February 2011 Archives
According to American Songwriter, Suze Rotolo, Bob Dylan's girlfriend in the early 1960s died on February 24 at the age of 67 from lung cancer. Rotolo appeared on the cover for Dylan's 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
Rotolo, an artist and social activist, dated Dylan for four years. Dylan wrote some of his most enduring songs, including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "Boots of Spanish Leather," "Ballad In Plain D" and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" about their relationship.
Source: American Songwriter
Lady Gaga debuted the music video for her latest single Born This Way today. The video includes an introduction with music that many Alfred Hitchcock fans will recognize as the opening theme from the classic Hitchcock thriller Vertigo. This could be a vwery clever cross promotion by Universal, who owns both the rights to Vertigo and Lady Gaga's record label.
For those who are interested, The original soundtrack for Vertigo was composed by Bernard Herrmann in 1958 and reelased on Mercury Records. It included most of the major musical cues from the film but represented less than half of the complete score. The track used in the Lady Gaga video is the first on the album, Vertigo Prelude and Rooftop.
Vertigo OMPS (1958)   |
Born This Way (2011)  |
Last night's Oscar win by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the score of The Social Network made me think back 30 years to another Oscar-winning score. In 1981, Greek electronic music composer Vangelis won the Academy Award for his score for the British film Chariots of Fire.
At the time, music created using synthesizers was not as common in film scores as it is today. The fact that Chariots of Fire is a period piece set in the 1920s made the use of electronic music even more unusual. The slow motion opening segment of the film, combined with the theme composed by Vangelis made the film a sensation. The opening segment became iconic and then the subject of countless parodies. The opening theme was released as a single in 1982 and topped the Billboard chart for one week. Vangelis went on to compose the scores for the films Blade Runner and 1492: Conquest of Paradise.
After the Oscar win, the artwork for the Chariots of Fire soundtrack was revised to include an Oscar statue (which is quite uncommon) and the copy "Academy Award, Best Original Score, 1981" (below). I am somewhat surprised that a special 30th anniversary deluxe edition of the album was not released.
At last night's Academy Awards ceremony, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Oscar Best Original Score for The Social Network. Reznor accepted the award at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood after beating such notable nominees as Hans Zimmer (Inception), A R Rahman (127 Hours), John Powell (How To Train Your Dragon) and Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech).
Let's see if the artwork for the album will be revised to include the copy "2011 Academy Award for Best Original Score" similar to the mock up below.
The cover art for the new single 21st Century Girl by Willow Smith was revealed by news release this morning. The song premiered on On-Air With Ryan Seacrest and will be featured on RyanSeacrest.com. According to MTV.com it will be sold exclusively on iTunes on March 1, 2011. The 10-year-old pop singer is scheduled to perform on an upcoming episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
As a follow up to my first ever wacky cover blog, which featured an Omar Rodríguez-López inspired cover of an octopus plastered over the head and face of a man, thanks to Fritz's close friend Lindy, here is a photograph by Herbert "Herb" Ritts, an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black-and-white photography and portraits in the style of classical Greek sculpture. Sadly, Herb Ritts passed away at the age of 50, on December 26th 2002, of complications from pneumonia.
During the '80s and '90s, Ritts photographed many celebrities, including Madonna, Cher, Elton John, and Dizzy Gillespie to name a few musicians and artists. He directed the video for Madonna in Cherish the same year as that wacky photo below.
In 1991 Ritts won two MTV Video Awards for his work on music videos by Janet Jackson and Chris Isaak. Other artists he worked with in video include Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.
Herb Ritts - Djimon with Octopus, Hollywood, 1989
Rapper Wiz Khalifa revealed the cover art for his forthcoming album Rolling Papers via his official Twitter account today. The album is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2011.
The cover is a representation of Wiz Khalifa as a cloud of smoke. It is not an entirely original concept. However, this cover is not as controversial as it could have been, considering the subject matter. I doubt that this will be censored by the big box stores.
For the last six weeks, I have been avidly watching the first season of the Syfy supernatural thriller Being Human, which is an adaption of the acclaimed BBC drama Being Human (UK), which in turn just so happens to also be currently airing for the last five weeks (Series 3). It's almost surreal to watch them together each week. I highly recommend them both. They're darkly comedic, twisty-plot-driven, unexpectedly surprising, and refreshingly entertaining with excellent music choices ! "At times frightening, witty, and romantic" says Space. I like my description better.
In a nutshell, the show revolves around three roommates living in Boston (or Bristol) who appear to be in their twenties, who try to live normal lives despite being a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. When I first saw the promotional "banner" for the North American adaption, with the slight morphing of each character into their supernatural state, I thought "What a great idea for a blog!" My only criteria is that no soundtracks covers are allowed. Feel free to list your variations in the comments below.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll EP (2009)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Stars - The Five Ghosts (2010)
Posted by: zeefritz 
The Bronx - The Bronx (2003)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Honorable mentions: Ozzy Osbourne Let It Die and Bark at the Moon, Mercyful Fate Return of the Vampire, Unholy Ghost Torrential Reign, Phish The Story of the Ghost.
