― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:48 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― carly (carly), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:56 (nineteen years ago) link
http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/S/soft_cell_nonf.jpg
― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 14 April 2005 20:58 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00000745F.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
― darin (darin), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:10 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:29 (nineteen years ago) link
badhttp://www.hkedcity.net/culture/e+e/03/images/album_cover/week3/laitatwing39.jpg
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:30 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:40 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jena (JenaP), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― moley, Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:44 (nineteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000OMJ.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:51 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― Yejoon (Yejoon), Thursday, 14 April 2005 21:59 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:02 (nineteen years ago) link
http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drd900/d923/d92362hta34.jpg
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:04 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (nineteen years ago) link
― Yngwie AlmsteenMay (sgertz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.importantrecordstore.com/images/content/distributed/builttospillwaverscd.jpg
― darin (darin), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link
Meanwhile....
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000000S4.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
― Si Carter (Si Carter), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Si Carter (Si Carter), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 14 April 2005 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link
No one wanted to see Nick Cave shirtless.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LGS.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
I personally think most of New Order's album covers are fucking terrible.
― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:02 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.flaminglips.com/media/discography/albums/04_priestDriven/afc_priestDriven.jpg
Hit To Death has a classic cover too.
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link
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 (one year ago) link
i love that FSOL cover.
― mark e, Saturday, 6 August 2022 13:27 (one year ago) link
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 (one year ago) link
agree, mark e… see even the early crude digital art was better
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 (one year ago) link
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 (one year ago) link