Right on the heels of the controversial album cover for their new album Hurley, Weezer is following it with something that is even more bizarre. The cover for their forthcoming b-sides and rarities album Death to False Metal has a strange title and equally strange cover art.
The cover does not include the band's logo or any reference to their name. The artwork is a painting of people working on an idyllic farm. I'm not even going to bother researching what this is all about.
Death to False Metal and a deluxe edition of Weezer's Pinkerton album are both scheduled to be released on November 2, 2010.
Here is a nice product demo from an artist called Lazerbeak. His solo debut album was released this week and the video shows the features of packaging for the CD and DVD combo.
I wish that record labels would create more videos like this one. Believe it or not, many people like to see the entire package before they purchase an item. The album is also available as a digital download from iTunes and Amazon.com.
Being a person who is more interested in music than stand-up comedy, the first time that I heard the late Greg Giraldo was on the spoken word track from the 2004 album Lazyboy TV by Lazyboy (right). Underwear Goes Inside the Pants was getting a lot drive time airplay and everyone I knew was asking, "Who is that guy?"
Sadly, Giraldo passed away today after being hospitalized for an overdose of prescription drugs. He was admitted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey after a friend found him collapsed in his New Jersey hotel room. He was 44 years old.
It had been at least a couple of years since I had listened to Underwear Goes Inside the Pants and I found the commentary about illegal and prescription drugs it contains to be very ironic. You can listen to the song by watching the music video below.
Today, country singer Keith Urban posted two versons of the cover for his forthcoming album Get Closer on his Facebook page and asked fans to choose the one that will be used.
One version features Urban sitting alone on the floor of a bedroom with a guitar behind him. The other shows him being enbraced by a woman. Which one do you prefer? Click on an image to go to Facebook and vote.
The music video for Shakira's new single Loca was posted on YouTube yesterday. It is from her forthcoming album Sale el Sol (The Sun Comes Out), which is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
The cover for the single ties in with the music video. Shakira is shown rollerskating and dancing around in a gold bra and pants. Call me crazy, but I like it!
The iTunes Free Single of the Week is Second Chance, a track from the album Brand New Me by country singer Cory Morrow. It is definitely worth downloading.
The cover for Rihanna's forthcoming album Loud was revealed by numerous online sources today. The album is scheduled to be released on November 16, 2010.
Rihanna's best features has to be her gorgeous eyes. However, her eyes are closed in the photograph for this album cover. This is yet another album cover that doesn't do this artist justice. Many music blogs are writing that the cover is "red hot" and raving about the unusually "loud"colors. I won't go down that road.
Rihanna is a beautiful woman. There is no reason why every one of her album covers should not be a work of art. This is simply another disappointment.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from among this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the album cover that you believe is the best of the bunch.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of September 21, 2010 is Hands All Over by Maroon 5. The cover won with 36% of the vote. Pattern & Grid World by Flying Lotus was second with 29% and Confessions by Liza Minnelli was a distant third with 14%.
The cover photograph is credited to Rosie Hardy. Hardy is a 20-year-old U.K. photographer whose work was discovered by Maroon 5's management on Flickr. There is an interesting interview with Hardy on the band's Facebook page.
A lot of interesting album covers have been released over the past two weeks. Unfortunately, the latest batch of covers isn't quite as good. I will be posting the September 28 poll later this evening. Hopefully, there will be one or two worth voting for this time.
The latest single by the Armand Van Helden and A-Trak collaboration Duck Sauce is called Barbra Steisand. It is scheduled to be released on October 10, 2010.
The cover for the single is a parody of Guilty, the 1980 collaboration album by Streisand and Barry Gibb (right). They have even matched the typography from the orginal artwork perfectly. I love this kind of stuff!
The music video for Barbra Steisand was posted on YouTube last week. It features a Streisand impersonator and some cool New York City street performances.
I have to admit that I am developing a craving for Duck Sauce.
The cover for the soundtrack EP of the upcoming The Rocky Horror Show episode of Glee was revealed via news release today. The EP will feature seven songs from the muscial including Time Warp and Damn It, Janet. It is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
I don't know about you, but I am shivering with anticip...p...p...pation! I have to admit that I am disappointed that the cover doesn't feature a pair of big red lips.
