Rush's four consecutive albums and covers starting with A Farewell To Kings and ending with Moving Pictures really affected my listening experience as a young teen. The printed lyrics, member pic's, and conceptual theme of each album was an intellectual treat. Great period for that band.

This was two of our premiere rock critics exchanging insightful banter and analysis without the pretension, feigned intellect, and arrogance of music magazines who shall remain nameless (Rolling Stone). Thanks. Block the Joe Joes of the world. It only detracts from your project - making SoT the best.

VH 1984 is a great cover that matches the music.

I love the cover art for the Genesis album Trick Of The Tail. The characters depicted link directly to the songs themselves and while the album is not a conceptual as such, the way they interact on the cover gives the album a sense of cohesion. The music is of course absolutely brilliant.

I don't care what Lemmy said. Motorhead was one of the heaviest bands early on, they inspired so many metal bands.

Maidens Killers, powerslave and Somewhere in time have covers that link beautifully to the songs

Adding so much to the music was also Genesis “Lamb”. Not only did you have all the images you look at during the songs but as the album progressed you could read along with the story. Definitely enhanced the overall listening experience! And a definite departure from all their previous albums look.

David Lee Roth - Eat em and Smile to me is such a perfect hair metal album cover. So completely over the top, weird, silly and absolutely matches the party vibe music contained within.

Here are my picks for album covers that have affected my listening experience. Positive: 1) The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2) Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick 3) Electric Light Orchestra- Out of the Blue 4) Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 5) Meat Loaf- Bat Out of Hell 6) Yes- Tales From Topographic Oceans 7) 10cc- Deceptive Bends 8) Genesis- Nursery Cryme Honorable Mention: Anthony Phillips- The Geese and the Ghost Negative: 1) Elton John- Leather Jackets 2) Roger Waters- Radio K.A.O.S. 3) Steve Hackett- Cured

If we bring live albums into the mix, I really liked Exit Stage Left and Live Evil that were collages of the tunes within, in themes that give you a feel for the tone of the live performances.

As Pete knows, I'm a Wheathead. And early Kansas covers are perfect for the music. The eponymous 1st album, Kansas, has a photo of the John Brown painting that adorns the main wall of the Kansas state capitol. The 2nd, Song for America, has an eagle (America's national bird) with huge wings & extended talons. The 3rd, Masque, has an Arcimboldo painting of a mask composed entirely of sealife. Leftoverture has a da Vinci-like character working on a document w/ a quill pen. Point of Know Return is so cool. A ship about to sail off the end of the world with a huge sea serpent surrounding it. Monolith has Native American/Extraterrestrial creatures in a post-apocalyptic world. Kerry Livgren wrote a great deal about native Americans. And of course, the great double live Two for the Show has 2 post middle age women who are cleaning the auditorium after the show but sitting together reading the show program with profound interest (for a prog band!). They are all wonderful and Phil Ehart was responsible for the covers. Great job Phil!

What is the first thing I do before actually leaning back to listen to another episode of SoT? I press the Like button, then prepare to take it all in. Thanks for the great content, Pete and all the others involved.

Definately should do a top ten album covers of all time

My uncles had a stack of vinyl 4ft high. I would go through and play the ones I liked the cover too. But when I saw if you want blood you got it by acdc I was scared but had to play it. I was like 5 or 6 when I saw it in 79

I still remember seeing a kid's "Destroyer" t-shirt in the 3rd grade. I asked him about it, thinking it was a comic book. He told me it was a music group, which blew my little mind, cuz they didn't look like anything my parents listened to on Hee-Haw. Now I'd heard of Kiss but only slightly and I just knew that they were "hard rock," which I didn't even know what that meant. And obviously I'd never seen them.He told me he'd bring me a record to take home and listen to. He brought "Alive II" but told me his mom wouldn't let me borrow it. I just stared at the gatefold all day thinking it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I asked my mom to buy it for me but she said she wanted to see my first report card, and that if I got all "As" she would. I did and she did, much to my dad's disfavor. I came home from school and my mom was listening to "Beth". I was not thrilled with what I heard. I was also mad she'd opened it, but she said it was the last copy. I took it downstairs and threw it on. Side one, song one, "Detroit Rock City," and my life changed forever.

