head-scratching album covers

[OC Richard]

I come across albums all the time on Ebay which have head-scratching covers... here are some















and this one is odd for a different reason

[sailortats]

OC, maybe it is too early in the morning for me to be coherent but what is it about these album covers that you find curious? Right now the only thing I can think of is that the tartans do not go with the groups mentioned.

[Tobus]

The tartans were the first thing I noticed too. But other than that, I've no clue (well, except the reference to "English bagpipes"). How about a little help for those of us who aren't bagpipe/uniform nerds?

[sydnie7]

"Beauty of the English Bagpipes" is a good 'un but beyond that I confess I'm with sailortats. . .

[EagleJCS]

My guess is also that the tartans do not go with any of the units mentioned. (The studios probably grabbed a generic "bagpiper" photo.)

With the last cover, the bass drone - the longer stick, second from right - appears to be in the wrong stock. It should be one more position to the left. It's possibly the pipes were assembeled correctly, but laid out wrong. I've laid my own pipes down like that before - had to double-check when I picked them up!

[MacGumerait]

I agree with the tartans not matching the units mentioned .

What looks strange to me in the last picture of the pipes , is the ivory mount at the ferrule of the chanter . ?

In other words , the white ivory mounts are not used at the base of a chanter .

[PEEDYC]

If by English Bagpipes they mean English Bands then it is correct. There are many Pipe Bands throughout the whole of England. If they mean English sounding, like the Irish pipes sound differently to Scottish then I am confused. There are also a few Highland gatherings in England too.

As far as the tartans go there are several bands playing on each record so it is likely that a library photo was used.

I too am confused as to why the head scratching!!

[OC Richard]

Sorry guys for my obtuse post... a head-scratcher in itself, I guess!

What if a Beatles album released while the Beatles were still an active group had, on its cover, a photo of a different group, such as The Rolling Stones? Such a thing would be a famous screw-up and become a valuable collectors' item.

Well, the first five album covers I showed in my post all have photos of the wrong artists, which immediately jumped out to me at first glance.

Specifically

#1 "The Gordon Highlanders" but the photo is of the Pipe Major of The Royal Scots
#2 "Military Bands" (which are all listed) but the photo appears to be of a civilian band
#3 "Pipes and Drums of the following regiments" (which are all listed) but the photo is of a member of either the Glasgow Police or Edinburgh Police pipe band
#4 "First Battalion Queen's Own Highlanders" but the photo appears to be of a civilian piper
#5 "The Gordon Highlanders" but the photo is of another Pipe Major of The Royal Scots

#6 "The English Bagpipes" while the photo shows somebody playing Scottish pipes. There are plenty of English bagpipes around: Northumbrian Smallpipes and the revived Cornish pipes and Lincolnshire pipes etc etc and I would expect an album entitled "English Bagpipes" to feature one of these English bagpipes, not the Scottish pipes. Likewise an album called "The Bagpipes of Bulgaria" would look odd if it featured Scottish pipes on the cover.

#7 this is one of the strangest album covers of all time... the album is a solo piping album by the well-known Scottish piper Seumas MacNeill, but the photo is of some pipe band wearing strange uniforms marching under palm trees.

#8 the midsection of the bass drone has been shoved into the chanter stock, and a practice chanter shoved into the bass midsection. The pipes were made in Pakistan BTW.

[JohntheBiker]

Albums #2 and #3 look like the same piper, different uniform. Brothers?

[creagdhubh]

Interesting. Thanks for the head-scratcher, Richard.

Cheers,