Parzival is a Seattle singer-songwriter whose current album, Postmodern Love was released in November 2010. A music video for the song Portland Never Worries was recently posted on YouTube and I think it is worth watching. It was directed by Denis Lemeshchenko and (disclaimer) features glimpses of a lovely young woman who I know personally.
The album cover for Postmodern Love is an excellent example of why a professional portrait photography is an important part of promoting a recording artist. The young artist is immediately recognizable from the music video. The background color enhances his eyes and the styling is perfect.
Artist Howie Green has posted several of his album cover paintings on Flickr.com. Over 300 of them can be viewed on his website gallery at www.hgd.com.
Take Me Home Tonight is a comedy film set in the 1980s and starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Michelle Trachtenberg, Dan Fogler, and Demetri Martin. The plot centers around a wild Labor Day party in 1988. The film is scheduled to be released on March 4, 2011 after being shelved for several years.
Apparently, the soundtrack does not include the 1986 Eddie Money hit that the film was named after. However, it does have 19 tracks of '80s retro such as Hungry Like The Wolf, Safety Dance, Come On Eileen, and Don't You Want Me. A promotional video featuring alternative rock band Atomic Tom performing Don't You Want Me is being used to promote the film.
The soundtrack will be released digitally on February 27th. The physical CD will be available on March 29. It looks like an eclectic collection of oldies that would be worth buying. The artwork for the album features the young stars, with the guys looking like douchebags and the girls looking slutty. There's definitely nothing special about that.
Posted by: zeefritz 
Ritual de lo Habitual is the second studio album from the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. It was released under the Warner Bros. Records label in August 1990. The cover artwork, by the band's frontman Perry Farrell, depicts male and female nudity, and relates to the song Three Days.
The inspiration behind that song was Xiola Blue, who died in 1987 of a heroin overdose. The song, written prior to Blue's death, is a reference to a three day "haze of sex and drugs" in Los Angeles enjoyed by Farrell, his girlfriend Casey Niccoli, and Blue who was in town at the time for her father's funeral.
Posted by: Scott 
Warner Bros. reportedly weren't thrilled when initially presented with Farrell's original artwork. Farrell insisted and the record label went with it. But conservative groups, some record chains, and political pressure in the USA eventually forced the band to reconsider.
A record store owner in Royal Oak, Michigan was even arrested for "indecency" by displaying a poster of the album cover in his front window. A compromise was made between the band and Warner Bros. that allowed this version and a "Censored Version" to both be produced. In the "Amendment Version", the band opted for minimal text on a plain white background, simply quoting the free speech guarantee within the First Amendment. Interestingly enough, the back cover also contains what I can only think is an early pre-internet fore-runner of Godwin's law.
Posted by: zeefritz 
Posted by: zeefritz 
In celebration of Queen's 40th anniversary, the band's entire 15-album studio catalog is being reissued in a series of deluxe editions. The albums are being remastered by Bob Ludwig, working from the original source material. The albums will be released in three waves, staggered over the next year, with the first wave-comprising the first five LPs-coming this spring.
Each studio album will be released in a new two-CD edition, the first containing the updated, remastered original LP, the second disc packed with rarities-and we don't use the term lightly. Some of the tracks have never before been released. To cite a particularly fascinating example, five first-album demos recorded at London's De Lane Lea Studios in December 1971 were pulled from the only existing copy on the planet-an acetate from Brain May's personal archives. Not even his bandmates had a copy.
"A huge amount of work has already been put in behind the scenes to unleash a completely newly mastered set of the original Queen LPs and CDs," May noted. "I know our fans will appreciate the attention to detail, bringing the early albums closer than ever to the magic of the vinyl originals, but with the benefit of up-to-the-minute quality technology."
Queen (1973)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Queen II (1974)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Sheer Hear Attack (1974)
Posted by: zeefritz 
A Night at the Opera (1975)
Posted by: zeefritz 
A Day at the Races (1976)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Double wacky feature bill. Wacky on your head and wacky on your face!
Matt Elliott is a guitarist and singer from Bristol, UK, who plays dark folk music. His cover depicts what is almost certainly a giant louse on his head. Maybe he had a bad case of pediculosis at the time.
Matt Elliot - Howling Songs (2008)
Posted by: Aequi 
And this cover from Omar Rodríguez-López (a progressive, psychedelic, alternative, experimental, electronic, math rock, post-hardcore, dub artist) is just plain "in your face" whacky.Omar Rodríguez-López - Cizaña de los Amores (2010)
Posted by: Aequi 
Starting March 12, 2011, Obey Giant Art, Subliminal Projects and Robert Berman Gallery C2 will present Revolutions, an exhibit featuring the album cover art of American contemporary artist, graphic designer and illustrator Shepard Fairey. The exhibit will take place March 12th thru April 23rd at Robert Berman's C2 Gallery in Santa Monica, California and feature over 80 pieces of punk, rock, new wave, jazz, and hip-hop inspired artwork based on the 12″ record cover format.
To mark the occasion, two special limited edition album cover print box sets will be released for the exhibition. The opening celebration is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th from 8 to 11PM.
