The Seattle native Moitoret created similar surrealist designs for Helix, Seattle’s first “underground” newspaper in the 60s. It also tied in with the European title, which literally meant “fizzy!” but likely had a colloquial meaning as well (It’s a gas!). The new sound was steeped in hipster jazz, so in Europe, the 1975 album was given a lively, pop-art cover by artist Jacques Moitoret that harked back to the hippest corners of the early 60s.

Gazeuse! was an important transitional album for Gong, who’d lost visionary leader Daevid Allen an album earlier and were now dispensing with vocals altogether. Gong – Gazeuse! (1975, Illustrated by Jacques Moitoret) Trouble was, not everyone in the band smoked, so when keyboardist Peter Bardens proposed a track called “Twenty Sticks of Cancer,” that was the end of that. They even suggested that the band rename some of its instrumentals to reinforce the connection. The European cigarette company loved the cover and released album-themed packs as a tie-in. At home in the U.K., the response was quite different. label came up with a cartoon camel on the moon as a quick substitute. Stateside, the cigarette folks threatened to sue, so the U.S.

The album’s original jacket was designed after the Camel cigarettes package by artist Phil Smee (of Motörhead logo fame) but rendered out of focus, as to resemble a mirage. There was no way the original cover for Camel’s 1974 Mirage album was ever going to fly in America. Camel – Mirage (1974, Illustrated by Phil Smee) Here are the stories behind some of the greatest prog rock album covers.

The 1975 album cover poster