The SciFi Western Cowboys & Aliens opened in U.S. theaters today. The film stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde and was directed by Jon Favreau. It is based on a 2006 graphic novel of the same name by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.
The score for the film was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. The soundtrack album features 17 original tracks and is scheduled for release on August 9, 2011. The cover art for the soundtrack features a dramatic image of Craig and Ford, omitting Wilde. Wilde is included on the official box office poster for the film. I guess she doesn't qualify as a cowboy for the soundtrack.
Canadian singer-songwriter Feist has revealed the cover for her forthcoming album Metals using a paint-by-numbers "canvas" that was posted on Facebook today.
This is the first time I have seen this concept used for an album cover reveal. It is very unique. I wonder how many fans will actually take the time to fill in the colors. The album is scheduled to be released on October 4, 2011.
This Album Art Flashback is from 1959 and features one of the most successful compilation albums in music history. 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong: Elvis' Gold Records - Volume 2 is Elvis Presley's ninth album. It was released on RCA Victor Records in November 1959 and reached #31 on the Billboard album chart.
The title of the album and the artwork probably had Elvis fans scratching their heads when the record was released. The title is based on a 1927 Sophie Tucker hit called Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong. The album cover features a photograph of Elvis wearing a gold gold lamé suit. The image is repeated 14 times in various sizes. The design is similar to the pop art style that emerged several years after its release.
Another interesting thing about this album cover is that it has inspired several imitations over the years. Whether they are parodies or simply paying homage to the King is debatable for each particular album cover. There are albums that use a variation of the title alone. There are others that feature multiple images and at least two that go all the way with gold lamé.
Below are several examples from the AAX gallery. Included are covers from Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Rod Stewart and three other artists.
According to an article on The Hollywood Reporter website, Facebook has removed the the cover art for the 20th anniversary edition of Nirvana's album Nevermind from the band's Facebook page.
Twenty years later, Nirvana is still managing to cause controversy.
The band, whose Nevermind album made waves when it was released in 1991 because of its cover art which featured a naked baby boy floating in a pool, has run into censorship yet again, this time on its Facebook page.
After product shots of the album (which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this fall) were uploaded to Nirvana's Facebook page, the social networking company removed the photo citing a violation of its Terms of Use.
When the cover was originally released, many U.S. retailers refused to display it on their shelves. It was banned in Saudi Arabia and several other countries. So, it looks as if things have not changed in two decades -- at least as far as Facebook is concerned.
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.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of July 19, 2011 is Universal Pulse by 311. The album cover received 32% of the votes cast by our readers. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington was second with 23%. Time of My Life by 3 Doors Down and the soundtrack for Captain America: The First Avenger tied for third with 18% each.
The winning cover is a fantasy Photoshop collage designed by Sonny Kay, who has designed dozens of album covers for artists such as guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López. Kay's official website features an extensive Flash gallery of his work.
Come back this evening to vote on your favorite album cover from among those preselected from this week's new music releases. Featured artists include Joss Stone, Kelly Rowland, Vanessa Carlton and a couple of surprises.
Below are 10 noteworthy album covers that were posted to the AAX gallery last week. They were selected simply because I found them to be interesting or a valuable addition to the gallery. They are listed in no particular order.
Amy Winehouse is dead, at age 27. Welcome to the 27 Club, Amy. You're in good company. All four deaths below have spawned controversy, allegations of cover-ups, murder or the like. I am sure Amy Winehouse's death will also be subject to intense scrutiny.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1986)
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (Nov 27, 1942 - Sep 18, 1970) asphyxiated on his own vomit in London. The murky details involve Vesparax sleeping pills (a strong Belgian brand Hendrix was unfamiliar with), red wine, a doctor later investigated for malpractice and fraud (unconnected to Hendrix), inconsistent timelines and accounts, and an allegation of murder!
Hendrix's third and final studio album, produced under his own supervision, was Electric Ladyland, The original US/Canada only Reprise release album cover featured a
"fiery" photo of Hendrix' head. The slightly later Track/Polydor
International album release cover, controversially, was a photo of group
of nude women. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is the last track on Electric Ladyland. It was re-released as a single after Hendrix's death in 1970, and reached #1 in the UK, making it the band's only single to top the charts.
Just sixteen days after Jimi Hendrix, the death of Janis Lyn Joplin (Jan 19, 1943 - Oct 4, 1970), the "Queen of Rock and Roll", shocked the music industry. Joplin rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. Her posthumous album Pearl peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200, holding that spot for nine weeks and went quadruple platinum.