The cover art for the forthcoming remix album by pop singer Ke$ha has been revealed. The album has an very long and ridiculous title (I Am the Dance Commander + I Command You to Dance: The Remix Album) and is scheduled to be released on March 22, 2011.
After watching the kids from Glee vomit to a Ke$ha song this week, all I can think of is that the graphic designer had one too many shots of Goldschläger and couldn't keep it down. How can Ke$ha manage to look so glittery and so dirty at the same time? I imagine it is like a mixture of Victoria's Secret body lotion and motor oil.
The Foo Fighters have revealed the cover art for their seventh studio album, Wasting Light. Along with the album cover, the cover for the first single, Rope (right), was also shown for the first time.
The single is scheduled to be released on March 1, 2011 as a digital single and as an instant download with an iTunes pre-order of Wasting Light. The album will be released on April 12th.
The cover for the single looks quite a bit like the cover for the forthcoming R.E.M. album, Collapse Into Now. The colors are very similar.
However, the album cover has a completely different look. It features the core Foo Fighters quintet of Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear in bright colors of red, pink, green and blue. They are all bunched together in what can best be described as a "clusterfoo". Just kidding.
This certainly is not one of the better Foo Fighters album covers. But, nothing it is difficult to beat the photo of the toy ray gun in the surf that was featured on their 1995 self-titled debut album. That is always going to be one of my favorites.
AlbumArtExchange Blog reader Lindy recently wrote to let me know that several albums that have won the Academy Award for Best Original Score are missing from the AAX gallery. With the 83rd Academy Awards airing on Sunday, I thought I should get busy and make sure that at least the winners from the 2000s are all represented.
Here are the ten albums that won the Oscar from 2000 to 2009. How many do you remember? How many do you own?
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2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Tan Dun 
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2001 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Howard Shore 
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2002 Frida Elliot Goldenthal 
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2003 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Howard Shore 
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2004 Finding Neverland Jan A. P. Kaczmarek 
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2005 Brokeback Mountain Gustavo Santaolalla 
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2006 Babel Gustavo Santaolalla 
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2007 Atonement Dario Marianelli 
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2008 Slumdog Millionaire A. R. Rahman 
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2009 Up Michael Giacchino 
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Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the cover that you think is the best of the bunch. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.
Adele - 21
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Earth - Angels of Darkless, Demons of Light I
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Evergrey - Glorious Collision
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Roxette - Charm School
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The Streets - Computers and Blues
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Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine
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The cover for the forthcoming sixth studio album by rock band Saliva has been revealed. Under Your Skin is scheduled to be released on March 22, 2011.
The cover features a photograph of a woman's face with an intricate design superimposed on it. The lighting focuses on her stunning blue-green eyes.
According to our weekly AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of February 15, 2011 is The People's Key by Bright Eyes. The cover won with 33% of the vote. Dynamite Steps by The Twilight Singers was a close second with 30% and Marianne Faithfull's Horses and High Heels was third with 19%.
The winning cover was designed by Zack Nipper. Nipper won the Grammy in 2008 for Best Recording Package for Bright Eyes' previous album Cassadaga. It looks as if The People's Key may be another Grammy contender. The LP package (right) includes a die-cut tri-fold outer sleeve that makes the artwork even more interesting. The artwork should be viewed in high resolution in order to see the various textures used in the design.
Nipper has designed several album covers for current and past artists on the Saddle Creek Records label, including several for Bright Eyes.
As always, six new covers from this week's new music releases will be posted for your consideration this evening. This week, there are several UK imports in the mix.
The music video for the second single from the latest album by Australian electronic band Cut Copy debuted last week. The video for Need You Now was directed by Keith Schofield and has an Olympics theme, with athletes from various sports participating in a torch relay.
The music video is as puzzling as the cover art for the band's current project. The album, Zonoscope (right), features an illustration by the late Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura. The cover art first two singles from the album, Take Me Over and Need You Now (below), are simple abstract parintings. They are an odd contrast to the Kimura work,
The cover art seems to have even less to do with the singles themselves. There is certainly no connection between the theme of the Need You Now video and the cover used for the single. The entire project seems to be a hodgepodge of themes and creative concepts. The only thing wrong with that is the possible consumer confusion. Quite a bit could have been done with other Kimura works. It is too bad they seem to have switched gears with the singles.
Sleeveface 68_Bonnie Tyler 'Faster Than the Speed of Night' 3, originally uploaded by TheRealWineGuy.
This is one of the funniest sleeveface photos I have seen in ages. The lightsaber is a brilliant touch.
The first studio album by The Cars is scheduled to be released on May 10, 2011. Move Like This is the first new album from the band in 24 years. It includes all of the original members except the late Benjamin Orr, who died of cancer in 2000.
A music video for one of the tracks called Blue Tip was posted on YouTube a couple of days ago. It sounds very much like the band's classic 1980s sound.
I was somewhat disappointed that both the album cover and the music video features only silhouettes of the band. I suppose that they feel the music will be more marketable to young people if they don't reveal the age of the band.
Also, the album cover does not look like a classic album cover from The Cars. Where is the illustration of a leggy woman? There's no car. There's nothing really clever about it. I guess the band members spend their leisure hours in the garden these days. This album cover should have pulled out all of the stops. Instead, it is more like a cover for Better Homes and Gardens.
