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.
Puss in Boots, the latest computer-animated film from DreamWorks, opened in theaters today. The film was directed by Chris Miller and features the voices of Antonio Banderas, Billy Bob Thornton and Salma Hayek. It has been released in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D.
The soundtrack was composed by Henry Jackman and features tracks by Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela. The Lady Gaga track used to promote the film is not on the album. The album is currently available as a digital download. The CD version is scheduled for release on November 15, 2011.
The cover art for the album features a dramatic close up image of the film's main character. It is an excellent design for the soundtrack. The texture effects used for the hat are very impressive.
Rock band Plain White T's is offering a free download of their Halloween single The House on Shady Lane. The a link to the single can be obtained by using the form provided below.
Below are six album covers that were preselected from this week's new music releases (several of this week's albums were released on October 24). 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 October 18, 2011 is The Best of 25 Years by Sting. The cover received 36% of the votes cast by our readers. Chris Isaak's Beyond the Sun was second with 22%. The Great Escape Artist by Jane's Addiction was third with 19%.
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.
A new album from actor, author and recording artist William Shatner was released last week. Seeking Major Tom features Shatner doing his inimitable spoken word versions of popular songs with musical assistance from musicians such as Peter Frampton, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Winter, Brad Paisley, Steve Miller, Sheryl Crow, Wayne Kramer, Dave Davies, Zakk Wylde and others.
A video for Shatner's version of Bohemian Rhapsody has gone viral on YouTube with over a half million views. The video features an unpackaging demontration for the CD at the end. It is the first time I have seen anyone do that. Those of you who are more interested in marketing and package design than Shatner's reading of Queen's lyrics may want to forward to the last few seconds.
The cover for the forthcoming remix album of Lady Gaga's Born This Way has been revealed. The album is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2011.
The cover features a black and white photograph of Lady Gaga sitting in what appears to be a melted gown with a high heeled shoe dangling from her mouth. As strange as it is, I prefer it to the motorcycle morph madness that was used for the cover of the original Born This Way album.
Photographer Barry Feinstein died earlier today in upstate New York. He was 80. Feinstein was responsible for taking photographs that appeared on some of rock music's most iconic albums, including Bob Dylan's The Times They Are-A Changin and Janis Joplin's Pearl.
...He also took the photo on the cover of George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' and photographed a host of other icons, including Frank Sinatra, Hollywood actor Steve McQueen, Judy Garland and politcians such as John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, reports Rolling Stone.
Feinstein was behind the original image of a dirty toilet and a graffiti covered bathroom stall in a Porsche repair shop in Los Angeles that was intended for the cover of The Rolling Stones' 'Beggars Banquet'. However the imaged was too explicit and was replaced with a white cover, but later editions of the album featured the original photo.
I was just looking at the cover art for all of the new Christmas albums that are soon to be released and it made me quite depressed. Halloween is less than two weeks away and it seems that the Halloween novelty song may be becoming a thing of the past. Then, The Superions released the music video for their song Batbaby! and my day was instantly brighter.
Leave it to bandmates Fred Scheider, Noah Brodie and Dan Marshal to come up with the campiest Halloween project in years. I have already written about the fabulous artwork for the EP that was created by Greek illustrator George Doutsiopoulos. Now there is a hilarious music video, too. The video was written by Michael O'Quinn and Fred Schneider and directed by Michael O'Quinn.
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 most recent AlbumArtExchange Blog poll, the best album cover for the week of October 11, 2011 is Biophilia by Björk. The cover received 53% of the votes cast by our readers. Ryan Adams' Ashes & Fire was a distant second with 19%. Peter Gabriel's New Blood was third with 14%.
The photograph used for the cover is by the Dutch fashion photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. The design and art direction is by M/M Paris.
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.
Oldies But Ghoulies is the latest album cover blog from Seattle-based record store Jive Time Records. It currently features a collection of vintage Halloween album covers from the '60s and '70s.