Jim Morrison (Dec 8, 1943 - July 3, 1971) is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Pamela Courson (his long-term companion). Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death. Courson died of a heroin overdose three years later.
The Door's third studio album, Waiting for the Sun, was the band's one and only #1 US album. It was also the band's first hit album in the UK. The title track Waiting for the Sun was left off this album, but would be included on the 1970 album Morrison Hotel. The first track, Hello, I Love You, sold over a million copies, and became their biggest hit after 1967's Light My Fire.
Kurt Cobain (Feb 20, 1976 - April 5, 1994), lead singer and guitarist of grunge group Nirvana, was found dead by an electrician on April 8 -- the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994. Cause of death - suicide. The Seattle Police Department incident report states that Cobain was
found with a shotgun across his body, had a visible head wound and there
was a suicide note discovered nearby. The King County Medical Examiner
noted that there were puncture wounds on the inside of both the right
and left elbow.
Nevermind was the band's second studio and most successful album. The cover alone has spawned many an internet meme and story. Big hits from the album included Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are, Lithium and In Bloom.
Other musicians in The 27 Club, include Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Richey James Edwards of Manic Street Preachers, Pete de Freitas of Echo & the Bunnymen, Jeremy Michael Ward of De Facto and The Mars Volta, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan of the Grateful Dead, and Gary Thain of Keef Hartley Band and Uriah Heep -- to name but a few.
Here is a slideshow featuring the covers of the albums and singles Amy Winehouse released during her life, which was cut short tragically over the weekend at the age of 27. All of the images can be found in the AAX gallery.
The Marvel superhero movie Captain America: The First Avenger was released to theaters today. The film was directed by Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci.
The soundtrack album includes the original score by Alan Silvestri, as well as the original song Star Spangled Man with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by David Zippel. The album was released on July 19 and is available as a digital download and on CD. The cover art for the album is a square version of the box office teaser poster, featuring a portrait of the film's title character.
According to the NPR website, Nonesuch Records posted the cover art for a forthcoming album by Steve Reich yesterday that is creating an understandable controversy.
The photo, which appeared on the website Sequenza 21, and then on Nonesuch's own site, is a graphically enhanced version of Masatomo Kuriya's shot of the second plane approaching the World Trade Center's twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001. The album, to be released Sept. 6, contains Reich's new work WTC 9/11, performed by Kronos Quartet.
Few would say that the image isn't provocative; others have already posted strong reactions. With the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 just around the corner, my Manhattan-based colleague Anastasia Tsioulcas and I thought a brief discussion might be appropriate.
It has been several months since an album cover has been worthy of being featured in our ongoing Search for the Worst series. The last cover to be considered was Lil Kim's violent beheading of Nicki Minaj on the cover her mixtape Black Friday.
The problem with using a photograph like this as album art is that no matter how well-intentioned, an album cover is a commercial marketing tool. It is designed to sell a product. Album covers can be inspirational. They can be works of art. However, the main objective is to sell music and make a profit.
In spite of the album being a work to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, this cover is probably destined to be listed as one of the worst of all time for many years to come.
Other than collectors of vintage 78 RPM records, most people alive today do not know that albums used to come in plain, box-style containers without any artwork. Some were designed to look like hardcover book bindings. The man who changed that by designing original artwork for album packages died on Sunday at the age of 94.
Here is Alex Steinweiss' obituary from the New York Times:
Alex Steinweiss, an art director and graphic designer who brought custom artwork to record album covers and invented the first packaging for long-playing records, died on Sunday in Sarasota, Fla. He was 94.
His death was confirmed by his son, Leslie.
The record cover was a blank slate in 1939, when Mr. Steinweiss was hired to design advertisements for Columbia Records. Most albums were unadorned, and on those occasions when art was used, it was not original. (Albums then were booklike packages containing multiple 78 r.p.m. discs.)
"The way records were sold was ridiculous," Mr. Steinweiss said in a 1990 interview. "The covers were brown, tan or green paper. They were not attractive, and lacked sales appeal." Despite concern about the added costs, he was given the approval to come up with original cover designs.
Sadly, while many of the albums that Steinweiss designed and art directed covers for are still in distribution, almost all of them were given new cover art decades ago. There are a few scans of original Steinweiss covers in the AAX gallery. However, quite a lot of his work is no longer available for today's consumers.