Posted by: zeefritz 
The new bassist for Smashing Pumpkins, Nicole Fiorentino, has revealed that she was one of two young girls who appeared on the cover of the band's 1993 album Siamese Dream (below).
According to an article on Exclaim.ca, the band members were not aware that Fiorentino was one of the album cover models when she was hired to play with them.
Band leader Billy Corgan has revealed that one of the cover stars is now playing bass in his band.
It seems Corgan is just as shocked as any of us that his current bassist, Nicole Fiorentino, appeared in the iconic artwork. While the musician has been jamming with Corgan and company since last year, she only just revealed that she was Siamese Dream's cover star.
"Just found out the weirdest news: our bass player Nicole just admitted she is one of the girls on the cover of 'Siamese Dream,'" Corgan posted on his Twitter account.
Source: Exclaim.com
Poly Styrene, the frontwoman of the 1970s punk band X-ray Spex, returned to the music scene last year with the release of Black Christmas, a song inspired by an Christmas killing spree in Los Angeles. It was recently announced that a solo album titled Generation Indigo will be released on April 5, 2011.
A music video for the first single from the album, Virtual Boyfriend, has been posted to YouTube. It is scheduled for release on March 28th.
Beastly is a film based on a popular novel by Alex Flinn that is scheduled to open in theaters on March 4, 2011. It is the retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale set in the world of wealthy white kids. It stars Vanessa Hudgens as the "Beauty" character and Alex Pettyfer as what is supposed to be a "Beast" — but looks more like a typical guy with tattoos and body modifications to me. We've all seen beautiful women with guys who look just like this.
The soundtrack for the film is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, March 1st. The cover art for the soundtrack is square version of the movie poster. It features the young stars of the film in a romantic pose. The tracks are listed below.
Tracklist:
- On The Radio - Regina Spektor
- Vanity - Hanover Swain
- Garden of Exile - Toby Martin
- Get Free - The Vines
- Boys And Girls - Raney Shockne feat. Jessie Mann
- Crashing - Gersey
- Transatlanticism - Wenzel Templeton & Robert Pegg
- Today Is The Day - Tim Myers
- The Long Goodbye - Army Navy
- Breathe in, Breathe Out - Mat Kearney
- Heaven - Fire Theft
- Broken Arrow - Raney Shockne feat. Jessie Mann
- Be Mine - Kristina & the Dolls
The cover art for Glee: The Music Volume 5 has been revealed. The album is scheduled to be released on March 8, 2011.
According to pop music blog Chart Rigger, the cast of Glee has achieved a total of 113 song entries on the Billboard Hot 100, which surpasses Elvis Presley's record of 108. Several of those songs will appear on the forthcoming album.
The cover features the cast of Glee wearing the red football jerseys that were featured during the recent performance of the Thriller/Heads Will Roll mashup.
Tracklist:
- Thriller / Heads Will Roll
- Need You Now
- She's Not There
- Fat Bottomed Girls
- P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
- Firework
- Take Me Or Leave Me
- Don't You Want Me
- Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) featuring Gwyneth Paltrow
- Kiss featuring Gwyneth Paltrow
- Landslide featuring Gwyneth Paltrow
- Get It Right
- Loser Like Me
On Monday, rapper Lil Kim distributed the cover art for her new mixtape, Black Friday. This resulted in several AAX Blog readers writing to suggest that I include the cover in my continuing series, Search for the Worst.
The cover is a parody of Nicki Minaj's current album, Pink Friday (right). It depicts Lil Kim (a convicted felon) butchering Minaj with a sword. Considering Lil Kim's history of conspiracy in violent crime, the cover rises above bad taste and could be regarded as a death threat.
I have never seen an album cover used to threaten the life of a rival recording artist before. In addition, the cover is poorly executed. For some reason, blood is squirting from Lil Kim's backside. I do not even want to think about why that could be happening.
Thanks to those who wrote in. Lil Kim's Black Friday does indeed earn a spot on my list of the worst album covers of all time. I think it is actually much worse than Millie Jackson squating on a toilet.
Sum 41 sent out a link via Twitter to an article on AOL this morning that includes the cover for the band's forthcoming album Screaming Bloody Murder. The album is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2011.
The cover has a film noir theme, with images from a 1940s crime drama and retro typography. I have seen this done before and this is not the most interesting album cover of this kind. Some of the film noir movie posters are very memorable. The Asphalt Jungle (right) is a great example.
Personally, I think that an album cover that borrows a theme from an era or is based on a recognizable genre should be equal to the original. That would have required the designer to work with custom typography in the way that the designers of the classic movie posters once did.
The hand shown on the Sum 41 cover could have been presented in a forced perspective. There are many other artistic techniqus that could have made this album cover more dynamic. As it is, it just doesn't have much impact.
The lesson to be learned is that art directors need to pull out all of the stops when they tackle something like this. Cliché blood spatters don't make up for a boring design.
Posted by: zeefritz 
Less that an hour ago, pop singer and American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez revealed the official cover for her forthcoming album via her Twitter account. A release date for the album was not given.
