Bizarre record album covers (2)

Alas, it appears that you haven’t got enough of the bizarre and weird world of record album art. Can’t stand to look away either? Let us continue our journey into the macabre.

For the longest, I thought Heino was an unattractive German woman, but now I know that the singer was an unattractive German man. Heino was a German singer whose real name is Heinz Georg Kramm. He is a well-respected singer of traditional European Volksmusik (traditional German music). He wear’s dark sunglasses to hide his exophthalmos, which is a condition that causes the eyeballs to bulge out. He recorded music from 1968 until 1980, and currently resides in Bad Münstereifel where he owns a café and plays his own music.

Herbie Mann, whose real name was Herbert Jay Solomon, was a Jewish American flutist during the 1970’s. At the age of fifteen, he began playing the flute in front of audiences in the resorts of the Catskills in New York State. From there he began fusing jazz music with different musical genres from the world. On the album “Push, Push” he does flute renditions of popular music of the seventies. On the album cover, he must have gotten hot playing the flute. I can’t tell if that’s hair or dirt on his chest.

Adolfo Makuntima Makwiza is a Congolese singer whose stage name is ADO. He presently lives in Toronto Canada and is a full time French teacher for a catholic school there in the city. He is very intelligent, speaks five languages, and has degrees in sociology and education. We know he is very astute, and although I can’t understand the words to his music, he seems to sing well. IT’s just the album cover and video he produced that has us wondering how he got into the business. Try to watch the video without looking away if you can.

El Charro del Misterio (the ill mannered man of mystery) was Mexican singer who made music and movies the late sixties and early seventies. I thought the singer was a Mexican wrestler because of his mask, but he was a singer who just wore it to hide his identity. The persona must have worked, because he had a successful career. His real name was Don Jose Martin, and after his movie and singing career winded down he joined the Mexican Army. He retired from the Army and began to live a quiet life in Jalisco, Mexico. His singing seems to be winning over the crowd in the food court in the video.

Johnny Carroll was a British electrician who had a penchant for singing and playing guitar. In the 1970’s he performed on the talent shows “Opportunity Knocks” and “New Faces”, and won the audience’s in both of them. On the album “Do You Want to Touch Me,” he does renditions of songs from famous musicians of the fifties and sixties. I’m not sure if British audiences wanted to touch him though.

The Sabri Brothers were a musical duo from Pakistan. They were famous for their Qawwali music, which is devotional Sufi music. Their Bio: “The Sabri Brothers, Haji Ghulam Farid (or Fareed) Sabri (1930-1994) and Haji Maqbool Ahmed Sabri (also born in Kalyana in East Punjab, on October 12, 1945), they were taught music by their father, Ustad Haji Inayat Sen Sabri. The family claims descent from Mian Tansen, one of the greatest and most legendary Hindustani musicians of all time. The musically gifted Tansen was a musician in the court of Akbar and is credited with miraculous powers of musicianship.”

http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/the-sabri-brothers/488306

Ken Snyder was a gospel musician in the late seventies. He released a gospel album titled “Ken by Request only.” It was the only album he recorded, so apparently he never received a request to record another. The rhythm is catchy on some songs, but the lyrics have some people wonder. Here’s the link to the complete review: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=11381

Korla Pandit’s real name was John Roland Redd; he was a musician from St. Louis, Missouri. He began doing radio work in 1938 under the name Juan Rolando and wore a red turban when he performed. You think that’s weird, it gets better. In 1944, he married a Disney artist named Beryl DeBeeson. She helped him change his persona into Korla Pandit; she even created a story on how his dad was from India and mother from France. He used the organ to create eerie backdrop music for the radio show “Chandu the magician. He began acting in some movies, but had a contract dispute with the producers, which caused them to replace Korla with Liberace. In 1994 he had a cameo appearance in the movie “Ed Wood.” He died in 1998 of a heart attack. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit

Kvaka was born Velibor Spužić in 1934 in the city of Kosovo. The Serbian singer learned to play the accordion at a young age. As a child, he was injured while climbing a tree; he sprained his hip, which caused one of his legs to be shorter than the other. Later on during his first concert the crowd began calling him names because of the handicap. He started to sing a song later titled “Unhappy Childhood,” which caused the crowd to be moved to tears. He was never harassed about the handicap again. He recorded many albums, with the last one recorded in 1995. In 1997 he suffered a stroke and eventually died in 2002.

Larz Kristerz was a Swedish country/rock-a-billy band that was formed in the seventies during the disco era. Their music never found mainstream success, but no matter. It was their hairstyle on the album that was worth remembering; look at the video then the picture above. Can you match the before and after shotsfrom the video? Of course you can!

Three hundred pound Little David Wilkins lives in Nashville, Tennessee. His song-writing career began when he wrote a song for Brenda Lee named “Coming on Strong.” That one song has been recorded by 26 artists, and sold over five million of records worldwide. His voice is not what I expected; smooth, almost crystal clear.