The cover for a forthcoming Christmas album by Annie Lennox was revealed on the artist's official website yesterday. A Christmas Cornucopia is scheduled to be released on November 16, 2010.
The cover has a vintage look, with a tinted photograph of Lennox and a background that resembles Victorian greeting cards.
After getting off to a late start, the voting has been closed for the best album cover for the week of September 14, 2010. The votes were very close this time, but I am not surprised by the winner. Hurley by Weezer won with 24% of the vote. Flamingo by Brandon Flowers was second with 21% and Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns was third with 18%.
The Weezer cover has been controversial since the day it debuted. People either love it as being funny and reflective of the band's quirky image or they don't get it all and say it is ridiculous.
American rock band Escape the Fate revealed the cover for their forthcoming third studio album on the website ARTISTdirect.com today. The self-titled album is scheduled to be released on November 2, 2010.
The cover features the band made up to look like horror movie zombies, with chunks of rotting flesh peeling from their faces. This kind of thing always appeals to teenage boys and grown men who have never outgrown their childish interest in blood and gore.
As for the exclusive reveal on ARTISTdirect.com, I was annoyed that the webpage took several minutes to load. Then, I had to sit through a 15 second commercial before I could see the article. That is a good way to generate ad revenue, but it may not be the best PR move for the band.
UPDATE: The record label has just released the deluxe version of the album cover (above right). It is similar to the cover for the standard version except that the band logo is red and a red pattern has been added to the background.
Our latest addition to the Album Cones collection comes to us from AlbumArtExchange Blog reader Abe S., who wrote in his email that it seems like an obvious choice. I have to admit that it is one I would have considered doing myself if my Photoshop skills were a bit better.
Peter Gabriel's third album is often referred to as "Melt" due to its cover by the legendary Hipgnosis. The photograph was taken with a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera and modified by either Storm Thorgerson or Gabriel. The cover has been imitated and parodied numerous times.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
The documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim Waiting for Superman is getting quite a bit of media attention this week. The film follows several promising children through the public education system, demonstrating how it actually inhibits academic growth and results in high drop out rates.
The song Shine by John Legend is featured in the film. However, it is not included on the movie score by Christophe Beck that is currently available as a digital download on Amazon.com and iTunes. Instead, the track can be found on the collaboration album Wake Up! by Legend and The Roots (right).
The artwork for the movie score album is a square version of the movie poster. It features an image of a small child sitting at a school desk amid the rubble of the Apocalypse (presumedly brought about by the failing education system). It is quite an exceptional image for a documentary.
The cover of Liz Phair's forthcoming album has been revealed and for some reason it looks exactly like the recent covers created for pop singer Ke$ha (right). Funstyle is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
The album was originally released independently by Phair as a download on her website. The forthcoming album is a two-CD set that includes 10 additional tracks. The tracks are some of Phair's early recordings known as the Girlysound Tapes.
The album cover for Funstyle has to be a parody of Ke$ha. Perhaps it is a satire of what pop singers have become in this day and age. The gold glitter typography, crazy costume and graphic embellishments are unmistakable imitations of the covers used for Ke$ha's debut album Animal and its associated singles, Tik Tok, Blah Blah Blah, Your Love is My Drug and Take It Off.
For those who are familiar with the differences between the musical and personal styles of Ke$ha and Liz Phair, this album cover is certain to be both hilarious and serve as a message about how genuine talent is regarded. It is one of my favorite parody covers of all time.
The cover for the forthcoming album by N.E.R.D., the group comprised of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shae Haley, was revealed online yesterday. A high resolution image was posted on the group's official website this morning. The album is scheduled to be released on November 2, 2010.
The cover features a photograph of Williams in profile, wearing a military helmet adorned with red, white and blue feathers. It has already sparked a great deal of conversation on music websites and blogs.
Joe McElderry, the season six winner of X-Factor, recently revealed the cover for his forthcoming debut album Wide Awake (right). The album is scheduled to be released in the U.K. on October 25, 2010.
While the album cover features a simple black and white portrait of the young pop singer, the cover the first single is quite a bit more interesting. The cover for Ambitions (below) shows McElderry leaping over a stone wall. The single is scheduled to be released on October 10. The official music video debuted online last week.