I bought two albums for the album covers, and stayed for the music: Kansas: Song For America Supertramp: Crime Of The Century The cool covers (looking at the bird on SFA, the jail cell in space on CoTC, wondering about the meaning)led me to the joys of progressive rock, and they are still my two favorite artists

Maiden's Somewhere in Time album cover still makes the music of that album the soundtrack of a "robotic-jetson-2000-future" that never came. Also in 1986, I saw Abominog album cover on a magazine. One friend bought it. We were 12 and we didn't know Uriah Heep. Abominog album cover let us think they were as heavy as Maiden or Venom. Well, we learned our lesson; never judge an album by its cover. I mean, I' don't think Replacements' Tim is a great album because of its cover.

the best album cover moody blues in search of the lost chord

Yes - Tales from a topographic ocean, yessongs, Relayer, many of the Roger Dean cover art always catches your eye, and often make you buy an album.

Kiss-Alive cover actually made ME come alive! Will forever be the coolest album cover of all time! Like going from black and white to color! Great vid Pete and Martin!

Armored saint's raising fear is a great cover ! Screams - heavy metal

Favorite album cover of all time is one Pete mentioned: Alice Cooper`s "Killer" album. For me, nothing tops it. From Alice`s snake, Kachina on the front cover along with the childish scrawl, to one of the best band shots of all time on the back. This also happens to be one of my favorite albums musically. So there you go.

Totally agree with Marillion, I love looking at the covers and linking the graphics to the song lyrics. Great show guys thank you.

Three examples of the album art matching the quality of songs: King Diamond's "Abigail," "Them" and "The Eye." The colors of the album covers plus the artwork perfectly sums up the song performances inside, including the lyrics and production value. Great stuff.

Hey Pete, wonderful shirt! Classic motive of a classic band, I wear mine with pride :)

Album covers are so important. When someone mentions an album, I immediately hear it...but also think of the cover.

"Number of the Beast" and "Screaming for Vengeance" are the first two albums I ever bought........and the albums covers matched the music perfectly

Marillion and Fish covers always make me want to listen to them. The first three Marillion albums, not only have the references but the theme in the overall picture. Script was Bedsit thoughts when Fish first joined the band. Fugazi was Hotel thoughts when they got big and away from home and MC was home thoughts and the longing that Fish had for returning home and looking back on his relationship with that girl.

This show makes me so nostalgic! Takes me right back to my late teens where I was 'discovering' bands every week: rolling a fat one then reading the lyrics or staring at the cover art and trying to work out what it was all about whilst the disc span. It was obligatory! Imagine listening to Close to the Edge for the very first time and opening that gatefold to reveal the Roger Dean science-fiction landscape "...seasons will pass you by".

Elder is a great example of the artwork working with the music to create an atmosphere. The cover from Reflections on a Floating World made me want to check out the music.

Let it bleed, Sticky fingers and Exile On Main St. promise a lot as covers and fulfill more.

Can't wait for this! Your work and output has really been helping me through a rough time, thank you!

Totally agree Pete on Marillion those covers were/ amazing. I think being collectors it has a huge impact Cheers.