Those who grew up during those decades like I did will recognize many of these albums from their own collections. The Disney sound effects album was played every year. Check it out and see if they've posted your Halloween favorite.
The 2011 remake of the 1984 dance film Footloose was released in theaters today. It was directed by Craig Brewer (Black Snake Moan and Hustle & Flow) and stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, and Andie MacDowell.
The soundtrack is currently available as a CD and digital download. It includes eight new songs and four cover versions of songs from the original film. The songs are performed by various artists such as Blake Shelton, Zac Brown, Big & Rich, Cee Lo Green and Victoria Justice and Hunter Hayes. The download version includes three bonus tracks that were not included in the film.
The artwork for the soundtrack is a square version of one of the teaser posters for the film. It features a photograph of the film's stars from a line dancing scene.
I have received a couple of message asking what I think of the two covers that were recently revealed for the standard and deluxe version of Rihanna's forthcoming album Talk That Talk. If I had not been asked to do so, I would have ignored them. They are definitely not worth writing about except to point out why they are not noteworthy.
Both images appear to be influenced by heroin chic, a controversial trend in 1990s fashion photography. Designer Calvin Klein and model Kate Moss are the two who are most closely identified with heroin chic. The look featured unhealthy-looking models, with dark circles under the eyes and detached, vacant or deranged facial expressions.
Heroin chic was widely criticized for promoting drug use and unhealthy lifestyles. It was a gimmick that did not last very long. Even then-president Bill Clinton condemned it by saying, "You do not need to
glamorize addiction to sell clothes."
Both covers are an improvement over the Ronald McDonald red hair from Rihanna's previous album cover. However, she looks dirty, tired and unattractive. The make up and styling are horrible. The blouse on the standard cover looks frumpy. The jewelry looks like it was borrowed from Adam Lambert.
The cover art for the forthcoming album by The Black Keys may just spell the end of the ironic album cover. The album, which is scheduled to be released on December 6, 2011, is being promoted with a fake ad for a van that has been mislabeled as an El Camino.
The project includes a fake website at wannabuyavan.com that has the following blurb and photos of several old vans.
1994 EL CAMINO: 273,000 mi. 200 cubic-in. 3.3L 95hp V6
engine, 3-speed turbo autom shift, sapphire stylus, some ticks/pops,
light surface noise. Working AM/FM radio, tan metalflake/woodie panels,
some rust. Black vinyl seats. Priced to sell - Grab the Keys and go!
Contact Pat or Dan at (330) 510-1206
There is also a YouTube video that features actor and comedy writer Bob Odenkirk as a used car salesman. The video has had over 90,000 views in the last four days. That is decent, but not anything to rave about.
Frankly, the video, the website and the album cover are not that funny. They definitely resulted in a major WTF?! for me. It kind of reminds me of the promotions created for Devo's last album. However, Devo ended up with a really amazing album cover. El Camino looks like something that was stolen from an ad on Craigslist. And there are many things for sale on Craigslist that would make a more interesting album cover.
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.
Those of you who have been following the most recent AlbumArtExchange Blog poll certainly noticed that the poll had been dominated by a large number of Scotty McCreary fans. Although McCreary's cover received a record number of votes, the poll is not a popularity contest. I had to average the number of responses from previous polls and subtract the difference from the final tally. That resulted in the cover for McCreary's album being in last place.
With the necessary adjustments made, the best album cover for the week of October 4, 2011 is Less You Know the Better by DJ Shadow. The cover received 24% of the legitimate votes. There was a tie for second place between Paul McCartney's Ocean's Kingdom and Mutemath's Odd Soul. Both cover received 20% of the vote. Metals by Feist and Beauty Queen Sister by Indigo Girls were third with 16%.
The winning cover was created by San Francisco animator and designer Tony Papesh. For more information about Papesh and his work, visit his website. It includes an extensive portfolio.
The cover art for Adam Lambert's forthcoming album was revealed today. Beg for Mercy is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2011.
