Albums You Bought Based On Artwork Alone

Iron Maiden first because of the cover. The rest later for both the covers and the contents.

 

Yep, especially in the days of cheap vinyl and mom & pop record stores, I would peruse the local bins and more than once, dropped a selection, for cover art value alone and curiosity, into the stack...

 

half of my collection really, i love odd, sexy or intriguing covers!

 

I have a Pet Shop Boys 12" on my discogs wantlist only because of the cover...

 

Which one?

 

I saw this album in the sales bin and bought it because I suspected it was synthesizer music. Boy was I right! After listening to it, I went back to buy the other YMO album on sale too (Multiplies).
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yell...ellow_Magic_Orchestra_(album)_US_coverart.jpg

 

That's a great album. Worth owning for Tropical Heatwave alone

 

That's how I got One Live Badger, which I still like a lot.

I also bought Tales From Topographic Oceans and Utopia (the 1st album: part because of the wacky cover and in large part because I thought "How the heck can a song be 30:22 long?!?!?")

 

Who among us has bought an album by a band you knew absolutely nothing about, purely because of the cover art, and it turned out to be a great album?

There were two for me.

• Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
• Epitaph - Outside the Law

Sad Wings of Destiny was a brand new release I came across at my local record store. The front cover certainly caught my eye, but it was the live shots of the band on the back that did it for me. I didn't even know they were a heavy metal band, but the pictures made it pretty clear that it wasn't going to be folk rock.

Outside the Law was in the cut-out rack in my college bookstore. Once again, it was the back cover that sealed the deal, a photo negative of the band playing live. Although it was on a small American label, it also had a Bertolt Brecht poem in German on the back, so I thought maybe they're German. Beyond that, I had absolutely no clue what the music might be like. But it seemed worth 3 bucks to find out.

So now, Sad Wings of Destiny is among my favorite heavy metal albums of all time, and Outside the Law is this wonderful (but poorly produced) record by an obscure German band.

Sad Wings of Destiny back cover

Outside the Law back cover

 

Loads of 4AD stuff back in the '80s.

 

yes, a bunch of US Beatles album covers to hang on the wall...
they look great!

 

Plenty.

 

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra Broadcasting From Home

Hard to see it from this image, but Simon Jeffes was credited with playing

Harmonium, Cuatro, Guitar, Electric Guitar, Milkbottles, Triangle, Bass, Violin, Drum, Piano, Linn Drum Computer, Ukelele, Metal Plate, Omnichord, Soloban, Spinet, Dulcitone and Penny Whistles.



...and I thought I have GOT to hear this! It grabbed me from the first track:

 

Isn't that why most people bought the Mom's Apple Pie LP?

 

A few I remember from back in my more impressionable days
Happy Trails
Cheap Thrills
Ogdens Nutgone Flake
A Quick One
Axis Bold as Love

Just needed to see the cover to know that the music inside was going to be good.

 

Owsley. It was a $5 cut-out CD. I knew nothing about him, but I was an instant fan from the first listen.

 

waaay back- 1973 maybe I saw the cover of Herbie Hancock Headhunters and was floored. I had no idea what type of music it was- but it awakened me!!! Still luv to this day!
It took me a while to find a copy of the Heahunters SACD in Surround- finally grabbed a copy from HMV-JPN a couple of months ago.

Chris

 

Certainly. And usually I am disappointed by the music.

 

Who could resist an album cover like that? Just a cow, no band name, no album title.

 

LOL. That's the best thing I've read all day.

For those who may not know:
Mom's Apple Pie

 

Warning: NSFW!!!

 

I bought these ones just because of the cover when I was a teenager. I think I played them just once or twice:

 

And these are some records that I'd buy just because of the cover:

 

Very first Pure Prairie League album. Glad I did too!