I love album cover art, so much so that I've bought quite a few album cover books over the years (especially those oversized coffee table books). Now that I only stream digital music & sold all of my vinyl those books have become even more important to me...The Hipgnosis covers are almost all really great, many are pieces of art. Smell The Glove has to be right up there with The White Album for "most mysterious" & therefore most tempting without knowing the music contained inside. Don't know if I can single out any particular covers as affecting my actual listening experience though. It's hard to overstate the connection many album covers have with your experience of the music inside but I'm making that connection based on knowing that a particular cover belongs to album 'x'. Not because that particular cover made me like or dislike the music. I don't know that those covers actually AFFECTED my listening experience, there were plenty of covers that weren't that great but the music was fantastic. So to me I'm not sure I've had this experience (or certainly not often), they're almost separate entities as far as I'm concerned that exist independently of each other to some extent. I do know that in the past I used to buy some albums music unknown just for the great cover. I do recall loving that debut Zep cover of the Hindenburg crash. Sticking with Zep, loved the different paper bag sleeves of In Through The Outdoor & the design of their Physical Graffiti cover. The Floyd covers of course, Yes' (Roger Dean), even the Frank Frazetta stuff. Many cite Abbey Road as the best cover ever (or Sgt Pepper's)...

I love the Supertramp album covers of the 7os. They are clever and fit the feel of the music inside. Definitely enhances my listening experience.

I love your discussions; the more in--depth, the better. And yes, while you did go way off-topic at the end, I loved that as well. You need to have an episode (or a series) where you guys just have a free-ranging conversation about whatever comes into your heads regarding music, just to see where it goes. I'd really like that a lot.

LOVE album art discussion! Next, Id love hear what our favorite album packing is. Things like the Sticky Fingers zipper, Physical Graffiti diecut windows, even stuff like Psycho Circus lenticular cover, anything Tool, etc

VOIVOD!!!!!! Great choice, Martin! Those covers have always added to their mystery and fantasy.

Was hoping that you would have touched on Mastodon. I always think they leave nothing to chance when it comes to the album covers. There all really good. If you were still going to the record store you would definitely be purchasing those albums because of the imagery.

Martin’s Pat rant was hilarious. The whole hot, sweating, melting album covers had me dying. Another great show you guys never miss 🔥 Sot rocks

Hey Pete regarding the drop kick I wouldn’t give them the oxygen block ‘‘em and forget ‘em

Album covers are so important in my view. They set the tone for the album. Some covers are great but the music is not or vice versa. AC/DC got me into hard rock and metal. And I must agree that they have great covers and lousy ones too. The cover for Back in Black vinyl record is very cool because it is black on black, while the cover for the CD and cassette tape is very basic because the lettering is white. The cover of For Those About To Rock is great in for the black on gold/copper look. It's my favorite one from them. The music is better on Back in Black though.

To add to the Grateful Dead discussion the early psychadelic albums had psychadelic artwork. American Beauty and Workingman's Dead album covers illustrate a move "to the country" like The Band etc and certainly match the music within. Martins Shakedown Street and Terrapin Station show more upbeat covers (dancing turtle, etc) and the music is certainly more in that vein than previous albums. I would say that the artwork is pretty reflective of the music

Loved the Grateful Dead discussion. I recently bought back a 1990 concert tshirt with the Aoxomoxoa album image on it. (Vintage concert tshirts are their own market, I discovered.) Anyway, Doin That Rag is not a song you’d expect with such an image… but it’s there and it’s one of my all-time favorites. Great choice, Pete!

SoT does a great job at entertaining and informing people about everything that's going around in the world of (our kind of) music. I guess some people think it just takes no time or effort, but I'm sure it's hard work (even if it's a passion and doesn't feel like it). Thanks to everybody at SoT for their GREAT work. Nevermind the bullies! Cheers.

Familiarity with lots of music makes it harder for me to fall in love with new music. I often hear the influence so apparent from the outset that I am instantly comparing it against the older(better?) original. It's hard turning off the feeling of listening to a 2nd rate cover band and my time is too precious to waste these days. I wish I could return to the early 80's when I discovered Mercyful Fate on week and then TSOL or Fates Warning......Nostalgia is a harsh mistress; as is Gravity.

So true on the Molly Hatchet art.

Oh...just a random example. I was a death metal kid in the early 90s, and remember thinking Obituary's cover art to The End Complete with its charred barren wasteland and how the band's logo with its evil menacing presence was hovering over the landscape. The music within emulated that cover perfectly...and made it all the more immersive to listen to.

