Album covers with no name or unreadable titles

So after two pages of a lot of genuinely great sleeves (and to be fair, a handful of clunkers), it seems clear to me that no, you don't need to have the band name or album title on the front.

If anything, decades of crate digging suggests to me that I'm if anything more likely to pick up an LP with a striking, info-light cover design.

 

I came across the CD edition in a junk shop maybe 20 years ago. I only figured what it was because the CD has "All songs published by Controversy Music" printed on it and I recognized one of the song titles and the use of 2, 4, and R for the full words.

 

True story: I saw this CD in a consignment shop several years back (when Prince was still alive and sellers weren’t price gouging his catalogue). It was priced $2.99, as all the CDs there were. Typically when I see used Prince, especially a harder to find title, I grab it immediately. But I really didn’t need this one, and I was guessing not many people would be able to identify it with no title or identifiable artwork. Or if they could, would they even want it? I wondered. This store had long plastic holders over the CD case for browsing and security, so with the Black Album, even if it had a title on the spine, it would be nearly impossible to read. This CD was a buried treasure that was going to stay buried due to the peculiar circumstances, I figured. So I would check back regularly and see it still there, unwanted (and most likely unidentified). After 2 months of this game, it was finally marked down (consignment store policy). I scooped it up for a cool 40 cents.

 

This is what first came to mind for me:
Ministry ‎– ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ

 

I will admit a fondness for covers without band name or title. It allows the cover to stand on its own without distractions. Many are iconic and striking.

 

This Mortal Coil - Blood

 

Cold Play - Head Full Of Dreams

 

The Beatles Again/Hey Jude - The Beatles

 

Issued in UK April 1964.

 

I think Marlene got there first:



1954 to be precise....

 

New York, London, Paris, Munich by M.

The title only appears on the spine and the label.

 

I gotta get this album one of these days!

 

Come to think of it, Pink Floyd didn't put their name or album titles on the front covers of any of their '70s albums, at least not the original releases.

 

amazing no one said this one yet haha- The Doors Strange Days ?

 

Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking

 

Name of the band and album are on a poster behind the strong man.

 

Whitehouse, Dedicated To Peter Kurten, Sadist And Mass Slayer:


Come, I'm Jack:


Whitehouse, Buchenwald:

 

And in the "difficult to read" category:



Also a contender for the "barely concealed phallic imagery" list.

 

The first Sigur Ros album, Agaetis Byrjun.
The funny things is that the song titles are not completely readable too:

 

The Story Behind The Album Art: In The Court of the Crimson King, by King Crimson

 

There's a quote from Brett Anderson at the beginning of the BBC Omnibus documentary about Pink Floyd where he says (paraphrasing) "They were incredibly obscure. They sold more albums than anyone else in history, or something ridiculous like that, but if you saw them walking down the street you wouldn't have a ****ing clue who they were."

 

Bad Religion, Against the Grain (1990)

 

Didn't Pink Floyd want to release Wish You Were Here in just the black shrink wrap but were persuaded to have the famous robot hand shaking sticker attached?