AL*** COVER ART

Posted by: samo7 on 12 January 2002

Aside from Roger Dean has anyone else contributed to this artform?? What are your favourite albums rated on cover-art alone?? Roxy Music comes to mind if you call that art...and I do!

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Mike Sae

but I like this one. Bought it for the picture, the music really sucked.

Posted on: 12 January 2002 by Jez Quigley

Rick Griffen

Posted on: 13 January 2002 by Cheese

Too bad he died the following year though.

Cheese

Posted on: 14 January 2002 by Dr. Exotica

This one is hard to beat - fantastic album as well.

Erik

BTW - If you are unterested in album cover art, try:

SwankRadio

317X

[This message was edited by Dr. Exotica on TUESDAY 15 January 2002 at 02:03.]

Posted on: 14 January 2002 by Jez Quigley

Kelly/Mouse

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Tony L

quote:
Exotica everytime
This one is hard to beat - fantastic album as well.

I win!

Dick Schory – Music for bang, barroom…, Peter Appleyard – Percussive jazz doctored for Super Stereo (possibly the best album of all time!), Harry Breuer – Mallet Magic (I would kill for a mint stereo copy of this), Esquivel – Strings aflame (not his best album, but still barking mad).

Tony.

PS Be very afraid... I have more.

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Hammerhead

Todd Sharpville - The Meaning of Life

Steve
(Who's considering taking up busking!)

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Pete

Storm Thorgerson (part of the old Hipgnosis design team, responsible for many of Pink Floyd's covers over the years, amongst others) has done a book on his favourite album covers, "100 best album covers". It's a pretty good book for a browse, and isn't all just artsy fartsy stuff as one might fear.

I've always rather liked Rush's Signals, Undertones' Positive Touch, Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh, various Neon Park covers and Lemonjelly's .ky, amongst others.

Pete.

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by steveb

Rodney Matthews-did some great covers-web site good www.rodneymatthews.com asis Roger Dean's www.rogerdean.com.
If you are interested in cover art a good book is The 100 Best Album Covers, a DK book that gets the designers to exp[lain the cover, Q mag also had a special issue recently that had a similar format.
Some of my faves must be the covers for the Amon Duul albums-Dance of the Lemmings especially-at one point (1972) Hawkwind were using a slide of the inner cover for the intro "This is your Captain Speaking".
Must go home and have look through collection and post more faves.
Steve

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Keith Mattox

Sadly, I have no good scan of the cover; the best I can do is from the "official fan site"...

Cheers

Keith.

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Former member

i look to peter saville covers, the content puts me off the ones mentioned before. i like 10cc's "how dare you".
ashley.

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Former member

Here's one I knocked up for a colleague at work for her demo CD. Shame about the title... "Tracks 1, 2 & 3"...

The pictures seems to have lost a little impact and clarity in its transistion from a 3000 pixel square Photoshop image into a 400 pixel square JPEG!

Derren.

Posted on: 15 January 2002 by Dr. Exotica

quote:

Tony Lonorgan states:
I win!
Dick Schory – Music for bang, barroom…, Peter Appleyard – Percussive jazz doctored for Super Stereo (possibly the best album of all time!), Harry Breuer – Mallet Magic (I would kill for a mint stereo copy of this), Esquivel – Strings aflame (not his best album, but still barking mad).

Not so fast. Esquivel is decidedly excellent - Strings Aflame is a classic. However, consider this gem:

Belly dancing music always wins.

quote:

PS Be very afraid... I have more.

On the contrary, I want more.

Erik

Posted on: 16 January 2002 by Tony L

quote:
Not so fast. Esquivel is decidedly excellent - Strings Aflame is a classic.

I read the sad news that Esquivel died this month. Music will unquestionably never be the same again.

I have both 'Exploring new sounds in hi-fi' and 'Other worlds, other sounds', but only on CD (good vinyl being stupidly expensive and hard to find) - I rate both as being even more insane than 'Strings Aflame'.

Tony.

Posted on: 16 January 2002 by John C

I like Ray Price covers, a picture tells a thousand stories. The king of male heartbreak by the way.

John.n

Posted on: 16 January 2002 by nodrog

Surely 'Surfer Rosa' merits a mention, as do a great many of 23 Envelope's covers.

Peter

Posted on: 16 January 2002 by Dr. Exotica

quote:

I read the sad news that Esquivel died this month. Music will unquestionably never be the same again.

I had not heard this news - this is quite sad.

quote:

I have both 'Exploring new sounds in hi-fi' and 'Other worlds, other sounds', but only on CD (good vinyl being stupidly expensive and hard to find) - I rate both as being even more insane than 'Strings Aflame'.