I've learned today that Ken Kelly died last june. He painted iconic covers : Rainbow Rising, Kiss: love gun & destroyer, many Manowar albums ...RIP Ken .

I can appreciate cool album art as much as anyone else, but it in no way sways my impression of the music itself. Steve Perry's last solo album had one of the coolest covers I had seen in ages, but I still wished it had been better musically overall. Evergrey has been very consistent with putting out quality music with great album art.

A lot of YES albums come to mind for this one, particularly DRAMA, Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe, The Ladder, Fragile, Going for the one....Basically all of them except TORMATO And of course, Genesis albums a Trick of the tail, Trespass, WInd & Wuthering and Nursery Cryme and Steve Hackett-Spectral mornings

Great episode Pete; LOVE the take on Pat Travers )

I personally love Accept's "Metal Heart" cover and I think it fits perfectly with that album, which is a little bit more mainstream (Midnight Mover, Screaming For A Love-Bite) while still keeping their heavy sound. It kinda works. Plus it's a great t-shirt.

Motorhead is really an interesting case - lot of punk fans like them for their short fast and straight forward songs. Their are definitely metal when it comes to their album covers and in their own words their are "just" a rock'n'roll band!

Guess everyone who watches this channel can remember the amount of time we spent looking at covers while listening to the music almost as important to a degree Great video again 😄

I can totally empathize with your Grateful Dead experience. My favorite album is their sophomore release "Anthem of the Sun," but in retrospect, the production is not very good, yet I was sucked in by the mandala on the cover that promised all kinds of altered state enlightenment.

I appreciate Martin’s view on how boring AC/DC album covers have become, but the biggest repeat offender of Boring ass album covers just HAS to be Whitesnake. Since 1987, (with the exception of The Early Years compilation), they have given us essentially the same album cover for everything they have ever released since, even the re-release of Restless Heart has resorted to the same format. The name at the top, the WS ‘medallion’ in the middle and the album name at the bottom. Given that this is the same band that gave us ‘Lovehunter’, there’s an argument to say that they definitely became more and more complacent as the years went by. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

My cd covers definitely affected my listening experience when I stored them on shelves (like Pete's) in my music room.

Great discussion Pete and Martin. And yea the mention to the Grateful Dead and those artwork albums that would suck me in as the early albums did and the sound of the jams mesmerizing. Btw Workingman's Dead like mentioned good points Pete. The album would probably be a number 6 in top 10 yet do like alot about it. Cheers everyone.

Loved the breakdown of those Alice Cooper album covers. Never put together the serial killer handwriting aspect.

King Diamond's album covers are incredible

Great album covers to look at while listening to the vinyl. 1. Pink Floyd-DSOTM, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall (inside) 2. Rush-Farewell to Kings, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures 3. KISS-Alive, Destroyer, Love Gun, Alive II 4. Iron Maiden- (All of them) 5. Judas Preist- Sad Wings of Destiny, British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith 6. Beatles- Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road 7. Van Halen- Debut 8. Journey- Escape 9. Led Zeppelin- Debut 10. Boston- Debut 11. The Who- Tommy, Who's Next

I watch all of your videos, but I had to comment on this one. The notion of the cover affecting the listening experience is the exact reason why I am producing a comic book to accompany the upcoming Jag Panzer concept album. Producing a comic is expensive, it certainly won’t be turning a profit. But it will offer the listener a unique listening experience. I hope it works out as I have planned - Mark

I have to say that album covers have never influenced the way I listen to the music inside. They may have made me decide not to buy the album, but that is a different discussion. I usually have heard a song or two from an album before I will buy it.

One of the best experiences is sitting down with a vinyl, spinning it and checking out a good album cover with the sleeve while you listen to the music.

