― 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
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link
mainly in comparison to its bretheren
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link
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