7 ALBUM COVERS FEATURING BRIDGES
It’s quite an invention, the bridge. A method of getting from A to B without wetting your feet. Here are some album covers featuring clever bits of civil engineering.
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PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS — “London Town” [1978]
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THE NICE — “Five Bridges” [1970]
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WOODEN SHJIPS — “West” [2011]
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WEST — “Bridges” [1969]
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GRATEFUL DEAD — “Dead Set” [1981]
And even better when you open the gatefold…
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THE DOOBIE BROTHERS — “The Captain And Me” [1973]
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CAPTAIN MATCHBOX WHOOPEE BAND — “Wangaratta Wahine” [1974]
Illustration by Michael Leunig, an Australian cartoonist who is no stranger to controversy.
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Favourite here?
More bridge covers you can think of?
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vinylconnection.com.au 
I like the improbable Doobies scene. I guess when the long train is runnin’ off’n unfinished bridge you gotta take the wagon instead
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Kind of Back To The Future III?
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Oh yes that would be a good mashup “It keeps you Runnin minute by minute back to the future”
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The Proclaimers “Dentures Out” does bridgework count? Sorry
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So you should be. Yuk. 🤣
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I guess in terms of the cover art, I would go with the Dead – that gatefold looks really cool!
From a music perspective, in my case, it really only comes down to “London Town” or “The Captain and Me,” since I don’t know the other records. That’s an easy choice. With classics “Long Train Running”, “China Grove” and “South City Midnight Lady,” it’s the Doobies.
So much for being a Macca fan! 🙂
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That’s the way, Christian. Betting against your ‘standards’ now and then is very invigorating!
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I’ve often thought about buying that Doobies album just for the cover, the Dead Set sleeve is classic. Bridges are fascinating.
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When you think about how may interesting bridges there are in the world, I’m surprised they don’t feature more often.
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Nice collection – and several I’ve not seen before.
Hope you don’t “get over it”. Your bridge pre-occupation, that is!
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Boom-tish! Very nice, Dr V.
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Love this “Bruce segment”.
Relayer – Yes
City Lights – Dr John
Best Of Chris Isaac
Back To Oakland – Tower Of Power
The Bay area seems to be a choice for album covers
Two of my favorite albums but no “bridge” pic.
Sonny Rollins – The Bridge
Robin Trower – Bridge Of Sighs”
Let me sleep on it. A few more might pop up. I have some niggling going on in the babyhead.
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The baby-brain is heating up, dude! Chris Isaak is a great photo (and bridge!) and the Tower of Power one is a fantastic get. I recall seeing this in the bins, years back. I’d never have thought of Relayer, so ya got the lifetime Yes fan there!
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Im a huge Chris guy. Me and him go way back. Inherited that TOP album from my sis. Yes? I always loved that cover (and album). It is one of my fave Roger Dean. I slept on this idea but had such a deep wonderful snooze that nothing percolated. Ill go through my pile later and see what I can find. Funny how when you go this route with your takes what instantly jumps out from memory.
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With you all the way on Relayer. Wonderful Roger Dean cover for a brilliant album.
Keep percolating, CB. (I’ve taken your contributions on board and discovered a couple more too; a part two is very likely indeed)
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Skimmed the pile and came up with a couple
Jerry Lee Lewis – The Session Recorded in London
The one that was bugging me, I could see the cover and I couldnt reach was
David Sancious – The Bridge. It goes back to when he left Springsteen. He hooked up with Jack Bruce and Billy Cobham later.
Part two will be eagerly awaited at this end.
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Gonna be giving you a co-credit, brother.
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Just riding your coattails fella.
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Loved the Captain Matchbox cover, it captures the bands irreverance.
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Probably wouldn’t make it through the management strata, these days.
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Some nice pictures here. I always wondered if that Doobie Brothers was a picture of what happened after an earthquake. That’s what it looks like to me
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Or an apocalypse? Bombed back to the horse and buggy days? Sorry, been watching too much world news.
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Lol. Could be. I think they were from LA and I remember watching the news coverage of the earthquakes in San Francisco and LA and they always showed the freeways with big sections missing where the earthquake destroyed it and made it fall down. And I always thought that was a picture after one of those earthquakes
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A *natural* apocalypse.
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A great post idea, Bruce. I think my favorite would be the “Five Bridges” of the Nice, though the Grateful Dead one takes a close second. I can’t really think of any other bridge covers — a pity Simon and Garfunkel didn’t think about that at the time. – Marty
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Yes. I spoke sternly to S&G and also to Robin Trower.
(Part two almost complete.)
Cheers Marty.
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Love these posts, even when I arrive late. What do you say to the album Systematic Chaos by Dream Theater? Please know that I really tried to make Trower’s In the Line of Fire work for this but in the end I just couldn’t do it…
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Robin rather let this theme down with Bridge of Sighs, did he not? And, um, please don’t take this the wrong way, but isn’t ‘In the line of fire’ in a tunnel?
Need to find a bigger image of the Dream Theatre. Defs a contender.
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Yep, I really wanted to claim he was under an arched bridge but no joy. And who’s to say the cover of BoS isn’t a surrealist painting of a bridge?
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I wondered that too, Vic.
I’m posting part two tomorrow, and have found an album from the ‘very heavy’ end of the spectrum just for you.
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It’s interesting the number of LPs with Bridge in the title that don’t have one on the cover – Rainbow Bridge, Walls & Bridges, Bridge over Troubled Waters, Bridges to Babylon. Someone should complain, or something.
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Once again, I have a *LOT* of catching up to do, both here and over at Lonely Keyboards! Life keeps getting in the way. The Captain and Me is a longtime favorite, and kingclover has it right re: an earthquake as the cause of the abbreviated segment of highway. According to Wikipedia, the cover photo was taken at “the Newhall Pass interchange of the Interstate 5 and California State Route 14 freeways near Sylmar, California that collapsed during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake.” Interestingly, that same section of freeway collapsed in another quake 23 years later.
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I knew it! I just knew it!. Ha ha.
I never thought of checking Wiki to find out but I’m glad you did.
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Thank you fact-checker general!
So good to see your lil’ painting appear. Sorry the reply is late. It was almost midnight when I noticed the ‘Like’ but was heading bedwards by then. I kinda hoped that an album cover post might be a way of checking for JDB vital signs. 🙂
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Guess what. I thought of an album cover I have that actually has a picture of my very beloved Brooklyn Bridge, which I actually lived pretty close to for a few months. It’s the soundtrack album to the movie Once Upon a Time in America . I used to like Ennio Morricone for a while cuz I liked the soundtracks he did on those Spaghetti Westerns and stuff . Too bad I couldn’t think of one with the Queensboro Bridge since I’m actually from Queens and not Brooklyn, but I still love the Brooklyn Bridge. I copied a picture of the album to paste here but I don’t think it’s going to work. I never figured out how to do all that very well. Let’s see if it works.
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That’s a great cover and perfect fit with the theme. Cheers!
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There’s a bridge called The Rainbow Bridge that goes between Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Canada .Too bad they didn’t use it for the Jimi Hendrix album cuz it practically passes over the actual Niagara Falls and on a sunny day there’s always a rainbow over Niagara Falls caused by the mist and stuff. That would have made a great cover. Maybe they’ll use it for a reissue or something. Haha
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Very creative album cover
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