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aglasshouse View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: What Makes A Cover?
    Posted: May 20 2016 at 15:04
Albums covers have evolved over a long period of time. From simple brown slips, to pictures of the musicians, to awe-inspiring works of art that people remember for ages (even if the album wasn't good). This "third era" is what I'm going to be focusing on.
So what makes these covers so memorable? What makes it that even if an album isn't good it's cover is still good? The textless, minimalistic style of Storm Thorgerson's Dark Side of the Moon, or the surrealist landscapes of Roger Dean's Relayer? What factors are most important to a spectacular album cover? 

As per usual this is probably a topic that's been done before, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to give a fresh opinion. 


Edited by aglasshouse - May 20 2016 at 15:06
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 20 2016 at 17:14
For me, reflection of the music is part of it. Iron Maiden's "Powerslave" for example, not only is is a masterful artwork, but it perfectly reflects the epic nature of Iron Maiden's music. Black Sabbath's debut is another cover that reflects the music really well, invoking the dark sinister sound of the album.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 20 2016 at 19:29
Like all works of art, it's mostly in the eyes of the beholder. It can suggest an insight into the band since they must have had some input (Love Beach notwithstanding Confused) and therefore an insight into the music. I know I've bought albums (mostly bargain bin stuff) based on the cover and or instruments that the band plays (in my case keyboard stuff). Some times it is reflective, mostly it's not. For me modern and or unique works of art draw my eye Porcupine Tree Signify). Pictures of the band on the cover don't do much for me, but that doesn't mean the music is bad (think ELP Trilogy or Peter Gabriel 1,2,3). I would have preferred that the image on the inside of the ELP's Trilogy gatefold have been on the front and not the head shots. Heavily photoshopped collages I find kind of lame (Dream Theatre Images and Words or Awake)...but that's just me, what do I know?


Edited by JD - May 20 2016 at 19:30
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 20 2016 at 20:12
For me the best covers are ones that you can't put a date on. I'll use In the Court of the Crimson King as an example. It could be from the '60s or it could be from yesterday. I's a painting, using real paint and paper. There is very little text on the cover, and what there is is set in a nondescript typeface, probably something like Futura if I recall, which has no connection to a time frame. Love it or hate it, it's timeless.

The worst ones are the ones that look dated due to an obvious attempt by the designer to use the latest and greatest tools just because they are new. Beware of the latest super-distinctive font! It will probably end up being the next Papyrus. And Photoshop in the wrong hands is certain death. And don't get me started on 3d renderings. Iron Maiden's Dance of Death...


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 20 2016 at 22:54
Originally posted by stegor stegor wrote:

And don't get me started on 3d renderings. Iron Maiden's Dance of Death...

I think DoD could have worked if it too was a painting or drawing.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 28 2016 at 05:00
There isn't a magic formula for determining whether a particular album cover will be successful, memorable or even good. The art work doesn't even have to be original or particularly well done to be successful but it does have to be associated with a memorable album. Most of the "iconic" covers we remember are associated with memorable albums and this is no coincidence, there are very few memorable covers associated with less popular albums, yet had those covers and albums been switched before release and the results would have been the same - the 'replacement' artwork on the memorable albums would be the one we remember now. While designer/artists like Dean, Thorgerson, Whitehead, Bubbles, etc., are associated with particular bands and covers unless they directly refer to the band (Hardie on Led Zepp 1) or album title (Whitehead on Foxtrot or Nursery Cryme) you can swap their artwork around without affecting anything. [an oft overlooked/unsung hero there is George Hardie who was responsible for three of the most iconic covers ever made - LZ1, DSotM and WYWH ... with special mention for The Song Remains The Same and I, Robot]

One thing that has always struck me as curious is Hipgnosis will forever be associated with Pink Floyd in spite of creating many other memorable covers for a lot of other bands, (200 different covers between 1969 and 1982), including those for 10cc, ELO, Renaissance, The Nice, ELP, Wishbone Ash, Caravan, Scorpions and Led Zeppelin plus all those Storm produced later for bands like The Cranberries, Dream Theater and Muse... Many (if not all) of those are interchangeable.

/edit:

Pop Quiz - we (probably) all recognise this album cover, but who created it?





Edited by Dean - May 28 2016 at 05:13
What?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 01:11
Controversial covers can sometimes be winners for being memorable. Lots of no name bands have made their mark through this manner.
 
