The cover of former Destiny’s Child founding member LeToya’s new album Lady Love hit the blogs today. The cover features the singer wrapped in some kind of leather braids. It is very sexy and LeToya looks like a superstar. Wow!
This is exactly the kind of look that Jordin Sparks needed for her new album, Battlefield. Unfortunately, the creative direction behind Spark’s album cover just wasn’t as good. The composition, tone, and lighting for LeToya’s cover is everything a glamorous star could ask for. I don’t know what those braids are and I need to find out! That’s what an album cover is supposed to do. I suppose LeToya’s been in the business long enough to know what works.
This cover has not yet been added to the AAX gallery. I wasn’t able to find a high resolution version. Lady Love is set to be released on Friday, August 25.
Bat for Lashes (aka Natasha Khan) has released a new single called Pearl’s Dream. The cover art for the single hasn’t been added to the AAX gallery yet. However, the Two Suns album from which it is taken is in the gallery.
I intended to feature it a few of weeks ago, but I couldn’t find a music video to accompany it at that time. The album art is very interesting. It seems to depict a world of religious and mystical symbols. Similar imagery can be seen in the Pearl’s Dream video.
Khan reminds me of a cross between Lily Allen and Kate Bush. If her voice were just a little more hard edged, I think I’d like her a little bit more. I do think that the cover of Two Suns does a very good job of representing this artist and her music — kind of lunatic and New Age-y. I also like it when the art direction is carried through to video.
The latest album cover mash up comes to us from AAX user electrobear. It isn’t controversial (or “tasteless” for you Michael Jackson fans) like the last submission. It does combine covers by two of my favorite groups, Pet Shop Boys and Green Day. I’m just imagining what the musical combination would sound like!
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cover Mash Up, all you have to do is follow these rules:
The album covers must be part of the AAX gallery.
All of the elements in the mash up cover must be present in one of the two originals. However, you do not have to use the original images. For example, if there is a black car in one of the original covers, you can use a black car from a stock photo instead of the one on the cover.
Submit your mash up along with the AAX links to the original cover images via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish mash ups as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your mash up will be published (but I’m not going to be too picky).
The single for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Heads Will Roll was released today. Even though I wrote about this a few weeks ago, I think that since the video is a tribute to Michael Jackson I felt it is appropriate to post a it again. Besides, check out the cool Thriller cover art!
This video was posted to YouTube over a month ago, so don’t accuse the band of exploiting Jackson’s death. I’m not sure when the cover for the EP was created, but it has probably in the can a for a few weeks.
The AlbumArtExchange blog isn’t political. So, don’t assume that this entry is a commentary about Sarah Palin or politics in general. However, the recent Vanity Fair article in which it was revealed that McCain campaign staffers had nicknamed Palin “Little Shop of Horrors” made me realize that I actually mark time using album covers!
When I read about the Palin nickname, I immediately recalled my disappointment with the album cover for the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack. The star of Little Shop of Horrors was Audrey II, an monsterous man-eating plant. Audrey II was a special effects masterpiece and I assumed that the monster would appear on the cover of the soundtrack.
Sadly, the album cover consisted of a brick wall and simple typography. Audrey II was not on it. Of course, I bought the album anyway. The soundtrack is one of my favorites.
While browsing through the AAX gallery, I found an album cover for an expanded Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack the features Audrey II. As you can see, the cover is much more compelling.
Another thing that I found amazing was how many young bloggers have never heard of Little Shop of Horrors. The movie came out 23 years ago and quite a few of them weren’t even born yet. So, I had to explain the significance of Sarah Palin’s nickname.
Audrey II, the monster from Little Shop of Horrors:
Started out cute and interesting
Brought in new customers
Turned into a monster when fed
Wanted to take over the world
Turned on her creator in the end
Yep, sounds like Sarah Palin to me (sorry I’m getting political). Anyway, for those of you who have never seen Little Shop of Horrors, here’s a clip featuring one of my favorite numbers, Mean Green Mother From Outer Space.
The Blender is running a poll to find out what most people consider to be their favorite Michael Jackson album cover:
“Thriller” is considered Michael Jackson’s greatest musical accomplishment, but how does it rate among his all-time best album covers? I loved the artwork from “Dangerous,” but can’t deny Jackson was the ultimate little cool cat on the cover of “Got to Be There.”
The first thing that pops into my mind when I hear the term “pop art” is Andy Warhol. The second thing that I think of (being an album art geek) is the yellow banana album cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico. However, I don’t think that most people think of Warhol as an album cover designer, even if they are familiar with this iconic image.
So, I was quite pleased to read about a recent exhibit that features all 50 album covers designed by Warhol during his life.
Buzz up! By Kurt Shaw, TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC Sunday, June 28, 2009
Growing up in Pittsburgh, far from Andy Warhol’s New York scene, I can distinctly remember my first exposure to the famous Pop artist’s work. It was the shockingly yellow banana he depicted in his inimitable silk-screen style on the cover of the Velvet Underground’s first album that got my attention, one of three albums I received for Christmas in 1976, along with my first stereo.
I know now, but didn’t then, that Warhol designed 50 record covers in all. His first was in 1949. The last, the year he died — 1987. Though the bright yellow banana on the Velvet Underground cover is stuck in my mind forever, perhaps Warhol’s most famous album cover was for the 1971 Rolling Stones album “Sticky Fingers,” in which Warhol used an actual zipper on the record sleeve.
A few more notables: Warhol designed album covers for Artie Shaw, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Blondie, and for a recording of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.”
Now, the latest exhibit to open at the Warhol features all of those album covers and more
The AlbumArtExchange gallery features several of Warhol’s most notable album covers. It would be interesting to see a list of all 50. Many of the covers are immediately recognizable as Warhol. Others are a bit of a surprise. You can click the images or the “buy now” links to get the album title and artist.
Beautiful Small Machines is a synth pop band that I stumbled upon in a Twitter post recently. They’ve released an EP called The Robot In Love EP and I’m really liking it. The EP has several tracks (a it is a real EP, not a series of remixes) and my favorite in called Superconductor. I wasn’t able to find a music video on YouTube for the track. However, I did find one that is about the making of a video for Superconductor. The band talks about including plastic lawn animals, spacesuits and nude unitards in the video. I can’t wait to see it!
The cover art for the EP features a block of binary code — geeks gotta love that. Robots in love is a pretty geeky concept, too.
I meant to comment on Mariah Carey’s album cover art for Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel earlier this week, but the Michael Jackson news kind of sideswiped that. So let’s get to it now!
First of all, given the title of this trash, you kind of expect serious Mariah on the cover. Mariah with a grey background, looking pensive, if you will. Mariah feeling contemplative over her imperfections as a sad-winged missionary for God.
No, instead it’s giggle-squeal Mariah—three of them, in fact—in a skin-tight cotton dress with her ass hanging out. In fact, is that even a dress? Maybe a T-shirt, stretched down just far enough to cover Mimi’s secret.
My friend Lindy sent me this brilliant and controversial album cover mash up yesterday. She works as a graphic designer in the music business, so she doesn’t want me to give a link back to her website. I think you’ll understand why!
Lindy wrote that this was just a quicky Photoshop job for her. I’d like to see what she could produce if she really quite good — at least in my humble opinion.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cover Mash Up, all you have to do is follow these rules:
The album covers must be part of the AAX gallery.
All of the elements in the mash up cover must be present in one of the two originals. However, you do not have to use the original images. For example, if there is a black car in one of the original covers, you can use a black car from a stock photo instead of the one on the cover.
Submit your mash up along with the AAX links to the original cover images via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish mash ups as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your mash up will be published (but I’m not going to be too picky).
It is confirmed! It really is a WTF weekend. In my last blog entry, I asked if a song about farts was coming up next. Then, I opened up an email from my friend Michael that included a link to mrmethane.com. What I found is a guy in a superhero costume who literally farts to music.
Mr. Methane has an entire album of farting songs and you can buy it on iTunes. The album cover features the “artist” with a cloud of green gas jetting from his backside. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.
The video has to be seen to be believed. This guy actually farts along with the Blue Danube. I can’t imagine what the next WTF item will be. Can anything top this? Perhaps cannibalism.
It looks like it is shaping up to be a WTF weekend. I was just browsing through my YouTube subscriptions and saw that Ultra Records has posted a video for Larry Tee’s horrible My Pussy dance single. Two versions of song were released back in April. One version is called My Penis and features Perez Hilton doing what can best be described as a William Shatner-speaks-to-music impression. The other features transgender performer Amanda Lapore singing My Pussy.
Both versions are simply stupid. Today’s public has seen it all and a disco tune about a penis/pussy can’t stand on shock value alone. There has to be some talent behind the music. Larry Tee fails to deliver. What can we expect next? A song about farts?
The video is getting some pretty harsh reviews on YouTube:
what a fuckin piece of shit
This song disrespects all the subscribers (me included)… why do you keep torturing the electronic fans with this kind of shit… really stop doing it!!!!!!!
unsubscribing… Ive had enough of this
This song is so fucking stupid, seriously.
If I were Ultra Records, I think I’d get the message. This video is like fingernails on a chalkboard. The only good thing I can write about it is that at least it isn’t the Perez Hilton version! Watch it, but consider yourself warned.
I will post the one sent in by Lindy (who is not an AAX user) tomorrow. She has a very strange sense of humor — just let this be a warning.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cover Mash Up, all you have to do is follow these rules:
The album covers must be part of the AAX gallery.
All of the elements in the mash up cover must be present in one of the two originals. However, you do not have to use the original images. For example, if there is a black car in one of the original covers, you can use a black car from a stock photo instead of the one on the cover.
Submit your mash up along with the AAX links to the original cover images via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish mash ups as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your mash up will be published (but I’m not going to be too picky).
Carly Simon’s “No Secrets” album cover—sexiest in the history of music!
