SCREAMIN JAY HAWKINS - "... WHAT THAT IS!"

Artist: Screamin Jay Hawkins
Album Title: ... What That Is!
Label: Philips
Catalog: PHS 600-319
Year: 1969
Genre: soul
Grading: VG+ cover / VG+ LP
Sleeve design: not listed
Concept: not listed
Cover photo: Dunstan Pereira
Grade: * star

Admittedly the late  Screamin Jay Hawkins was an unusual character, but this album cover is simply something else.  How many artists would subject themselves to something like this?  Seriously?  What was Hawkins' record label thinking?  "Yeah, we'll put him in a coffin (with a close-up shot on the back cover) and sell a million copies ..."

Maybe it was meant to be quirky, but at least to my eyes the result was merely gruesome.