The Dwarves probably haven't released a non-controversial album cover.
Come Clean (The Dwarves album - cover art).jpgThe Dwarves Blood Guts & Pussy.jpg
 
Cattle Decapitation's Humanure
CattleDecapitationHumanure.jpg
 
For me though something that grabs your attention and/or has some minor details you might find later are probably the best characteristics for me. I love myself some "dark" drawings so that is what grabs my attention, but probably not the masses.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 05:16
^Not sure if shoking covers are always memorable: the Grind/Death fields are filled with this crap and some of these "artworks" are so cliché that I can't even be horrified/disgusted/shocked or just bothered by them.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 05:52
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

There isn't a magic formula for determining whether a particular album cover will be successful, memorable or even good. The art work doesn't even have to be original or particularly well done to be successful but it does have to be associated with a memorable album. Most of the "iconic" covers we remember are associated with memorable albums and this is no coincidence, there are very few memorable covers associated with less popular albums, yet had those covers and albums been switched before release and the results would have been the same - the 'replacement' artwork on the memorable albums would be the one we remember now. While designer/artists like Dean, Thorgerson, Whitehead, Bubbles, etc., are associated with particular bands and covers unless they directly refer to the band (Hardie on Led Zepp 1) or album title (Whitehead on Foxtrot or Nursery Cryme) you can swap their artwork around without affecting anything. [an oft overlooked/unsung hero there is George Hardie who was responsible for three of the most iconic covers ever made - LZ1, DSotM and WYWH ... with special mention for The Song Remains The Same and I, Robot]

One thing that has always struck me as curious is Hipgnosis will forever be associated with Pink Floyd in spite of creating many other memorable covers for a lot of other bands, (200 different covers between 1969 and 1982), including those for 10cc, ELO, Renaissance, The Nice, ELP, Wishbone Ash, Caravan, Scorpions and Led Zeppelin plus all those Storm produced later for bands like The Cranberries, Dream Theater and Muse... Many (if not all) of those are interchangeable.

/edit:

Pop Quiz - we (probably) all recognise this album cover, but who created it?




Roger Dean, obviously. Well, maybe not obviously. It is very different from all of other works.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 07:21
new album covers should now be 3D holograms or ells i will loose my total faith in progress and the world of technology and innovation
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 08:34
^Before 3D covers of records (LPs, MCs or CDs, it doesn't matter), it would be nice if mp3 albums were sold with animations for your mp3 players : it's rather sad to see that only a handlet of artists have considered using the nowadays technologies for "illuminating" this dull thing that mp3 albums are.

And I'm not talking about video-clips of songs, I'm just talking of using programmes like Flash players just to have moving pictures instead of a still of the cover of the physical copy of said album. We have the technology, why don't we use it?!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 09:03
I personally appreciate when the cover is in par with the music.
When I was researching original music, the first thing which you can judge the contents with is the cover. I was often disappointed by a cool cover not representing the music, and the opposite too.

Here are some examples of my deceptions:

Wohoo! My (Egyptian) God! The artwork is stunning! This must be the most epic middle-eastern metal I'll ever heard! In fact, only the title track sounds Egyptian, and half of the record consist in just average 80's hard rock songs...

A car plate for an unique Greek psych-folk album? Logical.

A man's bum and buildings for a music from an enchanted land? Are you serious?

Here are some examples of covers I find appropriate:

The eclipse, the darkness... You know you're in for something cosmic...

Romantic, mellow, oneiric...


Edited by Modrigue - May 31 2016 at 09:09
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 09:36
As other members have remarked, the cover needs to go in par with the music. In addition, it is worth remembering that the cover is the first thing that the listener sees. This will tune their mood to certain atmosphere that they should find on the album. A good cover can even build a tension connected with music. And yet, I like it when covers are not the first obvious thing one will think about when one will hear the music first.
Some of the covers I like:
Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three

East Of Eden - Snafu (although here it is hard to tell what the cover represents and what it is supposed to reflect)


Sometimes I imagine I were to record an album and I imagine what my dream cover would look like. It's hard, but I like the atmosphere of Dover-like cliffs during a storm or plain western European countryside.


Edited by ALotOfBottle - May 31 2016 at 09:37
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2016 at 12:04
A perfect one (Paul Ridout)

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2016 at 12:17
I think Space Hymns is one of Dean's best works. The full painting was after all the biggest cover he was allowed to make and he really ran with it.



Edited by aglasshouse - June 08 2016 at 12:18
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2016 at 12:42
^ the big reveal:
What?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2016 at 12:55
I love album covers that are...

-Intimate works of art or photographically provided by the band themselves....subtle and understated.  Something that gives a glimpse into the band's collective world without overthinking being involved. 

-Preferably no (or minimal) text or logos.

-Something that doesn't look like the band's promotion had graphic art firms create something "proggy", which ends up being cliched and overblown, with little actual essence of the group. 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2016 at 16:45
I love album covers that are somewhat strange or mysterious.

who are these 3 strange creatures, and why are they dancing on a chessboard-tiled floor in a barren landscape?


what are the nude bald tattooed angel and the nude black woman doing in that hippie room?


why are the hawk and the penguin meeting on a cemetery at night? and what about the mines with the burning fuses?



Edited by BaldJean - June 08 2016 at 16:48


A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
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