I have to agree that there is something special about this album cover. Of course, it was quite controversial at the time because Simon wasn’t wearing a bra and her nipples could clearly be seen under her shirt.
Things have changed quite a bit since 1972. Most people who view this album cover today simply see a wholesome young woman. The gold record hit number one on Billboard and featured the hit You’re So Vain.
It has been a few days since my last WTF?! moment. Tonight, I stumbled on an album cover that made me scratch my head. The band is called Pissed Jeans — kinda retro punk sounding. The cover features a photo of a man’s arm. It isn’t a particularly attractive or interesting arm. It is kind of scrawny, a little hairy, and it has a mole near the elbow crease. I figured that there has to be a story related to this ordinary, pale arm.
So, I looked Pissed Jeans up on YouTube and found a live performance of something called I Don’t Need Smoke To Make Myself Disappear that made me put my fingers in my ears and shout…
Every cool blog has a “signature” Photoshop game that keeps regulars coming back for more. Since the AAX blog is just starting out, we don’t have a signature game. However, I am determined to change that.
Welcome to the first installment of AAX’s Album Cover Mash Up. The rules are quite simple. Participants are asked to browse through the AAX gallery and find two album covers. The album covers can share common elements or they can be polar opposites — it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that the albums create something new and interesting when they are mashed together through the magic of Photoshop.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cover Mash Up, all you have to do is follow these rules:
The album covers must be part of the AAX gallery.
All of the elements in the mash up cover must be present in one of the two originals. However, you do not have to use the original images. For example, if there is a black car in one of the original covers, you can use a black car from a stock photo instead of the one on the cover.
Submit your mash up along with the AAX links to the original cover images via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish mash ups as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your mash up will be published (but I’m not going to be too picky).
On very rare occassions, I look at an album cover and say “Whoa! I’d like to hang that in my home.” The fantasy painting by fine artist/illustrator Lynden St. Victor that appears as the cover of Madina Lake’s new album Attics To Eden is one of those rare exceptions.
The great thing about this album cover is that it can be purchased as a work of fine art. Not only that, it comes with a very cool story from the artist.
Lynden St. Victor The Descent of Sophia, 2008 MIXED MEDIA Original Ink, Acrylic and Oil on canvas 40 x 44 in
Master original 40 X 44 SOLD by POP Gallery 12-08 valued at $16,500
This work is the album cover art for rock band Madina Lake’s “Attics To Eden” CD released in 2009 — currently on tour.
The Story by Lynden St. Victor: This painting is a mirror of the ancient Jewish myth of the soul journey known as The Descent of Sophia (the Goddess of Wisdom).
As the story goes, Sophia is a perfect spiritual being at bliss in the cosmos representing the soul. But she does not recognize the beauty of her true nature so she descends to the earthly plane to experience all of life’s trials, both bitter and sweet. During her journey she travels to the depths of despair as a prostitute only to be reminded of the joy she once knew. With her newly acquired experiences she ascends back to the cosmos only this time fully aware of the bliss of her true nature. Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son is a mirror of this as well. It is Sophia who has now gained the wisdom of self awareness and is the messenger of that to all of us experiencing the earthly side of life on our journey back to the realization of our true nature.
In the painting Sophia is wearing aviator head gear signifying the journey upon which she has embarked. She is dressed on the top half in a golden blouse bedecked with jewels signifying the bliss of her life in the cosmos, however, her lower half is in the symbolic attire of the prostitute signifying her lower journey on the earthly plane. She has descended down on the balloon bringing down the embodiment of conscious awareness to a humanity still in it’s early stages of evolution operating within a sphere of instinctually programmed survival mechanisms signified by the little robot. As she presents the balloon to the little robot he is united with his conscious awareness and suddenly his caged instincts are released as signified by all the blackbirds flying out of his birdcage mid section. All that remains are two love birds gathered together in the shape of a heart. — Lynden St. Victor
“There is an edge to these works, whether it be an injection of mystery, cynicism, or a reveling in the mundane — the beauty of the dark shines bright.”
Fine Art Paper editions of 250 NOW Available $175-$450
Canvases starting at $650: ALL canvases are hand embellished to varying degrees -depending on image sizes are approximately: 18 X 24, 20, 30 X 40, 36 X 48, 48 X 60
A portion of the proceeds of every Lynden St. Victor art sale go to Under Dog Rescue, a non profit foundation rescuing death row shelter dogs. Lynden St. Victor is represented exclusively at POP Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.
If you’re a Smiths/Morrissey fan, you’ll love Vulgar Picture! The website features scans of almost every Smiths and Morrissey album, single and video ever released.
The site is simple and elegantly organized by artist and year. If you’re missing a cover scan for your collection, this is the place to go. I was blown away by the meticulousness of this online discography. I don’t think I’ve ever run across anything that comes close to matching this.
If you’re not a big Smiths fan, you’ll still find it interesting to see how the band’s music was released in multiple formats and with numerous variations of the cover designs. Many of the covers have been reused and repurposed — sometimes with less-than-stellar results.
Much has been said since Thursday afternoon about Michael Jackson’s vulnerability, about that ineffable sense of loneliness and isolation that masked him even more than his many costumes. But few photographs reflect that side of Mr. Jackson. As a rule, they seem to divide into Exuberant Cherub, Full-on Performer or — frankly — Carnival Side Show.
Then there are these pictures, taken by Jeffrey Henson Scales in 1978 for the Epic Records album “Destiny” by the Jacksons, as the group was then known. His individual portraits of Michael Jackson seem to show — at least with the benefit of hindsight and inference — an adolescent at a crossroads in his life; with a powerful presence and sense of self, yet also still tender, still tentative.
The photos taken by Scales were not used for the album cover of Destiny, which features a painting of the brothers and a stormy sea. His photo was used for the gatefold sleeve and on the cover of a limited edition 12” single of Destiny, which also included the tracks Blame It On The Boogie and That’s What You Get (For Being Polite) (see slide #2 of the NY Times slideshow).
The photos of Michael Jackson wearing a pith helmet are touching. He must have been about 20 at the time. The Times article describes him as an adolescent. However, Jackson was a young adult and no longer a teenager. I guess that was one of Jackson’s traits — being viewed as a child rather than a grown up for most of his life.
Factory Records: Communications 1978-92 includes tracks by New Order, The Durutti Column, Joy Division, Section 25 and many other bands that are known for interesting and creative album cover designs.
This iTunes compliation should not be confused with the Rhino Records 4-CD box set (pictured at right) that uses the same artwork by Peter Saville. The track listings are similar, but there are several differences that could matter to a collector. This set could also be confused with another 4-CD box set called Palatine The Factory Story 1978-92.
The compilation is being sold on iTunes for $29.99 and it includes a digital booklet. I really wish that there were a way to preview digital booklets on iTunes. If the booklet includes original cover art and interesting information about Factory Records, I would consider purchasing it.
Without knowing what is in the booklet, I simply purchased a few tracks that I found interesting, like a remastered version of The Durutti Column’s Sketch For Summer. (I’ve included a music video of the The Durutti Column performing Sketch For Summer live as a special bonus.)
If you’re in any way interested in creative CD packaging design, you must watch this video that demonstrates the “action figure stage show” that is included with the new Spinal Tap album, Back From The Dead.
Okay, I know that this is the second time that I have featured My First Earthquake in New and Notable. Their album Downstairs was released on iTunes and Amazon.com last week and I am really enjoying it. The band has posted a video for Cool In The Cool Way on YouTube. Check it out. This band is cool in a very cool way.
For someone like me who remembers when cassette tapes were new, it is amusing to see them being featured on so many fairly current album covers as something quaint. I guess it can be compared to album art in the ’50s and ’60s that featured Victrolas.
Here is a batch of albums and singles with cassettes used as the primary graphic element.
There are quite a few of these. The intended message of a few of them is quite clear (especially the one by Dashboard Confessional) — these things are for old fossils!
Just a few seconds after I posted the album art for the Michael Jackson 5-CD box set on Twitpic, I saw numerous tweets that the King of Pop has died of a heart attack! How is that for a freakish coincidence? I don’t know what to write, so I’ll just post the album art here on the AAX blog. The set includes the albums Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, and Invincible.
Mariah Carey announced the release of her latest album cover via Twitter today.
Here is the album art that was posted on MariahCarey.com:
Of course, Perez Hilton was one of the first to write something nasty about it.
Check out the three beautiful - and beautifully Photoshopped - versions of Mariah Carey on the cover of her new album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.
Hawt!
God bless her retouchers!
I don’t know about you, but I am getting very sick of Perez Hilton. Not only is he predictably mean, he’s got a lot of nerve to write about Mariah’s album cover being Photoshopped. Have you seen the cover of single he released recently with Larry Tee called My Penis?
The ’80s really are back! The third single by British electonic duo La Roux is Bulletproof and it shot to the top of the U.K. iTunes sales chart. The upcoming album I’m Not Your Toy is set to be released next week.
If you’re old enough to remember the ’80s, there is probably one thing that will grab your attention the first time you watch the video for Bulletproof — Elly Jackson’s Flock of Seagulls hairstyle. (I wrote about her pompadour a few days ago in the most recent installment of Variations on a Theme.)
In previous installments of Banned in the USA, I have featured album covers that were censored due to depictions of nudity, bathroom fixtures, and cuts of raw meats. In each of those cases, I had no qualms about including the original album art in the article. The album cover Virgin Killer, a 1976 album by German heavy metal band Scorpions, is an exception.
