Records judged by their covers
Yesterday afternoon in a well-known record chain store, I faced the usual dilemma of wanting more CDs than I could afford. One of the albums I was contemplating was a handsome anthology of Diana Ross & The Supremes outtakes. That was until I turned the digipack over to check the track listing and was greeted by not one, but two, anti-piracy warnings printed prominently on the packaging - the first from a copyright agency and the second from the FBI.
I am probably being overly sensitive, but I found it hugely insulting, that something that I was considering spending my money on, was warning me of the wrongness of stealing. I put the CD back in the racks and bought something else instead.
Later I was thinking about this and was reminded of the time my friend Matthew was on the verge of purchasing the Eric Matthews' album It's Heavy In Here only to be put-off by the liner notes on the back cover (a fawning essay on how great Eric Matthews is).
We can't be the only two people shallow enough to have been put-off buying a record by its packaging. Tell us your stories.
- More from backwards7.
- Login or register to post comments
The business guru Gary Hamel...
...says he won't stay in any hotel where the coat hangers are attached to the rail. His argument is it's like saying "welcome, thief".
Guilty your 'onour
I swear I've never been swayed either way by the cover of a record!
For the true masters go here this site should have permanent link as it's too marvellous for words
http://lpcoverlover.com/
DVDs, too
Equally annoying is the recent trend for DVDs to start off with a few stern warnings about the evils of piracy, which even disable the controls so you can't skip their stern little lecture. And all the while you're sitting there, thinking "I'm only seeing this because this is a legitimate copy of the DVD. If I'd bought the illegal knock-off from the local market, it wouldn't include this annoying message. Think I might stick with illegal copies in future, then.". Not joined-up thinking on their part, really, is it?
By anti piracy
warnings is this what you mean?
Brilliant!
I'd forgotten all about that. A new series of The IT Crowd is well overdue.
Personally,
nothing is more likely to prompt me to fire up the old BitTorrent beanfeast than an intelligence insulting label or video pronouncement about the evils of piracy, written by the desperate for the guidance of the clueless.
I refused to buy the original Sticky Fingers
I saw it and thought, "How are you supposed to roll a decent spliff on that?"
Conversely
On the inside of fold out of the Rastaman Vibration sleeve, there is the line "This cover is great for cleaning herb" or something very close.
Strewth, you were right about the Eric Matthews blurb.
"THIS IS THE NEW BREED: ERIC MATHEWS
The sound and talent of 1985...here today!
What is good music?
The words have become.... "
(pauses for a retching session)
"...Things like bringing to bear upon the process of music-making an original aesthetic which builds upon tradition but finds its own unique form of expression through a vital and well-ordered artistic vision."
(and I kid you not, it then actually says this:
"Continued inside..."
Ye gods, I'd never read that crap before. It's a very good album in many ways, but really. Whoever got paid to write that shite (they sign themselves as "William Loren") deserves a medal for bare faced cheek.
Sub Pop
I always hoped / prayed it was some kind of homage / in-joke from a label that wasn't the force it used to be and was scrabbling around for a new niche in the Great Grunge Backlash. They were rather on their uppers when this came out weren't they?
Still, it's a pretty good album and "Fanfare" is a belter of an opener.
Well, let's not forget that
Well, let's not forget that around the same time we had unadulterated sub-Oasis pish like Northern Uproar proclaiming themselves "the best new band in Britain"... given a comparison between the two I'd give Eric a bit more credit... anyway, I'm biased, it's one of my favourite albums.
Silverhead
This one always bothered me - even as a pre-PC cretinous teenager there seemed something slightly dodgy about it
Only
slightly?
I can remember hastily flipping past that one a few times in Boots' basement, while Mum & Dad queued up to get our coffees and cakes on a Saturday morning shopping expedition.
I didn't know WHAT to make of this the first time I saw it....
Indeed
....Lowell's on it!
and, of course....
....the cover's by Neon Park. That's two Feat connections.
Loretta
I remember a rock 'n' roll compilation album cover I used to look at with some concern featuring a cartoon biker and his "mama" - he is leering at her and drooling "Spread yer legs Loretta and lemme slurp on yer clam" (yes - it's burned on my memory).....not good for a 17 year old to see during school lunchtime trips to town.
Anyone any idea what it was?
Memories stirred there, Twang
I recall the cover, which had slipped into the deepest recesses of memory. Wasn't it a Vertigo or Dawn sampler?
Could have been
...she was snarling something about stabbing him "in the pudd'n". Charming.
The Style Council
at least on their early releases, used to feature a load of blurb on the back covers written by someone called "The Cappacino Kid." It was the most pretentious load of old pseudo bollocks that I have ever read. I used to presume that the "Kid" in question was Weller himself, but I discovered years later that it was actually the musings of britpop obsessed bandwagon jumping rock "critic" Paolo Hewitt, who was, at the time, a close chum of Weller. I heard that the two recently fell out very badly and Hewitt had published a muck raking book disguised as a track by track analysis of his old chum's output. Currently residing in a remainder bin near you.
Serves him right
I loved the Cappucino Kid
And I loved the whole image of the Style Council as projected through everything they did: videos, record sleeves, clothes etc. Tongue-in-cheek, pretentious. Great photography, great design. Compare those record sleeves now to all the horrible tat that was put out at the time. The music was good too. Such a cool group.
Some shockers here
The CSN Live one must surely be a fake. Even they weren't so blasted as to think this was a decent cover.
http://www.gigwise.com/photos/37656/the-worst-album-covers-in-the-world
ps - painfully slow website, or at least it was when I looked
Book vs cover
Lots of dodgy album sleeves at http://www.zonicweb.net/badalbmcvrs/index.htm
I want them all...
Most of Juicy Lucy's...
...album sleeves were decidedly uninviting. Can't say their music thrilled me much either, though I liked their version of Bo Diddley's classic 'Who Do You Love'.
More than one?
The eponymous debut with the naked woman covered in all varieities of fruit is the only one I know.
on the other hand
I bought Badger's One Live Badger just for the cover
no, it's not very good
Wheee!
I once bought an album that was sitting on one of those spinny racks that they used to have in Woolies with all the mfp albums on them. It had screamed at me for weeks and I had to have it. I'm not sure that I ever played it because it was clear that it had cover versions of awful disco songs on it but it had, in big letters, on the front cover the words "The greatest record since the invention of the phonograph ... Wheeeee!!" I imagine it was about 50p (or less) and I'm sure I must still have it somewhere.