In 2009, a book featuring Steinweiss' work was published by Taschen Books. Alex Steinweiss, The Inventor of the Modern Album Cover by Steven Heller and Kevin Reagan is an amazing
422-page collectors' volume that illustrates his career with full-color reproductions of historic album covers.
The cover for rapper Ace Hood's forthcoming album Blood, Sweat & Tears is certain to spark a feeling of déjà vu for anyone familiar with the 1998 album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood by DMX. The only question is "Who did it better?" Blood, Sweat & Tears is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2011.
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.
3 Doors Down - Time of My Life
311 - Universal Pulse
Terri Lyne Carrington - The Mosaic Project
Alan Silvestri - Captain America The First Avenger
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of July 12, 2011 is If Not Now, When? by Incubus. The album cover received 39% of the votes cast by our readers. Within and Without by Washed Out was a close second with 32%. Fly from Here by Yes was third with 23%.
The winning cover is a photograph of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit taken in the 1970s by Thierry Orbach. Art dirction is credited to Sheri Lee and Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd.
Come back this evening to vote for your favorite album cover from among this week's new music releases. This week features illustrations in a wide variety of styles.
Below are 10 noteworthy album covers that were posted to the AAX gallery last week. They were selected simply because I found them to be interesting or a valuable addition to the gallery. They are listed in no particular order.
This morning, country music trio Lady Antebellum revealed the cover art and track list for their forthcoming album, Own the Night, on their official website. The album is scheduled to be released on September 13, 2011.
The album cover is a perfect example of an unintentionally funny disconnect between the title of an ablum and the image used for the cover. While the title would suggest that a photograph taken at night would be appropriate, the cover instead features the trio in evening clothes and posing on a snowy hillside in daylight. The photograph suggests that they may have had a wild evening and ended up drunk and abandoned in the boonies somewhere.
This album cover really has nothing to do with the title of the album. It is more likely a publicity photo that was chosen without any thought about it being tied to a theme. Perhaps they should have changed the name of the album to "Where Did We Park the Limo?"
In no particular order, here are 11 interesting album covers depicting blurry people. From out of focus camera shots to post production techniques and additional design elements. For some, it's to hide the naughty bits (sigh). For others, it's to create the illusion of rapid movement and/or two heads! And others, well, it's to jazz up a boring head shot or the designer discovered a new plugin in Photoshop. Or maybe they were under the influence when they used their camera.
My favorites would have to be Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (come on, who wouldn't like Joan Jett naked?), Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Uffie. What are yours?
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Shooting Straight in the Dark (1990)
In the first of a breakthrough four-part multiple-cross-category "story arc", I bring you striped clothing, specifically black and white horizontal striped clothing -- the sort Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton would recognize. Part two is about being behind bars, and part three is all about bar-codes as art. Anyone with a plethora of covers featuring zebras, please drop Noah's Ark a line.
Jacqueline Govaert, previously lead singer of Dutch band Krezip, released her debut solo album in 2010. I happen to have this album and the cover really suits it. It's carefree, laid back, whimsical, catchy and dance worthy in a sort of slow, twirly, barefoot and stripey way. Here she is performing Dare to Lose at Paradiso a few months ago.
Holly Williams - Here With Me (2009)
El Perro del Mar - Love Is Not Pop (2009)
Now I'm sure you've heard of Hank Williams, Jr.. Well, his daughter, singer-songwriter Holly Williams, has two studio albums under her belt, the second being featured here. Anyway, we know how much of a sucker I am for a girl in boots with a guitar. El Perro del Mar is the musical project of sole member Sarah Assbring. Her music is best described as melancholic lo-fi indie pop. Most of her album covers are very colorless if not indeed black and white.
I've previously covered The B-52s before. If you'd read that article, you'll know they dropped the apostrophe in 2008. I really like the cover of their seventh studio album. We've got Cindy Wilson sporting a zebra inspired outfit, Fred Schneider in striped pants, and Kate Pierson wearing a vertically striped top whilst Keith Strickland wants to be a pirate. And just to mix it all up a bit further, their shadows create a zebra crossing. I'm also digging the way that Kate's hair stands out.
KT Tunstall - Tiger Suit (2010)
Keri Hilson - No Boys Allowed (2010)
Scottish guitar-rockin' bluesy country singer-songwriter Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is probably best known for her debut album, Eye to the Telescope and it's biggest hit Suddenly I See. Another single from that album, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, was performed by Casey Weston in the quarter finals on NBC's The Voice. On the cover of her fourth studio album, Tiger Suit, KT is appropriated striped out. Her single Fade Like a Shadow is always on my playlist. Keri Hilson has also gone for the pirate look on her second studio album cover, whilst using her lipstick to pretend to smoke. Not cool! Lipstick is bad for you :). And excessive use of police barricade tape can be dangerous to the environment.