Before writing about the Virgin Killer cover, I consulted with AlbumArtExchange website owner Scott Robb as to whether the controversial cover should even be included in the AAX gallery. It is a cover that has generated a great deal of controversy as recently as last year when the social conservative site WorldNetDaily reported the use of the image on Wikipedia to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
An officer of the Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian advocacy group, commented, “By allowing that image to remain posted, Wikipedia is helping to further facilitate perversion and pedophilia.” EContent magazine subsequently reported the Wikipedia community’s internal debate as concluding, “Prior discussion has determined by broad consensus that the Virgin Killer cover will not be removed”, and asserted that Wikipedia contributors “favor inclusion in all but the most extreme cases”. In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based non-government organization, added the Wikipedia article Virgin Killer to its internet blacklist due to concerns over legality of the image, which had been assessed as the lowest level of legal concern: “erotic posing with no sexual activity”. As a result, people using many major UK ISPs were blocked from viewing the entire article by the Cleanfeed system, and a large part of the U.K. was blocked from editing Wikipedia due to the means of blocking in use. Following discussion, representations by the Wikimedia Foundation (who host the Wikipedia website), and public complaints, the IWF reversed their decision three days later, and confirmed that in future they would not block copies of the image that were hosted overseas.
Scott and I agreed that the Virgin Killer cover is one that is of interest to album art collectors and historians — due mostly to the recent controversy. Therefore, it has been included in the AAX gallery and I have included it in this article. It would be almost impossible to discuss this cover without including the actual image. Doing so is not an endorsement of the record label’s decision to use a photograph of a nude child on an album cover. The cover was distibuted as part of a commercial recording by a major label (RCA) and is for that reason historically significant. Apparently, the cover was held up on national TV by Tipper Gore, the wife of former U.S. vice president. If it was acceptable for Mrs. Gore to show Vigin Killer to the world, I feel more comfortable with my decision to display the uncensored image here.
Unlike many other banned and censored album covers, the cover of Virgin Killer was intended to spark controversy. In a 2007 interview with Blasting-Zone.com, Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker discussed releasing the cover:
Blasting-Zone.com: In hindsight, do you regret releasing the album Virgin Killer with the original uncensored cover?
Rudolf: “No. We didn’t actually have the idea. It was the record company. The record company guys were like, ‘Even if we have to go to jail, there’s no question that we’ll release that.’ On the song ‘Virgin Killer’, time is the virgin killer. But then, when we had to do the interviews about it, we said ‘Look, listen to the lyrics and then you’ll know what we’re talking about. We’re using this only to get attention. That’s what we do.’ Even the girl, when we met her fifteen years later, had no problem with the cover. Growing up in Europe, sexuality, of course not with children, was very normal. The lyrics really say it all. Time is the virgin killer. A kid comes into the world very naive, they lose that naiveness and then go into this life losing all of this getting into trouble. That was the basic idea about all of it.”
As was expected, the cover was banned in many counties or sold in a plain wrapper. An alternate cover featuring a photo of the band was issued for use where the original was banned. The alternate cover is used on Amazon.com and iTunes.
The band has also released two other albums with controversial covers. Taken By Force depicted children playing with guns in a cemetery. The cover of Lovedrive features a woman with a bare breast that appears to be made of chewing gum.
In 2006, Classic Rock Revisited published an interview with Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth, in which he was asked about the Virgin Killer cover:
Classic Rock Revisited: “Virgin Killer” was banned!! Who was the girl on the cover and whose idea was it to have a nude child with broken glass in that area? What a statement.
Uli: “Looking at that picture today makes me cringe. It was done in the worst possible taste. Back then I was too immature to see that. Shame on me — I should have done everything in my power to stop it. The record company came up with the idea, I think.
[…]
“I can’t blame Tipper Gore for brandishing the cover on TV as offensive, though. She was completely right in doing so and she’s a good person anyway, although she probably didn’t make the effort to check out the lyrics, which put a different slant on the whole thing — can’t blame her for that either, because knowing what I know today, I would have possibly reacted in a similar vein.
What do you think about this album cover and our decision to include it in the AlbumArtExchange gallery? Should AAX censor albums that are uploaded by our users?
Entertainment Weekly has published the cover art and track list for the American Idol Season 8 cast album that will go on sale at Walmart at the end of the month. I really wish they would put a little more effort into designing these American Idol album covers.
1. Kris Allen, “No Boundaries” 2. Danny Gokey, “Stand By Me” 3. Allison Iraheta, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” 4. Matt Giraud, “Human Nature” 5. Adam Lambert, “Mad World” 6. Kris Allen, “She Works Hard for the Money” 7. Lil Rounds, “I Surrender” 8. Scott MacIntyre, “Just The Way You Are” 9. Michael Sarver, “You Are Not Alone” 10. Megan Corkrey, “Walkin’ After Midnight” 11. Anoop Desai, “Always On My Mind” 12. Adam Lambert, “No Boundaries”
We’ve been working on changes to the website for the last few months. We’ll be adding new sections as they’re ready. The first one to be added is called Record Club, an informal meeting of various people to record an album in a day. An album will be chosen to be reinterpreted and used as a framework. Nothing rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track will be uploaded once a week on beck.com as well as through the web sites of those involved with the project.
For this first edition, after lengthy deliberation and coming close to covering Digital Underground’s Sex Packets, all present voted in favor of the ‘other’ Underground’s The Velvet Underground & Nico…
I can’t imagine what it would be like to record an entire album in one day. The first track posted on Beck’s website is Sunday Morning. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.
For you kids who are not familiar with The Velvet Underground & Nico, it is a pop culture classic produced by the legendary Andy Warhol. There’s not much I can say except surf on over to Amazon.com and iTunes and listen to the sample tracks.
Sneaky Sound System is on tour and have been tweeting about lost luggage and flight delays. I absolutely love this band. So, I’m posting a music video of the groups hit song 16 and wishing them the best of luck on the rest of their tour.
In this installment of Variations on a Theme, we take a look a classic Rock ‘n’ Roll hairstyle, the pompadour. The first recording artist that most people think of in connection with the pompadour is Elvis Presley. However, there have been dozens of others who have worn the style over the last 50 years.
Also known as the “greaser” look, the pompadour was worn by bikers and bad boys in addition to rock ‘n’ rollers. It has even been worn by a few stylish ladies, such as P!nk, Annie Lennox, Janell Monae, and Elly Jackson of La Roux.
The most recent pompadour to appear on an album belongs to Hannah Blilie, drummer of Gossip. Blilie is being confused by some for a man, wearing a classic pompadour on the cover of Music For Men. This particular album cover reminds me of the Morrissey covers from the late 1980s.
Other notable pompadours shown below belong to Little Richard (who claims to have invented the hairstyle), Johnny Cash, Chris Isaak, Stray Cats, Buster Poindexter, and Elvis.
Here’s an album cover that is going to cause a stir. Ming & Ping are identical twins from Hong Kong who have relocated to L.A. and are set to release what I believe is their fourth synth album, Ming & Ping. I’m not sure if this is the final cover. The concept sketch that appears on their website is a bit more elaborate.
In the sketch, we see a reaction similar to the one I would have if my identical twin brother Frank licked my cheek. Yeech! Maybe people who don’t have a twin aren’t as squeemish about this kind of thing. It really creeps me out.
Here is a music video for a song called Legends of Nothing. I don’t know whether or not this is from the upcoming album.
Today, I got a chuckle out of Kyle Anderson’s MTV Newsroom article about “subliminal” messages in records and on album covers. Anderson doesn’t quite understand the definition of a subliminal message.
A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of the human mind’s perception. These messages are unrecognizable by the conscious mind, but in certain situations can affect the subconscious mind and can negatively or positively influence subsequent later thoughts, behaviors, actions, attitudes, belief systems and value systems.
Anderson wrote an entertaining article about backmasking and hidden mesages on album covers. However, none of the examples he gave are really subliminal messages. I don’t believe there are any authenticated examples of subliminal messages being used on album covers or in popular music.
Here’s what Anderson wrote about a U2 album cover:
U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind album cover The cover of U2’s 2000 comeback album depicts the band in a terminal at Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris. In the background there is a digital sign that reads “J33-3,” which is code for a passage from the Bible (Jeremiah Chapter 33, Verse 3). The passage reads, “Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Bono has always worn his Christianity on his sleeve, so this is an especially subtle move for them.
Here is the U2 cover with the “subliminal” message in plain sight:
Placing a chapter and verse from the Bible on an album cover is interesting. However, it is not subliminal. Remember the guy with the rainbow wig who used to hold up a sign with a Bible chapter and verse at sports events? That was hardly “below the normal limits of the human mind’s perception”!
In order for the message to be subliminal, it has to be something that we can’t consciously perceive. The example I recall from high school Psychology class was hiding the image of a skull in an ice cube that appeared in a print ad. Flashing the word “thirsty” on a movie screen for a fraction of a second is also a popular example.
Several decades ago, people started selling recordings with subliminal messages. These recordings claimed to have subliminal messages that could help people do everything from quitting smoking to learning a foreign language. This technique has since been debunked.
If any popular album covers or records have included subliminal messages, no one has confessed to doing it. It is, after all, considered to be an attempt at thought control.
Words spelled backwards or written in reverse are classic forms of code. They are not subliminal. In order to be subliminal, people aren’t supposed to be able to see them — that’s the whole point. Words recorded backwards aren’t subliminal either. In order for them to be perceived as anything other than garbled noise, they have to be played in reverse.
Spinner.com has a slideshow of the booklet that is included with the upcoming deluxe edition remaster of R.E.M.’s Reckoning. For some reason, they chopped off the bottom of the cover — the part that has a transparent white box and the “Deluxe Edition” copy. I don’t think they understood that it is part of the cover. The remaster of Reckoning will be available for sale on June 23.
Here is the complete cover. Click the image to view the larger version in the gallery.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since R.E.M. cemented their status as the kings of college rock with the release of their second album, ‘Reckoning.’ Now the band is celebrating the anniversary with a deluxe edition of the classic album, which includes a bonus disc of previously unheard live and studio recordings. Spinner has the exclusive on the liner notes and artwork for the occasion. Have a look.
