Check out these weird designs...
jason gregory

12:07 19th September 2011

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We've seen some good, bad and ugly album covers through the years, but then there's ones that just make you go: “WTF?”


In our new countdown, we've put together a run down of the craziest optical illusion album covers out there, kicking off with Animal Collective's 2008 effort, 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'.

Our countdown also feature two awesome covers from Soulwax – aka 2ManyDJs – as well as Spiritualized's 'Let It Come Down' and 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' by Genesis.

Can you think of any more? Which is your favourite? Post your suggestions and thoughts in the comment form below.

  • Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2008) - The inspiration for this gallery, avant-garde indie types Animal Collective have served up a head fuck of an album cover with this. Brilliant.

  • Santana: 'Santana' (1969) - The guitar legend's debut album at first simply looks like the head of a lion. Study it more and it reveals a boy and a further four human heads.

  • Traffic: 'The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys' (1971) The rockers have utilised one of the simplest, but most effective optical illusions of all time. Which side is the front of the cuboid?

  • Def Leppard: 'Retro Active' (1993) Designed by Nels Israelson and Hugh Syne, the big question is whether its a woman at a dressing table or a skull? Or both? The pair took inspiration from Charles Allan Gilbert's 1892 sketch 'All Is Vanity'.

  • Soulwax: 'Any Minute Now' (2004) Close up, this Trevor Jackson design simply looks like white dots on a black mesh. Draw away from it, however, and it cleverly reveals the album title and band name.

  • Soulwax: 'Nite Versions' (2005) The Belgian's remix album a year later incorporated the same idea, but with a different pattern.

  • Styx: 'The Grand Illusion' (1977) The Chicago rockers decided to play on the eyes of the public with this release from over three decades. The figure on a horse defies the perceived space between the trees.

  • Spiritualized: 'Let It Come Down' (2001) - What looks like a 3D image of a girls face, is actually far from it. The album box is actually a concave carving, but the girls face jumps out at you and moves. Better seen in the flesh, it's a phenomenal design.

  • Andrew Gold: 'What's Wrong With This Picture?' (1976) The solo artist claims that there are a massive 32 things wrong with this picture â%u20AC%u201C we challenge you to spot them all!

  • Time Requiem: 'Optical Illusion' (2006) Seemingly in a bid to support their album title, the Swedish progressive metal band have included four classic optical illusions on their album sleeve.

  • Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974) A blatant optical illusion, but this doesn't make 'The Lamb....' any less memorable.

  • The Heliocentrics: 'Out There' (2007) - Just like Animal Collective, if you stare at this for a while it starts to make your eyes squiffy.

  • Pink Floyd: 'Ummagumma' (1969) On first impression the sleeve shows a series of mirrors reflecting the same image over and over. However, when you look closer you realise the band members switch positions on each mirror image.

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

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