Indie poppers, indie rockers, and indie folk'sters, Canadian identical twins Tegan and Sarah Keirsten's sixth, and latest, studio album has both Tegan (or Sarah) and a manikin decked out in matching swashbuckler attire. I'll also assume that both girls are on the cover, but you never know -- identical twins do love to get up to pranks. Reminds me of the time...
Minneapolis punky-rock girl group Sick of Sarah (Abisha, Jamie, Jessie, Jessica and Katie, in no particular order - see, NO Sarah) are often compared to Tegan & Sara. And here they are in their special penitentiary pajamas perhaps anticipating a sleepover stateside. In case you were wondering, Sarah was a former roommate of Abisha's who used to complain about her own name.
On an interesting side note, people who wear striped clothing look slimmer if the stripes are horizontal, not vertical, as many people think. Thanks to the research of Dr. Peter Thompson of the University of York. Here's an article about it. In reality, being fat makes you look fat, and being thin makes you look thin!
The new Disney animated feature film Winnie the Pooh opened in U.S. theaters today. The film features six songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and a new version of the theme song Winnie the Pooh by actress and musician Zooey Deschanel. Together with the other half of her folk duo She & Him M. Ward, Deschanel also performs A Very Important Thing to Do and the end-credit song So Long. You can listen to a preview of Deschanel's songs in the video clip posted below.
The movie soundtrack includes 18 tracks, the six songs from the film and selections from the original Henry Jackman score. Released on July 12, it is available as an MP3 downlaod and audio CD. The cover art features an illustration of Pooh about to get Piglet in serious trouble with a bee hive. The illustration seems to conflict with the messages of innocent friendship conveyed by the songs, making it an odd choice for the album.
Gleeks will be happy to see the cover art for the forthcoming Glee The 3D Concert Movie Motion Picture Soundtrack album. The album is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2011.
Now that the hubbub has died down about this cover (Caution: Evacuate children and avert eyes - Ed.), its time to show how a gorgeous hot chick on a bike should be done. You really do have to admire their gleaming looks, flowing lines, sleek curves, shiny leather and unblemished finishes. And the bikes aren't half bad either!
British rock band Charlie take first prize. Their eighth studio album cover features a blond beauty in thigh high shiny boots, with flowing wind-swept hair on a gleaming and immaculate Harley-Davidson or HOG. I'm not sure who she's pursuing for romance -- if she was after me, I'd stop running.
The video for the group's most successful hit, It's Inevitable from their eponymous 1983 album, features a rousing pie fight.Terry Slesser (second lead vocalist from 1982-1984) has uploaded it here. Fun times! On a side note, the band was briefly called Charlie Cuckoo, after a racehorse.
Cascada - San Francisco (2011)
Republica - Speed Ballads (1998)
In second place, we have the ever delicious
Natalie Horler, lead singer of Cascada, gracing the cover for their latest 2011 hit, San Francisco. There's absolutely no motorbikes to be seen in the video, so it's a strange choice for a cover. But hey, I'm not complaining! I can see the connection between riding the open roads on a chopper and "being free", 1969, and the "City of Love". There's even a hippie bus - I want on that! It's party time!
And a deserved podium finish goes to our friends Republica. The English "electronica, techno-pop, punk rock" band's follow up to their self-titled debut album, Speed Ballads, reached #37 in the UK Album Charts. The UK cover version shows another leather-clad and wind-swept delight. And that delight is lead singer Saffron (Samantha Marie Sprackling). She's super talented -- she performed for two years in London's Starlight Express, can speak fluent Cantonese Chinese, and has been a featured vocalist, among others, for Prodigy and N-Joi (where she also danced in the video for his single Mindflux).
And I just can't resist adding this cover from Maxime. It's so hilarious. It cracks me up every time. Most likely not a hot chick under that cowl, but who knows what those monks get up to! I can't really find anything about this band (or artist), so just enjoy the sublime pathos, paradox, oxymoron, irony and metaphorical antithesis of the whole thing! You can also check out Poison's Hollyweird album cover here in my last The Nude Series escapade.
I have to admit that seeing people with one side of their faces in black reminds me of a certain original Star Trek episode starring Frank Gorshin (right). When I saw the cover for Peter Murphy's album Ninth, I came close to writing about the similarity between Murphy's makeup and that of Gorshin.
