Ok, if they were a disco band this is actually fine, but they actually sound like the Bee Gees pre-disco, except for one glam rock track.
― dlp9001, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 01:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Hold on what's wrong with that Townes Van Zandt cover?
I just really hate the colors. And that border. And the yellow text.
― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 06:59 (fourteen years ago) link
That Stereolab cover is fantastic and the title is directly lifted from a weird Japanese film from the 70s
D- thread revive :(
― War On The Terrances (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 10:23 (fourteen years ago) link
the title is directly lifted from a weird Japanese film from the 70s
I think it is a question of taste what you think about the cover. I find it ugly. The colours are dirty and don't go well together, the font they use for Stereolab is laughable. The spiral, the sun and the sun rays look cheap. In a universe of bad taste that cover would surely be a classic though.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 11:36 (fourteen years ago) link
no wai - I love how wonky the spiral is, it's like own-brand novelty potato crisps. It's just always been totally visually arresting for me, very... warming and not bearing a lot of comparison with other album art I can think of. (Any OG copies on CD are going to be fucking trashed now tho cos it came in the flimsiest card sleeve ever)
― War On The Terrances (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 11:45 (fourteen years ago) link
ime most great albums have great cover art, here's one of the exceptions:
https://i.imgur.com/Qz6s2zR.jpg
― niels, Saturday, 2 December 2017 09:27 (six years ago) link
I know they hated it but I always thought the Royal Scam cover fit the music perfectly, dirty streets and pollution and bums. and big snakes on top of skyscrapers
― flappy bird, Saturday, 2 December 2017 19:55 (six years ago) link
I love this album & think it's a modern classic but goddamn I hate the cover. Looks so 2004, ott Garden State twee, the font sucks, the drawing is shitty, the kids are ugly, the color palette is all wrong, and it just looks really amateurish, like a CD-R you'd find on a subway platform.
http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/field/image/girlpool_-_before_the_world_was_big_sm_2.jpg
― flappy bird, Saturday, 2 December 2017 19:58 (six years ago) link
Niels you’re crazy. That’s a fantastic cover!
― calstars, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
Well said, it's great, perfect for the album.
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:29 (six years ago) link
gonna go with this
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/YMO_-_BGM_album_cover.jpg
― frogbs, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:31 (six years ago) link
also, both Skylarking covers
― frogbs, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:32 (six years ago) link
the BGM cover always makes me do a double-take and spend a little bit trying to figure out if it really is just just a toothbrush getting washed off at a sink. i like it!
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:44 (six years ago) link
the royal scam, bgm and skylarking (both versions) are all wonderful album covers, and all fit perfectly with the respective albums!
― soref, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:51 (six years ago) link
I also like this unofficial alternate cover to skylarking by Saša Markoviæ Mikrob:
http://chalkhills.org/images/fanart/Mikrob-xtc1.jpg
― soref, Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:52 (six years ago) link
wtf BGM cover is great!
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 December 2017 20:55 (six years ago) link
I liked their first two album covers, but this is just bland
― jason., Thursday, April 14, 2005 10:59 PM (twelve years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
that wire cover is beautiful.
― Van Horn Street, Saturday, 2 December 2017 22:52 (six years ago) link
Yes, some odd choices in this thread.
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 December 2017 23:06 (six years ago) link
xp yeah that's my favorite wire cover.
― new noise, Saturday, 2 December 2017 23:29 (six years ago) link
christ, the BGM cover is one of my all time favorites!!
― brimstead, Saturday, 2 December 2017 23:35 (six years ago) link
Countdown to Ecstacy also p terrible imo:
https://i.imgur.com/JzLnp6T.png
fortunately it's somewhat vindicated by the awesome back cover photo:
https://i.imgur.com/OdX4Xrv.png
Happy to hear Royal Scam cover has its fans, to me it looks slightly disgusting and doesn't give any idea of what the music sounds like, I avoided that record for quite a while assuming the songs would not be quality, now its one of the SD albums I put on the most
― niels, Sunday, 3 December 2017 09:28 (six years ago) link
It confounds me that Radiohead and R.E.M. both got to where they were off the back of having, with few exceptions, absolutely terrible cover art.
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:41 (six years ago) link
Oh yeah I was looking at Countdown to Ecstasy the other day and thinking it looked awful. Don't have a problem with The Royal Scam
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:42 (six years ago) link
Back in 2011, I wrote a piece about how regardless of the merits of the music, pretty much every Britney Spears album cover is terrible:
https://www.theawl.com/2011/02/the-album-covers-of-britney-spears-a-history/
― grawlix (unperson), Sunday, 3 December 2017 14:38 (six years ago) link
https://img.discogs.com/Oevqitnuwa_c0t8P4xSQ7hCQ-xw=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-868-1231086401.jpeg.jpg
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Sunday, 3 December 2017 15:37 (six years ago) link
I like that cover. Or at least I remember liking it at the time. I never got the pun in the album title. 'snivel'?
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Sunday, 3 December 2017 21:10 (six years ago) link
I think Can’t Buy a Thrill is SD’s worst cover and Aja their best
― calstars, Sunday, 3 December 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
Yeah, it's a portmanteau of "snivel" and "civilisation" ...
(x-post)
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Sunday, 3 December 2017 21:20 (six years ago) link
I like the sleeves to Aja, Katy Lied and Pretzel Logic ... I'm less keen on the others.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Sunday, 3 December 2017 21:22 (six years ago) link
I think every SD album rules but only Aja and Gaucho have decent covers
― niels, Sunday, 3 December 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
Variant spelling of sniffle, which is why the 'man' is blowing his nose.
