The Best Neo Psychedelic Rock Album Covers

A list of the best neo psychedelic rock album covers. These are covers that have a modern take on the traditional psychedelic rock look.

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

The Beatles’ iconic album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the most well-known and influential psychedelic images of all time. Designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, the cover features a collage of famous people from various walks of life, all surrounded by an array of brightly-colored flowers and patterns. The overall effect is visually dazzling and extremely trippy, perfectly capturing the spirit of the psychedelic era.

Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. It built on ideas explored in Pink Floyd’s earlier recordings and their live shows, but without the extended jams that characterised their work. Wright came up with the album’s concept about the pressures of modern life and its effects on the human psyche, summed up with what would become one of Pink Floyd’s most well-known designs: a prism spectrum representing the band’s stage lighting, refracted through a prism onto a wall.

The Doors – Strange Days

The Doors’ second album,Strange Days, was released in September 1967. The album cover was designed by artist William S. Harvey and features a close-up photo of a woman’s eye. The eye is heavily made up with bright red lips and blue eyeliner, giving the woman a very psychedelic look.

The background of the album cover is a orange and yellow painting, which adds to the psychedelic effect of the cover. The word “Strange” is written in green lettering, while the word “Days” is written in red lettering. This is a very well-designed album cover that perfectly captures the psychedelic sound of The Doors’ music.

Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland

The cover art for Electric Ladyland was created by artists Karl Ferris and Roger Law. The album was originally going to feature a photo of Hendrix surrounded by nude female models, but Hendrix’s record label, Reprise, deemed the image too controversial and it was scrapped. Instead, Ferris and Law created a collage of images that included Hendrix’s face superimposed onto the body of a naked woman. The final product was an iconic image that has been imitated many times over the years.

Cream – Disraeli Gears

Cream’s second album, Disraeli Gears, saw the power trio move further away from blues and toward psychedelic rock. The artwork for the album’s cover was created by British artist and friend of the band, Martin Sharp. Featuring a highly detailed and colorful Gears wheel, with Cream’s name and the album title appearing in the center, the cover was an instant classic when it was released in 1967.

The Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun

The Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun
Art Director: Bob Fried
Album release date: July 1968

This is one of the most iconic album covers in history, and it’s also one of the best examples of psychedelic art. The sunburst effect was achieved by filmmaker Bob Fried, who used a technique called “bi-packing” to superimpose two images onto one piece of film. This gave the image a trippy, dreamlike quality that perfectly captured the spirit of the Grateful Dead’s music.

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by American rock band the Velvet Underground, released in March 1967 by Verve Records. It peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200 and is considered one of the most influential and iconic rock albums in history. Album cover features a photo of German model Anita Pallenberg.

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV

This Led Zeppelin classic is one of the most enduring and iconic images in rock history. The artwork, created by Hipgnosis, features a black and white image of a spiral staircase leading up into the clouds. The concept was inspired by a dream Robert Plant had, and the final product perfectly captures the mystical energy of Led Zeppelin’s music.

The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet

The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet is the best neo psychedelic rock album cover. We love the colors and the overall design of the album cover.

Black Sabbath – Paranoid

Black Sabbath’s second album, Paranoid, is often cited as the first true heavy metal album. It’s also one of the most iconic album covers of all time. The artwork, designed by Fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, depicts a sword-wielding barbarian warrior standing over a fallen knight. The sword is pointing towards a Castle in the background, which is presumably the home of the warrior’s next victim.

The striking image perfectly encapsulates the dark and heavy sound of Black Sabbath’s music, and it has been cited as an influence by many metal musicians. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #71 on their list of the 100 Greatest Album Covers of All Time.