Now, the cover for the forthcoming album by English singer and rapper Example (Elliot Gleave) has also made me have a Star Trek flashback. While his face is not actually painted black on one side and white on the other, Example's does look quite a bit like both Murphy and Gorshin on the cover of Playing in the Shadows. The album is scheduled to be released on September 4, 2011.
Inked bodies, tattooed birthday suits, and artistically painted flesh make up this installment of The Nude Series. My favorite is Joss Stone, followed by Bullets and Octane, but I'm quite like the last one for the clever play on words and cool band name (Johnny Depp's character Rango should cover them!). Oh heck, I like them all.
Jocelyn Eve Stoker (or Joss Stone to those in the know!) went au naturelle for her third studio album. I assume she has been painted "silver/gray" to blend in with the wall, and then the painted swirly and "hippie-like" designs have been accented along with her red hair. Totally awesome!
The album's lead single Tell Me 'bout It, was, incredibly, Stone's first solo single to make the Billboard Hot 100 in the US (come on America, what are you playing at?). The album itself debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 in it's opening week, becoming the highest debut for a British female solo artist on the chart, surpassing the record previously by Amy Winehouse's Back To Black.
Kelli Ali - Tigermouth (2003)
Poison - Hollyweird (2002)
Lead singer of the trip-hop group Sneaker Pimps, female vocalist Kelli Ali, kindly went topless for us (just in case a sleeve might get in the way, God bless her!) so we could see the pair of tigers tattooed on her left arm. Now that's dedication! Tigermouth, so named for her "unique canine dentition" (that's special cat-like teeth), was Ali's debut solo album.
Next we have American hard rock band Poison's sixth studio album, Hollyweird, sporting the obligatory motorcycle with flames and skull, a nude woman in boots, and a snake, albeit tattooed. There's also four terrifying monster heads in the background and a "Bret Michael looking" cowboy hat present, just in case you still weren't entirely sure what sort of album you might be getting yourself into.
Another American rock band, Buckcherry, for their eponymous debut album, decided to use an illustration of a hot, luscious, decorated, painted, red-haired beauty (OMG, it's Joss Stone!). Such decorative and patterned "full" body tattoos were common throughout Polynesia and other parts of the world, and accentuating weapons, sorry, features such as the breasts is nothing new that isn't being done today without ink or paint.
Bullets and Octane In the Mouth of the Young (2006)
Bang Tango From the Hip (2006)
And lastly, we have two very contrasting covers, both from 2006. One, quite tattooed and in areas that could easily be bare or visible in public, the other small and lonely, discrete and intimate. I have covered punk/hard rock/thrash metal band Bullets and Octane's cover in an earlier Déjà Vu entry. Suffice to say, that baby will probably grow up to be a hulking WWE star with arms thicker than his head (see what I did there?!).
The cover for American funk-infused hard rock and glam metal band Bang Tango's fifth and last studio album, From the Hip, also "features" a tattoo, on a hip. It's a Chinese dragon. While "features" may be a slightly strong word to use here, the album title and model's tattoo are indelibly inked ... err ... linked, and the first thing my eyes looked at was her hip, honest! :)
Abbe May is my kind of gal, a hot rockin' chick with a guitar. Her debut album was released on July 8th. The young Australian is "set to destroy the entire rock world", according to PopMatters.com, who continue:
"Her new solo album Design Desire is bursting with the most righteous and gnarly blues-laced guitar sound this side of the White Stripes and the Pack a.d., drifting majestically beneath honest, take-no-prisoners vocals dripping with tasteful effects."
I don't entirely agree with Pop Matters, but I do like the track You Could Be Mine. Besides, I'm loving the cover. It's
wacky! It reminds me of Roxy Music's Country Life, and Sweet Apple's
Love & Desperation. Fritz has covered those here in an earlier Déjà Vu entry. And of course, there's nothing ever wrong with a bit of flesh, sexy lingerie and a large cattle skull!
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.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of July 5, 2011 is Brian Eno's Drums Between the Bells. The cover received 52% of the vote. The Future is Medieval by Kaiser Chiefs was second with 22% and Devil's Music by Teddybears was third with 17%.
The winning cover was created by graphic designer Nick Robertson, who has collaborated with Eno on several previous projects. Robertson has designed many album covers through his design company Wordsalad for artists such as U2, John Cale and Coldplay.
Check back this evening to see which album covers from this week's new music releases were selected for your consideration. This week's poll will be posted by 6 PM PST.