The album cover was previously revealed during a TV interview. However, this is the first time that a high resoultion, final version of the cover has been distributed. The cover has been updated from the previous version, with sparkling lights added to the background and some additional touch ups.
I am not quite sure how I feel about this cover. It looks like Lopez walked through a crucifix store wearing a magnet. Perhaps she's trying to ward of vampires. The wind machine and the eyelashes a bit over-the-top as well.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the cover that you think is the best of the bunch. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
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Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
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Hayes Carll - Kmag Yoyo
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Justin Bieber - Never Say Never
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Marianne Faithfull - Horses and High Heels
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The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
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Check this out. The Rolling Stones are set to release a massive box set of singles on April 11, 2011. It looks like an amazing collection. It comes with 45 mini sleeves. Click the image below for a larger view.
- 45 singles packed with rarities, re-mixes and live versions across 173 tracks!
- Comes in a striking pink box featuring the band's trademark tongue design.
- Overflowing with all-time classic hits, collectable B-sides and hidden gems.
- Over 80 tracks not currently available on official releases!
- Taken from the original British, US and European singles.
- Lovingly replicating the original 7", 12" and CD singles in miniature picture sleeves and labels.
- Also houses a 32-page hardback book packed with memorabilia, period photos, essay by renowned journalist, broadcaster and Stones expert Paul Sexton.
According to our weekly AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of February 8, 2011 is Zonoscope by Australian indie electonic band Cut Copy. The cover won with 46% of the vote. Tao of the Dead by ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead was second with 33%. S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT by Akron/Family was a distant third with 13%.
I have already written about the winning cover a couple of times. The illustration was created by the late Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura. It features an image of New York City being destroyed by a massive tidal wave. The cover is nearly identical to that of the 1980 album Flying the Flag by Climax Blues Band, which was also created by Kimura.
As usual, check back later this evening to vote on the best album cover from among this week's new music releases. There's a Justin Bieber cover in the mix, which should make it interesting.
This afternoon, singer Chris Brown revealed the cover for his forthcoming fourth studio album F.A.M.E. via his official Twitter account. The album is scheduled to be released on March 22, 2011.
The album cover is a mural that in a recent interview Brown claims to have painted himself with the "help" of Australian artist Kid Zoom. Yeah, right.
Well this has been my first time doing it on canvases and going hard with the spray paint... but now I've been following Kid Zoom and Ron English and Kid Zoom's been teaching me a lot of techniques. We actually painted a mural for my album cover. It's actually gonna be my face but all the paintings behind it is me and him painting.
Source: Take 40
I don't know know who the artist was who painted the portrait of Brown that appears on the album cover. However, I hope he or she gets credit for it. It is very impressive.
The album art and details for the forthcoming album by alternative rock band Radiohead have been posted on thekingoflimbs.com a website that will serve as the online store for the release. The album will go on sale February 19, 2011, with digital downloads available immediately and the physical release shipped on May 9th.
The album will be available as a digital download and as a "newpaper album" that includes many extras. The physical album is in the $50 range, but the features are impressive:
- Two clear 10" vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
- A compact disc.
- Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
- The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
- Shipping is included in the prices shown.
- One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12" vinyl.
I am very interested in seeing the entire package. It sounds as if it the artwork will be quite elaborate. The album art features what appears to be a pair of amorphous creatures emerging from a leafless forest.
A poster promoting Lady Gaga's forthcoming album has created a buzz about whether or not the photograph of the pop star will be used as the cover. The black and white photo shows Lady Gaga looking more like Madonna than perhaps any other image I have seen so far. In fact, at first glance and from a distance, I would assume that the poster is Madonna (right) rather than Lady Gaga.
Of course, Lady Gaga has been compared to Madonna from the beginning of her career. The new poster has to be more of a parody of the ongoing claims that she is an imitation of Madonna's style and not a unique artist.
The photograph used on the poster has obviously been altered quite a bit. The shape of Lady Gaga's face has been changed and her features distorted. The makeup and hairstyle is classic Madonna. I can't wait to see what the album cover will look like!
Many people remember Paul Hardcastle as the English musician and producer who topped the charts in the mid-80s with 19, a song about the young soldiers who served in the Vietnam War. Hardcastle went on to release many electronic and smooth jazz albums. His most recent is a compilation titled Desire. It was released on February 1, 2011 and incudes the song Valentines, which features the vocals of Hardcastle's daughter Maxine.
The cover art for Desire is appropriate for a Valentine's Day gift. It features a single red rose on a red velvet drape. If you haven't yet figured out what to get your sweetheart, here's one idea.
At last night's 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, The Beatles' stereo box set won the award for Best Historical Album (Jeff Jones and Allan Rouse, compilation producers; Guy Massey, Steve Rooke, Sam Okell, Paul Hicks, and Sean Magee, remastering engineers). The September 2009 CD release of The Beatles' remastered original albums and new boxed collections in stereo and mono was one of the year's top entertainment events, breaking chart records around the world.
Thanks to AAX website owner Scott, I am the owner of this box set. It is definitely a prized addition to my CD collection and one of the nicest birthday presents I've received in years. The artwork for the entire set can be found in the AAX gallery.