The video shows McElderry dancing in what appears to be several flash mobs. His lipsyncing is a bit off in spots, but the song has quite a bit of energy and the choreography is creative.
I have seen quite a few album covers that feature a person dressed up in an animal costume. The College Dropout by Kanye West is probably the most notable.
Today's déjà vu moment involves two album covers that both feature photographs of people in animal costumes without masks. The most recent is for Wawuwe, a forthcoming album by Swedish techno musician Sebastian Mullaert. It is very similar to the series of album covers created for Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar by Norwegian electro-pop group Casiokids.
Both the Mullaert cover and the several created for the Casiokids album (there are at least three) use a series of poses that display different emotions of a person wearing a bunny suit. It is easy to imagine an art director visiting a costume studio for inspiration and deciding to use a bunny costume in a photoshoot. The resulting cover may be interesting, but not as unigue as he or she may believe.
The new 3D animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole was released to theaters today. The film is based on the book series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky. It was directed by Zack Snyder and features the voices of Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Ryan Kwanten, Emily Barclay, Anthony LaPaglia, and David Wenham.
The soundtrack was composed by David Hirschfelder and includes a new song by Owl City called To the Sky. The album is currently available through iTunes and Amazon.com.
Unlike most soundtracks these days, the cover art for the album is not a squared version of the movie poster (right). It features the film's owl characters swooping down from a mountain top (below).
A music video for the Owl City song was released last week. It features clips from the film and original video of Adam Young as an old time movie projectionist. The song is very similar to Owl City's hit Fireflies.
One of the hottest remixers of 2010 is unquestionably Starsmith (a.k.a. Finley Dow-Smith). The British record producer and musician has created remixes for Katy Perry, Marina and the Diamonds, Lady Gaga, Mika, N.E.R.D., Robyn, The Saturdays, and many other popular recording artists.
Last week, the music video for the first track from Starsmith's forthcoming two-song single Give Me a Break/Knuckleduster was posted on his official YouTube channel. Give Me a Break is a remix of the 1980 disco classic by The Ritchie Family.
The music video includes some interesting visual effects. Unfortunately, this is another case in which the cover art doesn't coordinate with the video. While I like the cover, it simply is not part of the type of unified project I like to see. The single is scheduled to be released in the U.K. on October 18, 2010.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from among this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the album cover that you believe is the best of the bunch.
Here is a good example of why it is important for a recording artist to have a professional cover for a single. Marsha Ambrosius is a former member of the British R&B duo Floetry. Hope He Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player) is the first single from her forthcoming solo album Late Nights & Early Mornings. The single was released last month. I do not have a release date for the album.
I just happened to come across the single while browsing new releases on Amazon.com. I liked the look of the cover art, so I gave it a listen. I really like Ambrosius' voice. I will keep an eye out for the album.
American rapper and record producer Soulja Boy (a.k.a. Soulja Boy Tell 'Em) has revealed the cover of his fourth studio album The DeAndre Way on his official website. The album is scheduled to be released on November 2, 2010.
The record label has released two versions of the cover. One features Soulja Boy in a blue shirt and a blue background and typography (right). The other features the rapper in an orange shirt and has an orange background and typography (below). The orange version is the one that was revealed on the website. I do not not whether or not the blue one is a cover for a deluxe version of the album. The cover on the website also includes the parental advisory label.
Soulja Boy is shown in profile, showing off the tats on his face and neck. If anyone can read the characters under his eye, let us know what they mean.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from the new music releases for the week of September 14, 2010. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the album cover that you believe is the best of the bunch.
The poll for the Best Album Cover for the week of September 21, 2010 will be published tomorrow.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of September 7, 2010 is Prepare the Preparations by Ludo. The cover received 38% of the vote. The self-titled album by Interpol came in second with 19% and Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 2 and Anberlin's Dark is the Way Light is a Place tied for third with both receiving 15%.
Due to my vacation, I am one week behind on the Best Album Cover of the Week polls. I will post the poll for the music releases from September 14 tonight and the poll for September 21 tomorrow. Please vote for the best album cover for both weeks.
The cover for Susan Boyle's holiday-themed sophomore album, The Gift, was revealed by new release today. Produced by Steve Mac and featuring season favorites such as The First Noel, the album is scheduled to be released on November 9, 2010.