Last week, Madonna announced a YouTube video contest to mark the 25th anniversary of her third studio album, True Blue. Fans are being asked to upload videos of themselves either lipsyncing or dancing to tracks from the album. The videos will be posted on Madonna's official website and to her Facebook page. Contest details are included in the promotional video posted below. The winner will receive a personalized, signed copy of the album.
The iconic photograph of Madonna that was used for the cover of True Blue was taken by the late American fashion photographer Herb Ritts. Ritts photographed dozens of major celebrities during his career. He also directed music videos for artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson and Britney Spears.
The True Blue album is also notable because it was one of the last LP packages of the era to be marketed with deluxe features. It included a foldout poster of the cover that features an extended version of the photograph (right).
Like many of my generation, True Blue was the last LP that I purchased. The age of the CD had become firmly established and in a few years turntables and 12" albums would seem like ancient relics. Of course, those LPs are now valuable collector's items. Original LPs with the poster can be purchased on eBay from $15 to $65, depending on condition.
Below are 10 noteworthy album covers that were posted to the AAX gallery last week. They were selected simply because I found them to be interesting or a valuable addition to the gallery. They are listed in no particular order.
Yesterday, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach revealed the track listing and cover art for his forthcoming album, Kicking & Screaming, via Twitter and Flickr. Bach and his PR team did everything right. They used social media to release a high resolution image and included a detailed press release. The press release even included the name of the artist who designed the cover!
The cover was created by artist Richard Villa. I has many classic heavy metal elements: skulls, bloody knives, fire, and a sexy woman. There are also some unsual elements, such as elephants and snow-covered mountains. Judging by online comments, the cover is a big hit with fans. The album is scheduled to be released on September 27, 2011.
It has been quite a long time since an album cover resulted in a real WTF?! reaction for me. The cover for the forthcoming self-titled album by N.R.F.B. (Nuclear Raped Fuck Bomb) did the trick. I know nothing about this artist and all of the press materials are in German. The album is scheduled to be released on August 19, 2011.
The cover appears to be a photograph of four military amputees using donkeys to assist in mobility. There has to be an interesting story behind it. Combine that with the weird title and it has to be a major WTF?! for most English speakers.
For a second year, the AlbumArtExchange.com Blog has been asking readers to vote on the Best Album Covers for the Week all year. Since we have passed the halfway mark of 2011, it is time to do a recap of the 25 album covers that have been selected as the best of the year so far.
The covers below are presented in chronological order. As always, you can click the image to see a larger view.
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.
This déjà vu moment features mannequins in a warehouse on album covers created 28 years apart. I do not know whether or not the cover for Plastique People by Australian synthpop band Neuropa was Yazoo's (Yaz in the U.S.) 1982 album Upstairs at Eric's. However, the similarities are striking.
According to our AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, The Harrow & The Harvest by Gillian Welch is the best album cover for the week of June 28, 2011. The album cover received 33% of the votes cast by our readers. When the Sun Goes Down by Selena Gomez & The Scene was second with 25%. Gold Cobra by Limp Bizkit was third with 21%.
The winning cover was created by artist and musician John Dyer Baizley. Baizley has designed album covers for his band Baroness as well as Flight of the Conchords, Black Tusk, Skeltonwitch and many other artists.
Below are 10 noteworthy album covers that were posted to the AAX gallery last week. They were selected simply because I found them to be interesting or a valuable addition to the gallery. They are listed in no particular order.
Last night, Kanye West and Jay-Z revealed the cover art for their forthcoming collaboration album, Watch the Throne. The artwork was revealed on the website WatchtheThrone.com, where preorders for a standard and deluxe versions of the album in CD and digital formats are being taken.
The cover was designed by Givenchy's creative director Riccardo Tisci. It is a pressed metal gold design that looks like an antique Victorian ceiling tile (right). Perhaps West and Jay-Z are planning a line of home renovation products.
It is definitely an unexpected choice for the album cover. However, as far as ceiling tiles go, it is an inferior design. There are some antique ceiling tiles that are simply stunning. A Google search will reveal hundreds that are more interesting than the album cover below. This design strikes me as being old-fashioned, ordinary and inappropriate.
British actor, BBC television presenter and DJ Reggie Yates has four hilarious album cover parodies on the BBC Radio 1 website. There are clever reproductions of album covers by the Glee Cast, Adele, Cee Lo Green and Jessie J, all featuring Reggie as the recording artist. My favorite is the Jessie J cover (below).
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