PABLO CRUISE - PART OF THE GAME (1979)

I might not be an expert on animal rights, but I'm fairly certain forcing two undersized turtles to play competitive table-tennis in a glass ashtray in the middle of a Taiwanese casino (while you and your friends leer intoxicated-ly at them and place bets on the outcome) contravenes several important ones. Luckily for us, we can sleep sound in the knowledge that this horrible event never actually occurred, even if this horrible cover actually did: clearly this is just what results when you smoke the liner notes to Terrapin Station and then commission "that guy who does funny cartoons on the beach" to execute your vision.

EDDIE HARRIS - IS IT IN (1985)

I don't know what I find more offensive: the crudeness of the metaphor, the pinkish overtones used to emphasize it, or the utter lack of regard for punctuation here. Is it a question, a rhetorical question, or some kind of yoda-like backwards statement? Is it provacative, is it intelligent parody, is it pandering to the lowest common denominator?

 Is it in??? 

No, no it's not.

HERBIE MANN - PUSH PUSH (1971)

#1 on my list of things not to think about too hard is the relationship between this album's title and the sweaty, half-naked, flute-wielding Mann-bear on the cover. 

The fact that the words are punched out somehow adds to the overall creepiness. 

You're pushin' too hard, Herbie!

FREDDIE HUBBARD - WINDJAMMER (1976)

 

Nothing says windjammin' jazz music like wrapping Freddie Hubbard up in industrial-strength plastic cling wrap. His trumpet appears, quite fittingly, to be set on 'suck'.  Is that the sun behind him, or is it a giant yolk? Oh, I get it, he's windjammed inside the cosmic space-egg. This cover must be a yolk.