Best and worst album covers

[William Bowe]

I've aggregated the various lists here and come up with the following:

1. Wild Honey (79 points)
2. Surf's Up (75)
3. Smile (69)
4. Smiley Smile (64)
5. All Summer Long (52)
6. Holland (49)
7. Friends (41)
8. Love You (28)
9. Summer in Paradise (27)
10. Summer Days (26)

Persons of good taste who would like to see Summer in Paradise blasted out of the top ten might wish to vote tactically for Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Party! and Surfin' Safari, all of which are bubbling under.

[OneEar/OneEye]

Sticking to the ones I think are best:

Surfin' Safari - cool, iconic image
Surfin' USA - see above
All Summer Long - serves the music in the grooves perfectly
Pet Sounds - yes, they ought to have come up with something suited better for the music inside the sleeve, but they didn't, and now, like it or not, this is Pet Sounds.  And I like it.  In its own inappropriate way it's perfect.
Smiley Smile - cover and music go perfectly together.  the back cover could have been better though.
Spirit of America - i don't recall if comps are being included in this poll, but i'll mention this one.  i like Endless Summer too, but not as much.   as well as the cover, i think this has a nice inner gatefold design too.
Surf's Up -  great image.

[Phoenix]

In no particular order

Best:
Surf's Up
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - LOOKS great but it's bad enough they had to do the shoot without Bruce.  It's beyond dumb there's no Al!
Holland
Smile/The Smile Sessions
Keepin' The Summer Alive - I've always liked it

Fine:
Pet Sounds
Party!
Surfin' Safari
Wild Honey
Friends - Would be a LOT better if the artist actually captured their likenesses, especially Carl!
20/20
Carl and the Passions - So Tough
Sunflower
M.I.U.
Summer In Paradise
That's Why God Made The Radio

Worst:
L.A. (Light Album) - All Summer Long was bad enough but this is atrocious!
Surfin' USA - TERRIBLE!  Looks like a pamphlet from a travel agency! 
Little Deuce Coupe - Looks like a budget hits package, which the previously released tracks only reinforce
Smiley Smile - VERY misleading.  Looks like another budget comp.  The black and white mylar cover is WORLD's better than the color one.
Love You - Thanks, Dean.  We can barely make out the title
Stars And Stripes Volume 1 - What a mess.  I was working retail when this came out and I STILL think it looks like sh!t

The rest of them are lame and not even worth mentioning but at least they're less offensive to the eye than those listed directly above.

[NHC]

L. A. (Light Album) (dig the square divisions but not the pictures themselves, plain boring they are)

On the other end of the appreciation spectrum, I have both sides of this one framed.

[/quote]
Surfin' USA (it's dull) [/quote]

Not to the guy on the board!

[I. Spaceman]

Yeah, I can think of nothing less dull than the Surfin' USA cover. It is symbolic of Brian, as well.

[NHC]

I respect your choices, NHC & I. Spaceman, but I never thought of the shot of some surfer who struggles with waves doing some tricks as something really eye-catching & interesting. Plus, I don't like blue, dark-blue colors. More brightness & warm colors to me.

No problem, RangeRover. Obviously it only works for a surfing-themed album.

[Banana]

I'm a graphic designer...so...at least in my opinion (and you can take them for what they're worth!) here are some comments:

The early covers were good pretty much across the board.  "All Summer Long" is an absolute gem.  I think a part of their appeal to me is the "retro quality" that they have.  If I were going to create a cover today that was supposed to call to mind that period...these covers would come to mind.  I actually really like the "Today!" cover.  I don't mind the "wasted space" because I like the expanse of color...especially with the orange and yellow text.  I agree that "20/20" looks thrown together.  It's not a bad cover...but it's not very inspiring or striking, either.  "15 Big Ones" is really the first out-right BAD cover they ever used.  It just looks extremely cheesy.  The use of the Olympic rings is hokey and the band looks awful.  "KTSA" is also bad.  The illustration is crummy and the text is too hard to read.  "BB85" is not a bad concept...I don't think it was realized very well, however.  The "beach" image is really lost because there is too much contrast between the colors of the land and the ocean.  "Still Cruisin'" is terrible.  It's is completely generic and looks like it took some intern a day to put together.  "SIP" is definitely pretty to look at...but it's too busy.  There is too much to look at.  "TWGMTR" is a decent cover.  It plays at being retro while still looking like something that was released in 2012.

