We love listening to music. While we're perfectly content to don some headphones and crank up the volume knob 'til it falls off, we also get our kicks from a good album cover. The best albums inspire us to get up and dance (or headbang), and others even inspire us to get dressed. Since we're confined to our homes more these days, we're looking to other sources of sartorial insight. Right now, here are some covers that are doing just that for us.
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Deep (1979) — Parliament
Courtesy Casablanca
Though the 'Deep' was released as part of Parliament's 1977 record, Motor-Booty Affair, the track saw a later single release with this insane cover. It's a cover best experienced from top to bottom.
The King of Crunk's lowkey glasses belie his cavalcade of certified bops. It's inspired Sun Buddies to make their own E-40-inspired eyewear and comes at a good time when '90s style has made a triumphant return. As a bonus, check out Susuma Yokota's killer glasses.
Enigmatic jazz artist Yusef Lateef's live session at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London brought one of the coolest portraits of the musician. Classic wayfarer-style glasses, a polo shirt buttoned all the way to the top and a close-fitting beret, a simple combination that sounds like it shouldn't work, unless you're a jazz head.
A profound artist with an equally appealing sense of personal style, Nick Cave on this live album sports a well-tailored getup that's very 1970s without the traps of super exaggerated collars.
As blurry as it is, the cover art for Cities Aviv's 'single If I Could Hold Your Soul' gets a stylish point across. The baggy silhouette and mix of plaid with stripes and running sneakers is a wave that fashionable types are still on today.
Before John Mayer's all-Visvim fit on the cover of Paradise Valley, there was country singer Dwight Yoakam. The scant desert landscape is the perfect backdrop to show off his long Chimayo coat, stacked jeans and pointy cowboy boots.
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (1998) — New Radicals
Courtesy MCA
Late '90s one hit wonder didn't make much of a splash after its hit single 'Get What You Give' (the music video is a personal fave). But this writer is still riding its wave in the style category. Namely, loose silhouettes, track jackets and a floppy bucket hat.
He's not wearing much in this cover, but Frank Ocean's forest green hair helped launch another wave of neon hair jobs the likes of which was only seen when Eminem first came onto the scene. Plus, Frank's showering, which is an important grooming habit.
While Bruce Springsteen's iconic album covers are, well, iconic, for their blue jeans and white tee formula, shoegaze/hardcore band Ovlov's debut album features a clean white tee with a more free-flowing silhouette.
The cover to Marvin Gaye's is legendary already. But the live cut gives a clearer look into Gaye's fit: double denim combined with a perfectly worn-in army green tee and a red-orange watch cap and a sculpted beard.
