Why It Matters

Without question this is one of my all-time favorite album covers.  Number 161 in the Hipgnosis Bestiary, 1979’s Lovedrive sported yet another brilliant jacket from Storm Thorgerson.

What always appealed to me about this cover is the surreal story that it suggests.  Why are they so bored?  Where are they going?  Who chewed all of that gum?

I was twelve when this came out so of course the cheap thrill of it all was a delight, too.  It wasn’t too long before people started bitching and Mercury changed the cover art to the much less interesting chrome scorpion and the Hipgnosis art was retired to the gallery of controversial album covers.

I hunted the original album cover for years with no luck, and then around 1986 or so I was working at a small record store in Savannah, Georgia.  We got a shipment of records from the warehouse and an original Lovedrive was tucked in among the Debbie Gibson and the Top Gun.  Best. Shipment day. Ever.

You can pick up your own original Lovedrive for around ten dollars American, which is a steal for a little piece of classic album cover art.  I remember this one going for well over fifty bucks back in the pre-intergooglewebtubes days.  We have the auction sites to thank for making inventory available and bringing the prices of collectibles down.