[wantsomecorn]

I love 20/20's cover photo. It's such a great portrayal of the group at the time.

1. Bruce is leaning off to the side, glad to finally be significantly contributing to the group (and finally being on a cover).
2. Mike is standing front and center, looking like a deer-in-headlights.
3. Carl is at the center, but still being upstaged by Mike.
4. Dennis is at the side, smirking.
5. Al... I have no clue what Al is doing. He sure looks funny, though! (That facial expression!)
6. Brian is nowhere to be seen, though his presence is still felt.

[Mike's Beard]

Thanks to Mike and Al the Sunflower cover really sucks.

[SonicVolcano]

Best:
1. Wild Honey
2. Smile
3. Holland

Worst:
1. 15 Big Ones
2. M.I.U.
3. Today!

[sockittome]

I love 20/20's cover photo. It's such a great portrayal of the group at the time.

 Brian is nowhere to be seen, though his presence is still felt.

He's hiding behind the eye chart on the inside cover.

[KittyKat]

I would put the latest Record Store Day EP up there with one of their best covers. I recently scored one off of E-Bay and it's really nice up close. Nice illustration of the band done in retro style, great rendering of the PeeChee folder concept (right down to the color and feel of the cardboard).

[Alan Smith]

I would put the latest Record Store Day EP up there with one of their best covers. I recently scored one off of E-Bay and it's really nice up close. Nice illustration of the band done in retro style, great rendering of the PeeChee folder concept (right down to the color and feel of the cardboard).

And the dude hanging-ten looks like ESQ Editor

[kookadams]

Surfin Safari- great cover, at a great location with a rad old model A.
Surfin USA- the huge wave is awesome.
Surfer Girl- classic, iconic.
Little Deuce Coupe- I see what some people were saying bout it looking like a hotrod comp but I like how it was put together.
Shut Down Vol2- they looked slick.
All Summer Long- great cover.
Today- the dead space where the picture is cut off is kinda odd.
Summer Days- they shoulda done the photoshoot when Al wasnt sick yknow.
Pet Sounds- anyone that dismisses that cover is an idiot- fucking classic.
Smiley Smile- gorgeous artwork.
Wild Honey- very appropriate for the psychedelic era.
Friends- once again appropriate for the era.
20/20- aint the best cover, nothing bad bout it.
Sunflower- the cover goes well with the tone of the record.
Surfs Up- classic.
So Tough- n/a
Holland- makes sense.

As pretty much everyone put- the album covers after that reflected the quality of said albums, so I won't even go into it.

[Gertie J.]

Surfin Safari- great cover, at a great location with a rad old model A.
Surfin USA- the huge wave is awesome.
Surfer Girl- classic, iconic.
Little Deuce Coupe- I see what some people were saying bout it looking like a hotrod comp but I like how it was put together.
Shut Down Vol2- they looked slick.
All Summer Long- great cover.
Today- the dead space where the picture is cut off is kinda odd.
Summer Days- they shoulda done the photoshoot when Al wasnt sick yknow.
Pet Sounds- anyone that dismisses that cover is an idiot- fucking classic.
Smiley Smile- gorgeous artwork.
Wild Honey- very appropriate for the psychedelic era.
Friends- once again appropriate for the era.
20/20- aint the best cover, nothing bad bout it.
Sunflower- the cover goes well with the tone of the record.
Surfs Up- classic.
So Tough- n/a
Holland- makes sense.

As pretty much everyone put- the album covers after that reflected the quality of said albums, so I won't even go into it.

what he said.

[Ovi]

Pet Sounds- anyone that dismisses that cover is an idiot- fucking classic.

I think that if any 80's or 90's BB album had a picture of the members at the zoo as artwork, it would've been bashed to no end.

[shelter]

Best

Smiley Smile - I just love this image. This is a great example of cover art that perfectly captures the mood of the music on the album.

