HOT BUTTER - "HOT BUTTER"

Artist: Hot Butter
Title: Popcorn
Label: Musicor
Catalog: MS 3242
Year: 1972
Genre: pop / synthesizers
Concept: not listed
Cover art: not listed

Grade: ***** star

I was 13 when this song hit the airwaves at it's one of my first "pop" radio memories.  I can actually clearly recall hearing it on AFN radio while my family loved in Germany.  The synthesizer sound was groundbreaking at the time - if you've never heard the tune, imagine early Atari game sound effects taken to the nth degree.

Ironically I didn't see a copy of the parent album until I was in my 20s.  I stumbled across a copy at a yard sale and was instantly taken by the low-tech concept artwork.  Yes, Musicor marketing took the time to glue a real popcorn box to the cover of each copy of the album.  

And if you haven't heard the tune, YouTube has multiple clips of the song, though this one's worth seeing just for the French dancers trying to figure out what to do with the bizarre track.  The panel of music "experts" at the end of the clip appear to be even more confused.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdLh0MHqKw

CLIMAX BLUES BAND - "TIGHTLY KNIT"

Artist: Climax Blues Band
Title: Tightly Knit
Label: Sire
Catalog: SASD 7517
Year: 1972
Genre: blues-rock
Concept: Hipgnosis
Cover art: Hipgnosis

Grade: * star

Having just picked a Climax Blues Band LP as a favorite cover ("Stamp Album"), I'll balance it out with this appalling and bland cover.  Yeah, the English design company Hipgnosis is known for their interesting album covers, but there's nothing interesting, or even appealing on this one unless you happened to be a major fan of Uncle Festus (of Adams Family fame).  This was another one where you had to wonder what the band's management company was thinking.  "Yeah, let's put a scary cover on the album and watch it sell like hotcakes ..."

CLIMAX BLUES BAND - "STAMP ALBUM"

Artist: Climax Blues Band
Title: Stamp Album
Label: Sire
Catalog: SASD 7507
Year: 1975
Genre: blues-rock
Concept: J. Flournoy Holmes / Wonder Graphics
Cover art: J. Flournoy Holmes / Wonder Graphics

Grade: **** stars

Are you a philatelist?  Neither am I, though there are certainly worse fates in life.  

Fact of the matter is that you don't have to be a stamp collector to think this is a cool cover.  There's just something intriguing about this '30s styled image.  Add to that, original copies of the album were embossed with the "8s" emphasized.  Just an all around cool cover.

FAY RAY - "CONTACT YOU"

Artist: Fay Ray
Title: Contact You
Label: Elektra
Catalog: E1-60098
Year: 1982
Genre: new wave
Concept: A.D. Design
Cover art: A.D Design

Grade: * stars

Hey, the '80s are calling.  They want their album back.   
Seriously, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a design concept that screamed 80's more than this one.  Wonder if they borrowed the red telephone from the White House.

The band's debut LP "Contact You" wasn't half bad. Imagiine Siouxsie and the Banshees javign discovered top-40 radio and you'd get a feel for the overall sound. I was surprised to learn Sheila Macartney and her compatriots (drummer Owen Hughes, guitarist John Lovering, ax player John Taylor, and bassist Tony Travis) were from Wales.  I always thought the were a California based outfit.  Guess I should have figured it out since some of their lyrics ("Wargames") mention Wales.  

JOOLS HOLLAND - "MEETS ROCK'A'BOOGIE BILLY"

Artist: Jools Holland
Title: Jools Hollad Meets Rock'A'Boogie Bill
Label: A&M
Catalog: SP-70509
Year: 1984
Genre: rock
Grading: VG+ cover / VG+ LP
Concept: Carl Grasso
Cover art: Carl Grasso

Grade: * stars

Not much to say here other than the cover was simply hideous in every respect.  Maybe that was the intention?  I've struggled to come up with something; anything that I like about the cover ...  nothing.  Absolutely nothing. Don't like the concept (whatever it was).  Don't like the design.  Don't like the colors. 

Come to think of it, I didn't like the album that much either. 

STEVEN HINES BAND - "IT TAKES SO LONG, BUT IT'S WORTH WAITING FOR"

Artist: Steven Hines Band
Album: It Takes So Long, But It's Worth Waiting For
Label: Tiger Lily
Catalog: TL-14021
Year: 1977
Genre: rock
Grading: VG+ cover / VG+ LP
Concept: not listed
Cover art: not listed

Grade: ***** stars

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that a tax scam label that frequently obscured artists' identifies wouldn't bother giving credit to the individuals who provided the art that graced their album covers.  And that's the case with this release.on the late Morris Levy's infamous Tiger Lily label.

Like most Tiger Lily releases, this one isn't very good, but the Heinz ketchup inspired cover has always struck me as being cute and clever.  Maybe it's because I took a lot of marketing classes in college.  

STYX - "LADY"

Artist: Styx
Album Lady
Label: RCA Victor
Catalog: AQL1-3594
Year: 1980
Genre: rock
Grading: VG+ cover / VG+ LP
Concept:  Joseph Stelmach - Roland Young
Cover drawing: Tim Clark

Grade: ***** stars

Sure, it bares more than a little influence to famed illustrator Arte, but I'm a big art deco fan and there's just something uplifting about Tim Clark's colorful, 1920s styled cover art for this 1980 reissue of what was originally released as "Styx II". How could you not like an album cover which featured a blond flapper and a guy driving a big, classic car?