Perhaps the greatest cover for an album I don't really care for all that much...
I always thought Peter Gabriel's 1978 solo album had an incredible piece of album art. Often dubbed "Scratch," the album promises something visceral and boundary-breaking.
Photographer Peter Christopherson took the photo in downtown New York for the Hipgnosis design company and, according to Gabriel's Real World Galleries, they achieved the signature effect by simply gluing strips of torn paper on to the original monotone image. Then, they touched it up with a correction fluid.
But I have to confess, as cool as the art is, I have never been able to get behind the album itself. I'm not saying the music is bad. It's just not for me -- especially compared to Gabriel's subsequent work, which I absolutely adore. For that matter, I was never really into Genesis. But more to the point here, the music on the album just doesn't match the largely upbeat tone of its musical contents. This image, with its raw, confrontational sorcery seems far more in keeping with what was to follow.
Gabriel's1980 followup "Melt" has a much darker tone -- featuring a lineup of tracks that include Family Snapshot, Games Without Frontiers and Biko. It's a true classic in my mind. Then, 1982's "Security" is great from beginning to end, including The Rhythm of the Heat and Shock the Monkey. Both albums also feature incredible, photographic album covers, which are also discussed at Real World Galleries.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but I'm 100 percent behind every PG album post-Scratch. His earlier sound just wasn't quite for me. Still, Scratch itself is a triumph of album art -- though I'd rather close out the post listening to Melt.