Surfin' Safari - Especially in retrospect, 51 years on, this is an suberb, fitting image for their debut album. They're still young and fresh, and it seems like they're looking forward to the incredible adventure that lies ahead of them. I just realized that it would be so amazing if they'd take that photo again at the same spot with an identical car (perhaps a little beat up), with Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce sitting in it and looking satisfied yet a bit exhausted.

Surf's Up - Great painting, you don't have to be an art lover to just stop and think "Wow, that's a really powerful image" when you see something like this hanging in a museum. Pretty daring of the band to pick this image, up until then they always had pretty sunny album covers and this one is the exact opposite. It goes especially well with the last three songs on the album.

LA (Light Album) - I absolutely love the concept of giving each song on an album to a different artist and have them each design a postcard that captures what the song is about. Brilliant.

Summer in Paradise - It might look like a picture from a travel brochure, but I think that this is exactly what the cover for an album called 'Summer in Paradise' should look like.

[shelter]

Surfin' Safari - Especially in retrospect, 51 years on, this is an suberb, fitting image for their debut album. They're still young and fresh, and it seems like they're looking forward to the incredible adventure that lies ahead of them. I just realized that it would be so amazing if they'd take that photo again at the same spot with an identical car (perhaps a little beat up), with Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce sitting in it and looking satisfied yet a bit exhausted.

So I just photoshopped it myself.

[Dudd]

Surfin' Safari - Especially in retrospect, 51 years on, this is an suberb, fitting image for their debut album. They're still young and fresh, and it seems like they're looking forward to the incredible adventure that lies ahead of them. I just realized that it would be so amazing if they'd take that photo again at the same spot with an identical car (perhaps a little beat up), with Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce sitting in it and looking satisfied yet a bit exhausted.

So I just photoshopped it myself.

Ha. Nice.

My fave covers (in no particular order):
SMiLE ('specially that 3D box - one day it shall be mine)
Surf's Up
Summer Days and Summer Nights
Pet Sounds
MIU Album (what? It's a nice cover!)

My least favourite covers:
LA: Light Album
Love You
The Beach Boys

Favourite solo album covers:
Pacific Ocean Blue
Orange Crate Art

[lostbeachboy]

That's Why God Made The Radio is the worst album cover in the history of album covers. Actually everything about that album is well... Bad. Except for the title song and from there to back again (those are good). Disappointing 50th anniversary reunion album...
Stars & Stripes Vol. 1 album cover is not good because that album should have never been made. But it does hold a special place in our hearts cuz it's Carl's last.
That's about all the bitching I feel like doing for now.

[donald]

I just loved the cover of KTSA when it was first released (Joke= keepin the Beach Boys Alive).  However, the music was mostly DOA.

MIU is not an unattractive cover.  Tasteful and understated.
Surfin USA, Wild Honey and Smiley Smile would be my top three if I had to choose.

[wantsomecorn]

I'm torn over the KTSA art. It's actually kind of sad if you think that the picture is supposed to show them in a bio-dome, trapping in the summer while the world goes on around them. They're literally trapped in their own little bubble. Hell, it's depicting summer being on life support, and, by extension, the Beach Boys being on life support, which they pretty much were at that point.

[Lonely Summer]

That's Why God Made The Radio is the worst album cover in the history of album covers. Actually everything about that album is well... Bad. Except for the title song and from there to back again (those are good). Disappointing 50th anniversary reunion album...
Stars & Stripes Vol. 1 album cover is not good because that album should have never been made. But it does hold a special place in our hearts cuz it's Carl's last.
That's about all the bitching I feel like doing for now.

I agree the cover art for TWGMTR is poor, but the music itself is won-won-wonderful.

[Dudd]

I'm torn over the KTSA art. It's actually kind of sad if you think that the picture is supposed to show them in a bio-dome, trapping in the summer while the world goes on around them. They're literally trapped in their own little bubble. Hell, it's depicting summer being on life support, and, by extension, the Beach Boys being on life support, which they pretty much were at that point.

I don't even think the proportion is right. The three in front look horribly small.



Either way I personally love the cover. Especially that little penguin.

[chris.metcalfe]

Favourites:
   
Holland
Smiley Smile
Party
LA Light Album

Unfavourites:

15 Big Ones
Love You
MIU
The Beach Boys