You may have noticed that I dig drummer jokes. My friend Kyle has been the recipient of many. He takes them with good grace and humor. I may have to suspend future drummer jokes after this post. The reason is Rascals drummer Dino Danelli.

The Rascals stripped the Young from their name and went in a new musical direction in 1968. They were under the spell of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album and released a  psychedelic album of their own, Once Upon A Dream.

The cover was designed and executed by Rascals drummer Dino Danelli who went on to a career as an artist until his death in 2022.

Danelli executed the sculptures on the cover based on the dreams of his band mates. The result is one of the most interesting album covers of its era. Other trips to the psychedeli involved bright day-glo colors whereas Danelli used a more muted pallette for this surreal album cover.

We begin with the front cover:

Next up, the gatefold with other surrealistic sculptures on the back cover.

Here’s the grand finale and title track of the album:

Ready for some lapniappe? Dino Danelli also designed the cover for the last album on which the band styled themselves The Young Rascals. He’s the guy floating above his colleagues.

The last word goes to The Rascals: