I used to rotate the album cover constantly while listening to the album. They were perfect together.
The Beatles had Blake, Yes had Dean, Floyd had Hipgnosis and The Moody Blues had Travers. All were bloody marvelous.
The inner gatefold of Children's Children's Children is one of my all-time favorites. Looking at it now, I think it may be one of the earliest depictions of a "man cave" . And, what's the deal with that creature/thing in the lower right corner?
I would say the artwork was great from In Search of the Lost Chord up through Seventh Sojourn. The cover on Days of Future Passed just looks sort of fashionably psychedelic to me, and not in a good way. Octave's cover was okay but a bit ordinary. Then Long Distance Voyager had a great cover, but great in a completely different way from their earlier records. Unfortunately that was their last really great cover.
I remember when Devo first came out, and how fascinated I was with their artwork and assorted bizarre imagery. I used to stare at their 2nd album over and over because it was all so odd, and their whole aesthetic really drew me in. I remember my brother coming in to my room and asked me once “Are you still looking at that thing?”
I think it's meant to be a dinosaur. Remember the album's concept is about past and future and about what we bequeath to those who come after, with a little bit of space and time-travel thrown in. They are in a cave (cavemen) and the sun and scenery outside look reddish and unfamiliar, so possibly in the distant past when the sun was much hotter (yes that's right much hotter). Their fire is made frm twigs though there is also an electric lamp and maybe some proto-computer on the right - again the mix of distant past and future. I imagine Dino is a pet rather than the work of a taxidermist. After all The Flintsones were very popular at the time.
Everyone makes very good arguments defending the Moodies’ covers. And I can’t argue that they created a definitive identity. But i still find them a bit amateurish. And i still think it has a part to play in why the band has had some degree of difficulty being taken seriously. I love the band’s core 7! Yet somehow they’re rarely in the conversation of great bands of that era.
It’s a nice concept but it’s too phony. The scene outside looks like a low budget sci-fi movie backdrop. And the dog? Ouch.
To me, the Moody Blues' album covers mirror their musical evolution.From Days of Future Passed to Long Distance Voyager inclusive, they are evocative of something out of a dream. It might be just because I am so used to them, but I honestly cannot imagine those albums with covers by anyone else, not even Roger Dean and definitely not Hipgnosis. The exception is Octave, which is not terrible but ordinary, like the album. After The Present, whose cover I was disappointed to learn is a slight reworking of an existing painting, the covers progressively descend into abstract art that is not evocative of anything in particular, except perhaps lack of artistic focus.
Actually the first album has five faces if you look closely one for each band member. I think you are referring to Days of Future Passed, their second album.
Oh, brother. Amateurish. Good grief. The album covers were and are art. As such they not only were above most every other cover art out there, they did it consistently.