Gossip is a band that confuses me. First, they are listed as both “Gossip” and “The Gossip” in online stores. Then, they are listed under indie rock, alternative rock, college rock, electronic and who knows what other categories.
Gossip is one of those American bands who had to go to the U.K. to get a break. Now, they are ready to release an album under a major label and are getting noticed in the U.S. market.
The new album is called Music For Men and the cover has not yet been added to the AlbumArtExchnage gallery. It reminds me quite a bit of the Morrissey covers from the late 1980s and early ’90s.
The first single from the album is Heavy Heart. It was released on June 15 and the music video is making quite a splash on YouTube. Gossip’s lead singer is Beth Ditto and she’s certainly not another boring Fergie clone. Check out the video and you’ll see what I mean.
A few days ago, I wrote about the cover for Jordin Sparks’ new album Battlefield. I wasn’t shy about sharing my dissatisfaction with the cover. As I wrote previously, it is a very bad design that doesn’t make the artist look her best.
Today, a new cover has popped up on the blogs. It is reported to be a new version that was created in response to the negative reactions caused by the first. I have not been able to confirm whether or not this is a new cover produced by the record label. However, it is a vast improvement over the “up the nose” shot.
I don’t know who is leaking these covers. But, it is very unusual for a record label to change a cover this quickly due to negative comments posted online. I will post an update as soon as I have a confirmation.
Scottish alternative rock band We Were Promised Jetpacks is set to release one of the most sedate and uninteresting album covers I have seen in a very long time. These Four Walls will be available on July 7 and if it sells it won’t be because people found the album art to be particularly compelling.
A plain and depressing little building is not what immediately comes to my mind when I think of jetpacks. Perhaps the band should be called “Instead We Got Doldrums” (which I imagine is the second line here). I’m having thoughts of suicide from looking at this cover. Doesn’t it look like the kind of place you’d find somebody hanging from the rafters?
Surprisingly, the band is pretty good. I checked out their MySpace page and found several YouTube videos. I’ve posted one for Quiet Little Voices, a track from These Four Walls. It kind of takes me back to the days when my friends and I would go see “message” bands like Toad The Wet Sprocket perform live in Santa Barbara. On second thought, that was kind of depressing, too.
According to a recent press release, New York MC Mos Def has signed up to be the first major artist to sell an album as part of a t-shirt and MP3 download package. Mos Def’s album, The Ecstatic, was released earlier this month with favorable reviews.
Produced by a company called LnA, the t-shirt will come with the album art on the front and a track list on the back. Consumers will also be given a redeem code that they can use to download the album from a website. LnA has already marketed a similar “music tee” for Invisible DJ.
Here is what I imagine the Mos Def t-shirt will look like. (I suppose they could jazz it up a bit.)
The press release doesn’t state how much this t-shirt and music download package will cost. If the Invisible DJ Music Tee can be used as a guide, it will cost $60 plus shipping and handling. That’s really not a bargain these days. Consumers can buy the album online for $11.99 and the much cooler Black Star’s t-shirt featuring Mos Def & Talib Kweli with mics raised and a sign reading “A life without knowlege is death in disguise” for $24.99 — that’s a savings of $23. Perhaps if the album art was a little more interesting the deal would be enticing.
If record labels were smart (and they’re usually not), they would recognize this a brilliant way to recycle some classic album covers and reissue music — perhaps albums that have been digitally remastered.
I would pay $30 for a King Crimson t-shirt and download of the remastered album. How about you? Mos Def’s The Ecstatic for $60? Nope. It is all about wearing cool, classic designs.
I used to design t-shirts in the early 1990s (one of my t-shirts was the top seller in the U.S. one particular Christmas shopping season). T-shirts aren’t that expensive to manufacture. If record labels used the lure of a really cool t-shirt sold near cost, they could sell a ton of music from their catalogs. I think most people would pay between $25 and $30 for a t-shirt music download package. But, both the music and the album art has to be — I know it sounds cliche — COOL!
Imagine being able to buy t-shirts featuring the classic album covers of The Beatles along with downloads of the remastered albums. How about Led Zep? Punk groups like Black Flag and Dead Kennedys? Kids would go nuts over those.
The truth is, record labels are sitting on goldmines and they don’t have the creativity nor the ambition to do anything. The people who suffer are the recording artists who rely on them to market and sell their music.
The latest single from Depeche Mode’s Sounds of the Universe is Peace. The video went up on YouTube several days ago and I’ve been waiting for the single to be released for sale. Two remix EPs became available on the iTunes U.K. store yesterday.
I am somewhat surprised by some of the negative reviews I’ve read about this particular song. They can’t all be toe-tappers, folks. I really like the message that Peace has to offer. The video shows the face of a what could be a real soldier in many parts of the world today.
The cover art is another matter. I am getting bored with the many variations on the Sounds of the Universe theme. There’s not a whole lot of creativity involved with using the same design over and over again. They’ve simply slapped another label over that pile of pick-up sticks or whatever they’re supposed to be. Depeche Mode used be known for the creative cover art on their albums and singles.
Next week, Backstage Auctions, an online auction house specializing rock memorabilia, will be auctioning 5,000 rare promotional records by artists such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, YES, The Who, The Doors, and The Kinks.
The 7-inch singles are from the personal collection of radio/TV industry veteran Denny Somach spanning his 40-year career. Somach’s collection of vinyl records covers all music genres which defined the 1970s, including classic rock, British rock, progressive rock, hard rock, punk and new wave, disco, R&B and soul, country and western, pop, blues, jazz, folk and reggae. 90% of the singles are promotional and radio-station-only releases.
Somach will donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the American Diabetes Association.
I just downloaded the new “Weird Al” Yankovic single from iTunes. The video for Craigslist appeared on YouTube yesterday. The song is a parody of The Doors, so a lot of the younger folks aren’t getting it. They can have their Autotune and Venetian Princess. “Weird Al” will always be at the top of my list when it comes to novelty songs.
On June 15, 1966, The Beatles released their classic album Yesterday and Today. The cover featured the Fab Four wearing lab coats and draped with parts of butchered animals and naked, decapitated dolls.
As soon as the album was shipped, many retailers refused to display it in their stores. Complaints flooded Capitol Records and the label took the almost unprecedented step of recalling all of the albums. The returned albums were unpacked and a new cover was actually glued over the original.
The new cover art featured the band and a steamer trunk. Like many other controversial album covers, the original cover for Yesterday and Today was used for the cover of a CD years later. The CD booklet featured both the “trunk” and the “butcher” covers as a reversable cover. It will be interesting to see which cover is used when this album is reissued.
Today, the “butcher” cover is likely to receive objections from groups like PETA. However, most retailers would not find it offensive. By today’s standards, it is barely even interesting.
The “butcher” cover was featured on the PBS series Antiques Roadshow a couple of years ago. Here is the clip for those of you who missed it when it aired
I grew up in Southern California and riding a skateboard was second nature for me. But, something just seems wrong watching guys my age ride skateboards and BMX bikes in Dinosaur Jr’s new video for Over It. Maybe I’ve just gotten stuffy in middle age and should get over it — okay bad pun.
Anyway, Dinosaur Jr’s new album, Farm, will be released next week. Over It, the first single from the album, was released in the U.K. today. I really like the album art for both Farm and the Over It single. Farm features a couple of green giants strolling above a landscape of polluting factories. It would be difficult to miss the message there. The cover of the single features a pair of fanciful birds.
The talented artist who created the covers is Marq Spusta. For more information about Spusta’s designs, check out MarqSpusta.com. His work is simply fantastic. There are lots of samples to browse through.
Below are magnified fragments of album covers. Most of them are well-known albums, but there are a few obscure covers (or lesser-known albums from well-known artists) mixed in to keep you honest. You must guess both the artist and album cover. In order to keep things simple, live albums, soundtracks and singles compilations will not be used, and with all apologies to our European and Japanese friends, we are going with the covers that appeared in the US record stores…back when we had record stores. Sigh.
I just found this cover for an dance remix CD called We Are All Prositutes by Adam Sky vs. Mark Stewart. It is simply a certain classic 1980s album cover with tape applied to it. As an added bonus to this installment of WTF?!, I’ll let you guess what the original album is. I’ll post both the front and back of this one.
Last Wednesday, I wrote that seeing would be believing when it comes to the new Jordin Sparks cover. AlbumArtExchange user Music Hog just posted the official cover for Sparks’ Battlefield album and it is the same one that popped up on the blogosphere last week.
This is a very disappointing album cover. As I wrote previously, it looks more like the cover of a single or an EP than an album. What I really dislike about this cover is the unflattering way they split Sparks’ face down the middle. It is off center just enough to give us an ugly little sliver of tooth from the opposite side.
The video for Battlefield showcases Sparks as a glamorous star. This album cover does nothing to support that image. We’re looking straight up her right nostril. Ugh!
A few weeks before we launched the AlbumArtExchange blog, I ran across an interesting article on Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman about the evolution of album art and packaging. At the time, I did not have a platform on which to comment about some of the things Rothman wrote regarding the future of album art and the history of the CD “longbox” packaging. Even though Rothman gave AlbumArtExchange a much appreciated endorsement at the end of his very entertaining article, there are a couple of points that I would like correct.
CDs originally came in long boxes with amazing art. Word went around that they’d go away, since hippies—like Sting—were pissed off about killing trees, but I was sad. Music packaging says a lot about music.
Album art used to be a serious pursuit, as if it was equally important to catch both the eyes and the ears of the music shopper. Perhaps, we don’t need the allure of album art anymore, since we can instantly gratify our need to hear the music we want to buy or steal. But when I was growing up, it was vital.
[…]
[CDs] actually started shipping in long rectangular boxes, so they’d take up exactly 50% of the rack space of a vinyl album. I think this was on purpose, so record stores didn’t have to retool their shelving.