Congrats! on 77K + subscribers. Interesting cheers and jeers on Pat Travers. I especially dig the P.T. Band's 1977 - 1979 era. Two albums I bought not knowing anything about the band, and ended up liking were, The Church - 1985 Heyday, while in Olongapo Philippines, in the mid 80's and The Rosemary's - 1993 - Providence, at a record show in Appleton WS, or somewhere in Indiana in the mid 90's. Both great albums, and also I ended up being an avid fan of Australia's - The Church, until Marty Wilson Piper left. All of Robin Trower's album covers, by Funky Paul in the 70's match and enhance the musical experience, especially the debut, 1973, Twice Removed From Yesterday, and 1976's Long Misty Days. Four of my all time favorite rock album covers are Hendrix - Band of Gypsys 69-70., Jeff Beck - Wired 1976., Robin Trower - Live 1976., front and back., and Blue Öyster Cult - Spectres - 1977, front and back. Honorable mention for most disgusting, but a Great Rock album goes to my hometown; Minneapolis's own, your very own, Cain - a pound of Flesh, 1975. Btw., I will expect 1 thumbs up total, if I decide not to delete this comment, because that is my average. Addendum: whose ever thumb that belongs to, I thank you. I will keep my post; for now.

A cover can affect an album big time for me. It took me YEARS to get over the cover cover of Black Sabbath's Dehumanizer and just accept the music for the quality metal it was (and still is).

I particularly enjoyed this episode. Could really see Pete getting excited about the Pat Travers conversation and it was great. Glad you brought up Molly Hatchet because to me they exemplify this topic. As a kid I wasn't allowed to listen to "devil music". I always wanted to buy their album b/c of the covers but thought my folks would've killed me! Sure enough as I've gotten older I've learned that my dad liked em a lot and actually had a couple of em. lol. Keep up the great job!

2 different experiences in seeing YES album covers. When "Going for the One" came out, I saw the cover and thought, "oh no, this is going to suck"... but it was great. Then I saw "Tormato" and thought, "oh no, this is going to suck"... and while it didn't suck, the album was a few notches below everything that came before.

An entertaining discussion on an interesting topic . Thanks !

Always looked forward to Robin Trower’s albums in 70’s for the music and album covers

This is a great topic. Like others the best example for me is the Rush / Hugh Syme link. The art added a visual dimension that created a lasting bond with the music. Especially when CD booklets allowed for more artwork the visuals provided even more to ponder.

TEN YEARS AFTER always had real trippy album covers, and they were really a Blues/Rock 'n' Roll band at their core. it was the '60's ,so that explains that.

What a fantastic show guys as always.

Budgie’s Never Turn your Back on a Friend has an amazing cover (Roger Dean) I remember putting the record on and hearing Breadfan booming from the speakers and thinking yes! Perfect fit! Love that album.

great show guys

I have to disagree with Martin about VH2. I love that cover. The big beautiful logo taking up the whole cover made a big impression on me when I was young. It just screamed this is Van Halen and we rock!

Rainbow and Uriah Heep's covers are the epitome of this for concept for me. You look on the cover and see the fantasy-themed covers, and once you begin listening to the music, it starts taking you to the places on the album covers.

Although simple, every character on Genesis “Trick of the Tail” cover represented a song on the album.

I know I've bought plenty of records because of the cover, "March of the Saint" always comes to mind, but I could probably name many more that I didn't buy because of the artwork. I find it hilarious all these years later that some album covers I passed on are considered classics now. Cuz I think most are still meh.

The name "Captain Beyond" was mentioned toward the end and it hit me...their first record cover is the most PERFECT example of a cover influencing you to purchase it because of an eye-catching piece of art, and THAT one, literally sucks you into another dimension with its spacey 3D artwork that so perfectly represents the music inside...probably the coolest cover ever with space/jazz/rock fusion music inside before it had even really existed which is STILL futuristic sounding...and I would never have known about it if I hadn't seen that cover in a record store when I was 15 and taken a leap of faith....and there's no mention of THAT or anything else that deserves mentioning except the Grateful Dead (who suck) artwork and a handful of Roger Dean covers, although NOTHING about his Yes covers on records that are GREATLY enhanced by his artwork, which is as brilliant as the music inside them...but nope, a lot of cheesy, tasteless metal crud for kids exhaustively analyzed, as usual...huge waste of time. Thanks.

