BY MIKEY MIGO
Every music fan has their favorite album covers of all time. I've seen tons of people wearing shirts with old album covers on them. It's part of the imagery of modern music. Of course we used to have the big 12 inch LPs that would literally give us a frameable piece of artwork. From there it downsized to CDs. While old school folk bitched about it being so small, it was still something. In today's day and age we've hit a pretty hard wall when it comes to album art. Many people don't care, or at least have been programmed not to care, about having a physical representation of the music product of choice. Coming from a guy who keeps ticket stubs from last millennium, that's a heart break.
Still, for now, the album art is still alive. I used to look forward to a new album being released. I'd get the album as soon as I could, go home, put on headphones, listen, and read/look. If the album was good then having it in my hand was like a trophy of good taste. With the internet, the artist and their art are much more accessible. The mystery and illusion of your favorite musician is gone. I'm not complaining about that. While twitter, MySpace, and the like panders to their celebrity, it also shows many as human and less "god-like". It's really a double-sided sword. I've seen a lot of artists include a pdf file or something equivalent with their downloadable album, it's just not the same.
I don't think album covers will be gone completely any time soon, but it's a fading area. Before it fades into oblivion there's still some artists out there who have a few tricks up their creative sleeves. Most notably, just look at any TOOL album to be released. That's always good for a "wow. this is pretty awesome" experience. While it's not as grandeur as it used to be, there are still some sleepers out there that always impress me. I'm am art nerd, what can I say? With that, I pay attention to this kind of thing.
I took a look at the Top 200 selling albums. There are plenty of artists on the list that aren't to my musical liking and some that are. But it's not about me, it's about the masses. The masses, as mindless as they can be, apparently enjoy THESE albums more than any others. I just went down the list, occasionally picking one here and there. There's no order to this madness. This is just a critique of ten selected album covers that are currently on the charts. Feel free to disagree, but know that you're probably wrong.
Album: "Loso's Way"
Artist: Fabolous
Cover:
As of the time I write this column, "Loso's Way" is number one on the Billboard charts. Apparently this is a concept album and the Deluxe Edition(NOT featured above) has a thirty three minute movie to go with it. That's always cool. I'm a fan of concept albums and support artists who use other mediums to express their music. Sadly, without looking, I'm going to assume this "movie" is about "the streets" and involves drugs, cops, women, guns, and at least three jacked references to the movie "Scarface". (Mikey MiGo actually goes and looks it up.) Ha! I was right! It's based on "Carlito's Way". Generic. Just like this cover.
Rating: 3.0
Album: "The E.N.D."
Artist: Black Eye Peas
Cover:
For some reason a lot of people enjoy the music of "The Black Eye Peas". I am not one of those people and I'm content with that. I'd say their brand of "pop-hop" is like daggers to my ear drums only that would be insulting to daggers. This cover isn't anything special, but I kind of like it. The robotic/trippy face is nothing new, but aesthetically, it's done nicely. I even like the font they went with. It's got a retro spacey look to it. If I were a fan, I'd probably want to pick up a shirt with that text on it. I'm not a fan, but individually these artists seem better on their own. I know it's an acronym for "The Energy Never Dies", but I hope this really is "The END" for this group. Pretty decent cover though.
Rating: 6.0
Album: "Here We Go Again"
Artist: Demi Lovato
Cover:
This cover made me feel a little uncomfortable when I first saw it. It's like she's holding up one finger to tell the world "In just over ONE year, I'll be 18!" There's not much to say about this cover. It's "Generic Pop Cover #7". We've seen this cover before and we'll see it again. It's not a horrible cover. It's just unimaginative and bland, which from what I gather suites the music it's promoting. She seems cool though as a person. I saw her on a talk show and apparently she's a big fan of metal and had a cool personality. I have a feeling she's going to come out of her shell at any time and do something with some edge. In ten years, if she's still around, this cover will be looked back on with lots of humor. Like I said, she seemed cool so that's mainly wishful thinking.
Rating: 4.0
Album: "Relapse"
Artist: Eminem
Cover:
Continuing the trend of artists that I'm not a fan of is Eminem. Again, just not my cup of tea. I appreciate the guy's wit and talent, but I can't get into his music. For some reason I've noticed that MANY white rappers take huge gasps of breath between almost every line in a verse. I blame Eminem for that. It's not always there, but it's there enough to bug me for some reason. Whatever. To each their own. I actually like this cover a lot. The scatter of pills to make up his face is not only an interesting visual, but it matches up with the whole "Relapse" theme of the album. Probably one of the better popular album covers out there right now.