[…]
But then the green freaks got their way, and the cardboard boxes were discontinued. Jewel boxes—and their never-too-popular “eco pac” brethren—just got thicker and thicker booklets, and more and more digital features.
First, I would like to restate my position on the future of album cover art. It is NOT dead. In fact, the future of album cover art is becoming limitless. The death of printed paper packaging is unavoidable. But, digital art will always be needed. People need cover art in order to browse through their music collections on their iPods and hard drives. As home PCs and entertainment systems merge, there will be a need for high resolution album art to be displayed on HD television monitors while music is being selected and played.
In reality, it is the print medium that limits creativity. With digital album art, print and production costs are eliminated. In the near future, we will see Flash animation and interactive features introduced to digital album covers.
An excellent example of what the future has in store is Snow Patrol’s interactive booklet for their album A Hundred Million Suns. NPR recently ran an article about this new form of digital album art.
When was the last time you sat down and listened to your favorite record, held the artwork in your hands and did nothing else? For me, it’s been ages. I find it so easy to have my attention pulled away by the Web, by email or even a magazine. The music may hold my interest, but the artwork rarely does.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the fault of the art and not my short attention span. I’ve never liked the CD format when it comes to artwork and liner notes. Sure, there are box sets that are knockouts, but the average CD booklet is hard to read and just plain too tiny.
Now comes the future of album covers: digital art.
Second, I know that South Park’s Eric Cartman has made it cool to beat up on “hippies” and “tree huggers” and blame them for almost every social ill and inconvenience. However, the CD longbox packaging was created to be tossed in landfills.
Unlike LP sleeves and CD jewel boxes, no one saved the cardboard package in which CDs used to be packaged, shipped and displayed. It wasn’t just environmentalists who complained about the CD longbox packaging. It made CDs more expensive to ship, store and display.
Many recording artists protested the use of the longbox by placing a sticker that read “This is Garbage” on the longbox. While there are a few people who collect longboxes, they are not considered to be valuable pieces of music memorabilia.
The longboxes were not quite as “amazing” as Rothman suggests. Most of the art that appeared on the longboxes was derivative of the album cover. The cover art was often cropped and enlarged to fit the rectangular format of the box. Graphic designers considered the album cover to be the principal component of the package design — just as they do today.
Because the CD manufacturers knew that the longbox would be ripped open and tossed in the garbage as soon as the consumer got home, they rarely included any copy or art that was not part of the CD jewel box on this component. I think most manufacturers, graphic designers, and consumers were glad to see it disappear.
I believe that over the next few years we will continue to see creative innovations in album art. Digital booklets will evolve and graphic designers will begin to use new technologies to create album art that both amazes and disappoints.
The Smashing Pumpkins website has posted a wonderful interview with Frank Olinsky, the art director responsible for developing the group's album covers from 1995 through 1999. Olinsky explains his role as an art director and shares some original sketches by Billy Corgan that provided the concepts behind many of the band's covers.
Frank Olinsky is the art director behind the extravagant and intricate packaging that accompanied all of the Pumpkins' official releases between 1995 and 1999. From Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness to the singles that supported Adore, he oversaw the creative process that led to some of the most visually engaging albums in the band's discography. He has also worked with R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Duran Duran, and Philip Glass, just to name a few, and helped co-create the chameleon-like logo and original look of MTV.
I caught up with Mr. Olinsky to talk about his time working with the Pumpkins, and just what exactly an art director is.
For more information about Frank Olinsky, check out his blog at http://frankolinsky.blogspot.com/. You will find lots of great examples of his work and cool personal stories like this:
I still can't believe I actually worked with David Bowie, Brian Eno and Philip Glass together on one project. The package design for Philip's Heroes Symphony, based on the music from the Bowie and Eno album Heroes, began as rough sketches on a napkin. (Yes, it is true that some really good ideas begin as rough sketches on napkins.)
British Pop singer/songwriter Gary Go has a hit debut record. The album is called Gary Go and the video for first single Wonderful is getting a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the Wonderful video is one of those that that record label will not permit us to embed. However, I found a video of Gary Go performing the song.
The album cover reminds me of early Elvis Costello and Buddy Holly. It is simple and quite effective in branding the artist, who is being called a “geek” Pop star. Musically, his sound is similar to Coldplay — especially Wonderful.
Singer/songwriter and Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin caught my attention with the following tweet:
Just sang 1 of my songs about Edith’s death here at Steelbridgesongfest , here it is on youtube.
I checked out the link and found the following live performance at the Steel Bridge Songfest in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Moving At The Speed of E is a thoughtful and touching tribute to a friend who committed suicide. I hope that she records this in studio.
We have one of Wiedlin’s solo album covers in the AlbumArtExchange gallery — 2000’s Kissproof World.
HDtracks is a new high-quality music download service offering a diverse catalog of independent music from around the world. To encourage potential customers to sign up for an account, HDtracks is offering a free Jazz and Blues music sampler called Jazz and Blues Experience to those who sign up by entering their e-mail address and a password.
AlbumArtExchange user randysrodeo has just added four album covers of El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, to the gallery. I first became familiar with El Vez (Robert Lopez) back in the early ’90s when I lived in Los Angeles. His live performances are very entertaining. However, I have never listened to one of his albums — and apparently he has released over two dozen albums and singles over the years. Most of the covers are parodies of classic Elvis Presley albums.
Thanks randysrodeo for adding these gems to the gallery. Here is an sample posted alongside the Elvis Presley album that inspired it.
In the mood for something special — something smooth and sexy. Check out the new video for Something Special, a track from Will Downing’s new album Classique. The album will be released on Concord Records on June 16.
I’ve decided to start a new category called Free Stuff. It seems that more and more recording artists are giving away music online.
Recently, Coldplay began offering a free download of an album of live performances. LeftRightLeftRightLeft includes four tracks. They are 192 bit rate and definitely worth submitting your e-mail address to get the link.
The album art includes an image of a butterfly. Along with human skulls, cars and sexy women, butterflies are one of the most popular objects on Rock album covers. This is not a particularly interesting butterfly. So, the album cover gets a B-minus.
Fictional bands, with fictional stories, and most important of all, fictional album covers. Welcome to Famous Album Covers!
That’s the description of Famous Album Covers, a collaborative blog that I found to be very entertaining. The blog gives us exactly what is promised, a series of fictional album covers with creative stories about the bands. The satire presented on this blog could serve as an inspiration for TV and movie writers.
Here is one of my favorites:
Barbed Wire Undergarments (Ireland’s equivalent of the Sex Pistols) hit the scene in 1975 with their highly acclaimed debut album, Sharp Spoons. Frontman Smithy O’Leary’s lyrics spoke to a nation of disillusioned youths through base-driven riffs of violence and unrest, as illustrated in this excerpt from, “The I.R.A. Ain’t Never Gonna Pay”:
The I.R.A. ain’t never gonna pay for the bombs that they’ve been dropping on the Protestants and Catholics on the prison camps and parliament and hijacked cars and homes —
This album features several full on live tracks as well as a stripped down version of O’Leary’s lyrically genius, “Gunmen and Ghettos.”
Famous Album Covers is a great example of creative writing and graphic design. The covers are over the top enough to be instantly recognized as fake. In fact, many of the albums on the blog could easily be mistaken for the real deal. Heck, I would have bought an album by Barded Wire Undergarments back in the ’70s. That’s the difference between comedy and satire.
I’ve been waiting for the big summer club hit to take off and it looks like When Love Takes Over by David Guetta and Kelly Rowland is the first contender. David Guetta’s video appeared on YouTube a few weeks ago and has received over 3.5 million views. The official Virgin Records video was posted to YouTube last week.
The Guetta video has some cool animation that goes with the cover art of the single. The official video features Kelly Rowland on a beach. I’ll post both videos here. By the way, it is interesting that Guetta doesn’t credit Rowland on his YouTube video. It simply reads “David Guetta” — as if Rowland hasn’t totally eclipsed him as the star of this project. David who?
Alternative Rock band Placebo’s new album Battle for the Sun was officially released today. There are two versions of the cover. I believe the cover for the limited edition CD/DVD includes the band name and album title and the standard edition does not. Correct me if I am wrong about that.
AlbumArtExchange user Gulickson wrote in with some interesting information about Third Eye Blind (3EB). The band has an upcoming album called Ursa Major.
Coincidentally, I ran across an image on Flickr a couple of months ago that was described as a CD cover idea for Ursa Major.
You never really know what you’re looking at on Flickr. It could be samples posted by a professional graphic designer or the work of an aspiring amateur. Well, yesterday I visited the 3EB MySpace page and discovered a small preview of the album art for Ursa major.
As you can see, the cover art posted on the band’s MySpace page is very similar to what I found on Flickr. I suppose it could just be an artist working with the same stock image. But, I’m willing to bet that the Flickr user had something to do with designing the 3EB cover. I’ll have to keep my eye on that Flickr account.
What do you think? Do you prefer the concept image or the final cover?
Anyway, here is what Gulickson sent me. It is great when musicians think enough of their fans to give them souvenirs like this.
My kids just returned from a 3EB concert at the Palladium in downtown Dallas and as they so often do they returned with the evening’s play list in hand, handed to them by the drummer, Brad Hargreaves. Here is a picture I took of it:
Songs 12-14 are the acoustic set and my son being a devoted fan thought it might make a worthwhile story since the band is kind of different
Here’s a great remix of David Bowie’s DJ by Benny Benassi. This album doesn’t appear to be available on iTunes and Amazon.com. I bought is from a website that caters to DJs — strangely enough. There’s nothing special about the cover art. But, I know many AlbumArtExcahnge users are Bowie fans (including site owner Scott).
The blogs are suddenly buzzing with news that the cover for Jordin Sparks’ Battlefield album has been revealed. However, I can’t find an official announcement and the image file that is being posted all over the Internet is not of professional quality. It is a very compressed and only 418 pixels square. I also doubt that the record label would slice the artist’s face right down the middle like this.
