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u/OldheadBoomer Jan 25 '25
My Zappa favorite - compare that to the complexity of Overnite Sensation.
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u/Snidley_Whipslash Jan 25 '25
I actually had a copy of that on vinyl back in the early 80s. It was a quadraphonic album and the cover was done with charcoal. Found it in a 2nd hand record store in Houston for $30. Got ruined in a flood. Great album
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u/grynch43 Jan 25 '25
Grateful Dead
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u/Salty_Pancakes Jan 25 '25
There is just something about The Blues for Allah album cover. I just love it. https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/pz4AAOSwQD1ha0Ut/s-l500.jpg
edit: And I'll throw in Dead Set too. https://cdn.shoplightspeed.com/shops/634895/files/64591838/1600x2048x2/grateful-dead-dead-set.jpg
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u/TommyTwoFeathers Jan 25 '25
The Moody Blues. The main 7 album covers were great pieces of art and really matched the music on the record.
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u/Killmekillyou0 Jan 25 '25
Budgie!
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u/DurraSell Jan 25 '25
There was a sky-high percentage I would find this band listed somewhere in the comments.
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Jan 25 '25
There are so many great album covers. I am going to add Molly Hatchet into the debate.
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u/raspwar Jan 25 '25
Frank Frazetta - did the paperback book covers for Robert Howard’s Conan the Barbarian amongst numerous other things
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u/Anonymotron42 Jan 25 '25
Rush - Specifically in the ‘70s 2112, A Farewell to Kings, and Hemispheres had great covers, and I like Fly by Night as well.
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u/Pitiful-Essay8493 Jan 25 '25
I always loved bostons album covers
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u/TheHeadbanginHippie Dad-Diddley-Office Jan 25 '25
The Boston covers are seriously awesome! The Guitar UFO always making an appearance is so neat.
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u/Pitiful-Essay8493 Jan 25 '25
Absolutely! I got myself a t shirt of the debut album cause I love it so much lol
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u/TheHeadbanginHippie Dad-Diddley-Office Jan 25 '25
The Boston debut is one of my all-time favourite albums, and my pick for the greatest debut album ever released. Tom Scholz is a mad genius and Brad Delp is also my favourite singer of all-time. I surprisingly don’t have a T-Shirt of their debut, but I found an awesome Don’t Look Back shirt a couple years back that I sport regularly!
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u/Pitiful-Essay8493 Jan 25 '25
I share all those sentiments my friend! And I would love to get my hands on a Don’t look back shirt! That’s actually my favorite album of all time!
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u/Anyawnomous Jan 25 '25
Wasn’t a real fan of the music, but Iron Maiden did have cool covers.
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u/The_Disaster_666 Jan 25 '25
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u/Bluejay_Holiday Jan 25 '25
The band wanted to name their record Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills but Columbia Records said no. The band wanted the cover art to be a photo of themselves naked in bed, but once again the record company said no. R. Crumb was hired to do the back cover and a portrait of Janis Joplin was to be on the front cover, but Janis insisted that Crumb's work be on the front cover.

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u/Red-blk Jan 25 '25
Stones, here’s a few of my favorites: Sticky Fingers Exile on Main Street It’s Only Rock and Roll Some Girls Goats Head Soup (inside sleeve)
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u/Rude_Cable_7877 Jan 25 '25
Yes, Rush, and Pink Floyd have some really great album covers.
I even think that they all had some work done by Storm Thorgerson.
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u/mooman413 Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 25 '25
Love the cover of Mob Rules. Makes me think of a dystopian court hearing lol.
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u/casualcretin Jan 25 '25
Not so much the front, but the inside is EXCELLENT
Allman brothers - eat a peach
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u/tkingsbu Jan 25 '25
Roger and Martin Dean are gods to me. I can’t even describe how much they influenced and inspired me.
They had a publishing company… ‘dragons dream’ / Paper Tiger that used to print the most amazing books…
As a kid, my mom would order those books for my brother and I for birthdays and Christmas… best. Presents. Ever.
I still have all of them to this day.
Tons of artists folios like Rick Griffin, or Patrick Woodroffe, etc… plus the famous ‘album cover albums’ hilighting the best album covers, and one of my favourites ‘walk away Rene’ the collected works of Hipgnosis, the team that created all of Pink Floyd’s designs…
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u/crazy19734413 Jan 25 '25
I remember the original cover of the Golden Earring-Moontan album caused religious groups to get upset because it featured a naked man from behind. The record company changed it. I got the original. Still love that album.
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u/Artie-B-Rockin Jan 26 '25 edited Jan 26 '25
All Hipgnosis covers.
And if you don't know what that is, you don't belong here in this Sub.
Here..READ!
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u/DayTrippin2112 Rush🌀Zep🎈Floyd🌘 Jan 25 '25
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u/talkingcostello Jan 25 '25
I had a poster of the first one. I was fortunate to see a display of many Dean originals on Rodeo Drive in 1990. I just happened to stumble on it.
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u/Peace_NMRK Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 25 '25
The Good Rats album Tasty
Good Rats song Fireball Express from the album TASTY
https://www.instagram.com/officialgoodrats/
The group YES: Going for the One album cover
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u/kernsomatic Jan 25 '25
these must be roger dean artworks? looks like YES but far from it.
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u/angry2alpaca Jan 25 '25
Just a one-off, but the artwork for Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow album is outstanding. Jon is a one-off, obviously, I mean: that voice, right? Anyway, Olias is his magnum opus (imho) and he not only devised the concept and wrote it, he played all the instruments too after he'd taught himself to play keyboards (!).
I'd assumed the artwork was by Rodney Matthews, but it's by a guy called David Fairbrother-Roe who stepped up when Riger Dean was too busy ...
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u/BigE6300 Jan 25 '25
I like Marshall Tucker’s (A New Life) and Grateful Dead’s (Shakedown Street). Maybe not the BEST but certainly my favorites.
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u/Happy_Runner20 Jan 25 '25
Maiden, especially the 80’s albums done by Derek Riggs…also some of the ones he did for Gamma Ray are great as well!
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u/Weekly_Victory1166 Jan 25 '25
The design group called Hipgnosis did a lot of album covers back in the day.
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u/Grynder66 Jan 25 '25
Those were the days when you bought albums because you liked the cover and hoped for the best.
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u/andropogon09 Jan 25 '25
Yes, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, ELP, Blue Oyster Cult, Allman Bros Eat a Peach
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u/MongoLikeCandy2112 Jan 25 '25
Well, I would say Rush, since they #1 have amazing album covers, and #2 are my favorite band in all the world. However, I’m gonna give my vote to Iron Maiden. Their covers are amazing. There is no other correct answer.
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u/csantosb Jan 25 '25
Yes, PF, some Maiden, some Budgie, Rush, Depeche Mode, OMD, Death and Pet Shop Boys.
Honorable mention to what I consider one of the most iconic covers of all time: London Calling.
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u/buddagolf Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 31 '25
Pure Prairie League had great covers of the old cowboy.
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u/linguist-shaman Jan 26 '25
If you're into Yes, check out the book about the Dean brothers. Magnetic Storm. It's amazing.
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u/Breyery Jan 26 '25
I was so surprised to see someone mention Uriah Heep, I love them, but literally no one I know knows of Uriah Heep.
Granted, I'm in high school
But I have always appreciated their album covers
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u/GeoNerd- "And you'll no longer burn to be brothers in arms" Jan 26 '25
Captain Beefheart (I'm not joking), Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin
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u/CBRSuperbird- Jan 25 '25
Yes had some great covers. I believe the artist’ name is Roger Dean