The cover features a portrait of Boyle, wearing a black evening dress with a Christmas star in the background. Like her debut album, it is a very dignified image of the former talent show contestant who became an overnight singing sensation. This album is certain to be one of the most popular of holiday albums of 2010.
I will be on vacation beginning tomorrow and returning on September 20. During that time, I may not post to the blog. It depends on how much fun I'll be having and whether or not I have Internet access.
I will catch up on Best Album Cover of the Week polls and album cover reveals next week. Please feel free to post album cover-relatd news on the wall of our Facebook page.
My last post before hitting the road is an appropriate one. The cover for the 1982 album Vacation by the Go-Go's was designed by the legendary Mick Haggerty. It is one of hundreds of iconic album covers designed by Haggerty over the last 30 years or so.
I wish I could post the video for Vacation, but the record label's Sales Prevention Team doesn't allow embedding. I'll just post a music clip of Connie Francis singing her song Vacation instead.
Country singer and actress Reba McEntire revealed the cover for her forthcoming album All the Women I Am this week. It is scheduled to be released on November 9, 2010.
This is the first time that I have seen the cover of an album by a major recording artist that uses aluminum foil as a background. It looks as if they just took a couple of rolls of foil and taped them in a corner. Then, they had Reba take a break from her workout and pose wearing the black tank top in which she does aerobics.
I am simply appalled by this cover. It is the cheapest, tackiest cover I have seen all year. The only thing good about it is that Reba's hair and makeup don't look too bad. But rolls of foil? Seriously? Reba can't afford a professional studio set for her album cover? Seriously?
Today's addition to our Album Cones collection comes to us from AlbumArtExchange.com user Aequi. This one is one of my favorites so far.
It is a delicious-looking version of Green Day's 2004 album American Idiot. The album was the band's seventh studio album. It won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
The art director for the album cover was Chris Bilheimer. You have to take a minute to check out his online portfolio (you'll laugh, I promise).
On April 20, 2010, a stage musical adaptation of the album opened on Broadway. The musical was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
The fourth in the Resident Evil film series opened in theaters today. Resident Evil: Afterlife is the first in the series to be released in 3D. In the film, the main character searches for and rescues survivors of a virus created by the evil Umbrella Corporation.
Milan Records is currently offering Umbrella, a track from the movie soundtrack, as free download from their website. The soundtrack was composed by tomandandy (Andy Milburn and Thomas Hajdu), who have composed music for several videogames and films. Their past projects include the films The Strangers, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Mothman Prophecies. The soundtrack is schedule to be released on September 28, 2010.
The cover art for the soundtrack is a square version of the movie poster. It features the film's star Milla Jovovich leaping through the window of a Los Angeles skyscraper with guns blazing.
Thanks to AlbumArtExchange.com user gege, we have another classic addition to our Album Cones collection. I hope there are many more to follow.
Nevermind (right) is the second studio album by Nirvana. It was released on September 24, 1991 with an album cover that features a baby swimming toward a US dollar bill on a fishhook.
The cover has since become iconic and the subject of parody countless times over the years. However, I think this is the first time that the dollar bill has been replaced by an ice cream cone.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
It was revealed today that supermodel Kate Moss is featured on the cover of Bryan Ferry's forthcoming album Olympia. The album is scheduled to be released on October 26, 2010 and is currently available for pre-order.
Moss was photographed by fashion photographer Adam Whitehead. It is a stunning image that proves once again that the trend of using old snapshots from the 1980s can't compare to the work of a professional.
Ferry was quoted in an interview that the cover was inspired by the painting Olympia by 19th century French artist Edouard Manet. I think it looks quite a bit more like the cover of Madonna's 1994 album Bedtime Stories (right). The pose is more related to pin-up calendars and the work of artists like Alberto Vargas.
Regardless of the inspiration, this is an album cover that will be remembered decades after the Vampire Weekend polo shirt girl has settled her lawsuit (another good reason to hire a professional). It will be a classic image long after Rihanna's bright red hair has become a joke. There is no substitute for class and the skill of talented professionals.
The new season of the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadephia is scheduled to begin on September 16, 2010. This week, the soundtrack album for the series was released on iTunes. It features the show's theme song Temptation Sensation by Heintz Kiessling and 18 other quirky tracks.