Rating: 7.5
Album: "21st Century Breakdown"
Artist: Green Day
Cover:
I really like this cover. So much that I won't even jump into witty banter about how Green Day unintentionally destroyed punk music. This isn't an "album cover", but more of "album art". Key word there being "art". The colors used here pop and the orange/red/yellow combo makes it comforting and draws you in. The design is like art-school graffiti, in which it's a little too precise to be "real". Nonetheless, I really like the lay out. It seems so simple, but it's still enthralling enough to find yourself staring at it for a little while.
Rating: 8.0
Album: "Horehound"
Artist: The Dead Weather
Cover:
This album seems to be growing on me. At first I wasn't big on Alison's vocals, but it's not as bad as my first impression. I still say "I Cut Like a Buffalo" is the best track though. It's like the perfect "Hipster-Pimp" song by all accounts. I like the visuals of the cover. Jack White is involved, so of course it has that "retro" vibe to it. You glance at it and it seems plain, but upon looking at it you start to lose focus. It's almost abstract, but not quite. Not being able to explain it makes me like it more.
Rating: 8.0
Album: "Monuments & Melodies"
Artist: Incubus
Cover:
Incubus and I have an odd relationship. I always said that old Incubus sounds like old Chili Peppers and new Chili Peppers sounds like new Incubus. I was a fan of Incubus during their more funky early years and then the next two big hit LPs. From there, I've downgraded myself from "fan" to "supporter". Yeah, this IS a "Greatest Hits" album so I'm not so "meh" about it. Despite that, the cover is still an original art piece. In fact, this specific artwork was drawn by singer Brandon Boyd. I should have known with the dude being an artist and all, but I liked this cover the same before that fact. I think it's a mermaid slam dunking on a hoop that's connected to a sea monster. Whatever your interpretation is, it's good stuff.
Rating: 7.5
Album: "The Ecstatic"
Artist: Mos Def
Cover:
It's not "Black on Both Sides" or even "The New Danger", but I think people are really sleeping on this album. The lyrics are strong as ever and it has really good production making it a great mid afternoon album to crank up while working on projects (like this very column for instance). The cover is simple. It's a red negative of a figure jumping from what appears to be from rooftop to rooftop. I appreciate the simplicity of it, but it still doesn't do it for me. The cover would have made for a way better back cover that front. It's an interesting piece, but it just feels like a still shot of something much more interesting going on.
Rating: 5.0
Album: "Black Coulds & Silver Linings"
Artist: Dream Theater
Cover:
I'm not too into Dream Theater. They have my respect for sure, but just not a band I ever really got into. Maybe I'll give them a proper "First Impression" in the near future. When skimming through the newer album covers, this one stood out like a sore thumb. This cover is insane! I'm a fan of abstract works, but this one is a mind fuck. Along with selected objects of symbolism, there's a child going through a door that takes him from a dark night to a bright blue day. Not only is this album art creative, but it's very well done. An interesting note about artist Hugh Syme is that he's actually played keyboard for RUSH from time to time along with designing pretty much all their album covers. Syme seems to of outdone himself here. This is my favorite and easily the best cover of today's list.
Rating: 9.0
Album: "The High End of Low"
Artist: Marilyn Manson
Cover:
I remember being creeped out a little by the "Smells Like Children" cover. Then with the controversial "Antichrist Superstar" and "Mechanical Animals" I was a big fan of the imagery that Manson used. Manson's imagery always had a "this is the last thing I see before the apocalypse" feel to it. Uneasy, edgy, controversial, and creepy were the best adjectives to describe it all. That changes with his most recent release. While I do consider it his best work musically since "Mechanical Animals", the artwork is a huge disappointment. I would assume there are a lot of pictures from this specific photo shoot that would have been better than this. It's like he's holding neon Frisbee over his head. The coloring and composition is fine, but for an album cover it doesn't do the music half the justice it deserves. I understand Manson is attempting to grow as an artist, like any good artist should, but this is lackluster. Something hand drawn by Manson would have been much cooler in this fan's opinion.
Rating: 6.0
What are some of your more recent favorite album covers? Please leave your obscure/"in the know" picks below.
Disagree with the Ratings? Comment away!
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