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Commercial Suicide by Alpha Safari sounded even better than it looked.
Everyone knows not to judge an album by its cover. But sometimes we can't resist the visual allure created to tempt the unwary shopper. Have you ever bought an album just for the cover? How did it turn out?
This is also how they used to sucker you into renting really bad horror and sci-fi movies. The VHS boxes would have some really great art that probably represented most of that movie's budget, and you went home with an unwatchable stinker. The '70s were full of great album art with bland music in the sleeve. Formerly great artists feeding their coke habit off good cover art and their previous reputation.
As an avid motorcyclist, I ran across Prefab Sprout's Two Wheels Good LP in 1985 as a new release at a record store. Never even heard of the band, but liked the title and cover. To this day it remains one of the best-crafted collection of pop songs in my record library. And its sonics are as good as the best releases of today. There are probably other examples too, but this was a win-win all around from an impulse buy based on the cover photo and suggestive title.
Hugh Masekela: Home Is Where The Music Is. When I saw the cover, I thought it was dreadful which in a perverse way was what attracted me. I'm still not keen on it, but the music is superb township jazz. Recently released on CD, so close your eyes and enjoy.
I have bought a lot of albums for the cover. Here are a few which immediately come to my mind. Even though some of the albums are very famous, I had never heard about these artists/albums at that time as I was very young and in India: Pink Floyd: The Wall, I was visiting a record store when I was in my ninth grade and saw this album on the rack and I had to buy it immediately. To this day I am a great PF fan. I dont think there is/will be a better rock artist. Chris Rea: Auberge, I was captivated by the painting of a Caterham super seven on a country road. To me this is one of the best album covers. Again Chris Rea is an all time favouite artist for me. Recently I bought two used LPs: Mason Williams: Sharepickers and Harvey Mason: Funk in a Mason Jar, just because both the albums had a Mason jar in the cover. Mason Williams was awsome, I did not like Harvey Mason.