Sadly, the Auto-Tune version of the season six trailer is not on the album. However, you can enjoy it in the YouTube clip posted below.
Actor and musician Mark Salling revealed the cover of his forthcoming album Pipe Dreams via Twitter today. The album is scheduled to be released on October 12, 2010.
The album cover features a very nice portrait of the young star of the hit TV series Glee. Pipe Dreams is Salling's second studio album (the first was released in 2008 under the stage name Jericho). He also appears on several Glee soundtrack albums and singles.
The cover for the forthcoming single Only Girl (In the World) by Rihanna has been revealed. It is scheduled to be released on September 21, 2010.
In spite of Rihanna posing nude, the cover is not easy on the eyes. The colors are harsh and distorted. Rihanna's hair is a bright, unnatural red that looks more appropriate for a circus clown than a major recording artist.
As with several of Rihanna's previous covers, the styling for this one demonstrates questionable taste. The jewelry looks like something out of Madonna's 1985 collection and the red dress would probably look just as tacky if Rihanna were wearing it rather than using it for a blanket.
The gossip blogs have been reporting that the photo shoot took place in the Hamptons. Frankly, this cover looks as if it were shot in the vacant lot across the street from my apartment.
Yesterday, I wrote about the cover of the forthcoming album by Kings of Leon (right). Come Around Sundown is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
The first single from the album is Radioactive (below). It will be released on September 14 and the music video for the song was just posted on YouTube today.
The cover for the single looks as if it may be a detail of the photograph used for the album. It is a rather muddy image that doesn't provoke much of a reaction. The title of the single is "Radioactive" and I don't think the close up of ocean waves really ties into that. Maybe I'm wrong.
There are lots of great images in the music video. It is too bad that they didn't shoot a few stills and use one for the cover of the single.
A photograph of pop singer and songwriter Lady Gaga that appears on the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan (right) is being compared to the cover of an album by The Beatles that was banned after retailers complained that it was too bloody to be displayed on store shelves.
Like The Beatles on the original cover of Yesterday and Today (often called "the butcher cover"), Lady Gaga posed for the magazine cover draped in raw meat. The only things missing from the Lady Gaga image are naked baby dolls and her clothes. The Beatles posed with decapitated dolls and in white lab coats.
The Beatles album cover is very rare. One goes up for auction every now and then, making headlines and sending avid collectors into a frenzy.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from among this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the album cover that you believe to be the best of the bunch.
The cover for Come Around Sundown, the forthcoming album by Kings of Leon, was revealed last week. The album is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
The cover was released along with publicity photos credited to Dan Winters (right). I actually think the photo of the band would make a better album cover.
The image of the island with two palm trees reminds me of an old Jimmy Buffet album. There is also a TV commercial for some kind of alcohol that runs every Christmas and shows palm trees lighting up with Chistmas lights. Maybe it is just me, but I find this cover to be very unimaginative and boring.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of August 31, 2010 is Richard Thompson's Dream Attic. The cover received 33% of the vote. Be My Trill by The Weepies and Heart's Red Velvet Car tied for second with 20% each. Feeding the Wolves by 10 Years was a distant third with 13%.
The photograph for the winning album cover is credited to Drew Reynolds, an excellent music photographer who is also responsible for the cover of the new Los Lobos album, Tin Can Trust. Check out Reynolds' website to see his online portfolio. There are some great band publicity photos.
Released in 1967, The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by American rock band The Velvet Underground. German composer, singer, fashion model and actress Nico collaborated on the album as a vocalist.
The album cover for is notable for its Andy Warhol print of a banana. Early releases of the album included the instructions "Peel slowly and see" with an arrow pointing to a removable sticker. Underneath the banana skin sticker was a flesh-colored banana (which was controversial for obvious reasons).
For this addition to our Album Cones collection, I have replaced the yellow banana with a frozen, chocolate covered banana on a stick. While it isn't an ice cream cone, it is still in the frozen treat category. So, I don't feel as if I cheated too much with this one.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
Not Giving Up on Love by producer Armin van Buuren and English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis Bextor was released on August 20, 2010. It is both the second single from Van Buuren's fourth studio album, Mirage, and the third single from Ellis Bextor's fourth studio album, Straight to the Heart.
