Tag Archives: WTF records

WTF Album Covers: Sensitive, Caring, Clueless

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The latest batch of WTF album covers I’ve discovered runs the full gamut of clueless, offensive, bewildering, and just plain weird. I’ve started sharing stuff like this on Facebook on a daily basis so if you’re into bad album covers, lousy art, and strange records in general why not Like the WTF Records official page on FB? There’s plenty like these with many more to come.

–Joe Wallace

This film was apparently made in 1969 (snicker if you must) and features a decent soundtrack, but that cover! That title! We must remember that in 1969, people had much stranger ideas about what it meant to be “respectable” or “decent”. Apparently, who you chose to have sex with–with regard to not having the same kind of plumbing as you–was really, REALLY important back then. Another argument in favor of the notion, right or wrong, that before the Internet, people were just dumber.

What is this album cover trying to say, exactly? Are those canes supposed to represent something? Or maybe this album is about the risks you take looking for love with a caning fetish? Who knows, but damn. How’d you like to see THIS stern, Charles Bronson-esque face hovering over you in the dark?

Is there a genre of album covers called “Head In A Jar”? I’m still doing research on that. I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, here’s the best example. Remember that old movie, Donovan’s Brain? The disembodied brain that still lived, exerting psychic influence over people to do the brain’s evil bidding? This album cover could be titled, “Donovan’s Dumbass”.

How long did it take anybody to realize just how much this album cover really, really sucked? Was it a gradual awareness like dawn breaking across an autumn sky, or did these people wake up one morning, look at what they had unleashed upon the world, and just start screaming until the ambulances came?

Announcing WTF Records: The Turntabling Guide To Weird and Wonderful Vinyl

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by Joe Wallace

I’m very happy to announce my work on a new book called WTF Records: The Turntabling Guide To Weird And Wonderful Vinyl.

The book features a collection of reviews and discussion of the most bizarre, unusual, highly collectible, and just plain awesome vinyl records in my collection.

But that’s not all–the book also features interviews and commentary by musicians, record store owners, vinyl collectors and others about their strangest, most jaw-droppingly weird vinyl finds.

And that’s where you come in. I’m putting out an open call for interviews for this book, Simply answer the questions below, include a one-paragraph bio including links to any website, online record store, Facebook page or any project you care to promote, and send it to the following e-mail address:

jwallace (at) turntabling (dot) net

Simply answer the questions here, include your bio and send–it’s as easy as that. Your story could end up being published in the book alongside plenty of other luminaries, vinyl junkies, lovers of the strange and bizarre, etc. Thank you very much for your support and participation. As of now the book is halfway done and there is still room for plenty of these interviews.

WTF Records Interview

1. What is the strangest, most bizarre, awful or out-of-left-field album you know of? Describe it for those of us who have never heard of the performer(s), who don’t know the back story, or might not have a frame of reference for the record.

2. How did you find the album–and what was your reaction when you first discovered it?

3. Did you buy it? Do you inflict it on unsuspecting friends or guests? Tell us a funny story about someone else’s reaction (or your own) when you played it (or similar WTF find).

4. WTF records have a strange appeal to some–are you attracted to albums like these or do you want to be rid of them instead? Why?

5. Do you collect weirdness on vinyl? What are some of your favorite finds and what are your favorite sources for them? (Plugs for your favorite record shops by name are definitely welcome.)

Please feel free to include a brief bio promoting any projects you’d like to mention in the book as part of the bio blurb at the end of the interview.

 

WTF Album Covers: The Everlasting Horror of Wendy Bagwell

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I don’t know who Wendy Bagwell is, but the utter horror of these album covers is plenty, thanks. Suitable for framing. In HELL. Look at those grotesque rictus grins! Who was applying the leeches during this photo shoot? And more importantly, WHERE? Not to mention the utterly Beavis & Butthead snickers the album title lends itself to.

But wait, the horror doesn’t stop here! More awfulness…

What is a WTF Record?

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by Joe Wallace

If you’ve read this site for any length of time you’re no doubt familiar with our obsession for WTF album covers. There is something wonderful about horrible, misguided, even offensive album covers. Trying to get inside the minds of the people responsible for the atrocities that grace album covers is half the fun of looking that them.

Naturally, the other half of the fun is exposing other, unsuspecting people to this stuff and watching them hurt themselves laughing.

But at some point, the album covers are not enough, and hence Turntabling has expanded its search for the bizarre, the unusual and seemingly from-outer-space records, too. I call them WTF records because that is basically your first reaction.

A WTF record doesn’t have to be BAD to qualify. There are plenty of good, quality WTF albums out there in the same way as there are enjoyable WTF movies, artwork, any consumer production you can think of.

Sometimes a WTF record is truly awful, and that’s how it earns the label. For example, who would want to listen to an entire record of Slim Goodbody nutrition sing-a-long music? But as a WTF album, Slim Goodbody’s “Health Is Wealth” is a real find–where else are you going to hear tracks like “Large, Lovely Liver” or “You Don’t Need a Brain”?

Sometimes the WTF factor is connected to who recorded the album. A record of Beatles covers is nothing new, but when Shatner does it, you’ve GOT to hear it at least once. The WTF value is at an all-time high when someone famous for things other than their relative merits as a songwriter is at the helm.

Isn’t that why the Grasshopper album by David Carradine is so collectible? Or Leonard Nimoy doing scary versions of old folkie tunes?

Then there are the weird records that provide a shock of recognition–maybe you didn’t know that before Dinousaur Jr. took off, they were just called Dinosaur.

When you spot the Homestead Records compilation The Wailing Ultimate featuring the track “Repulsion” by Dinosaur, you’ll get that WTF look on your face when you hear J. Mascis open his mouth and start in on his trademark wail.

Or perhaps you weren’t expecting to see a vinyl record featuring none other than Aleister Crowley? Discovering “Blue Sunshine” by The Glove is actually a side project by The Cure is a WTF moment for some.

And some of the most fun WTF albums are by far the weird ones–Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium Is The Massage, Moog reworkings of 70s butt rock classics, Sun Ra, TV preachers on vinyl, you name it. But whatever your WTF vinyl record poison, these albums are often neglected, unheard, or so obscure as to not get their proper due.

Turntabling aims to change that, one record at a time. So in addition to WTF album covers, we’ll be including a lot more coverage of WTF records here, too. Stay tuned, folks. It only gets weirder from here.