The 53rd Annual Grammy winners were announced today. The winner for Best Recording Package is Brothers by The Black Keys. The winner for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package is Under Great White Northern Lights by The White Stripes.
Best Recording Package
The Black Keys - Brothers
Michael Carney, art director
Nonesuch
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights
(Limited Edition Box Set)
Rob Jones & Jack White III, art directors
Third Man/Warner Bros.
This is our first triple déjà vu moment! It involves a photograph of two skeletons (right) that were unearthed in 2007 by archeologists working near Mantova, Italy, The skeletons are unique and created a media sensation because they appear to have been buried in a lover's embrace.
In a December 2009 Déjà Vu article, I wrote that the image had been used for two album covers. American hard rock band Tesla used it for the cover of their album Forever More. It was also used as the basis for the illustration used for the cover of Fall Out Boy's Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die.
Now, the photograph is being used yet again for the forthcoming album by American heavy metal band Darkest Hour. Titled The Human Romance, the album is scheduled to be released on February 22, 2011.
At this point, I think this particular image has been used enough as album art. In spite of the visual impact of the photograph, it is time to find another image that depicts eternal love.
Darkest Hour - The Human Romance (2011)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Fall Out Boy - Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die (2009)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Tesla - Forever More (2008)
Posted by: Nickelfront 
Electronic music band DATAROCK has announced that their forthcoming single Catcher in the Rye will be the most extravagant single in history. It is scheduled to be released on March 21, 2011.
The single will be packaged as a designer toy with a USB stick that features 110 tracks, 1500 photos taken at the group's shows in 33 countries, 20 music videos, and Never Say Die, a brand new hour-long concert film. The single will also be released as a digital 5 track EP. The USB features the EP, the new album Music For Synchronization, both of their previous albums with bonus tracks, the new Lost and Found b-sides and rarities compilation, 15 new instrumentals, and the 40 track remix album Mixed Up.
The toy was created by Brian Flynn at Hybrid Design and San Francisco based pioneer company SUPER7. The band is offering the song Catcher in the Rye as a free MP3. You can download the MP3 here and it the band encourages reposting of the link.
The Strokes revealed the cover for Angles, their forthcoming fourth studio album, on their official website today. The album is scheduled to be released on March 22, 2011.
The art director and artist were not credited on the website. The cover features an illustration of a variation of the Penrose stairs, which is also called the impossible staircase. British psychiatrist Lionel Penrose first published the concept in the February 1958 issue of the British Journal of Psychology.
Most people are familiar with the example of Penrose stairs that appears in the 1960 lithograph Ascending and Descending by M. C. Escher (right). The lithograph features a monastery in which monks appear to be walking the stairs in a infinite loop. The concept of the Penrose stairs was recently featured in the film Inception.
It is an interesting album cover. I am not able to recall if the Penrose stairs have been used on the cover of other albums. There are a couple of examples of albums that have used M.C. Escher designs, such as Mott the Hoople's debut album.
Gnomeo & Juliet, a computer-animated film based on Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, opens in theaters today. The film is about two garden gnomes from warring fueding gnome families who fall in love. The title characters are voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt.
The soundtrack features 14 studio tracks consisting of three new songs by Elton John, including a duet of Crocodile Rock with Nelly Furtado, six Elton John classics and four orchestral tracks by composer James Newton Howard which are inspired by the melodies of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Also included on the soundtrack is the theme song from the enchanted Tiki Tiki Room by Thurl Ravenscroft. Not included on the soundtrack is a duet between Elton John and Lady Gaga titled Hello, Hello, which will only appear in film. The soundtrack was also released today.
The cover for the soundtrack features the animated characters from the film. It also credits Elton John and Bernie Taupin. James Newton Howard is not named on the cover.
Posted by: zeefritz 
Those who thought that Adam Lambert had toned things down a bit for the cover of his recent live acoustic album (right) are probably in for a surprise when they see the cover for Glam Nation Live, the pop star's first live performance CD/DVD combo. The package is set to be released by 19 Recordings/RCA Records on March 22, 2011.
The video performance was shot in Indianapolis, Indiana at Clowes Hall on August 31st, 2010 and directed by Doug Spangenberg. It features 12 tracks plus a bonus cut and includes some Lambert fan favorites such as Ring of Fire, If I Had You and the Grammy nominated Whataya Want From Me.
The features a highly tiuched up photograph of Lambert wearing feathers, elaborate jewelry, leather gloves and his trademark black eyeliner. It makes the cover of his controversial debut album look tame by comparison.
Released in 1970, Bridge Over Troubled Water was the fifth and final studio album by folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard's pop albums chart and won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Engineered Recording. The album's title track won the Grammy for Song of the Year. All togehter, the album received six Grammy Awards.
On March 8, 2011, a special 40th anniversary edition of the album (right) will be reelased with a DVD featuring Songs Of America, a TV special comprised of footage of the 1969 tour that was originally broadcast on CBS.
The album cover for Bridge Over Troubled Water features a photograph credited to Abbott Mills and Peter Powell. It shows Art Garfunkel standing behind Paul Simon, with the top of Simon's head blocking Garfunkel's mouth and chin.
