Album Cover of the Week: The Deviants, Ptooff!

Iconic English musician and journalist Mick Farren passed away over the weekend after collapsing onstage at a performance in London, so I felt it was time to take this series out of mothballs and feature a great album cover he was directly associated with. It’s from the debut album by Farren’s influential psychedelic rock band, the Deviants — Ptooff!

The Deviants, Ptooff!

Described in the liner notes as “the deviants underground l.p.,” Ptooff! falls stylistically somewhere between garage rock and psychedelic rock. It’s not as trippy as early Pink Floyd; it sounds more grounded — mostly — but also more sinister.

Cover design and artwork on the album is credited to Kipps, a name I can’t find referenced anywhere else. I know little of the Deviants, but it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Kipps is just a pseudonym for one or more of the band members.

The original issue of Ptooff! — Underground Impresarios, IMP 1 — contains a brilliantly designed fold-out poster. It reveals that the front cover is part of a larger comic book-like image.

The Deviants, Ptooff!