Album covers that look like the music sounds
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Topic: Album covers that look like the music sounds
Posted By: Lewian
Subject: Album covers that look like the music sounds
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 10:49
Two current threads and my recent review of David Sylvian's last album, of which the cover fits the music that well that I'd say, if you like the cover, you'll like the music and if you don't, you won't, gave me the idea to ask for covers that fit the music on an album perfectly well and may give people a pretty good idea of whether they'll like the music or not.
Here's Sylvian:

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Replies:
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 10:54
Two more:


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Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 11:02
Great thread idea.
Here are some examples that I think really encapsulates this:
Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink
Whimsical, fantasy-like, psychedelic, a paradoxical mélange of upbeat and melancholy.
Abstract, surrealist, futuristic-yet-earthy, all tied together with an African flare.
Pastoral, dreamy, idealistic, nostalgic.
Intricate, pestilent, cold, technical, morbidly fascinating.
Those are the first few prog examples that leap to mind. There are also several non-prog covers that I immediately thought of that I could also share.
------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 11:30
I remember back in the 70s, when I could go to a record store (an experience that I miss a lot), and discovered many bands just by looking at the cover. Bands like Genesis, Horderlin, yes, Uriah Heep, to name a few, gave me the impression that the music was great, and indeed, the music did not disappoint me, sounding just like I had imagined.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 12:07
For me anyway:
Relayer Tales from topographic oceans A trick of the tail Selling England by the Pound (the lawnmower on the cover was painted in deliberately because of the song "I know what I like.") Atom Heart Mother (I know this is an odd one but those cows on the back cover are kind of spooky like some of the music and the front cover depicts the rural and pastoral nature of some of it too).
That's all I can think of actually.
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Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 12:12
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:
For me anyway:
Relayer Tales from topographic oceans A trick of the tail Selling England by the Pound (the lawnmower on the cover was painted in deliberately because of the song "I know what I like.") Atom Heart Mother (I know this is an odd one but those cows on the back cover are kind of spooky like some of the music and the front cover depicts the rural and pastoral nature of some of it too).
That's all I can think of actually.
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The Yes and Genesis ones are great examples, too. Actually, I think that any of the Genesis covers from Trespass to Wind & Wuthering are actually fairly good representations of the music, though the fact that Paul Whitehead often incorporates lyrical elements into his paintings probably helps.
------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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Posted By: Guy Guden
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 17:08
Amon Duul II, YETI, DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS, CARNIVAL IN BABYLON, WOLF CITY & VIVE LA TRANCE. great imagery, from the keyboardist, I believe.
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Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 17:26
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:
Atom Heart Mother |
 When I started the thread, I thought AHM is the only one I could be sure that will not be nominated.
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 21:07
The Harmonium one that was mentioned/shown before seems very adequate. Also I think Anthony Phillip's "The Geese and the Ghost". And many of Pink Floyd ones. Animals does it right... perhaps also Meddle; the Endless River too. And I guess the Classic era Genesis ones would fit.
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 21:23
Most Tech/Extreme Metal cover arts suggest what's within.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 23:08
Magnum Vaeltaja wrote:
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:
For me anyway:
Relayer Tales from topographic oceans A trick of the tail Selling England by the Pound (the lawnmower on the cover was painted in deliberately because of the song "I know what I like.") Atom Heart Mother (I know this is an odd one but those cows on the back cover are kind of spooky like some of the music and the front cover depicts the rural and pastoral nature of some of it too).
That's all I can think of actually.
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The Yes and Genesis ones are great examples, too. Actually, I think that any of the Genesis covers from Trespass to Wind & Wuthering are actually fairly good representations of the music, though the fact that Paul Whitehead often incorporates lyrical elements into his paintings probably helps. |
I agree with the other Genesis albums you mentioned too. I would add And then there were three but I really am not sure what the heck that is suppose to be. Wind and Wuthering is a good example and so is Trespass. The others less so but even those do fit to some degree.
Also, I think Jethro Tull's songs from the wood is a good one for this too. The carved out record player on the back could literally be a song from the wood if it could play.  The first King Crimson album cover(the red face guy) fits the music in my opinion. The other ones not so much. Apparently there is more than one cover for Islands but the one I am familiar with which is some kind of astronomy picture sort of fits.
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 10 2016 at 23:47
^ The other cover to Islands is a randomly shaped opalesque blotch on a cream background, with two more blotches on the back. I actually have this early US press (thick as all-hell) and prefer it to that Triffid nebula (or whatever it is) on the UK version.
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Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:07
Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:08
Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:09
Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:11
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:12
^^ Yeah !!! Magician's Birthday ........whips Demons And Wizards any day of the week.........
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Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 04:13
Tom Ozric wrote:
^^ Yeah !!! Magician's Birthday ........whips Demons And Wizards any day of the week......... |
When I close my eyes listening to the titletrack the whole battle that's displayed on the albumsleeve, comes to life in my head.
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Posted By: Le_Nostalgique
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 08:38
I'd say these three...