― Thomas Gabriel Fischer does not endorse (aldo), Monday, 4 December 2017 11:08 (six years ago) link
Terrible title whatever the story behind it.
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Monday, 4 December 2017 11:12 (six years ago) link
oh he is blowing his nose. I never noticed the hankie, just thought he was giving a thumbs-up. Oh god, it's the techno equivalent of 'I've Got My Own Album To Do'
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Monday, 4 December 2017 11:14 (six years ago) link
eheh, this is otm ! has there ever been such a big international star with such consistently awful album covers ??
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 4 December 2017 11:55 (six years ago) link
Not really a proper classic but I really enjoyed Out Hud's music but whomever they had as a graphic designer was amongst the worst ever to practice the skill.
https://resources.tidal.com/images/e8dffaa9/a1ed/4be6/8564/8a01b48d4dcf/1280x1280.jpg
― yesca, Monday, 4 December 2017 16:15 (six years ago) link
that's pretty deliberately bad though eh?
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Monday, 4 December 2017 16:19 (six years ago) link
I took me forever to listen to Cat Stevens' early 70's albums because I just assumed they were private press recordings of children's folk tales:https://i.discogs.com/6zMI2a3dnugiV_sYw25N_dEnY8rpEg9pXq4GGSjjUbw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:496/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNzI3/NzMtMTM1MzEwNjA4/My04ODkyLmpwZWc.jpeghttps://i.discogs.com/PycZ2uK8cax6Pcu3KduZFZfudXplB8GJ0t0u0v5JxL8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ3Mzg3/My0xMTYyODE0NTA1/LmpwZWc.jpeghttps://i.discogs.com/AR_zfSl-ySfS1rNU_W6MYgsbmYsHc4GPo3Gc7sWAHls/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTU1MDQz/MzYtMTQzMDk5MDMx/MC05NzExLmpwZWc.jpeg
― enochroot, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 02:50 (one year ago) link
Dammit, I like the Countdown to Ecstasy cover.
But I can't abide this one...
https://i.imgur.com/k3KAH8D.jpg
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 03:06 (one year ago) link
I think Mona Bone Jakon and Invisible Touch are brilliant album covers (I like Countdown to Ecstasy too) - but I'm used to liking sleeves others don't.
My favourite sort of sleeves are reasonably minimal but usually have vivacious colour schemes and some nice symbols or images on them or something.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 03:23 (one year ago) link
Snivilisation is great but I think it would look better if it wasn't purely b&w
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 03:25 (one year ago) link
It never occurred to me before, but that invisible touch cover is pretty yawnsomely literal.
― enochroot, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 12:23 (one year ago) link
I've always thought the cover art for Led Zeppelin III is pretty terrible
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 13:00 (one year ago) link
Not sure if these two have been mentioned yet.https://i.discogs.com/lyKy1z6fxwBjy-LMfZWFyFUZrAvd4JdTeIViAJprzXo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:599/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEzNzU1/NTc1LTE1OTM4MTQy/ODAtMTQyOS5qcGVn.jpeghttps://i.discogs.com/-OMGBkLDpJnhQE_1bfKWqon1UVOyD8LsOVw-k2dPo0Q/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE0ODk1/NTItMTUyMzEzMzMw/NC04Mzg3LmpwZWc.jpeg
― TO BE A JAZZ SINGER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCAT (Jazzbo), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 13:21 (one year ago) link
I actually really like that aesthetic, though I think the illustration on Funky Kingston is stronger than the one on Livin' For You. Also the Livin' For You kind of recalls Grateful Dead American Beauty (wood grain, rose, vaguely psychedelic).
Split Enz Mental Notes is the weirdo prog-pop version of that style, and I like it too:
https://i.discogs.com/RTloqsrkDao2rDTc2lErjjmZ2yPTzoG3qeb5o9c0zn8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkxODYw/Mi0xNDY1MTM3MTM4/LTg0MTAuanBlZw.jpeg
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 13:47 (one year ago) link
funky kingston cover is so iconic that it's hard for me to evaluate it objectively
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 13:48 (one year ago) link
Got no problem with Funky Kingston! It's decently executed mid-70s graphic art, a bit Children's Television Workshop, but nothing awkward like the Al Green or ersatz-Hipgnosis like the Split Enz paintings.
― Jaqueline Kasabian Oasis (bendy), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 14:34 (one year ago) link
That Al Green cover is bizarre - I guess he's half tree, half man? Great album though, one of his best and part of that phenomenal run in the '70s.
I didn't know Peter Falk was in Split Enz. I guess he turned everyone on to dressing like Columbo.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 14:48 (one year ago) link
Split Enz cover giving me BNL "Gordon" flashbacks.
― Antifa Sandwich Artist (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 15:15 (one year ago) link
lmao yes
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 15:55 (one year ago) link
Take a good look at this piece of shit:
(Appetite for Destruction cover)
"Destruction" just barely fits on the banner. Plenty of room for "*Appetite," though. All around ugly and poorly executed.
Because we must strive for fairness when assessing the works of great artistes like GNR, I will point out that this wasn't the original cover (aesthetically questionable as that one may have been); it wasn't even the compromise cover (which does not squeeze the title into a little banner beneath the cross); it was a modified version used for the cassette (and, I guess, the CD?)
― “Lawman,” Slick (Grunt) (morrisp), Tuesday, 19 July 2022 16:05 (one year ago) link