The cover is quite a departure from Lambert's previous albums. It does not feature a photograph of Lambert. Instead, it is an illustration of a boy looking over a barricade at some kind of fiery event. It is very post-apocalyptic.
I do not have credits for the illustrator and art direction for this project. I hope that a press release including that information is coming. The artwork is top notch. However, fans may be disappointed that Lambert's face is not on the cover.
UPDATE: Several Adam Lambert fans have written to inform me that Beg for Mercy is an album of material that was recorded by Lambert several years ago. It should not be confused with the album of new songs that he is preparing for release in 2012.
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.
AAX gallery contributor Tim Barron recently suggested that I write about some of the notable winners of the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. The award was introduced in 1959 and many of the winners had an influence of album cover designs for years afterward.
The 1999 winner was Kevin Reagan for Ray of Light by Madonna. Reagan is credited for art direction on the project. The design is credited to Kerosene Halo and Kevin Reagan. The photography was done by Peruvian fashion photographer Mario Testino.
The cover for Ray of Light has been imitated quite a few times over the years. The most recent example is a series of images used by Ellie Goulding for her 2010 album Bright Lights (above right). The use of a fan to blow Goulding's blond hair over her face from behind was obviously inspired by the earlier cover. The addition of the fairy lights do not really improve the concept.
Reagan has won three Grammy Awards for Best Package Design. In addition to Ray of Light, he won in 2001 for Madonna's album Music and in 2003 for Home by Dixie Chicks. Neither Music nor Home had the influence that Ray of Light did on future album cover designs.
When I set out to find the worst album covers of all time, I did not want to create a list of album covers that are simply bad. I wanted to find the absolute worst. The covers on my list will feature things that are disgusting, offensive and wildly inappropriate.
This week, I found another candidate. The cover art for the forthcoming EP by Austrian artist Thomas Rainer's solo music project Nachtmahr is perhaps one of the most repulsive I have ever come across. The album is titled Can You Feel the Beat? and the cover features a young woman with two black eyes and a bloody nose holding a bloody baseball bat up to her mouth in a suggestive manner.
Violence against women is an ugly thing. Using it to promote a product is highly offensive and may earn Can You Feel the Beat? a spot on the list in our continuing search for the worst album covers of all time.
R.E.M. is promoting their forthcoming compilation album Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011 with an animated version of the album cover. The album is scheduled to be released on November 15, 2011.
Last month, the band announced on their official website that they have split up after 31 years of performing together. The forthcoming album features three new songs that they finished prior to going their separate ways.
The album cover is very simple. It seems to be yet another cover inspired by the Grammy-winning design for The Black Keys 2010 album Brother. The animation has been generating a surprising amount of attention on blogs and websites.
Chris Daughtry revealed the cover art for the forthcoming album from his band Daughtry today via his official Twitter account. The album is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2011.
Here is a Déjà Vu set that is really more like a storyboard for a 1970s porno flick. I imagine the guys on the cover of Orlean's 1976 album Waking and Dreaming staring across the rec room of a hippie nudist camp and seeing the women on the cover of the forthcoming The Saturdays album On Your Radar. "Hey, ladies! How you doin'?" The ladies are NOT impressed.
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 September 27, 2011 is The Hunter by Mastodon. The cover received 33% of the votes cast by our readers. There was a three-way tie for second place between Blink 182's Neighborhoods, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon Immersion Box Set, and Wilco's The Whole Love.
Art direction for the winning cover is credited to Donny Phillips. The illustration was created by Casey Howard.
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.
The cover art for the forthcoming album being released in connection with the new Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show was revealed today via news release. Titled Immortal, the album is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2011.
The artwork is similar to that being used to promote the live show, Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. The arena show began touring yesterday in Montréal and will run through July 2012.
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has a blog dedicated to sleeveface photos. So far, they have over 100 photos that use the vinyl collection of the university's Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives. What a fun and innovative way to promote the library.
Twitter Updates