------------- Animals/Brain Salad Surgery/Brother Where You Bound/Close to the Edge/Eldorado/Eye in the Sky/Hemispheres/Look at Yourself/Now What?/Rain Dances/Red/Spirit of Eden/Thick as a Brick/A Trick of the Tail
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Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 08:42

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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
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Posted By: TeleStrat
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 08:48
Debut album by German band Dunst. The music fits the cover nicely.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 08:54
I consider the first BLACK SABBATH to have the perfect band name for the music and includes the perfect album cover that conveys exactly what the music does: creepy, dark, dismal and occult
same goes for the complete wrap around morbidity of COMUS' first utterance. The twisted black and white figure on the cover depicts the dark and macabre subject matter with a twist of suffering intermingled in every nook and cranny
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Posted By: progmatic
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 09:08
I agree with everything above about the first Black Sabbath album; it was the first cover I thought of. Geese & Ghost was next. Also John G. Perry's Sunset Wading.
------------- PROGMATIC
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Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 09:21

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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
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Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 10:58
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:
I agree with the other Genesis albums you mentioned too. I would add And then there were three but I really am not sure what the heck that is suppose to be. Wind and Wuthering is a good example and so is Trespass. The others less so but even those do fit to some degree.
Also, I think Jethro Tull's songs from the wood is a good one for this too. The carved out record player on the back could literally be a song from the wood if it could play.  The first King Crimson album cover(the red face guy) fits the music in my opinion. The other ones not so much. Apparently there is more than one cover for Islands but the one I am familiar with which is some kind of astronomy picture sort of fits.
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Funny that you mention that last point, because I think In The Court of The Crimson King is actually the only early King Crimson cover that doesn't fit the whole album, actually. It definitely matches the opening track (as it should, because the screaming man on the cover is the 21st Century Schizoid Man), but I feel like the rest of the album demands something a bit darker, colder, and more passive as far as cover art. A woods in the nighttime kind of thing, perhaps.
As for In The Wake of Poseidon, I feel like the blend of colours mixing from one to another do a very good job of representing the way that the album flows between all its extremes. The deep red hues of Pictures of A City weaving into the light, tranquil blue of Cadence and Cascade, etc.
And Lizard is probably the best matched to the album's contents, since the scenes are pulled directly from the lyrics. More generally, though, the cover art feels almost like a tapestry, which captures the album's complexity and intricacies, while also capturing some of the medieval, fantasy allure.
Islands is a weird one because the Trifid Nebula painting really shouldn't make me think of the music at all, but it all makes sense in my head.
Larks' Tongues In Aspic is another great one as far as I'm concerned. The ambiguous nature of it, the hippie-esque imagery, the coy expression of their faces; it feels like a gateway into the occult. Which, by the time Cross comes in with his violin ostinato in the opening track, you darn well know it is!
------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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Posted By: tszirmay
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 11:03
------------- I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 12:22
I thought of another one that I don't think has been mentioned yet.
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 17:05

------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me.
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Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 17:05
Tarkus.
------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 11 2016 at 22:17
......something stuffed up......
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Posted By: admireArt
Date Posted: December 12 2016 at 02:42
Posted By: Kingsnake
Date Posted: December 12 2016 at 03:51
I love the autumn/pastoral feel of the albumsleeve. it fits the music so well.
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Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: December 12 2016 at 08:02
Kingsnake wrote:
I love the autumn/pastoral feel of the albumsleeve. it fits the music so well. |
Love that one! I also find Eat A Peach to be a perfect cover for the music. Apparently it was designed with "and early-morning-sky feel" in mind, which I think they captured flawlessly, as did the band with tracks like Mountain Jam and Blue Sky.
------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: December 12 2016 at 12:34

------------- https://www.last.fm/user/Tapfret" rel="nofollow"> https://bandcamp.com/tapfret" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp
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Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: December 16 2016 at 17:07
Another example that came to mind from outside the prog sphere:
------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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