8 Mind-Bending Album Covers And What They Really Mean

6. Traffic €“ The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

Traffic were an English rock band that formed in the sixties and were known for their incredibly diverse sound. The band disbanded multiple times after its initial formation and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Their fifth studio album, released in 1971 (just four years after they formed €“ impressive productivity) is titled The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, and features a rather surreal album cover. The cover is nothing more than a transparent cube, each face of which depicts a different texture or material. There appears to be marble, chequerboard, mist and clouds. The nature of the cube creates an optical illusion meaning depending on what way it's looked at, the cube can change between two different positions. The artwork was designed by Tony Wright, an English artist who created album covers for the likes of Bob Marley (Natty Dread) and Bob Dylan (Saved). What it means, exactly, is rather on the nose. According to Wright himself, the cube depicts Traffic's incredible genre diversity, as each face represents a different musical genre, yet they all reside within the same cube (which handily as the band's name plastered at the top). Interestingly, the cover is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.