10 Album Covers From the 70's That Should Be Hanging On Your Wall

You just cut an album. Its fantastic, but your work is not over. Perhaps one of the most important parts of the project still remains: The Album Cover.

Streaming services and digital downloads may have rendered the art of the album cover obsolete. And although vinyl sales have had an upturn in the last few years, the importance of a badass album cover will never be what it once was. Pity. Holding physical music and its packaging in your hands is part of the whole experience. Its part of the fun.

Step One: Place record on turntable and hit the play button.

Step Two: Read liner notes and stare at album cover.

Step Three: Flip record and go back to step one.

Thinking back to some of the most mesmerizing album covers of the 1970s, its hard to pick an elite list of art, and artists, that held our gaze the longest. But, lets try anyway. For the sake of this list, lets stick to original artists paintings or sketches and not photography. Thats another art form altogether.

Bat Out of Hell, Meatloaf (1977)

A guy that looks like Tarzan bursts out of Hell on a motorcycle, shooting out of the earth with explosive force in the middle of a graveyardwell, yes please. Richard Corben, who also contributed artwork to Heavy Metal magazine, is the artist behind the pen on this rock classic. His connection to the heavy metal genre makes sense. Heavy Metal album covers, in general, probably contain the most impressive artwork in all of music. Its what they do. Bat Out of Hell is a certified diamond record, those dont happen very often. Makes you wonder how many have been purchased simply to hang as art?

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John (1975)

Although a multi-platinum record, John stated in a 2006 interview with Cameron Crowe that the album wasnt a commercial success. The release, which is an autobiographical musical of sorts, scored only one hit, Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Elton John considers the record his finest; that says something. As for the album cover itself, its got a lot going on. There is a menagerie of fantastic looking creatures surrounding a tuxedo-wearing Elton atop a piano appearing to take flight. If you smoked a bowl and stared at the cover art, you could fill your afternoon schedule. Pop artist Alan Aldridge designed the cover art inspired by the Medieval painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. The best part about buying this issue was that it included a poster of the album cover in its packaging! How cool is that?

One Nation Under A Groove, Funkadelic (1978)

The artwork of Pedro Bell is wrapped all around this release, literally. The front and back covers, as well as the inner sleeve, is teeming with his masterful use of color, design, and, for lack of a better word, groove. Bell features black superheroes planting a R & B flag Iwo Jima style and another telling us we should be gettin down for the funk of it! His artwork connected and gave a voice to the African-American culture of the 1970s. Just owning this album made you a couple notches cooler, as it should. It is without question one of the finest funk albums of all time. If you dont own a copy, go get one.

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, Devo (1978)

Back when this album was released, few knew what to make of it. Today, its appreciated for what it is, or tried to be: a jolt to the system. Both Brian Eno and David Bowie were involved in producing Devos debut album. Hows that for star power?

The story behind the cover art is as unusual as Devos Music. The cover art was illustrated by Joe Heiner and was based on a picture of professional golfer Chi-Chi Rodriguez. By the time the band got permission to use his image on the album, the record companys art department had already redesigned the picture so that it morphed the faces presidents of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, AND the original Chi-Chi image. That said, now that you know all that, its only Chi-Chis face that is recognizable in any way. But, the face is also something more. Its the Mona Lisa of album covers. Stare away at the face on the album. Hang it in The Louvre and charge admission. Its captivating in some intangible way.

Boston (self-titled) (1976)

Bostons first album not only features stare-worthy art, but launched the theme that would carry over to all of Bostons future releases, even to albums most dont know exist and their greatest hits collection. Tom Scholz original concept of a city encased in a guitar shaped spaceship escaping an exploding Earth was brought to life by three separate artists, including one just for the iconic lettering of Boston. Paula Scher, who was the main artist involved in the project, thought Scholz idea was idiotic. What!? Teenagers all over America would gaze at this square foot of fantasy and imagine an entire cityscape scooped up off the face of the planet to be saved from impending doom just in time. If you could frame every Boston issue to hang in your music room, youd be winning at cool.

