Discussion Album/Single Cover Designs

[Andonis1997]

Muse-themed post!
Absolution, their 3rd album:

The 2nd Law, 5th album:

Single artwork for their song Invincible:

 

[Spanna_]

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IYKYK.

Have a poster of this in my room, literally my favourite album ever

 

[fancyscum]

Rundle Mall?

Not enough pigs or balls to be Rundle I don't think.

 

[Lemon Boi]

This was pretty darn risque for 1956:

 

[Lemon Boi]

All-time classic:

 

[Lemon Boi]

Some more from the late 1960s:

 

[Red Crow]

Oh boy, prepare yourselves... the old man has entered the room.

I'll be that guy:
View attachment 903407

I reckon there is an argument to be had that DSOTM is possibly the most iconic album cover of all time. Its certainly in the conversation. The truth is I could post just about any Pink Floyd album cover in here. Storm Thorgerson and his Hipgnosis studio created almost every single one, and they're all pieces of art in themselves, let alone the genius of the music inside them. Its not just the covers themselves either, there is so much associated imagery in liner notes and the like that are fantastic.

Everybody probably knows this other Floyd album - Wish You Were Here. Initially this album was released in just a plain black shrink wrap to mimic the "absence" themes on the album.




This is another favourite of mine, from my favourite Billy Joel album - Turnstiles. Initially most people probably just look at it and think its a fairly standard album cover featuring the artist and some random imagery. But the New York Subway setting and the title made from Subway tiles harks to the driving force behind the album, which is Billy's return to his roots in New York from living for a period in LA. Then you get to the characters on the front, which all reference a song on the album - The well-to-do couple are "I've Loved These Days", the African-American man is "Angry Young Man", the man with the books is "James", girl with the headphones is "All You Wanna Do Is Dance", the Grandmother and Grandson is "Miami 2017", and the man with the bag is "Say Goodbye To Hollywood". Great album, great meaning in the cover.





Could pick a few Beatles albums for here, but my personal favourite is probably Abbey Road. If you believe the urban legend, Paul is in barefoot as one of the "clues" put into the Beatles albums as a reference to the real Paul dying in a car crash some years earlier and being replaced by a look-alike.




Good bit of design in this one - Agent Provocateur by Foreigner. In reality, it probably took me too long to actually realise there was an 'F' in the negative space, and it wasn't just a bunch of random 80s geometric shapes.




And just for the sake of it, a few other favs of mine from one of the best periods of music.

 

[Spanna_]

Muse-themed post!
Absolution, their 3rd album:
View attachment 904054
The 2nd Law, 5th album:
View attachment 904053
Single artwork for their song Invincible:
View attachment 904052

Can't sleep on this one either

 

[Dylan8]

Oh boy, prepare yourselves... the old man has entered the room.



I reckon there is an argument to be had that DSOTM is possibly the most iconic album cover of all time. Its certainly in the conversation. The truth is I could post just about any Pink Floyd album cover in here. Storm Thorgerson and his Hipgnosis studio created almost every single one, and they're all pieces of art in themselves, let alone the genius of the music inside them. Its not just the covers themselves either, there is so much associated imagery in liner notes and the like that are fantastic.

Everybody probably knows this other Floyd album - Wish You Were Here. Initially this album was released in just a plain black shrink wrap to mimic the "absence" themes on the album.

View attachment 904172


This is another favourite of mine, from my favourite Billy Joel album - Turnstiles. Initially most people probably just look at it and think its a fairly standard album cover featuring the artist and some random imagery. But the New York Subway setting and the title made from Subway tiles harks to the driving force behind the album, which is Billy's return to his roots in New York from living for a period in LA. Then you get to the characters on the front, which all reference a song on the album - The well-to-do couple are "I've Loved These Days", the African-American man is "Angry Young Man", the man with the books is "James", girl with the headphones is "All You Wanna Do Is Dance", the Grandmother and Grandson is "Miami 2017", and the man with the bag is "Say Goodbye To Hollywood". Great album, great meaning in the cover.

View attachment 904159



Could pick a few Beatles albums for here, but my personal favourite is probably Abbey Road. If you believe the urban legend, Paul is in barefoot as one of the "clues" put into the Beatles albums as a reference to the real Paul dying in a car crash some years earlier and being replaced by a look-alike.

View attachment 904165


Good bit of design in this one - Agent Provocateur by Foreigner. In reality, it probably took me too long to actually realise there was an 'F' in the negative space, and it wasn't just a bunch of random 80s geometric shapes.

View attachment 904167


And just for the sake of it, a few other favs of mine from one of the best periods of music.

View attachment 904168
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View attachment 904171

are you actually 60 years old

 

[Red Crow]

are you actually 60 years old

My soul is.

Though having said that, I'm in a real 90's nostalgia phase right now. Listening to a lot of 90s music that I grew up with, re-discovering stuff that I didn't like so much back then, etc.

 

[Dylan8]

My soul is.

Though having said that, I'm in a real 90's nostalgia phase right now. Listening to a lot of 90s music that I grew up with, re-discovering stuff that I didn't like so much back then, etc.

Hell yeah man, I love Limp Bizkit.

 

[Spanna_]

I wanna see a Nu metal revival for sure

*said no one ever

 

[Dylan8]

I wanna see a Nu metal revival for sure

*said no one ever

Mumble rap is basically nu metal but without any redeemable features (i feel no nostalgia for it)

 

[sjohnson]

Hard to go past Sgt Pepper - you spot something new every time you look at it.

If you believe the urban legend, Paul is in barefoot as one of the "clues" put into the Beatles albums as a reference to the real Paul dying in a car crash some years earlier and being replaced by a look-alike.

The back of Sgt Pepper has another "clue", Paul is the only Beatle facing away from camera

 

[Lemon Boi]

Hard to go past Sgt Pepper - you spot something new every time you look at it.
View attachment 904200

The back of Sgt Pepper has another "clue", Paul is the only Beatle facing away from camera
View attachment 904206

Great album covers make great parodies, such as this by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention:


Was released less than a year after Sgt. Pepper, and that’s the real Jimi Hendrix on the far right.

 

[magpienato]

Hard to go past Sgt Pepper - you spot something new every time you look at it.
View attachment 904200

The back of Sgt Pepper has another "clue", Paul is the only Beatle facing away from camera
View attachment 904206

Just recently bought this album on vinyl and had a picture inside with a key to every person featured on the front. I'll post it up here when I get a picture.

 

[MKMatty]

Really liked San Cisco’s Flaws aesthetic of late

 

[MKMatty]

And hers are a few other modern ones that stick to mind

 

[MKMatty]

I wanna see a Nu metal revival for sure

*said no one ever

Iconic

 

[Lemon Boi]

Alice Cooper has had some interesting album covers.

 

[just_kick_it]

DSOTM, Wish You Were Here, Sgt Peppers, Abby Road have all already been posted and rate pretty highly on my list.
A couple others that arent necessarily works of art but I really like anyway

 

[Prison bar Pete]

not the greatest album, but the cover always holds my attention

 

[Lemon Boi]

Some from the early 1970s, including the first picture disc (Curved Air’s Airconditioning from 1971)

 

[Lemon Boi]

For me, a great album cover is one that you can immediately recognise among others.

Some more from the 1970s:

 

[Fizzler]

Really liked San Cisco’s Flaws aesthetic of late
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San Cisco always come in clutch with their covers