History Main / AlternateAlbumCover

* Music/TenThousandManiacs: ''Music/InMyTribe'' features different photos of an archery class across the LP, CD, and cassette releases. The LP and cassette covers depict the class from the front, with the cassette version featuring a wider version of the photo, while the CD cover depicts them from above.

* Music/TheRollingStones:

However, while certain albums covers have become iconic, covers can differ between various markets and formats. Many times, the artwork change is a form of [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerization]] due to the artwork featuring {{Gorn}} or [[SexSells lewd imagery]]. This may involve de-sexying SexyPackaging, using a CensorBox, or using a different photograph. The reasons for this change are often due to the MoralGuardians being against the imagery on the packaging. Other times, the changes are done to compensate for the different sizes of LP, CD, and cassette packaging.

** The [[https://www.discogs.com/release/80792-NewOrder-Republic standard edition]] of ''Music/{{Republic}}'' was a regular jewel case with stock photos (a house on fire juxtaposed with two models playing on a beach) for cover art. For the US-exclusive [[https://www.discogs.com/release/260162-NewOrder-Republic-The-Limited-Run "Limited Run"]], the entire album was packaged inside a puffy orange vinyl digipak, making it resemble a pool toy.
** The color scheme on the album color for ''Music/MusicComplete'' is rearranged for the digital, CD, and LP releases of the albums. As a ready tell, the digital cover features a blue triangle on the right, the CD cover has a yellow triangle, and the LP cover has a red triangle.

* "Soul Mining" by Music/TheThe has multiple different album covers. The UK version of the album cover is of a [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation yellow-skinned, blue-haired]] portrait of one of Fela Kuti's wives, who is depicted smoking a joint. Another version of the album cover depicts a similar art style used, but the image is a profile view of band frontman Matt Johnson appearing to be yelling. The 2002 CD release version of the album is an early photograph of Matt Johnson.

* ''Face Dances'' by Music/TheWho: The vinyl and CD releases feature 16 paintings of the band members on the cover. Due to the detail of the images and scale of the alternate release, the cassette and 8-track copies of the album just show a tube of paint with the album's title on it.

** The original LP release of the tribute album ''Beatlesongs!'' featured cover art depicting a cartoon of Beatles fans holding up a banner praising the band. When buyers pointed out that one of the fans resembled Mark David Chapman, Music/JohnLennon's assassin, Creator/RhinoRecords hastily swapped out the artwork for a photo of Beatles memorabilia strewn across a floor.

* Music/TheBeatles: The original release of the US-oriented compilation ''Yesterday and Today'' infamously depicts the band in butcher smocks, covered in raw meat and chopped-up baby dolls. After the artwork stoked controversy for its violent content, it was hastily replaced with a new photo depicting the band in and around a steamer trunk; copies with the original cover have since become a highly coveted rarity.

* Music/TheRollingStones: The originally-proposed cover for ''Music/BeggarsBanquet'' depicts a dingy bathroom [[BathroomStallGraffiti covered in the band's graffiti]]. After Creator/DeccaRecords rejected the idea for its vulgarity, it was replaced with a plain white cover styled after a formal dinner invitation; CD releases would eventually reinstate the originally-planned cover.

** The original 1993 cover art for ''Music/TheBuddhaOfSuburbia'' consists of an edited still from the TV show, with a map of London inserted as the background. The 1995 cover art for the US release replaces this with a black-and-white photo of Bowie seated at a cot. The 2007 reissue and 2021 remaster use a sepia-tinted variant of this photo.

** The original cover for ''Music/OffTheWall'' featured a picture of Michael in front of a wall with an afro from the waist up. Since the 90's, the front cover has been Michael legs with glowing socks from the waist down, which was originally the back cover.

* Music/MichaelJackson: ''Music/{{Invincible}}'' features five different covers, each with a different color tint. The base cover is white, while the others are red, blue, green, and orange.

** ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'': There are three versions of the album's artwork. The most common is of a man wrapped in tape casting a long shadow within a thin image. A altered version of this artwork ads an image a man's face wrapped in tape with a drawing of a mummified man in the background. A third image features an image of the top half of Alan Parsons wrapped in tape.
** ''Stereotomy'': The original artwork LP release included a transparent sleeve with blue plastic on one side and red on the other. The artwork inside featured red and blue text and a Rorschach inkblot in the center. Later releases would simplify the artwork with just a blue inkblot with the album title in red text and the band name in light blue due to an inability to recreate the original packaging.

