This déjà vu moment is more of a warning to art directors who think that putting an aging pop star in a short dress and using three poses on an album cover is original. Mariah Carey did it. Whitney Houston did it. And now Madonna is the latest to appear on a cover in triplicate.

Madonna's single Give Me All Your Luvin' featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A. is scheduled to be released on February 3, 2012, three days before her Super Bowl halftime performance.

Man on a Ledge, the thriller starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris and directed by Asger Leth, opened in theaters today. The film is about a man who goes out on a ledge in New York City in order to get justice for being wrongly convicted.

The soundtrack by Henry Jackman is currently available as a digital download. A CD version is scheduled for release on February 7, 2012. The cover art for the album is a square version of the movie poster. It features a fish-eye lens view of the main character standing on the ledge. I think the image is actually more effective in the square format.

AAX gallery contributor Vocephus wrote about two album covers from 1958 that gave him a déjà vu moment.

I ran across The Ames Brothers "Destination Moon" record (for 20 whole cents) yesterday and it certainly reminded me of Esquivel's "Other Worlds, Other Sounds" in it's theme, but it wasn't until I got it home and compared them that I realized it's the exact same moon painting. The Ames Bros. record adds the rocketship, the Earth (I presume) floating in the background, and has the brothers sorting through "moon rocks" which look suspiciously more like pieces of broken concrete.

They both hit the stands in 1958 and though the Ames' have the earlier catalog number, who knows who was really "first" with the idea. In any case, they were both just two of dozens of space-themed records churned out in the late '50s and early '60s.

With GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich talking about going to the moon and invading Cuba, it certainly seems like a little bit of that earlier era is returning. Thanks to Vocephus, the album covers look as fresh as ever.

After negative reactions from fans and a former member of the band, Disney has discontinued selling a t-shirt inspired by Peter Saville's design for Joy Division's 1979 album Unknown Pleasures. In spite of the seemingly "joyful" name of the band, the album has been viewed by many as a source of sorrow since the 1980 suicide death of lead singer Ian Curtis. Seeing the iconic album cover turned into a logo for the Happiest Place on Earth was seen as disrespectful.

According to Rolling Stone, Disney discontinued the t-shirt yesterday. However, they also report that at least one is being auctioned on eBay for over $200 at the time the article was written.

While chatting online with Facebook friends, we wondered if Disney would have modified the album covers of other recording artists who met a tragic end. I don't think so.

Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the cover that you think is the best of the bunch. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.

Ingrid Michaelson - Human Again		Kellie Pickler - 100 Proof
Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. - Area 52		Tim McGraw - Emotional Traffic
Various Artists - 2012 Grammy Awards		Various Artists - Chimes of Freedom

According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of January 17, 2012 is Further Explorations by Jazz trio Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Paul Motian. The cover received 33% of the votes cast by our readers. Ani Difranco's Which Side Are You On? was a close second with 28%. There was a tie for third between Future This by The Big Pink and A Different Kind of Fix by Bombay Bicycle Club, which both received 17%.

The winning cover was created by graphic designer Marc Bessant. Bessant has designed many noteworthy album covers and is probably best known for his work for Peter Gabriel. His description of the Further Explorations cover below is from his blog.

I started by looking at some of Paul Motians earlier work, especially the ECM sleeves (which are always so damn good) as i really wanted to get an aesthetic of atmosphere just like those. The triangle is obvious i suppose, a shape of three equal sides forming a whole made perfect sense considering the line-up. Then I waited for a cold, foggy day and smudged the shape with my thumb on the studio window, giving the viewer a glimpse of what lay beyond, perhaps encouraging them to 'explore further' (you see what i did then!). Very happy with this one.

Source: http://www.marcbessant.com/artwork/further-explorations/

Adam Lambert revealed the artwork for his forthcoming album via Twitter last night. Trespassing is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2012.

Lambert's tweet read:

In addition to serving as Executive Producer of TRESPASSING, I'm also Creative Director. @leecherry is my Art Director and Photographer

Political cartoonist and illustrator Robert Grossman has contributed the artwork for the cover of Occupy This Album, a forthcoming compilation album of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Art Direction for the project is credited to Alex Emanuel.

Many top artists have signed on for the project, including Yoko Ono, Devo, Debbie Harry, Willie Nelson and Jackson Browne. Additional details are available at www.musicforoccupy.org

Below are 10 noteworthy album covers that were posted to the AAX gallery last week. They were selected simply because I found them to be interesting or a valuable addition to the gallery. They are listed in no particular order.

Posted by: Scott		Posted by: Scott
Posted by: Scott		Posted by: RJSorensen
Posted by: Da Guy		Posted by: Vocephus
Posted by: Da Guy		Posted by: Aequi
Posted by: Vocephus		Posted by: PhilR

The cover art for the forthcoming 17th studio album by Bruce Springsteen was revealed yesterday. The album is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2012.

While it is difficult to see behind the ugly hand-painted typography, there is a photograph of Springsteen on the cover. I do not have credits for the art director and photographer. If the cover were more interesting or attractive, I would probably bother to find out who is responsible for it. Meh.