What the @#/&! is this?
I got these two in the mail this morning. One is the new Aimee Mann album, which appears to be called "@#/&! Smilers". Catchy.
The other is, well, we've looked at it every which way, stood on our heads, tried it through half-closed eyes and, well, we finally worked out what it said but the question remains: how many people browsing in record shops are going to be intrigued by this sort of inscrutable, deliberately amateurish packaging and investigate further? And how many people are just going to think "if they can't be bothered, nor can I".
I don't think Ian McEwan has a lot of say in how his new novel is packaged and they don't hand Gwyneth Paltrow some crayons and say "tell you what, love, why don't you knock up a poster for Iron Man?" Only in the music business is the packaging of albums still left to the lead singer's best mate. Have you seen slacker than these?
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Eesh!
That Aimee Mann cover really is awful. It's been discussed on the site before, and I was hoping I'd never have to see it again!
I guess the second one is the new release by Semifinalists?
Just thank your lucky stars those images are only CD size and you didn't get sent the vinyl copy!
Following some Google
Following some Google research it would appear The Semifinalists design their own sleeves. Did they not think to ask other people what they thought?
Didn't a friend think to tell...oh wait...no friends.....
I may be missing the point here...
...but isn't the album actually called "@#%&! Smilers" rather than "@#/&! Smilers"...?
;)
Ooooh...
....you know what? I think you've hit the nail on the head!
Excuse me - I'm just off to have my tongue surgically removed from my cheek...
on the plus side
the actual musical content of Aimee Mann's new offering is rather lovely....but it really isn't going to win any awards for it's cover art or title.
Indeed
Aimee Mann is probably secure in the knowledge that the faithful are going to buy it anyway, and any casual listeners will be drawn in by recommendation, free downloads etc. I'm a big fan of Aimee, but a graphic designer by trade. It isn't a great cover, but I fear the truly great album cover is dying with, well, the album.
I think I've said this before
but the artwork for Dr Dre's The Chronic is singularly bad
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chronic-Dr-Dre/dp/B000NTPE9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&...
i'd like to add these to the 'horrendous album artwork' list...
....just looking at them induces a shudder.
I don't know
"Distasteful" is one thing. I'm looking for slack.
The career of the Scorpions is littered with bad album covers...
... Lovedrive is every bit as subtle as Animal Magnetism and hte original cover for "Virgin Killer" is just distasteful and creepy in equal amounts. It sure as hell ain't no Blind Faith image of bucolic sci-fi innocence. Shudder...
And, no, I'm not imbedding it here.
I know the one
It regularly makes the top spot in world worst record covers lists
Agreed...
...that Scorpions cover is dreadful and was possibly the inspiration for the proposed idea of Spinal Tap's 'Smell The Glove'!
Darwinism in action
Years ago my brother and his band decamped to a studio in Wales with the intention of recording some demos. Apparently there was a box full of CDs that had been cut by other bands, from which the studio owner invited them to take anything that took their fancy. My brother returned home with this disc by Decadent Ape, which he generously gave to me as a Christmas present.
I apologise if any former members of Decadent Ape are stung by the amusement I continue to derive from the cover of their album. Graphic design isn’t really your forte. You may however be pleased to hear that my anal record collecting tendencies have resulted in your disc being incorporated into my main collection. It currently resides in a box alongside such illustrious company as Fela Kuti, Fugazi, The Walkabouts and Andrew WK!
The music,incidentally, is reminiscent of ABC, with strangely androgynous vocals mixed at the same level as the tom-tom drums and slap bass. It’s endearingly bizarre.
Meddle by Pink Floyd
A photograph of an ear underwater, but so close and distorted by the colour scheme that it looks like nothing much. A good (perhaps great but flawed) album that I think most people with an interest in Pink Floyd simply overlook just because it's got such a non-cover. It took me years before I got round to investigating it because it was so invisible on the shop shelves.
Oddly enough...
Meddle was one of the first albums I owned, and the intriguing, other-worldly cover was one of the things that attracted me. I heard "One Of The Days" and "Echoes", and was enticed, but staring at the cover whilst listening to "Echoes" was the deal-clincher. Classic cover - instantly distinctive.
Well at least someone likes it
Even Storm Thorgenson (sic), who made it based on instructions from the band, thinks its pretty poor.
Yes but...
Storm was also the perpetrator of several of the Scorpions albums discussed above...
Laziest and lamest album sleeve design
I’ve ever seen is this:
http://www.7digital.com/artists/glen-campbell/love-songs-(uk)/
(sorry, haven’t worked out how to put up photos)
A collection of Glen Campbell love songs. Entitled, imaginatively, Glen Campbell Love Songs. The cover is a tableau intended to depict the romantic riches within and entice the browser. It consists of: some red satin, a yellow rose, a framed photo of Glen Campbell and a glass of water.
Cracking album though.
Slacker? I'd still vote for...
Gemma Hayes original cover for her lovely album, The Roads Don't Love You - apparently created by a 9 year old with a pot of glue, some magazines, a pair of stubby primary school scissors and a scrapbook!
Later replaced with the rather better...
anything by
The Fall and REM
A random Google reveals this corker
Many more such delights here: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/worst-album-covers
For instance:
(never mind the cover, it's got DOLBY SURROUND)
I swear
that bloke in the middle at the front fitted the new gas boiler we got last year.
I doubt it
That’s Rod Temperton who wrote half of the Thriller album, so can probably get by without doing plumbing jobs. I wonder if the overalls were designed by the people who do the Kwik Fit ones.
These people should know better
There are many horrendous covers but it's the ones that have a too-literal take on the title - or just insultingly lazy - that really get my goat.
Neil Sedaka - Laughter and Tears.
Nine photos of Neil, arranged in a nice square. Top left - Neil laughs. Follow it down to bottom right and Neil slowly but surely becomes a blubbering mess. What a shit idea for a cover. Neil posed for the pics (while listening to his record, no doubt)so he cannot claim that he had nothing to do with it.
Chris de Burgh - This way up
There's a photo of Chris. And underneath there's another photo of Chris UPSIDE DOWN!!! Which way up is it?? Oh...I see! Clever, isn't it? No.
Bucks Fizz - Are you Ready?
All four dressed in parachute gear. Why is that then? It's because they are "ready" - to jump out of a plane. Words fail me.
Always found this distinctly creepy
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Blood%2CSweat%26TearsChild...