** The original Japanese release of the band's [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum self-titled debut]] features an album cover of a ''VideoGame/{{Circus}}'' cabinet and various other pieces of western upper-middle-class paraphernalia against a metallic blue backdrop, with the artwork spanning all across the LP sleeve. The western release, meanwhile, features an android woman in a mock-Oriental outfit (who also appears as a mannequin in the "Computer Game/Firecracker" video) against a blue background, with a photo of the band on the back. These different covers are still simultaneously in use to differentiate between releases of the Japanese mix and releases of the US mix.

** ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination''There are three versions of the album's artwork. The most common is of a man wrapped in tape casting a long shadow within a thin image. A altered version of this artwork ads an image a man's face wrapped in tape with a drawing of a mummified man in the background. A third image features an image of the top half of Alan Parsons wrapped in tape.
** ''Stereotomy'' The original artwork LP release included a transparent sleeve with blue plastic on one side and red on the other. The artwork inside featured red and blue text and a Rorschach inkblot in the center. Later releases would simplify the artwork with just a blue inkblot with the album title in red text and the band name in light blue due to an inability to recreate the original packaging.

** ''AudioPlay/TheMontyPythonMatchingTieAndHandkerchief'': Both the original artwork and the alternate feature a gift box that holds the inner sleeve. The alternate is just a redesign of the outer sleeve.

* ''Amorica'' by Music/TheBlackCrowes: The original artwork is of an American flag thong covering a woman's crotch. The alternate artwork features only the flag thong on a black background.

* Music/PetShopBoys:

** The artwork for ''Introspective'' features a different set of color stripes between the CD, LP, and cassette releases. From left to right, the CD release's stripes are pink, yellow, red, green, pink, violet, indigo; the LP release is yellow, green, pink, red, yellow, violet, indigo; the cassette release is teal, light blue, yellow, blue, red, indigo, green. Digital releases simply reuse the CD cover.

* Music/FrankZappa: The cover art for ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' was designed as an unflattering, yet very thorough SgtPeppersShoutOut, which Music/PaulMcCartney reportedly approved of. However, Creator/VerveRecords changed the cover at the last minute to swap the outer art with the gatefold photo, which depicts a plain image of the Mothers of Invention against a yellow background (as a riff on the ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' gatefold photo). When Zappa regained the rights to his back-catalog in TheEighties, he had the inner and outer art swapped back to match his original intentions.

* ''Music/CatchAFire'' by Music/BobMarley. The vinyl release features the album cover in the shape of a lighter. Most modern CD releases show an image of Marley smoking a joint of something.

* Creator/MontyPython

** ''AudioPlay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum'': The vinyl artwork features a version of the paper label of the record visible on the outer sleeve. In the UK, the Charisma label is visible while in the USA it's the Artista label. On CD, the label is edited out on some releases.

** The cover of the original vinyl release of ‘’Big Generator’’ featured dark blue print over an aquamarine background, while the cassette and CD versions used red print over a yellow background.

* ''Operation: Doomsday'' by Music/MFDoom has ''three'' album covers. Two of them are of a hooded DOOM (with a [[Franchise/FantasticFour Doctor Doom]]-esque appearance) holding a microphone. They differ somewhat in appearance despite their similarities--the 2011 re-release cover more clearly resembles DOOM. Another cover features DOOM's hand using a knife as a record needle. This cover was used for the 2011 deluxe remastered edition. The later two covers were created due to licensing issues with the original artwork that created problems with reissuing the album.

** The first CD edition of ''Very'' came in [[https://www.discogs.com/release/109041-Pet-Shop-Boys-Very a custom jewel case]], which was solid orange with the title in raised letters and a geometric pattern of raised dots. (The "LEGO case", some fans called it.) [[https://www.discogs.com/release/1545367-Pet-Shop-Boys-Very The 1996 reissue of the album]] came in a standard, clear jewel case--and the new cover art was just a photo of the old LEGO case.

** ''The Fashion Focus:'' The [[https://www.discogs.com/release/858311-Starflyer-59-The-Fashion-Focus CD edition]] had a design with some stock photos. [[https://www.discogs.com/release/1118680-Starflyer-59-The-Fashion-Focus The LP edition]] reused the same cover. ''Exactly'' the same cover, at ''exactly'' the same size. As in, they didn't scale up the CD-sized art to make it fit the larger LP sleeve at all--leaving the original cover to float in empty white space.