The cover for the single makes good use of Ellis Bextor's gorgeous legs. It has been quite a long time since I have seen such a short skirt still look classy. Ellis Bextor proves that it is possible to look very sexy and not look cheap. The photograph is simply stunning. There are no gimmicks, no bondage gear, and no freaky Lady Gaga costumes.
I wish that graphic artists would quit using drafting tape as a design element. I have seen two covers lately that have tape all over them. One is by The Ponys (right) and the other is for Please Don't Let Me Go, the debut single by former X Factor contestant Olly Murs (below).
The single is currently number one on the U.K. charts. It is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on September 7, 2010.
In spite of the drafting tape, the photographs of Murs that appear on the cover are quite good. They show an attractive young pop singer in a way that introduces him to the members of the public who don't watch X Factor.
The single has a very retro sound. Robbie Daw of Chart Rigger compares Murs to Rick Astley and Jason Donovan. Personally, it reminds me more of Travie McCoy's Billionaire.
Looking for something fun to do while you're home for the Labor Day holiday? How about some downloading free sample tracks from some interesting new albums?
Insound is an online store that sells vinyl, MP3s, band posters, t-shirts, turntables, and CDs. They also have a huge library of free sample tracks that doesn't require users to go through an annoying shopping cart or registration process.
The tracks do not come with album art. So, you want to visit the AAX gallery after you download them. The gallery has a large collection of covers from current indie artists.
Today would have been the late Freddie Mercury's 64th birthday. The Queen lead vocalist passed away on November 24, 1991.
Queen's self-titled debut album was released in July 1973. Following the original release, the band included a note on the album sleeve included the statement "No synthesizers" due to listeners confusing the elaborate multi-tracking and effects for synthesized music.
The first track on side one of the album is Keep Yourself Alive. I recently discovered a 1973 promotional film for the song on YouTube. The video quality is poor, but it is worth checking out.
Look Sharp! is the debut album by British musician Joe Jackson. It was released in 1979 and incudes the hit Is She Really Going Out with Him?, which reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album cover (right) was selected as number 22 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest album covers of all time. According to Sleevage, the photographer was Brian Griffin, who took the photograph of Joe Jackson's shoes which doing typical portrait shots for the album.
I have seen several clever parodies of this cover over the years. So, what one more gonna hurt?
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
Surfer Blood is an indie rock band from West Palm Beach, Florida. Their debut album, Astro Coast, was released in January 2010.
The checkerboard shark image that appears on the album cover is both interesting and repulsive. Regular readers know that I think a photograph of the artist should always grace the cover of a debut album. First impressions are important and Surfer Blood will always be remembered as for a gaping, bloody shark's mouth.
The band has been compared to Weezer (who incidentally appeared on the cover of their debut album). The music video for their song Floating Vibes is obviously an attempt to create a quirky Weezer-like video.
To Paris with Love, the new remix EP by Donna Summer, is in heavy rotation on my iPod. It is currently available only on iTunes. It includes eight tracks and two-page a digital booklet.
The artwork that comes with the iTunes tunes downloads has quite a bit of JPEG compression. I have repared the image using the digital booklet and it is a improvement that many will want to see in their album flow.
I found a cool fan-made video for the song on YouTube. I don't know how long it will be allowed to remain online. Check it out. I think this is one of the best songs Summer has recorded in years.
Here's a tasty treat that I whipped up myself! It was created using the cover of The Who's 1971 album Who's Next. The real album cover (right) is a photograph by Ethan A, Russell of the band after they apparently urinated on a large concrete block protruding from the rocky plain.
I'd like to see someone try to urinate on a giant taco! This is yet another example of why ice cream cones are vastly superior to tacos — or burritos for that matter. Ice cream rules!
I recenty created an Album Cones Flickr Group to make it easier for people to submit their Album Cones album covers. If you have a Flickr account, just join the group and add your Photoshopped images.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your 1000 x 1000 pixel image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username. You can also upload your images to Flickr and submit them to the Album Cones Flickr Group.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
The cover for Libra Scale, the forthcoming album by R&B singer Ne-Yo was revealed today. The album is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.
