John Cale: The Academy in Peril (1972)

This album might have the best jacket in my collection. I guess that makes sense, because it was designed by Andy Warhol, though the story goes that Cale, or the record label, changed the cover to colour, abandoning Warhol's original black and white design. In any case, the cover is great.

My copy is a promo with die cuts for the images. I am not sure if the commercial pressing retained these cuts. I think I have seen later issues with a plain flat cover.

The music might seem a bit strange, following on from the unusual experiments of the Velvet Underground. Cale worked with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a couple of tracks. I think this album is fabulous.