Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell Album Cover

Heaven and Hell was Black Sabbath's ninth studio album and features the famous "smoking angels" on the album cover. Heaven and Hell was also the first Black Sabbath record album to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Dio replaced Ozzie Osborn as lead vocalist after Osborn was kicked out of the band for his excessive drug use. The album was a commercial and artistic success, soon going gold and then platinum.


Side one

No. - Title - Length

1. "Neon Knights"   3:53
2. "Children of the Sea"   5:34
3. "Lady Evil"   4:26
4. "Heaven and Hell"   6:59
Side two

No. - Title - Length

5. "Wishing Well"   4:07
6. "Die Young"   4:45
7. "Walk Away"   4:25
8. "Lonely Is the Word"




Below is an audio interview with the artist who painted the "Smoking Angels" art work used on Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell album cover, Lynn Curlee.  The painter was inspired by a 1928 photograph of several women dressed as angels for a play who were smoking backstage during a break. 

CLASSIC ALBUM COVER - WHO"S NEXT

Classic Album Cover  -  Who's Next  - The Who  -  John Kosh

"Who's Next" contains material originally created for a second rock opera, "Lifehouse", that was could have capitalized on the success of “Tommy".  This was the Who's fifth studio album, released in 1971.  "Who's Next" was both a huge critical and commercial success.  This album has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, is now found on most lists of the greatest albums of all times and ultimately went multi-platinum. 
 

The album cover for "Who's Next" was designed by John Kosh, who has designed over 50 album covers, including The Beatle's, "Abbey Road", Eagle's "Hotel California", REO Speedwagon's "Hi Fidelity", and Rod Steward's "Atlantic Crossing".  Kosh also has won three Grammy Awards for album covers he designed for Linda Ronstadt.

The "Who's Next" cover uses a photograph by Ethan Russell, who also did the photograph;s on the Beatles, "Let it Be" album,  and the Rolling Stone's albums,  "Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)"  and "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert".  The photograph, taken in 

Easington Colliery, a former coal mining town in England, shows the members of the Who after  what appears to be their urination on a tall concrete monolith.   According to Russel, rain water was actual used to similate the urine stains on the concrete.

 

 

 

CLASSIC ALBUM COVER - LED ZEPPELIN IV

Led Zeppelin’s fourth studio album was released in 1973 and quickly went multi-platinum. Considered one of the greatest albums of all time, Led Zeppelin IV also still ranks as one of the best selling albums of all time.  Led Zeppelin is arguable, one of the greatest rock and roll bands, if not the greatest, of all time. Over the past four decades,  Led Zeppelin has been a major influence on rock and roll, but after the death of John Bonham in 1980 the band broke up.

CLASSIC ALBUM COVER - BITCHES BREW

CLASSIC ALBUM COVER   BITCHES BREW  -  MILES DAVIS   -  MATI KLARWEIN

"Bitches Brew" is without a doubt a classic album cover.  This 1970 double album was a critical and commerical success for Miles Davis receiving a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and reaching platinum status.  The surrealist art work on the album cover was done by Abdul Mati Klarwein, a painter with a successful track record in the album cover business.  Klarwein, who studied with Salador Dali, has painted more than 40 album covers, including other classic album covers, such as for Santana's "Abraxas" and Miles Davis' "Live Evil".

CLASSIC ALBUM COVERS - EXOTIC BIRDS AND FRUIT

 

 

PROCOL HARUM

 Exotic Birds and Fruit  Album Cover

 

 

A British rock band, Procol Harum, best known for their 1967 classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale", was nominated for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.  Procol Harum is also the group from which Robin Trower emerged in the early 1970s.  While not Procol Harum's best album musically, “Exotic Birds and Fruit", the band's seventh studio album, is best the known of their eleven albums for its album cover.  Arguably, this is the only Procol Harum album with a classic album cover.  "Exotic Birds and Fruit" was released in 1974 and did not chart well, however, the cover art on "Exotic Birds and Fruit" was first class. The artwork on the cover of "Exotic Birds and Fruit" is from a Jakob Bogdani painting.  

Bogdani was a Hungarian-born artist, well-known for his paintings of exotic birds and still life paintings.  Bogdani moved to Amsterdam and then later to England where he painted for British Royalty in the early eighteenth century.  Bogdani's paintings are now found in some of the best art collections and museums.

 

 

 

 

 

CLASSIC ALBUM COVERS - STICK IT TO YA

CLASSIC ALBUM COVERS  

 STICK IT TO YA  -  SLAUGHTER  -  Glen Wexler

In 1990 rock band, Slaughter, had a hit with their debut album,”Stick It To Ya”which went multi-platinum.  The album was also nominated for the best metal album of the year award  in 1991 at the American Music Awards.  In 1990, Slaughter also released ”Stick It Live” was also well received and reaching gold status. Both of these albums have wonderful album covers that features the cover artwork of Glen Wexler, an internationally recognized photographic artist and preeminent album cover artist.