Stuff You Never Noticed On Album Covers Until Someone Pointed It Out

In line with the stuff you never noticed before.......

I like when artists put little jokes or the like in their album covers. My favourite is Get Yer Ya Ya's Out where The Stones pay homage to Bob Dylan by hanging jewels and binoculars from the head of a mule.

 

I never noticed the hidden track titles on U2's Zooropa album (my favorite album of theirs). I saw some letters, but hadn't realized they formed actual song titles (Wake Up Dead Man, If You Wear That Velvet Dress, and Hold Me Kill Me...ironically none of which were on the album nor released at that point)

 

I don't get it. ????

 

"Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule,
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel."

 

Those two robed figures (and what they're doing) in the background of Hall and Oates' "Beauty on a Backstreet" cover.

And, until it was pointed out to me recently, those (formerly) nonsensical red squibbly lines on the Police' "Ghost In The Machine" album cover represents the faces of Stewart, Andy, and Sting.
I thought it was the 'ghost' screwing with the digital readout of a clock radio (the machine).
Honest!

 

All those little figures with star shaped heads throughout Elton John's Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy. I think we were buzzed at the time and it was quite a revelation how many there were....

On James Gang's Yer Album, the inside of the gatefold has an extensive acid influenced pen & ink work. Theres a little gnome or something reading a newspaper that has 'article' titled 'Keep A Tight A**hole.' Then theres the hanging phallic symbols.

 

Isn't there a cloud on the cover art for the Grateful Dead's "Wake of the Flood" that when viewed at an oblique angle is actually a skull?
I think most Deadheads thought it looked like a joint...

 

I found this interesting site: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/monocle/look_closer__visual_tricks_and_hidden_images_in_album_covers

Never noticed the Santana and Fleetwood Mac references.

 

The Beatles had some "hidden clues" on their album covers (probably many more than the few that I realize).... For example, because of the rumors of Paul McCartney's death in a car crash, the yellow flowers that form the shape of a guitar on Sgt Pepper's album, if one looks closely, it appears to say "PAUL?" Of course, there's Abbey Road, where the license plate on the VW bug has a clue to Paul's age "if he were still alive". (as I recall, didn't it say "28 IF"?. or something like that).... Those are the only ones that I can think of right away.....

 

It took me a LONG time to spot the "witch" on the front cover of the "Mirage" album by Fleetwood Mac.

 

Totally missed what was going on on that "Who's Next" cover.

 

Me too, until just a few years ago..... it's not very obvious, even when you look really closely.

 

Holy crap! How is it possible I didn't see that until I read your post?

It's definitely a skull, BTW...

 

Ummm, huh? It's not very obvious?

Maybe not to you...

BTW, all of my friends and I certainly saw it right away, within seconds of seeing the album cover. Maybe seeing the cover in reduced size on the CD can account for it not being obvious?

 

How many people noticed the picture of Klaus Voorman on the cover of Revolver when you first got it?

 

I didn't notice it right away, but then again I was like, 10, and really had no idea who Klaus was at that time...

 

Some of the band couldn't "perform" so rain water was collected in an empty film cannister. A new sky was added later.

TheOx

 

Yeah, I heard about that one (can't remember if it was mentioned on radio, or perhaps one of those biography stories on The Who). Of course, there's more information about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who's_Next

 

Someone knows his Dylan.

 

Haha, man... me too, until about two minute ago. I guess I never really looked at it closely!

 

Yeah, I never really noticed anything special about the Santana cover until my dad pointed it out to me. Now I can't believe I missed it. It's absolutely brilliant.

 

Regarding the Santana cover, if you didn't spot the faces at the top then you probably haven't realised that the whole of the bottom half is a woman,complete with head, body with folded arms, skirt and legs.

 

So, how many faces are there, altogether?

I count nine, including the lion and arm-folding woman.

 

I didn't realise it was Mick on The Rolling Stones' "Tattoo You" cover (thought it was a girl). Yeah, I know...

 

I think it was an old thread on this forum where this was pointed out to me, but on the official Basement Tapes album, everyone in the cover photo other than Dylan is actually a life-sized cardboard cutout figure.