It didn't take long for people to realize that by holding up a thumb to block out Simon's face while looking at the sleeve, it looks as if Garfunkel is sporting a large, handle bar moustache (below). Some people believe that this was intentional. In any case, it is something that has been amusing both children and adults for four decades.
The cover art for Let Your Hair Down, the forthcoming album from the Steve Miller Band, has been revealed on the band's official website. The album is scheduled to be released on Miller's Space Cowboy Records on April 19, 2011.
According to an article on Kik Axe Music, the cover was designed by the legendary graphic designer Storm Thorgerson. It features a play on words, with a hare perched on top of a bald man's head and a small ladder.
I have received a couple of emails from readers about an article on the Entertainment Weekly website that raises the question of whether or not the cover of Lady Gaga's forthcoming single is a ripoff of the cover for a 2007 single by Kylie Minogue.
While there are some vague similarities, I guess the folks at EW didn't notice that Lady Gaga's photo has been altered. What looks like budding horns and bat wings have been added to the image. Kylie was going for a retro New Wave glam look. Lady Gaga is obviously supposed to look like some kind of demon freak. I doubt that there is any connection between these two covers.
Kylie Minogue - 2 Hearts  |
Lady Gaga - Born This Way  | |
I noticed that an online article about the album covers of Britney Spears is a hot topic on Twitter today. Unfortnuately, the article features a couple of missing images and very poor quality covers.
Since it has been quite a long time since I last posted a slide show on the blog, I decided to create one that features the Britney Spears cover art that has been uploaded to the AAX gallery. I only used covers that feature photographs of Spears, including singles and EPs.
What is assumed to be the cover for Lady Gaga's forthcoming single Born This Way was revealed today. The image appeared on the pop singer's Facebook page with the caption Trois Jours, French for Three Days. I assume that means the single will be released on Friday.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the cover that you think is the best of the bunch. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.
Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
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And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead
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Cut Copy - Zonoscope
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La Roux - Gold Edition
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Teddy Thompson - Bella
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Wild Nothing - Gemini
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Jennifer Hudson revealed the cover for her forthcoming album I Remember Me via Twitter this afternoon. The album is scheduled to be released on March 22, 2011.
The cover features a photograph of a considerably thinner Hudson. Her arms are stretched out in what looks like some kind of super hero pose. And she has a fierce Wonder Woman bracelet to go along with it. The photo is credited to Anthony Mandler.
According to our weekly AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of February 1, 2011 is Party Store by Detroit garage rock band the Dirtbombs. The cover received 30% of the vote. Let's Eat by The Wiggles was second with 21%. Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars and Until We Have Faces by Red tied for third with 12% each.
The photograph used on the winning cover is credited to Rob Sansone. The cover reminds me of Paul's Boutique, the 1989 album by the Beastie Boys. The camera angle and cloudy sky seem to create a dramatic statement about urban decay.
Come back later this evening to vote for the best album cover from among this week's new music releases. This week will include covers by Cut Copy, Teddy Thompson, and a few surprises.
Here's an interesting déjà vu moment for you. The cover for Franz Ferdinand's 2005 album You Could Have It So Much Better was inspired by Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko's 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik (right).
However, the cover for New York Jazz band One for All's forthcoming album Invades Vancouver! seems to have been inspired by the Franz Ferdinand album. Of course, neither really comes close to the original. The poster is considered to be Rodchenko's most iconic work. It is often used as an example of mixing photography and typography in graphic design classes.
Invades Vancouver! is scheduled to be released on March 8, 2011.
One for All - Invades Vancouver! (2011)
Posted by: zeefritz 
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
The cover art for Doggumentary, the forthcoming 11th studio album by rapper Snoop Dogg, has been revealed. The album is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2011.
The cover features a blue and gold throne in front of a background of frenzied black brush strokes. Perhaps Snoop missed the photo shoot.
The use of a throne on album covers is a bit more common than most people probably think. Typically, the recording artist is shown sitting on an elaborate throne. The most recent example is King Uncaged by rapper T.I., who posed with a lion (above right) while sitting on a throne. Compared to the T.I. cover, Snoop Dogg's definitely underwelms. We are not amused.
Today would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. Regardless of politics, it is safe to assume that Reagan is one of the most noteworthy U.S. presidents of the 20th century. Because of his fame and millions of admirers, it is surprising that there have not been many record albums of Reagan's speeches.
Ironically, Reagan rose to political power on the heels of a record released in 1961 called Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (right). In the ten-minute plus recording, Reagan was critical of Social Security and warned that Medicare programs would result in a loss of freedom. He explained that socilaized medicne would result in Americans losing their rights to decide where to go to school and what job to do for a living.
The album cover for Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine features a black and white photograph of Reagan leaning on surface of some sort. During the speech, Reagan issues over-the-top paranoid predictions such as, "We are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."
Another notable album recorded by Reagan is Freedom's Finest Hour. Released by Decca Records in 1967, the album is an adaptation of a documentary film of the same name, On the record, Reagan plays the role of a Boston colonist during the American Revolution. The original Decca release featured an image of George Washington with a photograph of Reagan as an inset.