I can imagine this being a cover for an EP or a single, but it doesn’t look like the cover of an album to me. If this really is the cover of Sparks’ album, she better start looking for a new producer. I’m going to file this cover under “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Elvis Costello’s new album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane debuted this week at #13 on the Billboard 200, the musician’s highest album chart position since 1980’s Get Happy.
Costello has always had great cover art for his albums. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is no exception. Unlike many of his albums, it doesn’t include an image of the musician himself.
The cover for Sonic Youth’s new album The Eternal is a beautiful painting by the late American folk guitarist John Fahey. I haven’t taken the time to find out the story behind this unsual choice. I have to imagine it has to do with Fahey’s reputation as a pioneer in freestyle guitar.
Fahey began painting seriously just a few years before his death in 2001. So, most people are not familiar with his work as a painter. I am glad that Sonic Youth selected this particular painting as their cover. The signature on the painting indicates that it was painted in January 1998 and is titled 13157 Sea Monster. The painting is a sharp contrast to the music of The Eternal. I think that makes it more interesting.
It would be great if Sonic Youth would sell a 24 x 24 poster of this cover. It would be suitable for framing — autographed or not.
Get it? The album is called Artwork and they are releasing the artwork for the album. That is so clever (yes, I’m being sarcastic). Personally, I think the cover is pretty darn hidious. I don’t mean the subject matter, either. The artwork for Artwork is over saturated and looks like someone rubbed it down with a sheet of sandpaper. It is very poorly executed. I will let the social critics comment about the drug-related image (although I am squeemish about needles).
A few days ago, rapper Eminem tweeted that he’d signed 1,000 posters of his new album cover in one day.
The tweet included a link to a photo of Eminem signing the posters.
I checked out the website today and discovered that the signed posters are being sold as part of a limited deluxe edition of the album for $129.99 + shipping and handling. In addition to the poster, the deluxe edition includes:
Collectible Relapse pill bottle
Jewelcase CD with full-color album artwork booklet and liner notes
12” gatefold album vinyl
Immediate download of all Premium Digital content including the 15-track album plus skits, 2 bonus songs and 2 videos
It is nice to see an artist doing this kind of creative promotion. The $130 price may sound like a lot of money, but it includes a poster, CD, vinyl LP, and a few other goodies. I bet they sell quite a few of them.
Friend and AlbumArtExchange blog regular Michael sent me the following photograph with the caption “We’d never see Fritz again!”
He’s probably right. If I were to be turned loose in a room like this with a scanner, I would want to scan every CD on the shelves. I know that there are people who have collections like this. I don’t know the story behind the photo or whether or not it is a private collection. I own about 1,000 CDs and they take up about 10 three-foot shelves. Just imagine how many are in this room!
Rob Thomas’ new single Give Me The Meltdown was released for download on iTunes today. It will be a track on his upcoming album Cradlesong, which is scheduled for release on June 30. The first single to be released was Her Diamonds.I actually like Give Me The Meltdown a little bit more. Perhaps that would have been a better choice as the first single. I don’t have a video or audio clip of Give Me The Meltdown. So, I’ll post the video for Her Diamonds instead.
The cover art for the album and the two singles released so far have a very nice, uniform look. I particularly like the use of bright color in the Give Me The Meltdown cover.
Gadget and technology blog Gizmodo has published the results of a Photoshop contest in which participants were asked to add technology to classic album covers. The results are nothing less than hilarious!
There are 50 of these covers over at Gizmodo. Check them out.
According to a press release, the packaging for Rock supergroup Chickenfoot’s new album features temperature sensitive ink that changes from black to reveal photos when touched. This appears to be the same king of thing that makes mood rings change color. I bet you could see the entire cover by hitting it with a blow dryer.
A Flash demo of the effect can be seen on the band’s website at www.chickenfoot.us. I snagged the screenshot below. Personally, I avoid putting greasy fingerprints all over my CD covers. I guess this will have to be the exception.
Anyway, here’s what the cover looks like with the black ink all warmed up to 98.6 degrees. I was hoping to see something subversive and cool. Nope. Just photos of the band members. You would think that they would do something wild and memorable after spending so much extra money on the special packaging. Yawn.
Here is the press release:
Chickenfoot, the legendary rock band, including frontman Sammy Hagar, guitarist Joe Satriani, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, released their self-titled debut album with an eye towards entertaining fans even before experiencing the first track.
Released in both CD and LP formats, the packaging features temperature sensitive ink that changes from opaque black to transparent when warmed by the touch of a hand. The cover graphics and song titles on the back cover are concealed until fans activate the inks through touch. Designed by Meat and Potatoes and manufactured by Multi Packaging Solutions, both versions have full front and back coverage of the custom thermochromic ink, providing fans with a large area to interact with hidden images and messages. Depending on where heat is applied, images are revealed in different locations on the packaging and are concealed again when the ink cools.
“Chickenfoot was a dream project. 4 rock legends, with 12 turn-it-up-louder rock songs, and 1 album cover to visually contain their energy. It had to be bold yet subtle at the same time,” says Todd Gallopo, Creative Director of Meat and Potatoes and designer of the Chickenfoot packaging. “I pitched the thermo concept after a few rounds thinking ‘this could be amazing, this could be the solution, but would they actually go for it?’ The band immediately warmed up to the thermo ink concept and I thought, ‘Oh great! Uh-oh great, now how are we going to pull this off?’ Luckily, I had Brit Davis and the team at MPS to help tame the complexity of this package. I could not have imagined a better finished product from a more dedicated team.”
“Seriously, the Foot couldn’t have asked for a more mind-blowing package design. The fans are experiencing a nod back to the days of getting lost in a trippy LP design, and loving it!” sings Joe, Chad, Mike and Sammy of Chickenfoot. “We knew we had something special with the music, and we wanted the packaging to take the fans to another level. When Todd proposed the idea of using this special ink, it all just clucked, um clicked.”
“To create the fan experience Todd envisioned, it was critical that Multi Packaging Solutions develop the ideal ink formula and press environment,” commented John Cote, Vice President of Innovation and Technology for Multi Packaging Solutions. “We were able to draw upon our technical expertise and range of printing technologies to successfully translate this unique design concept into a viable finished package.”
“We enjoyed working with Todd on this challenging and exciting project,” remarked Brit Davis, Vice President Sales, for Multi Packaging Solutions. “Having the capabilities to develop and manufacture this project in-house simplified collaboration with Meat and Potatoes.”
For more information about Chickenfoot and the self-titled debut album Chickenfoot, please visit www.chickenfoot.us.
I just downloaded the new album by Alternative rockers Kasabian and I am loving it! West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is sizzling hot. The first single Fire was released a last week and it is definitely the best track on the album.
The cover art for both the album and the Fire EP are very interesting. Apparently, there is also a CD/DVD set that comes in a gold fabric-covered box.
Sony won’t allow the embedding of their music videos on YouTube. They subject us to a commercial — greedy bastards! They just can’t be content with selling records.
When writing about music — especially Rock and Pop — one occasionally encounters crude language and images. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Therefore, I will eventually include words and images in the articles I post here that some will find offensive and NSFW (not safe for work). Unlike many blogs, I won’t be shy about publishing this kind of content. It is accurate reporting to include words and images that may be considered crude, insulting or vulgar.
Here is an example of what I will not do on this blog:
Apparently, there is an Alternative Rock band that calls themselves Starfucker. If you look them up on iTunes, you will see that iTunes has a policy of censoring album and song titles that could be considered offensive. However, iTunes does not censor the name of the band. They know that those searching to purchase music by Starfucker will not know to enter “S∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗r” into the search field.
So, we end up with this ridiculous situation in which iTunes publishes “Starfucker” as a band name and not as an album title. What’s the point?
Here is the same listing on Amazon.com:
Amazon.com’s approach seems a little more grown up to me. I believe that if a record label can record and distribute music by a group called Starfucker, it is appropriate to publish the uncensored name in an article about them. You won’t see any &∗%!# here.
In the last installment of Variation on a Theme, we looked at album covers that feature dice as a main element. This time, we’ll discuss covers that use another item associated with gambling — the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
Did you know that the this famous landmark is not copyrighted? That is why it is used on so many tourist items for sale in Las Vegas. The manufacturers do not have to pay royalties.
Because of the lack of a copyright, surprising the sign doesn’t appear on more album covers. I was only able to find four examples.
The next two examples are not included in the AlbumArtExchange gallery. The first is by Merengue star Elvis Crespo who was recently accused of doing something nasty on a flight to Miami. The second is a digital compilation album called Simply Rat Pack.
Moby’s new album Wait For Me is set to be released on June 30. The video for the first single Pale Horses was posted on YouTube a couple of weeks ago and will be made available on June 22. Moby announced via Twitter that the single was just featured on RCRD LBL. So, I checked it out and found a free download of a remix. Cool!
I really like the “Little Idiot” cartoon that Moby is using for the album cover and the various videos he has been posting to YouTube.
Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present, the first major museum exhibition to acknowledge photographers for their creative and collaborative role in the history of rock and roll, will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from October 30, 2009, through January 31, 2010.
The exhibition is curated by photographic historian and author Gail Buckland and features many rare and never-before-exhibited photographs. It will also include music videos by artists featured in the exhibition, an eighty-image slide show by Henry Diltz, and a rock-and-roll chronology made from actual album covers.
Featuring approximately 175 works by 105 photographers, Who Shot Rock & Roll is organized in six sections: images taken behind the scenes; snapshots of young musicians at the beginning of their careers; photographs of live performances that display the energy of the bands on stage; images of the crowds and fans; portraits that go beyond the surface and celebrity of the musicians; and conceptual images and album covers highlighting the creative and collaborative efforts between the image makers and the subjects.
