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Classic Album, FUCKING TERRIBLE Cover Art

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http://www.musicobsession.com/Pictures/d/e/delasoul187996.jpg

― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I was thinking of the Kinks as a band that had pretty mediocre cover art compared to their contemporaries. But when I went and looked at them again they all seemed pretty appropriate if understated.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Sym Sym you are CRAZY

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

somebody insert soft machine, vol. 2 pls.

― carly (carly), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

That Kinks album always reminded me of....

http://hometown.aol.com/jesusandsue2/PorkyPigTag2.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

How often does a classic album elevate the mediocre cover art to something passable or even iconic? For example, I can't really separate Soft Machine Vol. II from the cover art. Even though objectively I would probably have to admit that it's a crappy piece of art it seems like an integral part of the album to me.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Thumbs up for GnR managing to have two alternate covers on the same album, both of which are among the most awful covers ever.

However, this album always belongs in threads like this one:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005ASHM.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It is interesting that, while album covers from the mid 60s or earlier were usually crap, great albums such as the first three Beatles albums, Elvis' debut and Sinatras' "Sings For Only The Lonely" all had really classic covers.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, i can't stand to look at it. maybe that comes with time. but right now it kind of makes me want to throw up.
xpost

― carly (carly), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

pet sounds cover art is great

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Like walter says, the de la cover is iconic because it's such an incredible album. but it is also very very ugly.

― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that De La Soul cover is great. Captures their image and style in a perfect way. You knew immediately that hippie rap had arrived.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

One part of me thinks this is extremely wry and funny, the other well.....you decide.

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/S/soft_cell_nonf.jpg

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, but this cover is really ugly

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00000745F.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― darin (darin), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005NOSV.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004T0N9.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Like walter says, the de la cover is iconic because it's such an incredible album. but it is also very very ugly.

I don't think so. Ugly is of course subjective but there are some objective reasons why it's a "good design." The dayglow colors were very popular at the time (and previously in the '60s), the hand-drawn quality is nice and the overall triangular composition is very strong. Plus the standing-in-a-circle-looking-down pose mirrors the previous year's Straight Outta Compton.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, Bizarro has a fantastic cover! Why do you think it's bad? Better than Seamonsters...

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I LOVE the Wedding Present cover!
(x-post)

I don't think I knew that "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret" was a Soft Cell album. I only knew it from one of David Cross' lines on a "Mr. Show" episode.

Speaking of Cross, and the above referenced "A.D." quote, wasn't the joke:
"I was going to call my show "Use Your Illusion," but some band had the rights. So I'm going to call it "Use Your Illusion 2."

― Waking Up Onstage at Jumbo's (Bent Over at the Arclight), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i always thought they were going for a keith haring thing somewhat with the de la design.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah that's the joke!

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The "Non Stop Erotic" cabaret cover is great.

Looks like the photographer pulling two people out of the closet against their will on their way out from some gay bar.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000036TL.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000007WEB.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

ok yeah, i can't defend those two.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I kinda like the Cool For Cats cover, actually.

Alex, Bizarro has a fantastic cover! Why do you think it's bad? Better than Seamonsters...

it's one of my favorite albums of all time.....and all it gets is a meaningless crayon scribble? It's a travesty (though the American edition....replacing the green field with peachy pink, is much worse). I liked the Seamonsters cover (the original one with the fishy scales, not the swirly design one).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.musicweb.uk.net/jazz/2002/Jun02/Weather_Report_Black_Market.jpg

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

good
http://idealcopy.american-data.net/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/large/MUWeddingPresent-Seamonsters.jpg

bad
http://www.hkedcity.net/culture/e+e/03/images/album_cover/week3/laitatwing39.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I kind of don't mind the Alien Lanes cover but it's almost like it needs to be a little worse. Like it's almost reaching a Boredoms-ian dementia but not quite getting there.

I think all of the Squeeze covers are just barely passable at best. Except for the first one which is nicely over-the-top.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, all of the stuff you posted is actually pretty decent (Porky excepted). At least in a slick polished way. I take it that's what turns you off is that kind of overly clean, almost corporate look?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/140/146134.jpg

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I don't think I could make a sweeping generalization about whay i don't like. I wouldn't call the cover of Mutiny by the Birthday Party as especially clean/corporate look. I don't like the 2003 Killing Joke cover mainly because it looks like a rejected Insane Clown Posse sleeve and because I got to see Mike Coles' original artwork (closer to What's THIS for!).

I can like slick and corporate, so long as its still provocative. I think the cover of Second Annual Report by Throbbing Gristle, for example (the quintessence of simple and corporate) is genius.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/discographer/mekons/images/rocknroll(uk)-front.jpg

― Jena (JenaP), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

TG's 2nd Annual's a great cover and a great T-shirt too!

― moley, Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Forget all of my earlier attempts. This is the one and only winner:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000OMJ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

that Peter Gabriel cover is pretty awesome, I think.

― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Geir you're crazy. That's a total classic and I believe it might have been designed by Peter Christopherson (who of course designed all of TG's graphics).