Alex Dobkin is an American folksinger who married Sam Hood in 1965, the man who was running the Gaslight café in Greenwich Village. A couple years later, she had a daughter Adrian; one year later she divorced her husband and came out as lesbian. During the early seventies and eighties, she toured the world promoting lesbian culture and community through her “Womyn’s Music.” She retired from the lesbian folk music scene, and is actively caring for her grandchildren.

The man with the Jackalope on his chest was country music songwriter and musician Luke Baldwin. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man who went on to get his masters degree in education from Harvard University. He went on to serve as a member of the faculty at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At age 47 he died suddenly, and is survived by his wife and two children. He will be remembered as a social activist, and for this crazy album cover.

Maya Angelou is a well-known poet, women’s right activist, and bestselling author. What most people don’t realize is that she recorded one album in the fifties of calypso music. The album was released in 1957. She wrote half of the songs on the record, but sung all of them. Truly unique.

Alfred Brendel is an Austrian pianist and artist who lives in the United Kingdom. He began playing the piano as a youngster during World War II. His is known for his skillful interpretations of classical Germanic composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. On the album cover for his Mozart rendition, Alfred has a look of intensity, maybe cramping. Mozart renditions can be hell on the pianist hands.

“Mr. Bat Sings” was an album released in the sixties from a man named Bruce A. Twetan. His wife played the background music on the album. Blogger Jude at Iddybud had some more information: “The artist formerly known as "Mr. Bat" is currently performing as a circus clown named "Mr. Moth", whose gimmick is to dress up to look like a classical singer. Mrs. Tweten accompanies him on the rubber fart horn, which is honked flatulently whenever he amazingly hits a high "C".

http://iddybud.blogspot.com/2005_03_04_archive.html

I wonder if John Wayne Gacy Jr. listened to this record, because his clown costume disturbingly similar to Mr. Bats.

Mungo Jerry was an English band that flourished during the seventies. The lead singer and the man on the album cover was Ray Dorset, although he could easily pass for a Mungo. Don’t judge the band by their appearance though, they’re very well read. The name of the band was derived from the characters in the poem “Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer”, which was written by T.S. Eliot. Look at those mutton chops though!

“Orion Reborn” was an album released b y Jimmy “Orion” Ellis. Sun Records created Orion as a way to fuel speculation that Elvis faked his death and came back as this character. Jimmy Ellis dressed like Elvis and adopter his persona behind the mask. If you listen to the clip, he really does sound like him also.

http://www.orionjimmyellis.com/

Orleans is an eclectic band that was formed in Woodstock, New York in 1972 and named after the city of New Orleans. They have a mix of R&B, Cajun, and mainstream rhythm and beats. They wrote the hit “Still the One,” which has been used for many commercials and has gotten airplay on most retro/oldies stations. Their album “Walking and Dreaming” was released in the mid seventies, and from the picture, we can tell the band members are very close. Just wasn’t expecting them to be so close without their shirts on.

Paddy Roberts became a songwriter after serving in the Royal Air force during World War II as a pilot; he also worked as a lawyer. Paddy had some music success in the 1950’s and sixties, and wrote music for many films during the same period. “Songs for Gay Dogs” was released in 1963; I’m not sure which definition of “Gay” he meant for the album. No matter, as the clip can attest, he does have a sense of humor.

The pet company Hartz created a parakeet training record in the late sixties to foster it’s marketing blitz for selling the birds. The record gives you training commands to use while training your birds, and even has recordings of how your bird should sound once trained. Cool!

Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian dancer, composer who has been at the forefront of experimental music for two decades. She has collaborated with Shirin Neshat , who is an artist and filmmaker. “Possessed” was the result of one of their many collaborations. The image on the album shows an individual possessed by god at the Wailing Wall in Israel. Her link: http://sussandeyhim.com/

Redd Fox was born John Elroy Sanford on December 9, 1922. His father left when he was four years old, so his half-Seminole mother, his minister, and his Grandmother raised him. When he was younger he was an associate of Malcolm Little AKA as Malcolm X. Malcolm X referred to Sanford as “Chicago Red, the funniest dishwasher around.” He got his stage name Redd from his complexion and Foxx from baseball star Jimmie Fox. He was known for his explicit humor and as this expert from his act can attest, somewhat disgusting. (WARNING: EXPLICIT HUMOR)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redd_Foxx

Resul Balay was a Turkish youth who became a singing sensation in his time. He released a few albums, and then disappeared from the scene. He became like a “Where’s Waldo?” kind of figure, with people reporting sightings of him around Turkey. Although he’s older now, you can see the resemblance in the video clip.

Saveta Jovanovic is a Serbian singer who released many records during the late sixties, seventies, and early eighties. If you can look past her hairy legs and cockeyed look, you might just enjoy her catchy Serbian ballads. Mmm, nope, didn’t work.

©2011 Augustine A. Zavala