Among the works on view are such iconic images as William “Red” Robertson’s erotic 1955 photo of a pelvis-thrusting Elvis Presley which appeared on his first album; The Clash’s London Calling album cover by Pennie Smith depicting Paul Simonon smashing his Fender bass guitar; the contact sheet of Bob Gruen’s portrait of John Lennon in a sleeveless New York City T-shirt; Don Hunstein’s photograph of Bob Dylan walking with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo down a snowy Greenwich Village street; David LaChapelle’s image of Lil Kim as a bikini-clad cop; and Anton Corbijn’s shoot of U2 for their Joshua Tree album. The exhibition will also feature photographs by Diane Arbus, Annie Leibovitz, Woodstock photographer Barry Feinstein, Jim Marshall, Ryan McGinley, Linda McCartney, Mark Seliger, and Albert Watson.
Most of the photographs in the exhibition were uncovered in the photographer’s own files. Rarely, if ever exhibited pictures include a 1963 photograph by Philip Townsend of the Rolling Stones; an image of James Brown surrounded by female fans shot by actor Dennis Hopper; the working photographs and album cover by Jean-Paul Goude of Grace Jones for Island Life; the contact sheet from Bob Gruen’s famous 1974 rooftop shoot of John Lennon; the full sequence of never-before-exhibited photographs by Ed Caraeff of Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; the 1976 photograph by Roberta Bayley used on the Ramones first album; Amy Winehouse on her wedding day by Max Vadukul; the four classic 1967 Beatles portraits by Richard Avedon; Ike and Tina Turner at Club Paradise in Memphis in 1962 by the African-American photographer Ernest Withers; and an approximately nine-by-seven-foot tour-de-fource by German photographer Andrea Gursky of Madonna performing in 2001.
Check out the photos of this Flickr user's record room! He has one of the most amazing private collections of vinyl and CDs I've seen in a very long time.
The first single by British pop singer/songwriter Pixie Lott was released today and quickly took the number two spot on iTunes in the U.K. Mama Do is a fairly typical dance pop tune. The album cover is very ho hum, but the music video showcases the fresh-faced blonde who reminds me of a cross between Sandra Dee and Bridget Bardot. This is definitely going to be a big hit in the U.S.
Scott recently uploaded a scan of Pixies Doolittle to the AlbumArtExchange gallery and noted that the color of his CD cover is very different from the others already posted. That inspired me to write the first article in our Tips & Tricks category.
A Tale of Two Covers
Let’s begin by taking a look at two of the Doolittle covers:
This cover just happens to be one that I scanned myself. It uses metallic inks and that can make it difficult to scan because it is highly reflective. However, I think that I did a good job of matching the color.
Here is Scott’s cover. As you can see, the color is very different from the first example. It is much darker and has a greater amount of contrast. This could lead someone to assume that one of the scans is more accurate than the other. However, that is not the case here.
Other than scanning errors, are several reasons why scans of what appear to be the same album cover may appear to be quite different.
The covers could be from different printings. CDs and vinyl records are first produced in limited quanties. The record labels then produce additional copies as needed. The first printing is almost always done with more care and precision than subsequent printings. The graphic designer may do a press check to ensure that the colors are reproduced as intended. So, the first run of CDs and records are almost always the best to scan.
The covers could be many years apart in age. If you do have a first run cover, it is probably years older than the ones currently being sold. It could have faded due to exposure to sunlight. It could have metallic inks that have oxidized. And there is always normal wear and tear.
The print quality could be different. Years ago, covers of domestic albums were printed in the United States. The British also had their own printing facilities. Today, most CDs are mass produced in China and other counties where costs are very low.
The cover could have been produced by a record club such as Columbia House or BMG. These covers are almost always of inferior print quality. That is how they can afford to sell 10 CDs for only a penny.
So, what’s going on with these two scans? First, we need to know a little bit more about the CDs to which the covers belong.
I purchased my Doolittle CD over 20 years ago, when it was first released. I didn’t scan it until very recently. That means that the cover could have faded or oxidized. It could look very different than it did the day I brought it home. I just don’t know.
Scott just purchased his Doolittle CD from Amazon.com. He scanned it just hours after it arrived. Of course, it could have been sitting in a warehouse for months or even years. Again, there’s no way for us to really know — and we’re not going to contact the manufacturer!
The band Germart proudly proclaims on their website that the cover for their album Planet Booty was selected as one of the worst of all time by the Chicago Tribune. I’m not sure that I agree with the Tribune. While a photo of a man in blue pants and suspenders holding up one of those glass heads from Pier 1 Imports isn’t very creative, I don’t think it qualifies as one of the worst covers of all time.
However, the same cannot be said for the following video by Germart. It definitely is in the “worst ever” class.
MGMT released the single for Kids last October. I was so unimpressed by the album cover that I didn’t even bother to add it to the AlbumArtExchange gallery. I was certain that other users would think that it was simply a very bad scan. It literally looks like it was created by an old Xerox machine.
On Thursday, the group released a video for Kids and it is causing quite a stir. It features a small boy who is terrorized by people wearing monster costumes. People are upset because it is obvious that the child is really frightened. He’s far too young to be acting.
Anyway, here is the horrible cover for the Kids EP and the controversial new video. Enjoy!
I’ve been running a series here on the AlbumArtExchange blog called Banned in the U.S.A. Of course, the United States is not alone in our tradition of banning album covers. Retailers and record labels in the United Kingdom is just as guilty.
Apparently, the Jenny Saville cover of the new Manic Street Preachers album was censored in a few stores in the U.K. because the illustration appears to be of a child with a bloody face.
A graphic design staple, the album cover has always had the power to delight and shock, even though CDs and downloads have now somewhat dented its visual impact. Just a few weeks ago, several supermarkets covered up the latest Manic Street Preachers album, Journal for Plague Lovers. The portrait painting, by artist Jenny Saville, was chosen as beautiful art, but was deemed inappropriate by the retailers, because the face seemed bruised and bloodied.
Anyone who has restored an old photo or a painting can tell you that it is almost impossible to recreate the original. You can come close, but it will never be perfect. Then, there are some who are more interested in improving the original and perhaps updating it.
Those are the issues I faced when I decided to restore the cover of an old Divine record that i found online. I want to frame it and display it in my home. So, I had to decide whether or not I wanted it to look more like the original or make changes that would make it look better hanging on a wall.
Here’s what I came up with (you can click the image for a larger view). I pumped up the contast, applied Photoshop lighting effects and made the colors much more dramatic than the original.
I’m old enough to have actually seen Divine perform live. I wanted to make the image jump out and be noticed from across the room — just like Divine on stage.
One thing that I had trouble making my mind up about was whether or not to remove that huge pimple on Divine’s arm. I thought that it was best to leave it there. I think Divine would have wanted it that way.
Blur’s new two-CD retrospective, Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide to Blur, will be released on July 28. The cover features various photos of political and social significance, but is otherwise uninteresting. That is a disappointment when it comes to a Blur cover, which are typically more innovative. The album is being promoted on YouTube by video of a medly of Blur songs.
Harlem rapper and Hip Hop producer Charles Hamilton is set to release his debut album This Perfect Life on June 23 through Interscope Records. Hamilton recently released the track listing and the cover art for the album on his blog.
All I can say about the artwork is...WTF?! I simply don't know what other comment I can make. A dazed-looking cartoon ape family? Really? Is this what finally happened to Magilla Gorilla?
You may also be interested in seeing this video interview with Hamilton and his girlfriend. Apparently, the two had a physical altercation in a club. WTF?!
Look what I found on Flickr this evening. A very talented artist who goes by the handle Littlepixel™ has taken several classic album covers and reinterpreted them as Pelican paperbacks. They’ve gotten quite a bit of attention and have been featured by B3ta, MusicRadar, Wired, GQ, Design Week, and Drawn. Check out the entire set.
I’m not really sure why this concepts works, but it certainly does. I think it could have something to do with all of those years I worked as a bookstore manager.
Pop music blog TuneVille has posted a promotional photograph that has been released for Whitney Houston’s upcoming comeback album. According to the blog entry, September 1st has also been given has the release date.
Whitney is DOING the damn thing, especially at the ripe old age of 45. She looks stunning. I also like the photo because it’s not drowned in Photoshop and it’s very natural.
You can buy MP3 version of the new album by rock supergroup Chickenfoot on Amazon.com for only $3.99 right now. Check it out. I’ll just let the montage on YouTube do all the talking. Either you like this kind of rock music or you don’t. I’ll be rockin’ out to this all night tonight.
I like the use of the peace symbol on the cover. Imagine how controversial that would have been a few years ago.
Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together. Remember this is Album/CD art, so keep it square. Images need to be 500 pixels x500 pixels or larger.
Email image, band name, album title to post - at - covermeme.com. Optionally include attribution and links for the image and for yourself to be used in the public posting one this site. We will not use your name or address from your email. Only information you specifically share in the body of the email.
Here’s what I came up with:
1. Name of Band: Nowy Wiączemin
2. Title of Album: life enables us to disregard them
3. Photo:
I tweeked the photo in Photoshop just a bit. I figured a band called Nowy Wiączemin would be a little bit avant garde and industrial. It was also difficult to find a font that includes that “a” with the little tail. So, I had to go very basic.
Try it. Then, go look at some of the other covers that have been submitted. I don’t think the one I’ve posted here is cool enough to submit. I’ll have to keep trying.
I’ve been in love with the song Psychic City (Voodoo City) by YACHT since I ran across it on TheWikiChart YouTube page last week. It reminds me of Tom Tom Club and a few other 1980s bands. I hope the other tracks on the album are just as good. YACHT’s album See Mystery Lights is set to be released by DFA Records next month.
Pop singer Demi Lovato revealed the cover for her upcoming album on Twitter today.
