Conventional wisdom may say that albums and CDs are becoming more and more extinct, but still alive and well is album cover art. After all, there has to be some kind of image to go with your infinite playlist on your device of choice. A few months ago on my own little corner of the Internets, I posted my ten favorite album covers of 2007. Here are three contenders for my list for 2008:
The Duke Spirit
Neptune (You Are Here/Shangri-La Music)
Cover photo by George Fok. As Liela Moss explained to Chris earlier this year, it was "all spur of the moment" at the photoshoot for the cover. I like the simplicity and directness of the execution of this "show-and-tell" concept and it's not overly illustrated like so many album covers out in 2008.
T.I.
Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)
Cover art and photo by Ian Wright. A well executed portrait of Mr. Clifford Harris using a collage of paper scraps. You can see the portrait in progress on Ian Wright's website. I like it because it's a fresh idea for a rap album cover. Not a glint of bling in sight, unless these scraps of paper were mortgage-backed securities or something like that.
Annuals
Such Fun (Columbia/Red)
Cover art by Bob Ross. Yes, that Bob Ross. This might be my album cover of the year, just for that. Happy little trees and big ol' mountains. That little roll of paint. Beat the devil out of that brush. Happy painting, and God bless.
- Dyn-O-Wright
Hello - glad to see that folks are still enjoying the illustrations and photographs that have been created to help promote/sell/give away music these days. As someone who earns his living promoting the fine art of the designers, illustrators and photographers who work in this field, I'm always happy to find that these works still stimulate discussions (and, hopefully, help sell a few CDs or downloads for the featured musical acts). In these days of digital downloads and file-swapping, I think that it is important for both the musical acts and the record labels to remember that, historically, fans often made the decision to buy (or not) based on how attractive "the package" was - i.e., whether the combination of music, liner notes, packaging were worth parting with their hard-earned $$ for.
Anyway, I'd like to know what you think about the importance of this as an art form and how it will contribute (or not) to the way music is sold now and into the future.
Keep up the good work.
Mike G - RockPoP Gallery www.rockpopgallery.com
Posted by: Mike Goldstein - RockPoP Gallery | October 08, 2008 at 01:16 PM