A good idea from Yesspaz...........one of many I might add.
 

My vote goes to:

The Moody Blues - Octave

Great album, terrible cover. Looks like the band are just walking away from you and Graeme Edge looks back as if to say "Don't you dare follow us!"

Really good albums tho....
 

2nd runner-up is........

Yes - Going For the One

Every band that was a band, eventually had to go through Hipgnosis for their cover art, but, for me, the company ran out of ideas in short order.... "Hmmm... let's play with image scale via collage... attach a bit of flame here..." :rolleyes:

Winner (i.e. loser)......

Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Black Light Syndrome

http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/BLS-BLS.jpg

It's a "band" right? Three guys working together to make music!! But the "thought-balloon" over each guy's head would probably read: "No! I'm the most important member!!" At least Levin had the decency to shave his head! :D

No, there are probably much worse ones out there, but these are my (first ;) ) entry.

I think Going for the One has a pretty good cover. The worst Yes cover has to be 9012Live. Come to think of it, Open Your Eyes is a weak cover, and so is the Time and a Word (both versions). The Yes Album's cover is a yawner too. Big Generator? At least the packaging doesn't detract from the music!

I guess I have to put Piper at the Gates of Dawn as a pretty crappy cover. "Hey, let's take a band pic dressed all psych, and then trick out the camera lens." :o

Apart from the fact that the bubbles make it look like the naked guy has just farted underwater!!!!!!!!

Not sure I agree about the others though Spaz........the Floyd cover you mention is perfectly in keeping with the album and the times.

Not to put any constraints on anything, but I wouldn't pick on the old, cheaply produced album covers like "Piper." How much money was sunk into that album cover, $50? The big offenders are the ones produced by a top-flight art/ad company that still manages to look like a monkey Photoshopped it with his feet.

Hipgnosis blows, absolutely. I believe one of my personal "favorite" bad covers, Renaissance's "Ashes are Burning," is a Hipgnosis production. Same overly grainy print technique that they used on Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" inside cover.

Cheeeeeep.

how about Tormato?

certainly not the worst, but.

not quite prog, but how about these?

World's Worst Album Covers

:D

But easily the oddest...

Some of those are truly, truly disturbing.

Roger -Dot- Lee *shudder*

"The Braillettes" ... should I laugh or cry.