After seeing the cover for the single Beautiful Monster (right), I was looking forward to seeing the album art. The artwork for the single features an illustration of a woman walking down a spooky city street. Her eyes have a supernatural glow.
Sadly, I was disappointed with the album cover. It is rare that an album cover is inferior to the cover of a single from the same same album. However, the cover for Libra Scale is not of the same professional quality.
The album cover features Ne-Yo as his alter ego "Jerome" — which is an irritating enough concept by itself. He stands on a rooftop and is flanked by dancers in black and white costumes.
The thing that ruins the concept are the amateur Photoshop effects that have been appied to the image. The graphic artist who put the finishing touches on the cover really doesn't know what he or she is doing. I have seen better Photoshop on Fark.com.
It looks as if the "Distort Glass" filter was applied to Ne-Yo's hand. I am confused as to what is supposed to be going on there. The eyes of three of the dancers have been badly drawn over in an attempt to make them look as if they are glowing. I do not understand what any of this has to do with the horoscope-related title of the album.
Here is a very disturbing Album Cones submission from my friend Lindy. I am sure that "fire and ice cream" will become a popular category under this topic.
For those of you who don't have access to stock photo libraries, great ice cream images can be purchased at Photos.com.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
Life as We Know It is a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel that is scheduled to be released on October 8, 2010. The soundtrack for the film is currently available for pre-order and will be released on October 5.
The tracks on the soundtrack are by artists such as Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys, Free Energy and Taken By Trees.
The cover art for the album is similar to the photograph being used for the movie poster (right). It features Duhamel wearing nothing but white boxer briefs and tennis shoes and drinking a bottle of beer. I assume the joke is that he's a big baby, just like every man.
The trailer doesn't provide a very good preview of the soundtrack. It does reveal that the film is packed with the typical gags about baby's pooping and being difficult to raise. Remember Three Men and a Baby? This is a man and a woman and baby. Wait. Isn't that how it is supposed to work? What's the joke?
Anyway, Duhamel is a hunky young guy. Let's see if his bod can sell some movie tickets and a few soundtrack albums.
Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp have released the music video for their single The Drug. The single was released in the U.K. on August 8, 2010.
The music video is just as disturbing as the cover art for the single. It was filmed in the ruins of Detroit and involves three pretty mall rats trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
One of several John Lennon solo albums being released to commemorate the late artist's 70th birthday on October 9, 2010 is Double Fantasy Stripped Down. The album is a remixed version of Double Fantasy (right), the 1980 GRAMMY Award winner for Album of the Year.
Double Fantasy Stripped Down was produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, Lennon's co-producers for the original Double Fantasy album. It is being released as a double CD, with a remastered version of the original album included.
The cover art for the new album features an original drawing by Sean Lennon, the son of Lennon and Yoko Ono. It is a sketch that recreates the photograph that appears on the cover of the Double Fantasy album.
All of the artwork and album packages can be viewed here.
Our first Album Cones submission comes to us from Jerry Milburn, who wrote that he has been a faithful reader of the AlbumArtExchange Blog for over a year. Good job with the Photoshop filters, Jerry!
The album is the 1969 classic In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson. It was the band's debut album and it has been caled one of the most influential progressive rock albums of all time. The cover was the only painting by the late Barry Godber, a computer programmer. Godber died of a heart attack shortly after the album's release.
There have been numerous parodies of the cover over the last 40 years. I am happy to see it as the first submission to the Album Cones category.
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
The Bruno Mars single Just the Way You Are is currently number two on iTunes, right behind Katy Perry's Teenage Dream.
The cover for the single has been designed to look like an old worn LP sleeve. This has been a popular concept for the last two years. It still works if it is combined with a decent design. I like the Bruno Mars cover. However, I don't think the artificial aging contribes very much to the cover.
Elektra Records has posted a promotional video for the single on YouTube. That is something that I would like to see more of from record labels.
The cover for the forthcoming sixth studio album be American R&B singer-songwriter Faith Evans was revealed online this week. The album is scheduled to be released on October 5, 2010.
The cover is a perfect example of everything an album cover should not be. The photograph is unflattering. The typography is ugly. The styling is ridiculous. The design concept is not original.