This is a PR strategy that I hope catches on. The link posted by Lovato (and/or her PR team) leads to a high resolution cover suitable for printing and online display. That’s a great way to publicize the release of a new album — and get it added to the AlbumArtExchange gallery.
Our WTF?! category is kind of a catch all for all of those things that make you stare at your computer monitor with your mouth open and eyes wide. The Aussie electonic music duo Brain Children is one of those things.
When I stumbled upon the cover of their upcoming EP, I immediately thought that it was some kind of joke. Two nerdy guys are wearing see-through bodysuits with boxer shorts underneath. One of the guys appears to have pissed his pants.
This has to be a joke, right? Either that, or this is a sly attempt to get publicity by creating one of the worst album covers in history. I’m not sure.
I did listen to one of the tracks off of the EP called Guts. It is pretty good. So, I don’t know if the crazy album art is going to hurt or help this artist — it got my attention anyway.
Here’s something a bit different. The new video for the single I Remember by deadmau5 + Kaskade is a mini movie. The movie is a collaboration between deadmau5 and online clothing company yourownclothing.com. An edited version of the movie serves as a more traditional music video.
The movie is about a couple of guys who get advice from an old timer on how to launch a successful Rave business. There isn’t a lot of plot to it, but it is very intereting.
Wonderwall has published a list of The 25 Most Ridiculous Celebrity Album Covers, which appears to have been inspired by the recent Brooke Hogan cover that is causing undue outrage on the Internet. Personally, I don’t think the the cover for Hogan’s The Redemption is that bad. There have certainly been far worse album covers — especially by celebrities trying to launch a singing career.
What really surprises me about the list on Wonderwall is that even though they included obvious choices like Scott Baio, Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy and Shaq, they left out some of the most ridiculous crossover attempts. This includes the most outrageous of all time, William Shatner!
This is a good example of why these kinds of lists need to be compiled by real album cover experts. Also missing from Wonderwall’s list is Don Johnson and David Soul. Johnson released an album during the successful run of Miami Vice, appearing on the cover of both the album and the single Heart Beat with considerable “man cleavage” showing.
Soul was quite successful and there wasn’t anything too ridiculous about his album covers until years later when it became obvious that the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard* was more recognizable and had to be included on the cover of his greatest hits album.
Also, the scans used in the Wonderwall slideshow are simply terrible. It doesn’t appear that anyone even bothered to try to clean them up in Photoshop before publishing them online. That’s a just plain laziness.
There are a few covers in the Wonderwall slideshow that simply don’t belong in a list of the “25 Most Ridiculous” such as Jennifer Lopez and a beautiful Scarlett Johansson cover by photographer Brea Souders. WTF is up with that? Souders work is quite wonderful and artistic. I don’t see anything “ridiculous” about it. Check out the spread she did with Johasson for Paste Magazine. She also has a pretty damn cool blog: http://breasouders.blogspot.com/.
*I know the car isn’t the General Lee and that David Soul was in Starsky and Hutch. That’s just an attempt at humor — ‘cuz both shows had red cars and blond actors who started singing careers. Get it?
Shepard Fairy, the urban poster artist best known for his iconic Obama “Hope” poster, has designed the cover for the upcoming Love and Rocket tribute album, New Tales To Tell.
Due out next month, the album features artists such as Black Francis, The Flaming Lips, The Dandy Warhols, and Better Than Ezra. You can check out samples on the album’s MySpace page:
Merchandise bearing Bruce Springsteen’s iconic Born in the U.S.A. album cover is being sold by Hard Rock International at their cafes, casinos, hotels and online in an effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against hunger and poverty.
Sales of t-shirts, pins and baseball caps commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Springsteen album’s release will benefit WHY (World Hunger Year, Inc.).
The 25th anniversary edition of Born in the U.S.A. was released today. The apparel and accessories can be purchased at www.hardrock.com.
Items for sale include:
Hard Rock’s Born in the U.S.A. pin features the iconic artwork from the Born in the U.S.A. album, shot by world-renowned celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, molded into the shape of a guitar. ($12)
Hard Rock’s Born in the U.S.A. women’s t-shirt features the Born in the U.S.A. album artwork on the front of a navy blue, crew neck, jersey t-shirt with a Hard Rock logo on the back. ($26) Hard Rock’s Born in the U.S.A. men’s t-shirt features Born in the U.S.A. album artwork on the back of a classic navy blue t-shirt with a Hard Rock logo on front left chest. ($26)
Hard Rock’s Born in the U.S.A. distressed, red baseball hat features an embroidered navy Hard Rock logo above the bill with the words “Born in the U.S.A.” embroidered in white along the back. ($22)
Every purchased will include a limited-edition Born in the U.S.A. collectable button.
Electronic music duo Fischerspooner’s new album is called Entertainment. The video for the single We Are Electric was released on YouTube today. I must say that the light fixture hat on both the album cover and in the video is quite impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. I’m sure it would be something Grace Jones would have been proud to wear to Studio 54 back in the day. I’m not quite sure if it works for a middle-age dude with Adam Lambert eyeliner, though.
This is too much! There’s a thread going on over at FARK.com of famous album covers that have been Photoshopped into ad parodies. There are literally dozens of them.
Alec at the blog Our Kitchen Sink has posted a few bad album covers for your amusement. I’ve included two of my favorites in the excerpt below, but all six are hilarious.
Having a really good album cover is ALMOST as important as the music itself. Somehow these guys never got the memo, and decided to put together some of the worst cover art of all time…
Rock band Daughtry has released the cover for their upcoming album Leave This Town. The first single is called No Surprise and it debuted on American Idol last month.
19 Entertainment/RCA Recordsis one of those record labels that does not allow their YouTube videos to be embedded in blogs. So, you’ll have to look it up on YouTube yourself. I won’t post a link to it out of protest of this lack of vision and marketing insight from Sony and their their associated labels. Currently, only the audio for No Surprise in on YouTube anyway.
Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, who is known for his comic strip This Modern World, wrote yesterday on his blog that he created the cover for Pearl Jam’s new album, Backspacer.
So, one of the things I’ve been keeping busy with over the past few months…has been working on some artwork for Pearl Jam. Had to stay quiet about it until now, and I still can’t say too much about it, but I do want to note that the image that Conan held up tonight was only part of a greater whole — it wasn’t the finished album cover.
On June 15, Pixies are releasing Minotaur, a box set of five of their classic CDs. The following video is a mini documantary about how the artwork for the box set was created by graphic designer Vaughan Oliver. Oliver created the covers for the original releases and was asked to do a “reinterpretation” of his work for the new release. The set will include the Come On Pilgrim EP, Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova, and Trompe le Monde.
For those of you who have to have this box set, the Minotaur Deluxe Edition will retail for $175, while a Limited Edition will be priced at $450.
BBC Radio 2 has published a gallery of Island Records’ album covers in conjunction with Island 50, a documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the record label.
Sadly, the 47 images used in this online gallery are not very good quality. However, it is interesting to see the choices. Personally, I think there are some much better album covers in the Island Records catalog. Do you have a favorite that was left out?
Vanessa Williams’ new album The Real Thing was released yesterday. The entire album is excellent with Breathless, Just Friends, and The Real Thing being the stand out tracks. I must add that Williams looks stunning in the videos released for this album. She’s as classy as ever.
I really love free music. I just got an email from iTunes with a code for a free music sampler album from Ghostly International. I've never heard of any of the artists, but the songs all download as separate traks with individual cover art. So, it technically isn't a sampler album — just 10 free songs from the same label.
Ghostly Classics Free Sampler
The good folks at Ghostly International have come upon their 10-year anniversary of putting out some of the most intricate, blissed-out electronic and dreamy, forward-thinking indie pop. Celebrate this victory of atmospherics with a free ten-track sampler.
You have to sign up for iTunes e-mail alerts to get a redemption code. That's one benefit of getting junk mail from iTunes I suppose.
I don't know if this is some kind of illegal bootleg, but you can download an entire Lily Allen remix album for free! Remixed is a collection of 12 remixes of her songs by Doc Fritz (no connection). You can't beat the price! The website also includes album cover art and wallpapers.
London rapper Speech Debelle has just been featured as the free download of the week on iTunes in the U.K. Her album is called Speech Therapy and her rap is definitely not what we’re used to here in the U.S. It is smooth and poetic. Several of her videos have been posted on YouTube, including some very interesting live performances.
The album cover for Speech Therapy reminds me of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 debut album (shown at right). The artist is shown with the same, introspective downward glance.
The video I’ve chosen to share is for her single Go Then Bye.
How good are you at recognizing album covers? David Medsker at the pop culture blog Popdose a regular game that challenges players to identify album covers based on a small fragment of the cover.
Here are a couple of examples from this week’s game:
Think you’re up to the challenge? There are 25 images like this including a bonus “puzzle cover.” If you like these kinds of games, pop on over to Popdose.
In this recurring feature, we look at albums that use a similar theme. In some cases, the images used are surprisingly similar. Here are a few examples of album covers that feature dice.
The album covers above are separated by 34 years and yet they are both rolling lucky seven. There are many other examples of album covers that feature dice as a main object.
Then, we have “fuzzy” dice — the kind that people hang from their rearview mirrors.
Once again, this goes to show that there are very few “original” concepts left when it comes to album cover art. How well those concepts are executed is another matter.
Do you know of a variation on a theme and would like to see it covered here? If so, leave a comment. Remember, guitars, human skulls, and automobiles are the most common objects found on album covers. We’re looking for something a bit more obscure.
This is exactly the kind of look that Jordin Sparks needed for her new album, Battlefield. Unfortunately, the creative direction behind Spark’s album cover just wasn’t as good. The composition, tone, and lighting for LeToya’s cover is everything a glamorous star could ask for. I don’t know what those braids are and I need to find out! That’s what an album cover is supposed to do. I suppose LeToya’s been in the business long enough to know what works.
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