Point of Know Return, Kansas (1977)

Few bands in rock history take their cover art as seriously as Kansas. From their self-titled Kansas to Leftoverture to Monolith to, of course, Point of Know Return, this band knew the power of judging an album by its cover (art). With a nod to Leftoverture, its the ship sailing to end of the world that gets the edge here. (Get it?) Peter Lloyd, who created the indelible Kansas logo on Song for America, turned the title track into a literal point of no return on the cover. The ancient sailing ship, with its bow bent towards impending doom, reminds us how nice it is to be on solid ground. Add the dragon image around the edges of the album and you have one of the best images in rock history. The issue is bursting with other art in its packaging as well. Kansas had their own art director, and they kept him busy.

Yessongs, Yes (1973)

Yessongs may not technically belong on this list. It is not a studio release, but rather a three record live album. Certainly the bands Fragile album is more recognizable, not to mention Yess first multi-platinum album. But if youve never taken a look at the art on this album, youll see why it has to be. Roger Dean, who designed the Yes logo and Fragiles cover art, worked overtime on this masterful project. The package included three album covers worth of design and a booklet. In addition, it continued the artistic storyline from Fragile, very much like what Boston would do several years later with their city in a spaceship theme. In 2013, Dean sued filmmaker James Cameron for using his images as inspiration for Pandora in the movie, Avatar. The suit was dismissed, but you can judge for yourself.

Jailbreak, Thin Lizzy (1976)

Jailbreak is Thin Lizzys only certified release (gold), and it features their two biggest singles, Jailbreak and The Boys Are Back in Town. But it was artist Jim Fitzpatrick that gave the issues packaging a pop with its die-cut cover. The covers image of a television monitor showing the members of the band running loose is actually a die-cut hole that reveals part of the gatefolds inner scene. Open the album and you get to see Phil Lynott and company fleeing from a War of the Worlds-like alien attack. The comic book style graphic and the die-cut cover makes this issue an album with two covers. Nice trick.

Love Gun, Kiss (1977)

Although both Love Gun and Destroyer both feature masterful characterizations of the band on their covers, Love Gun has something morewomen. And those women are quite shapely. And those women all have their faces painted like the band. And they all sit adoringly at the bands feet. What teenage boy in the 70s didnt look at this album cover and wish they were in KISS? According to the cult classic film, Detroit Rock City, Paul Stanley wrote Love Gun about his penis. Good for Paul. The album cover was painted by fantasy artist, Ken Kelly, who also painted Rainbows iconic Rising album cover.

10cc, Deceptive Bends (1977)

The last album on this list is not pen or brush to paper, but it might as well be. The photographic process detailed here is so complicated and layered, that you cant help but admire the artistic process . Deceptive Bends, 10ccs 5th studio album, garnered the bands only certified gold single, The Things We Do for Love. Two of the bands three top 40 singles came from this record. But enough of all that...look at that album cover! The deep-sea diver carrying the shapely woman gives the albums title a double entendre image. Four years later, Rushs Moving Pictures album would up the ante with a triple entendre visual. The discrete placement of the band name and album title in the corner was obviously done with great thought. All in all, this album cover provides yet another option for a music-minded fan to decorate an empty wall.

The golden age of album art is gone forever. To put it simply, it costs too much. Todays production costs versus return on investment make complex designs impossible. There are maybe a handful of artists that could afford to lay down the cost of complicated designs, and they dont seem to be interested. And thats a good thing, really. Lets leave these iconic pieces of art in the past where they belong.

Are there more great pieces of album art not mentioned here? There are tons more, yes. Scores of Heavy Metal records contain mind-blowing art. Get lost in every single one of Asias album covers. Heck, go back and look at the Eagles logo. Next time youre in a record store, look for a few of these issues. Maybe pick up some album frames to go along with them.

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