Best and Worst Album Covers of All Time

I have never purchased a vinyl record for the album cover alone, but it is a nice bonus when the artwork looks so good that it’s suitable for framing. One of my kids has one of the entire walls in his room covered in his favorite album covers.

One that stands out for me is the very first album I bought, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It has a cool animated painting of Elton walking through a wall wearing a jacket with his name on it. He’s stepping up onto a winding yellow brick road with a field of grass, bushes, and trees on either side and a sunset at the end of the road.

That’s an album cover that I consider one of the best. Now, Rolling Stone has decided to highlight all of their favorites. They’ve released their list of the 100 best album covers of all time. Many of these are great albums, and the album cover is equally great, in their opinion.

The list includes The Beatles at #2 with Abbey Road. They call the cover “the ultimate Beatles portrait: a sunny day in London, a crosswalk, the world’s four most confident young men walking in line.” When I read this, I had to remind myself not to consider the music on the album itself, but only the album cover. I don’t think it's their best album cover, but it’s iconic. What also makes it unique is that you can visit the location where the photo was taken. For the first time in my life, I was able to do that earlier this year and it was an awesome experience. During a trip to London, England that was the only must-visit spot on my list and it didn’t disappoint.

There are three Beatles covers to make the list, with Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band at #14 and The White Album at #23. I suppose they chose the latter because of its simplicity. It’s just white, all white, with “The Beatles” written and raised on the cover sleeve.

Some other iconic covers that made the top 10 include Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon at #4, Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual at #9 and Nirvana’s Nevermind at #10.

Also on the list is The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers. I think this is one of the cleverest with an actual zipper on the fly of a pair of pants enlarged onto the entire album cover.

Rolling Stone also mentions some of the worst covers, with their 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time list. This list includes Billy Joel’s River of Dreamsand Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet.

I must disagree with “Slippery” being on this list. It’s iconic, it’s frameable, and when you think about the 80’s, this image comes to mind.

July is here and it's prime season for Yacht Rock Songs. Time to sit back on your yacht, or ummm dingy, and listen to the smooth sounds from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, with temp hopefully right there as well. The seagulls cry the white caps slap against the fiberglass hull, and you hold your glass of buttery chard oh so gently while inspecting those bikinis. It's a tough job, but somebody's yachtta do it!

According to AllMusic, Yacht Rock is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with Soft Rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Drawing on sources such as Smooth Soul, Smooth Jazz, R&B, and Disco. Meanwhile, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies.^[6] The term yacht rock was coined in 2005 by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock, who connected the music with the popular SoCal leisure activity of boating. It was considered a pejorative term by some music critics.

Furthermore, In 2014, AllMusic's Matt Colier identified the "key defining rules of the genre:"

This is 100 percent my own opinion. Top Ten does not leave a lot of room for error. I consider myself a pretty solid Yacht Rocker, and quite the musicologist. However, in the rare case you feel I make a mistake and leave off one of your Yacht Rock favs, have my people call your people and we'll get together off the coast of Island Beach State Park for some Sangria and Cheese, and a little Yacht Rock, of course!

By The By, Lovey, if you're looking for the perfect Yacht Rock swag to rock this summer, check this article out!

Plus if you need a place to dry dock and yacht rock, here's a spot that Yachts every Sunday all summer long!

The late great former front man of Stealers Wheel, had later solo success with this and a few other songs. However, there is no way Gerry could have known his Saxophone anthem balancing life and love while living in London, would go on to become the Stairway To Heaven of Yacht Rock.

If Baker Street is the Stairway of Yacht Rock, this most certainly is the Layla. A 1979 masterpiece about a boy and his sailboat that Cross has said was inspired by sailing with his older friend. Ridiculed throughout the 80s as a symbol of 70's schmaltz, it has found life and love as a Yacht Rock staple for a whole new generation.

The oldest of our Top 10, this song was released in the late summer of 1972, and immediately became a top 10 hit on the Billboard charts. It screams Summer, and beachy vibes, and of course the smell of Jasmine and  the line "July is dressed up and playing her tune" cannot be denied as all time Yacht Rock.

The song most people who know nothing about Yacht Rock, most closely associate Yacht Rock with. Now that's fine, and yes it is an all time great Yachtty classic, but think of it as your gateway drug to so much more: Next you'll be wearing a captains hat and a Hawaiian shirt.

The New England Patriots of Yacht Rock songs right here my friends. Too much of a good thing can be dangerous. Great band, great song, but it's flown way too far over the radar for way too long. Still, It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from singing along.

A few years before they were blessing the rains down in Africa, the boys from Toto were much sought after studio musicians. They helped good ol Boz on this 1977 super hit, that has gone on to become the go to song for doing Green Tea shots on the deck before the Saturday Night fireworks kick in.  And I quote: "Whoa Whoa Whoaoooo ooooo oooooo"

Old George really came through for the soft rock/jazz world with this 1976 classic. Plus it's the perfect Yacht Rock song for some early morning Mimosas and below deck nookie.

Kind of a toss up here between FM and Do It Again, but this has more of a party feel so I'm going with the kicking off of the high heel sneakers, and the grapefruit wine. Hey don't knock it til ya try it on the bow at sunset, baby!

You can have heartache, just as long as it has a good groove and doesn't bring the party down. Just ask Hall and Oates, they do it here to a tee. Talk to Isaac about your problems buddy, or whatever your yacht's bartender is named.

What can I say. The man is the muse of a genre. With apologies to great Yacht Rock songs like Brandy, What A Fool Believes, Couldn't Get It Right, and just about the entire catalog from Pablo Cruise, Ride Like The Wind is just captivating when you listen to it out on the bay doing 12 knots. Plus, at least we get our daily dose of Michael McDonald in!