** The first pressing of ''Music/{{Illinois}}'' included Franchise/{{Superman}} mid-flight on the cover art--but Sufjan and his label, Asthmatic Kitty, neglected to get permission from DC Comics, as they mistakenly thought Superman was already in the public domain. [[ScrewedByTheLawyers To avoid a lawsuit,]] they covered Superman with a sticker of balloons on most of the unsold first-issue copies--and they edited the art itself for the reissues, replacing Supes either with a patch of empty sky, or the same balloons from the sticker. (Copies of the album with Superman are now rare collector's items.) Then the 10th anniversary vinyl reissue introduced yet another variant with a different comic book hero, Blue Marvel, reenacting Superman's pose.

!! Examples include:

* ''You've Come A Long Way Baby'' by Music/FatboySlim: Original artwork features a unidentified overweight person with a shirt reading "I'm #1 so why try harder". The alternate version is a large record collection.

** The [[https://www.discogs.com/release/80792-NewOrder-Republic standard edition]] of ''Music/{{Republic}}'' was a regular jewel case with stock photos (a house on fire juxtaposed with two models playing on a beach) for cover art. For the US-exclusive [[https://www.discogs.com/release/260162-NewOrder-Republic-The-Limited-Run "Limited Run"]], the entire album was packaged inside a puffy orange vinyl digipak, making it resemble a pool toy.

** The original cover for ''Music/SpeakingInTongues'', designed by Music/DavidByrne and Robert Rauschenberg and used for the limited-edition LP release, consisted of an elaborate plastic clamshell with rotatable color wheels inside depicting a collage of urban imagery, based on one of Rauschenberg's earlier pieces. For cost reasons, the wider general release used a new cover across formats consisting of a painting by Byrne that provides an abstract reinterpretation of the original, featuring a blue dot on a yellow backdrop with tinted photos of an armchair in the corners. Some CD releases in Europe invert the color scheme of the painting cover, featuring a yellow dot on a blue background.

* Music/FrankZappa: The cover art for ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' was designed as an unflattering, yet very thorough SgtPeppersShoutOut, which Music/PaulMcCartney reportedly approved of. However, Creator/VerveRecords changed the cover at the last minute to swap the outer art with the gatefold photo, which depicts a plain image of the Mothers of Invention against a yellow background (as a riff on the ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' gatefold photo). When Zappa regained the rights to his back-catalog in TheEighties, he had the inner and outer art swapped back to match his original intentions.

** The first pressing of ''Illinois'' included Franchise/{{Superman}} mid-flight on the cover art--but Sufjan and his label, Asthmatic Kitty, neglected to get permission from DC Comics, as they mistakenly thought Superman was already in the public domain. [[ScrewedByTheLawyers To avoid a lawsuit,]] they covered Superman with a sticker of balloons on most of the unsold first-issue copies--and they edited the art itself for the reissues, replacing Supes either with a patch of empty sky, or the same balloons from the sticker. (Copies of the album with Superman are now rare collector's items.) Then the 10th anniversary vinyl reissue introduced yet another variant with a different comic book hero, Blue Marvel, reenacting Superman's pose.

** The singles for the ''Anime/LoveLiveNijigasakiSchoolIdolClub'' anime that feature the solos of the characters have alternate covers, each depicting a different character.

[[caption-width-right:250:Albums donut have to stick to one cover.]]

However, while certain albums covers have become iconic, covers can differ between various markets and formats. Many times, the artwork change is a form of [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerization]] due to the artwork featuring {{Gorn}} or [[SexSells lewd imagery]]. This may involve de-sexying SexyPackaging, using a CensorBox, or using a different photograph. The reasons for this change are often due to the MoralGuardians being against the imagery on the packaging.

** The [[https://www.discogs.com/release/80792-NewOrder-Republic standard edition]] of ''Republic'' was a regular jewel case with stock photos (a house on fire juxtaposed with two models playing on a beach) for cover art. For the US-exclusive [[https://www.discogs.com/release/260162-NewOrder-Republic-The-Limited-Run "Limited Run"]], the entire album was packaged inside a puffy orange vinyl digipak, making it resemble a pool toy.