Controversial
22. The Five Keys: ‘On Stage!’ After this album was released in 1957, Capitol Records reportedly received a bit of heat over the Virginia-based doo-wop stars' cover photograph. The angry complainants imagined that the forefinger of lead balladeer, Rudy West, was a penis - and thus a decision was made to airbrush the offending digits out for subsequent issue.
The Five Keys is an American rhythm and blues vocal group that was instrumental in shaping this genre in the 1950s. It was formed with the original name of Sentimental Four in Newport News, Virginia, U.S., in the late 1940s, and initially consisted of two sets of brothers - Rudy West (born 25 July 1932, Newport News, Virginia) and Bernie West (born 4 February 1930, Newport News), and Ripley Ingram (born 1930 - died 23 March 1995, Newport News) and Raphael Ingram. Ingram left in 1949 and Maryland Pierce (born 1933) and Dickie Smith became members in his place. At this juncture the name of the group was changed to The Five Keys.
They were signed to Aladdin Records in 1951, and in 1952 Rudy West left to join the United States Army, and he was replaced by Ulysses K. Hicks. In 1954 Dickie Smith left and was replaced with Ramon Loper.
At this point the Five Keys was signed to Capitol Records, and their popularity increased, although more instrumentation was used.
The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.
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Weird
22. Naked City: 'Grand Guignol' Just a rotting skull, not too weird for this album cover lover. But it makes the Gigwise list.
Naked City was an avant-garde music group led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn. Active primarily in New York City from 1988 to 1993, Naked City was initiated by Zorn as a "composition workshop" to test the limits of composition (and improvisation) in a traditional rock band lineup. Its music incorporated recognizable elements of jazz, grindcore, surf, classical, heavy metal, country music, punk rock and other genres.
Grand Guignol is the second full-length studio album released by John Zorn's band Naked City in 1992 on the Japanese Avant label. The album followed Torture Garden which was a compilation of "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol. The album notable for the inclusion of cover versions of pieces written by classical composers, the guest vocal of Bob Dorough, and also features a selection of "hardcore miniatures" (tracks 9-41) which are intense, fast, brief compositions, complete with the wailing of Zorn's alto sax, and the sometimes tortured, sometimes hilarious screams of Yamatsuka Eye.
The album was also released as part of Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings on Tzadik Records in 2005.
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Worst
22. Mick Ronson – ‘Play Don’t Worry’ he is famous for being David Bowie's lead guitarist and not so famous for this sorry effort of an album cover. Surprisingly, the music is great, although not many people heard it.
Mick Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of Ziggy Stardust's Spiders from Mars band. Ronson had a short-lived stint with Mott the Hoople. He then became a long-time collaborator with former Mott leader Ian Hunter, commencing with the album Ian Hunter and featuring the UK singles chart hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", including a spell touring as the Hunter Ronson Band.
His last, high profile, live performance was his famed appearance at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. Poignantly, he played on "All The Young Dudes" with David Bowie and Ian Hunter, and "Heroes" with Bowie.
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Best
22. Manic Street Preachers: ‘The Holy Bible’ Just what I wanted to see make the 'best of' list, a painting of a fat lady...in fact three wonderful views of this model.
The cover is a painting by artist Jenny Saville entitled ‘Strategy (South Face/Front Face/North Face)’ and since her debut in 1992, Saville's focus has remained on the female body. Her published sketches and documents include surgical photographs of liposuction, trauma victims, deformity correction, disease states and transgender patients.
The Holy Bible was the third studio album by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on August 30, 1994 by Epic Records, a subsidiary of Sony Records, unlike their two previous albums which had been released on the Columbia Records imprint. It peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart. In August 2005 it topped Newsnight Review's 'Quintessential Newsnight Viewer' top 5 favourite albums poll, pushing Radiohead's OK Computer (a much bigger seller) into second place. It is listed on the list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2001 Q magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time. The album displayed yet another musical and aesthetic change for the band, the casual rock look was out and was replaced by army/navy uniforms, a look which began at the end of their last UK tour, but now took on a new meaning. Musically, the band were veering into a gothic take on traditional metal forms, with highly irregular melodies and ice-cold guitar riffs taking centre stage.
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