History Main / AlternateAlbumCover

* Music/{{Yello}}: The original release of the band's first GreatestHitsAlbum depicts headshots of Boris Blank and Dieter Meier. The 1995 reissue, done to promote ''Film/TheSantaClause1'' (which the band contributed a song for), adds an outer slipcase based on the film poster, though the original artwork is still present on the front of the jewel case's booklet.

** The artwork used for ''Music/StickyFingers'' features the crotch of jeans close up. On the original release, the zipper worked and would expose briefs. In Spain, the Franco Regime censored the artwork so it was replaced with a can of treacle with a hand reaching out of it.

** The Japanese cassette release of ''Music/{{Service}} removes the large black circle as well as the text denoting the band name and album title (which is instead listed in a generic label below the illustration), leaving behind the unedited painting of a head in profile.

To release an album; musicians, promoters, executives, and such all have to come up with a cover for it. The artwork is meant to showcase part of the personality of the album and has to visually represent the music included within, at least most of the time. Book covers and movie posters often have multiple versions but popular music album artwork since the mid-20th century tends to be consistent through every release and rerelease of an album for consistency between reissues. Classical and jazz buyers seem to accept album cover variations more easily.

* {{Music/CKY}}'s debut was initially a SelfTitledAlbum released under the name Camp Kill Yourself, with the cover art being a stylized painting depicting the public suicide of politician R. Budd Dwyer - from 2001 onward, the band name was changed to CKY, the album was re-titled ''Volume 1'', and the cover design was changed to [[FaceOnTheCover a photo of Chad Ginsburg performing live at the Warped Tour]].

* Music/AlanParsonsProject

** ''Stereotomy'': The original 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.

* Music/FreddieMercury: The original 1988 release of ''Music/{{Barcelona}}'' depicts a photo of Mercury and Montserrat Caballé seated against a gray backdrop, framed by a beige border. The German cassette release and the 1992 reissue depict the pair performing on-stage, framed by a dark teal border, with the original cover art instead appearing in the liner notes. The 2012 special edition, meanwhile, removes the duo's likenesses from the front cover and instead sports a painting of brightly colored squares with "BARCELONA" scrawled atop.

* Music/{{Prince}}: The original CD release of ''Music/AroundTheWorldInADay'' was in a longbox-sized gatefold package, with the CD held in a card sleeve tucked in a slot inside the gatefold. Later pressings would do away with this in favor of a conventional jewel case.

* Music/{{Japan}}: The 2003 remaster of ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' features an alternate version of the cover photo depicting Music/DavidSylvian catching the rain in his hands and looking to the left rather than the right.

** ''Music/DirtyDeedsDoneDirtCheap'': The Australian artwork features the album's title as a tattoo on an arm. The international cover was designed by Creator/{{Hipgnosis}}, and shows people with black bars over their eyes.

** ''Music/FromGenesisToRevelation'' has been reissued countless times over the years thanks to Jonathan King's attempts at capitalizing on spikes in the band's fame. Accordingly, these countless reissues were also given countless different album covers, which are too voluminous to list in full. Among these are ''In the Beginning'', the first version of which depicted an orange snake coiled around the Earth, ''And the World Was...'', which depicts a photo of the band atop a blue marble backdrop, and a reissue under the original name by Creator/VareseSarabande in 2008 that depicts a photo of the band atop a solid black background.

* Music/DepecheMode: The standard cover art for ''Memento Mori'', featured on the digisleeve CD, digital, and double-LP releases, depicts two angel wing-shaped bouquets atop a wooden backdrop with the band name and album title above. The digibook CD and cassette releases only depict one bouquet due to the smaller size of the packaging, with the CD release additionally being a TextlessAlbumCover; the logotypes are instead included on a shrinkwrap sticker.

** Most releases of ''Music/TheHurting'' feature a cover photo of a child crying in a WhiteVoidRoom, based on the "Suffer the Children" single art. Early international releases however use the photo from the "Mad World" single against a mocha-colored backdrop.