June 23, 2002

5:14 PM

When all of the good vinyl albums have been bought from the cardboard box at the local church bazaar, Nick DiFonzio buys the rest and scans the jackets. The result? Bizarre Record Covers. And because beauty, or the apparent lack thereof, is not only jacket deep, check out this trippy collection of 45 rpm labels from No Relevance, and this detailed record label discography, where you can see how record companies from the 1950s thru the 1990s kept trying to update and redefine their image by redesigning their labels.
posted by iconomy (10 comments total)

I love how the bizarre covers are arranged by some semi-arbitrary theme, which happens to be exactly how I group my non-rock, thrift store/yard sale record finds. Though the "Wild Drums" category is missing a shot of the classic "Bagels and Bongos" cover.
posted by nstop at 5:42 PM on June 23, 2002

You got to love those Christian Crusaders. Man, they don't care that they are all but-ugly. Man they just don't care. They are going to insist on that frontal shot anyway... You got to give them credit. No fear. Lead the crusade.
posted by brucec at 5:45 PM on June 23, 2002

So, apart from having an eyelid imbalance, was Gary Dee Bradford's other notable achievement the Jim'll Fix It theme tune?
posted by MUD at 5:50 PM on June 23, 2002

Wow, the church lady background was stolen from this vinyl.

I was hoping for a little better (from the site). Some album covers like "KC in the 30s", are great. I use it for my desktop background after I found a nice 1280x1280 scan. The ones on the site are just too small and too low of quality for background use.
posted by geoff. at 6:17 PM on June 23, 2002

If you enjoyed those weird covers you'll probably also dig It Crawled From the Bins. It's no longer updated, but what's already there is a trip, plus Peter Gilstrap's* comments are a hoot.
posted by jonmc at 10:12 PM on June 23, 2002

I've literally got tears running down my cheeks from laughing manically over those album covers.

Comedy Gold.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:03 AM on June 24, 2002

Iconomy posts great links "for you, and you, and you, and you......".

Time to put my diapers back on lest I soil myself from laughter.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:08 AM on June 24, 2002

Oh and David Osbourne? Now that Hagar Action Slacks are so huge, its nice to see their humble beginnings.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:16 AM on June 24, 2002

Kevin. that was the nicest thing. Thank you.
posted by iconomy at 9:11 AM on June 24, 2002

Yet more album fun When LPs Roamed the Earth.
posted by MJoachim at 10:44 AM on June 24, 2002