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Album art! Does it matter anymore?
Posted at 2:30 PM on January 11, 2007
by Hans Eisenbeis
(5 Comments)
The MSP Music Expo record convention opens its doors at the Four Points Sheraton in Minneapolis this Sunday. Ross has a nice pick-o-the-litter for you: Nick DiFonzo's Ugliest Album Art Ever collection.
Which begs the obvious, locally oriented question: What's the ugliest local album in memory? And what about the prettiest?
Take your best shot in the comments, and we'll try to track down the photos for your edification.
Photo: Nick DiFonzo's BizarreRecords.com
Comments (5)
well, there's the obvious PERFECT answer for BOTH ugliest and prettiest: Soul Asylum's Clam Dip and Other Delights.
But I always liked the Cows Cunning Stunts for its classy retro-stylings.
More recently, Kid Dakota's "The West is the Future" is really great album art. then too, "So Pretty" is so not pretty.
i have to confess that i don't even notice album art that much anymore, in the little CD jewel case. i agree with the title of the post... album art probably doesn't even matter anymore
Album art only counts if you're really going all out -- otherwise the .jpgs just end up in the recycle bin. (Here's the
http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/40185/Staff_List_Top_25_Worst_Album_Covers_of_2006
>PF worst of 2006, and nothing was quite as bad as Clam Dip.)
Coming from a visual artist, of course album art matters. It's fine art for the masses. Problem is that it has been shrunken to nothing by moving from the 12-inch album format to the CD booklet and some musicians don't seem to want to be bothered with it. Throw in a few fuzzy band shots, skip the lyrics altogether and call it a day. What some musicians don't realize is that the album art is part of their image. It's the part I take home with me. (I can't live at concert venues.) It conjures the mystique of a musician or band and allows us to make deeper connections with the music. With printed lyrics, it allows us to understand what the singers are singing. There's been many a song I haven't fully understood until I read the lyrics. I realize that everyone is leaping to digitize music, but I'd rather not have to read lyrics online. I want something tangible to hang onto. I've written about this more on my blog, and am a passionate advocate for finding an alternative format to the CD booklet that can accompany our digital music.
"Clam Dip" is by the far the best of the bunch. Hands down. True, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the sublime image of Karl covered in onion dip and dead fish will go down in history as one of local music's best moments.
One other note: Interesting that two of the covers above are actually "covers" of other covers. I guess all the good ideas have already been thought of.
I can't be bothered with anything these days. I guess it doesn't bother me. What can I say?
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