The design appears to be inspired by the cover of Mariah Carey's 2009 album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (right). The triple image is the most obvious similarity. However, the use of typography is almost identical as well. The artist's name appears in all uppercase serif type. The title of the album is in a script font.
In spite of borrowing a lame concept from Mariah Carey, the biggest problem with the cover is the quizzical expression on Evans' face and the cliché placement of her finger on her cheek. That added to the English riding outfit makes the cover look more like a failed experiment in self-indulgence.
Yesterday, I was really just joking when I wrote about creating an Internet Photoshop meme similar to the one found on the blog Album Tacos. I posted the cover of Shakira's new single, Loca, with an ice cream cone added to the image (right).
The Album Tacos blog has now been written about on numerous popular websites, including Huffington Post. The unfortunate thing about the blog is that they do not accept submissions. How bogus is that?
So, I am going to start Album Cones. It is simply a rip off of Album Tacos that uses ice cream cones instead of tacos. Perhaps ice cream cones aren't quite as absurd as tacos, but I think that there are just as many people who love cones as those who love tacos.
Check out the first batch of Album Cones. (Click images for larger view.)
If you want to participate in the AAX Album Cones meme, submit your image along with the AAX links to the original cover image in the AAX gallery (if possible) via e-mail to blog@albumartexchange.com. You must also include your name or AAX forum username.
I will publish Album Cones as I receive them. I will not guarantee that your image will be published (but I'm not going to be too picky).
Released in October 1976, Donna Summer's fourth studio album Four Seasons of Love used an interesting concept. The LP came with a pull-out calendar for 1977 that featured four photographs of Summer, one for each season of the year. The photos that appeared on the cover was the one that represented the Summer season.
The cover art for Laws of Illusion, the recent release by Sarah McLachlan, features a photograph that is very similar to the one used for Summer's album. It is certainly a classic case of album cover déjà vu.
I just posted the cover for Shakira's forthcoming album yesterday. Today, the cover for Loca (right), the first single from the album, was revealed.
It is a freaky cover that features the singer jumping in the air with her arms spread out like an airplane. I assume that the photo was taken as she bounced on a trampoline.
I wasn't going to write about this particular cover until I remembered the Album Tacos blog that I wrote about a couple of days ago. The blog features album covers that have been Photoshopped to include a taco.
I'm not a big fan of tacos, but I am rather fond of ice cream cones. So, I've decided to create my own version of the Interent meme -- Album Ice Cream Cones!
I think this is a big improvement. Shakira looks like she has something to be so insanely happy about with that giant flying ice cream cone.
In 2000, Dutch electronic music group Alice DeeJay released Who Needs Guitars Anyway?, their first and only album. The album included four hit singles, including Better Off Alone and Back in My Life.
The album debuted on the Billboard album sales chart and Better Off Alone made it to #23 in the U.S. and #2 in the U.K.
The album is notable for having three different covers. The original cover (below) was considered controversial because it featured singer Judith Anna Pronk sitting nude on the arm of a record player wearing a cowboy hat. Prong's breasts were obscured with a blurry glow.
The second cover (below left) was much more conservative. It featured a fully clothed Pronk pointing her fingers toward the camera in a handgun pose. The third cover (below right) was similar to the first, except that Prong was shown riding the record player in pants and a bikini top. The album is currently being distributed with the original cover.
Cee Lo Green has released the music video for his new single Fuck You. The cover art for the single (below) has been censored. However, I have created an uncensored version (right) for those of you who don't mind four-letter words in your music collection. Just click the image to get the larger version.
The video will be controversial not only because it contains the f-word. It features a young boy lipsyncing to the lyrics. I can only imagine what some of the reactions will be.
Ignoring the language, the video is great. It features a trio of classic Motown backup singers in green satin gowns and a 1960s diner. The art direction is fun and hip. It is like a combination between Happy Days and Little Shop of Horrors.
Colombian pop singer and songwriter Shakira revealed the cover for her forthcoming seventh studio Sale el Sol (The Sun Comes Out) on her Facebook page yesterday. The album is scheduled to be released on October 15, 2010.
Fans are reacting quite favorably to the cover, which features and photograph of Shakira laying on a beach with her shoulder dusted with sand. She is wearing very little makeup and freckles are visible on her checks. It is quite a contrast to the cover of her previous album, She Wolf (right).
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