Good discussion guys, love the stuff about Voivod, I can't get enough of them lately. Thanks for posting!

Album covers still influence me to listen to Albums. I've discovered a ton of great bands this way. (Steelwing, Witch Cross, Outside, Randy, Killer, Night Demon, etc.) Heavy Metal usually have the best covers.

Love your videos, long live Prog

1:08:47 I agree on repetition/familiarity but a huge aspect of that is associating the music with life experiences. e.g. Early romance of the teen years, enormous highs (e.g. in sports) where music celebrates with us, and crushing lows where music consoles us. On a visceral level, no new music has a chance to compete, so it certainly takes some cerebral detachment/awareness.

Pink Floyd’s The Wall - nothing but the white bricks on the front and back but then you open up the sleeve and all the illustrations and details are hidden in there, and on the inner sleeves and the actual record labels. I would spend hours looking at it and I think it had a huge influence on my perception of the album.

Motorhead. With the german umlaut on the second o. At my school we all maztered the logo on our bags. We are the road crew and iron horse = they were a biker band

A Friday must watch. 👍

Another great show as always Peter and Martin. Even when it is a topic that might not sound interesting to me I still watch and always learn and laugh. Thanks. I have not been a Motley fan since highschool however always thought that Theater of Pain would have been better received if released without all of the pink and the glam costumes better with a tougher cover and image. There are some deep tracks for them on that album. Deleting the top two biggest songs would also help. Cheers!

Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian definitely fit the music. Witchfynde - Lords of Sin definitely was a bit different than the music

Spot on about the Marillion covers and albums.

For me the run of The Roaring Silence, Watch and Angel Station by Manfred Mann's Earth Band is an excellent example of great covers that reflect the feeling of the albums as well.

Three albums I bought without even knowing the music or the band that I have great memories of; Judas Priest-Sin after Sin, Starz-Starz Debut, and Angel- On Earth as it is in Heaven. Killer covers and great music. I still listen to them and I turn 60 in December.

I bought Q5s Steel The Light on the basis of the cover - the cover and the music are class Also ELO - Time

The music of YES IS Roger Dean's artwork in my mind. I can't separate the two

Good criticisms to totally agree on Accept and AC/DC

The first band that comes to mind here is Genesis. Those albums from the Gabriel era have an almost classical appeal to them, the covers are definitely tied to the lyrics and music. I would believe the cover is in tandem with the uniqueness of the music. On the flip side there is the cover art of the Collins era, where as the covers are less interesting and more boring and I find that period of their music less interesting and more boring. In the middle is the four piece era and the covers are good but less unique. So maybe the covers became more run of the mill the further away from their purer prog rock music. Ps the grateful dead Blues for Allah, one of the best covers EVER.

It is a little shameful,and maybe a bit shallow to think an album cover could influence one's opinion of the music within,but there's something to it.I admit,I've bought alot of albums,based on the cover.Excellent video.

Mention of Alice Cooper brought back memories. I was 11 or 12. My family went to the Zellars department store to buy clothes for us kids. I would always check out the small record department. That’s where I saw an Alice Cooper record for the first time, Love It To Death. This was around the time the record came out. They totally unknowns. “I’m 18” would get some radio play later on, but at that point, the radio where I lived had nothing to do with them. I had only that album cover to go on. They were the strangest people I’d ever seen. I didn’t know what to make of them. I remember staring at the front and back cover thinking, “what on earth!” It wasn’t until “School’s Out” was a hit on the radio that I heard them. Love the song. I bought the album. The music was every bit as strange and out of my experience as that earlier cover was.