In 1983, the album was reissued with a large photograph of Reagan on the cover. A CD version was released in the early 1990s. There are usually many copies of the CD available on eBay.
Bernard "Bernie" Green was a composer and conductor of music for radio, television and movies in the 1950s and 1960s. His recordings include albums by Wally Cox and Tony Randall and a few LPs with his orchestra. He recorded three albums for RCA: Musically MAD (RCA Victor LSP-1929); The National Football League Marching Songs (RCA Victor LSP-2292); and Futura (RCA Stereo Action LSA-2376).
The National Football League Marching Songs was released in 1961. The cover featured the official NFL logo, copy that read "Officially Sanctioned by the NFL" and the mascots of the 13 NFL teams of 1960 (including this year's Super Bowl participants, the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers).
The album has long been out of production. However, the LP can be found on eBay and Amazon.com. The various tracks are often sold online as unlicensed MP3 ringtones.
Billy Gardell is an American actor and comedian who recently had a one-hour comedy special titles Halftime air on on Comedy Central. The album version of Halftime is sceduled to be released on February 8, 2011.
While the title and cover art suggest it, the material presented on the album does not have a football theme. Gardell is a Pittsburgh native and obviously a Steeler's fan. I wonder how the album will sell in Wisconsin.
It is difficult to believe that American Idol has been on for 10 years. I remember people saying that the show had jumped the shark five years ago. To mark the show's 10 years as television's top talent show, American Idol is releasing American Idol 10th Anniversary - The Hits on March 15, 2011.
The compilation will feature hit singles from Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Adam Lambert and other notable American Idol contestants.
According to the American Idol website, the tracklist is as follows:
- Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone"
- Ruben Studdard - "Superstar"
- Clay Aiken - "Invisible"
- Fantasia - "When I See U"
- Carrie Underwood - "Before He Cheats"
- Taylor Hicks - "Takin' It To The Streets"
- Daughtry - "Home"
- Jordin Sparks (duet with Chris Brown) - "No Air"
- David Cook - "Light On"
- Kris Allen - "Live Like We're Dying"
- Adam Lambert - "Whataya Want From Me"
- Lee DeWyze - "Sweet Serendipity"
The 3D action thriller Sanctum was released in theaters today. The film was inspired by co-writer Andrew Wight's near-death experience in a system of underwater caves. James Cameron is the executive producer.
The artwork for the soundtrack is a square version of the movie poster. There really isn't anything special about it. It is what one would expect for a dark, underwater adventure film. The score is by composer David Hirschfelder, who has composed the music for films such as Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Shine, and Elizabeth.
The press release for the forthcoming album by Black Devil Disco Club (aka Bernard Fevre) is perhaps one of the most incomprehensible I have ever attempted to read. Since the album cover art (below) is pretty cool, I will try to decipher it anyway.
There is no release date given for the album, which is titled Circus. According to the press release, it will feature Nancy Sinatra, Claire Evans of YACHT (I think), Afrika Bambaataa, and several other interesting artists.
The single My Screen is available as a free download. You can use the widget posted below to receive a link via email. There is also a music video for the song on YouTube.
Another single called In Doubt featuring CocknBullKid (right) also features an interesting illustration as cover art. I do not have any information about the art direction. However, the album covers from the Lo Recordings label are always unique.
Why would anyone use a close up photograph of a spit bubble for an album cover? Just think about the times you've been in church or on an airplane and were forced to watch a bored child continually blow bubbles of mucus.
Apparently, a San Fransisco-based electropop band called The Limousines wants to be regarded the same way as a child who doesn't know better. Uck! I can barely stand looking at this mess. What are they going to follow this up with? Boogers?
Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases. They were chosen based on Amazon.com sales rank and for their noteworthy album cover designs. Please vote for the cover that you think is the best of the bunch. The winner will be announced next Tuesday.
The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
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The Dirtbombs - Party Store
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Red - Until We Have Faces
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Ricky Martin - Musica + Alma + Sexo
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The Rippingtons - Côte d'Azur
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The Wiggles - Let's Eat!
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According to our weekly AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of January 25, 2011 is Iron & Wine's Kiss Each Other Clean. The cover received 60% of the vote. There Are Rules by Get Up Kids was a distant second with 16%. The 2011 Grammy Nominees compilation album was third with 12%.
The art direction for the winning cover is credited to the graphic design and illustration studio The Heads of State. Their website is worth a look.
Check back this evening to vote on the best album cover from among this week's new music releases. There are quite a few interesting design concepts this time.
When recently I heard actress Jane Lynch tell Conan O'Brien that the cast of Glee was going to be performing Michael Jackson's Thriller, I thought that it was very exciting news. Then, I found out that they are actually doing a mash up of Thriller and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Heads Will Roll (right). That is quite different from a straight up Glee version of Thriller.
The music video for Heads Will Roll is a tribute to Thriller, featuring a dancing werewolf who dismembers the band in a glittery bloodbath. I don't know if that kind of imagery will figure into the upcoming Glee episode.
The cover art for the Thriller / Heads Will Roll single is the typical Glee Season Two slushie. I was hoping for something similar to the Madonna and Rocky Horror artwork that has been used for special releases in the past.
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