Three Dog Night - Hard Labor - controversial record jacket

Three Dog Night - Hard Labor - controversial record jacket

Posted by Matt Lehman on Aug 2nd 2023

Three Dog Night - Hard Labor - Released March 6, 1974

This is their eleventh studio album.

The original cover depicted the birth of a record which was quickly deemed too graphic and was replaced by the bandaid cover. Supposedly, the early band-aids are a sticker and later are embossed.  I have seen about 4,500 copies of this and none were a sticker, take that for what it's worth and I have seen probably 4 or 5 uncensored covers.

The early copies were also issued with a manilla folder that was attached to the spine, but often fell off because it was perforated.  I don't believe later copies had the folder.  The folder opened up with stats on the "baby' inside. 

If you look at the label of the record being birthed, you will notice that it is actually the label for the record, which is a pretty cool example of foresight from the graphic designer.