Agreed regarding insanity.

As for the availability of the Esquivel vinyl, it is fairly common around these parts (LA). I picked up a bunch of good Esquivel vinyl at a record show for $7/album (Ebay is way overpriced). Guess I'm lucky living in the epicenter of the vinyl industry.

Erik

Posted on: 17 January 2002 by Tony L

quote:
As for the availability of the Esquivel vinyl, it is fairly common around these parts (LA). I picked up a bunch of good Esquivel vinyl at a record show for $7/album (Ebay is way overpriced).

If you stumble across any original, not insanely priced, and good condition copies of Esquivel's early Living Stereo albums please drop me a email, I would be very interested indeed. Same goes for some of the more bizarre items on Audio Fidelity records. As well as Percussive jazz doctored for super stereo, I also have Al Hirt at Dan's Pier 600, both are absolutely mint original pressings. I would kill for good stereo gatefold originals of any of the Harry Bruer Mallet Magic series.

Percussive Jazz is stunning in a totally unhinged way, along with the equally insane Dick Schory album pictured above is actually amongst the finest quality recordings I have ever heard. They are also amongst the most musical absurd - Percussive Jazz includes versions of TV themes such as Dragnet which are given a ultra-cheese percussive loungecore treatment. Unquestionably one of the best albums ever made.

Funny how the industry got stereo vinyl exactly right from the beginning (the three albums I mention date from 1958-60), then gradually got worse until the last few years when sound and pressing quality has started to go up again. The covers of the early Audio Fidelity albums are the best quality I have ever seen, they are really heavy laminated high gatefolds - a sadly lost art. The Dick Schory album has been re-issued on Classic Records, and is IMHO actually better than the original (I have both!). Worth a punt if you like really stupid music (think somewhere between jazz, lounge, and 40s-50s Warner Brothers cartoons).

To get back on topic and talk about album cover art, I am surprised no one has mentioned Blue Note - this label was responsible for some of the best covers around. Think of the brilliant simplicity of 'Somethin' Else', 'Midnight Blue', 'The Sidewinder', 'Go' etc. I'm actually hard put to think of any bad Blue Note covers. There is something so right about a Blue Note album, it’s a whole package, looks great, sounds great, its a total package. IMHO to own Blue Note recordings on CD is to miss a large amount of the experience.

Tony.

Posted on: 17 January 2002 by Ron The Mon

Have you (or anyone else)seen the Blue Note two part TV documentary? It has a whole section on the cover art and the ONE man who took virtually all the photos. He fought for almost every cover and disliked jazz to boot(in fact Blue Note gave him comp records and he traded them at shops for classsical records!!!)

Ron The Mon

Posted on: 17 January 2002 by John C

Hard to know where to start with his brillaint covers, Out to Lunch, The Congregation. Cecil Taylor has good covers, not all Bluenote.

m]Z µ b

Posted on: 18 January 2002 by Gunnar Jansson

Hi!
All of the Dead can dance album´s have good covers in my opinion.
London calling is also great.
Always liked Iggy and the stooges Raw power cover
regards

Posted on: 18 January 2002 by Former member

Gang of Four - Entertainment
(Cowboy meets Indian...)

Return of the Durutti Column
(Sandpaper sleeve)

Jaco Pastorius - Word of Mouth

Most Steely Dan covers
(apart from Can't buy a thrill)

Posted on: 18 January 2002 by steveb

Man-Be Good To yourself-wondeful foldout cover with map of Wales
Hawkwind-In Search Of Space-another great foldout-only used as single Silver Machine was a success, initially UA refused to press such a complex sleeve.
Hawkwind-Space Ritual
Durutti Column-name forgotten, but was sandpaper-wrecked adjacent sleeves to show pop was disposable-also Stones Sticky Fingers had same effect with the zip.
Faust-1st, clear vinyl and clear sleeve, 2nd was all black!!-both great sleeves for the effect

Posted on: 18 January 2002 by Tony L

quote:
Durutti Column-name forgotten, but was sandpaper-wrecked adjacent sleeves to show pop was disposable

It was their first album, the wonderfully titled 'The return of the Durutti Column'. Its a really good album. I love the design of most of the Factory Records products of that period - Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Atmosphere etc, A certain Ratio's early 12"s and first two albums etc. Quality stuff.

Got most of the other stuff you mention too...

Tony.

Posted on: 19 January 2002 by Former member

Globe Propaganda (aka George Hunter of The (original) Charlatans

- Happy Trails, Shady Grove, It's A Beautiful Day