Album Covers 4

Love em or hate em Queen had some fantastic covers. Here is one of the best in my opinion. Painted by Frank Kelly Freas for a magazine in the 50s Queen drummer Taylor still had the magazine and asked if he would repaint with the band in it. he did and here you have one great cover. The original painting was called "Please... fix it, Daddy?"

So you are in a black metal band you need a really gruesome cover right? Well how about a poor wee bird warped up in barbwire. Well if they were pictured on the cover walking in a field witjh flowers that would be crazy right. But I think there is quite a bit going on here. Lyrics on the album were inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche who also inspired the naming of the album. 

Breakthrough album for Catatonia and well deserved. Nearly a million albums sold and I think the cover really helped. More digital tomfoolery than a Hollywood horror film. It is a feel good cover as if the horses are escaping. Love the horse on the right as if he knows something. 

No name needed on the cover as you can tell it is a live album. Well it also looks like he shot was taken on a phone from 2004 by a fan in the crowd. Well yes I think that is the idea anyhow. no bullshit this is what you see and here are the songs. I do think the peoples heads are added in but thats just my eye on the photo. The four members are in the shot including a drummer in a live shot is near impossible so camera fans will agree this is a stunning picture. 

This one was out not long ago and I love the cover. Again a photo and one that only shows the singer songwriter and for some odd reason his wife in the nude. Is it done in black and white or is the room white and all shadows black? 

This had been done before but not like this. the Beatles had the white album and a punk band done something similar in 1982. But PIL done this more to hide who and what was on the album. If the album had the normal credits names like Ginger Baker and Steve Vai would have taken up most of the review. A smart move and a cover I like. Add in the single cover was called Single as was the CD and 12" ha ha. It was just too easy.

I love this cover and funny thing is the album has a cover of a Neil Young song. Again not sure if it is a photo with post production or a painting but those are the covers I like. You know what you are getting when buying this. Do not expect love songs and nice vocal harmonies.

Painted by Theodor Kittelsen and the title is The Pauper. Fits the album very well. 99.9% of the people reading this will think the album is a big white noise metal over the top album. but no it was mostly done with keyboards and very sparse guitars. Very atmospheric with the use of synthesizers and vocals. The artist is barley recognized outside Norway. Such a shame as the artwork is stunning.

A Scottish sitcom

Act One

FADE IN:

INT. GLASGOW EAST END PUB - ABOUT 5pm

BILLY and PHIL sit having a pint when TAM and SHUG come into the bar. Heading directly to the bar SHUG turns surprised to see both BILLY and PHIL

    SHUG

       Awight ya couple of fannies.

Billy looks at Phil then looks back to Shug

                                                                                    BILLY

                                                                           Aye no bad ya dick.

PHIL 

                                    Whit ya doing here bawbag, this pubs for real men ya fucking fandan.

TAM

Takes a fandan to know what a fandan is.

Phil slowly puts down his drink and stands up.

PHIL

Aye well at least I have a pint ya fucking freakshow bastard. You traded yer wummen in for him.

Phil points at Shug who looks more interested in ordering a drink. 

At this point the barman enters and pours two pints, money is exchanged and Tam chooses a seat as Shug goes to the fruit machine.

BILLY

I widna bother playing that as I just won the jackpot ya fud.

SHUG

Na you get a jackpot when yer wee mate there tickles yer baws in the mens fa fanny.

BILLY

Aye well you would know you taught him how ta dae it ya fucking pleb. 

TAM

Aye and it was his maw that taught him ya funking wanker. 

PHIL

Aye what ever ya fucking nugget why don't ya get on with yer drink ya baw bag.

TAM

At least I can handle a real pint, that is fucking lemonade you have there ya fucking wean.

Phil downs his pint in the one and then lets out a large deafening belch. Everyone starts chuckling and the group collectively look at Phil.

BILLY, TAM and SHUG (at the same time)

YA FANNY!

Album Covers 3

I done two quick blog posts on some album covers , this time ill add in some singles.

Simple as can be, a beetle on a white background. Is it a tribute to the fab four or the white album? I have this on 12" and saw my mum drop it after picking it up. Must have been scary ha ha.

 Again a white background this time rock giants Queen. Last album recorded with Freddie alive and every single and the album was inspired by Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville The album and all singles were all inspired or done by him. The cover reminds me of a peacock kind of like in a state of impressing. But this is scary and not nice. We all know how ill Freddie was at this point and I feel the cover was chosen to go with the song and not to sell it. The song was mostly written my Mercury and it was all about his feelings of the illness he had. Sad end to a great man but his creativity is still there to the end, check out the music video co directed by him when he was so ill he could only stand for 30 minutes at a time.

Yes Maiden again. Crap song but the cover is just stunning. Again showing a political/satire slant to things. Robert Maxwell rightfully is being handled by mascot Eddie. Anyone who was alive back in the 80s will love this cover, Maxwell was back then much like Mr Murdoch. If you don't know much about this man Google him and then take a look at this, one of my all time favorite covers and so good I have the poster framed.

Shoe gazing band Lush managed to get some chart time in 96. Each single was done like this as if an innocent passer by has been asked to hold the bands name. Simple and something we can all get. This at the time really stood out in the shop and I am sure many picked it up wondering "what the hell is this". Is the lady that cold she only had a panda hat for the cold?

Why go to all the hassle of getting an artist to do a cover when you can pull a strange face and take a photo. But in all honesty I love this cover so much. Also my favorite Bowie album but the cover just shows what it contains. I like the heavy makeup and the black and white format. I wonder if special makeup was used for the B and W photo as like in old films that were done in B and W they used many odd things as cosmetics.

So hard to pick a Sparks cover but I do like this one. Reminds me of those old clips from the 50s of what family life will be like in the future. Also the building outside reminds me of my home town, all gray and square. The curtains are god awful and are they packing or un packing. What exactly is being used as a bed sheet? looks like saw paper.

Very much a political cover this one. Or is it? The building with the flags is suposed to be the UN building in New York. Back in the 80s the cold war was very much always in the news so this cover would have shook a few people up. Again in the metal style it is painted and this album was one of the first to have the parental advisory sticker on it. The mascot is called Vic Rattlehead and has his eyes mouth and ears covered. Is he the one that is selling peace, check the sign.

I have never been a fan of Mr John but this goes here as one of the best covers ever. Not hard to work out who is Captain Fantastic. But the cover really does show a story. The album contained a poster and many other bits of info on the contents of the album. Again I really cant get into his music but this album I find listen-able and I think that is due to the link with the cover.

Easily one of my favorites, and another photo. You really can't tell that well when it was taken but the kid has some flairs on so most people could get the 70s. I love how Ian is wearing a suit jacket and some old crappy trousers with one leg turned up more than the other. He always got his clothes second hand apart from the items that name the album. I am sure this is a store he has made a purchase from. The kid is his son and what are they looking at? Some trivia. The album was recorded before the band was formed so a reason why only his son is on the cover then.

It may look computer generated but the head is real. A carpenter made the head out of wood. looks like some photoshop additions as well but it is real. I love this cover and I also love how Bill Bailey wore the t shirt of it on QI. You could at one point buy a paper copy of this head but it was very expensive. If I had the money i would have many of these.