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Good lord, that Gabriel cover is one of my favorite sleeves of all time.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, I guess corporate wasn't the right word. I just found it interesting what types of designs different people dislike. Some here seem to dislike garish colors or imagery that is intentionally ugly or seedy (something I personally have a taste for). I thought all of the covers you posted looked kind "well designed" but possibly just boring or inappropriate to the music.

I guess that's how I feel about the Smile cover which is fine but just seems a little too simple and plain for what's inside. At least the Pet Sounds cover has a kind of bizarre petting zoo thing going on. On the other hand if that Smile cover were released 30 years ago I think I might have just become used to it and considered it iconic. For now I can't picture the album without that weird little storefront illustration.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Pretty much any funk record from the 70s.

― Yejoon (Yejoon), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it really depends on the album. I also have a hard time divorcing the visuals from the sound. I always found the cover art to Junkyard by the Birthday Party to be completely incongruous with the music contained therein. It's a great sleeve, and it's a great album, but they just don't match up to me.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000006ZCC.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It looks like the Birthday Party should sound like some metallic rockabilly band, which is -- of course -- just not the case.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes! I was thinking of Junkyard too. I avoided that album for so many years because of the cover. But strangely I've grown to like it over time. The fact that the great sleeve and the great album don't match up is kind of great itself.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

This is true.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The content of this illustration is kind of funny but the style is so blecchhh...

http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drd900/d923/d92362hta34.jpg

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

great sleeve and the great album don't match up

Another great example of that....

http://orbita.starmedia.com/~subhumans/grupos/throbbing_gristle/20jazz.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

That Throbbing Gristle sleeve is fucking ace!

― Yngwie AlmsteenMay (sgertz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007SL1LW.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LSO.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000ADXEC.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

That Throbbing Gristle cover reminds me of this one

http://www.importantrecordstore.com/images/content/distributed/builttospillwaverscd.jpg

― darin (darin), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex in NYC OTM. Really disappointing.

Meanwhile....

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000000S4.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Si Carter (Si Carter), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Er... the 'really disappointing' was about KJ2003, but he's spot on with Junkyard as well, which I always found somewhat bizarre.

― Si Carter (Si Carter), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the flaming lips one is OTM

― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 205 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Agree with both statements.

― beard papa, Saturday, 6 August 2022 01:09 (three years ago)

lol at first glance i thought the hype sticker at bottom left was yet another dubious 90s graphic design decision

― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 6 August 2022 01:47 (three years ago)

The Stevie covers are great. Superunknown is fine, a bit generic and of its time, but not grievously bad by any means.

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Saturday, 6 August 2022 01:52 (three years ago)

That FSOL cover is ghastly.

― Disarm u with a SMiLE (morrisp), Saturday, 6 August 2022 01:58 (three years ago)

the lifeforms cover is amazing so i guess they had to immediately counter it

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 August 2022 03:41 (three years ago)

Tbf Stevie couldn’t actually see his cover art so at least he has an excuse.

I’d like to nominate Frank Ocean - Channel Orange, deserves a better cover than orange with some text.

― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Saturday, 6 August 2022 06:53 (three years ago)

i love that FSOL cover.

― mark e, Saturday, 6 August 2022 13:27 (three years ago)

I dunno even the shitty art made pre-personal computers was better than a lot of the generic shit that’s popped up since. Feel like there was a period where everybody’s album cover looked like a handbill for a shitty tropical house club or something. Nb: I’m probably full of shit

― brimstead, Saturday, 6 August 2022 15:09 (three years ago)

agree, mark e… see even the early crude digital art was better

― brimstead, Saturday, 6 August 2022 15:09 (three years ago)

it's the intense over saturated colours that i love.
yeah, it is dated, but i care not (see the shamens covers from this period for some seriously dated coverart !).
i just think that the whole cd booklet suited the album brilliantly.

― mark e, Saturday, 6 August 2022 15:47 (three years ago)

My recollection is that in the late 1990s there was an abrupt leap in the sophistication of CGI / early PhotoShop album art. There was the "we can do CGI" pre-modern era, with grey aliens holding a spliff / robots dancing / bees flying over a fractal landscape etc:
https://i.discogs.com/kCk40WSmGccEVa_znPsW8HonMZVq33q7OXz2lzRKYQ4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:590/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNzA4/NS0xNTc1NjIyNTUw/LTg1MjIuanBlZw.jpeg

Then there was the modernist Buggy G Riphead stuff, which was better-executed but conceptually still in love with novelty. And then there was the post-modern Tomato / Designer's Republic stuff, which felt a lot more sophisticated:
https://i.discogs.com/thHFxphlLVWsiKEjsFGh-Y6VlCJUZ7ixCu-m49hiEoE/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:595/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIzMjE0/LTExNzkzMTMyNjIu/anBlZw.jpeg

I picked those two examples because that compilation series spanned the three eras. FSOL's graphic language circa Dead Cities is odd - the visuals for "We Have Explosive" came from Run Wrake's Jukebox, which was edited into the video for the single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPys3JQZ74

As a consequence it doesn't look like the rest of the album. In my opinion it has aged better.

― Ashley Pomeroy, Saturday, 6 August 2022 20:03 (three years ago)


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