Your favourite album cover?

[The Curmudgeon]

You know, trite as it may sound, the whole notion of album covers (and especially single covers) will soon be obsolete down to downloads, and that is a major shame. Think of the iconic album covers over the years, Hell, I'll throw in a couple right now..







Now, you may not own those records. You may not even LIKE thos records (I certainly don't really care for the last one) but EVERYONE with eyes knows what they are. Exactly what legacy we're carving for ourselves with downloads? Not so bright.

Anyway, enough negative talk. What's YOUR favourite album cover? What made you either buy the record BECAUSE of the cover, or what cover captured your attention and imagination in a certain way?

This isn't my favourite, but it's a nice touch: on Pulp's "Different Class" album, the liner notes contain the lyrics for the album. Before them though is the small note of "please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings."

Anyway, I would say my favourite would either be Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals



I remember thinking it was a future iconic image, and I had a huge poster of it on my bedroom wall. Immediatly striking, upsetting and provocative - a true rock and roll record sleeve.

Either that or Prince's NPG "Exodus" cover.



Not just the cover itself, more the entire fold out sleeve. There was just SO much going on in there, and it was this weird, messed up artwork which was so NOT Prince. I felt sure it had symbolic meanings, and I would pour over it every now and then and try and "discover" the meanings. Shit, it's better than "all tracks written by..."

So that's mine. Your turn.

[trashcanman]

I don't know how to put up pics on the actual post. Among my favorites are Dead Kennedy's "Plastic Surgery Disasters"



It just really puts into perspective the poverty of this world and the ridiculousness of the money we spend making ourselves look pretty when others have so little. Depressing, but effective.

For sheer fun I uses to stare at Green Day's "Dookie" cover for long periods of time.



It's like a really messed-up "Where's Waldo" picture witrh dogs dropping shit bombs and there is even a Black Sabbath reference on there.

Also, for sheer asskicking-grab-your-attention-damn-that's-coolness, I really dig Primer 55's "Introduction to Mayhem" cover. Mee-youw! ;D



The iconic cover of Bad Brains self-title debut speaks volumes of the intent of their music.



Lastly, I'll go for a bonafide classic with Maiden's "Number of the Beast"



Those are the ones that immediately pop into my head

[The Curmudgeon]

Hope you don't mind, I edited the pics in for you.

I forgot about the Dookie cover - I used to stare at that one all the time too.

For the record, putting pics on here is VERY easy.

For anyone else new to the Proboards site, here's the FIVE STEPS TO PICTURE HAPPINESS:

Step one:
Find the pic you like.

Step two:
Click the second button of the mouse on the pic.

Step three:
"Copy image location."

Step four:
See the little icon next to the globe with two folders over it? The one that looks like a TV screen? Click that on the part of the thread you want the pic to go.

Step five:
Paste the copied image location inbetween the two "img" where you want your pic to go. And there you go.

Some nice choices, Trashy. I haven't heard the Dead Kennedy's record, but man that cover is 100 kinds of awesome.

Anyone else?

[trashcanman]

Oops, I forgot one of my very favorites. Faith No More's "King For a Day, Fool For a Lifetime".
So cool.


[Edit] Funny, I just figured out how to post images. When I type I always scroll so far down I couldn't even see the little menu above the emoticons. Damn, I'm dumb sometimes.

[CW]

Uh... how do I insert an image Curmudgeon? (And delte above post)

[The Curmudgeon]

Well, first of all, Calum, you should STOP logging in as that anonymous type poster that you are now. You DID join for a reason, right (and you ARE "CW01", yes?) Well, log in as that, because as long as you keep logging in as CW (in red), then you won't be able to do anything; post messages to others, put up pics or... well.. anything. And that just won't do.

So, LOG IN as "CW01" and do the following..

1. Find a pic you want to use
2. Right click on it and see "insert image location" - COPY the image location.
3. Come back on here and, where you want the pic to be, click the little TV type icon above all the smiley faces - the one beside the letter with the blue arrows next to it.
4. That image location you copied? PASTE it in between the "Img" letters.

And voila. If that doesn't work, let me know. But, you know, it will.

[InvisibleWolfMan]

Here's one of my favorite covers:



You know what I like about it? You don't know exactly what's going on in his mind, and his eyes aren't going to be telling you anymore than what you are already seeing. Prince is such a prolific artist that he's actually created bands just to release all his material. To me, that picture emodies his ENTIRE career:

I'm already working on the next song.

[The Curmudgeon]

I love all the artwork in those Hits collections (and I love the extensive liner notes about the songs too - man, I used to sit and read those for ages).

[Benjamin Haines]

[The Curmudgeon]

Am I, like, the ONLY person on this website that doesn't have a permanent hard-on for Metallica?

[Ben]

You may be the only person who isn't all over OLD Metallica, but I don't think anyone in here likes their new stuff. I can handle some of the newer stuff (I used to be all over it before my musical taste buds were fully developed), but only if I pretend it's an entirely different band I'm listening to.

Come on Curmudgeon, you can't seriously tell me you've NEVER headbanged to something off of Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets.

[The Curmudgeon]

No, I really can tell you that.

It just.. I dunno, they just never "grabbed" me in any way. I know some guys who are really into them and I've heard their stuff but just.. nah. I mean, yeah, stuff like Enter Sandman is cool but its just something I never wanted to listen to. Maybe it's Hetfields voice - there's no way I could make it through a full album listening to that.

[Benjamin Haines]

ben said:

You may be the only person who isn't all over OLD Metallica, but I don't think anyone in here likes their new stuff.

You're wrong there. I'm a lover of all things Metallica, old and new. While their original '80s thrash goodness is without question their best work past and present, I still dig the different approaches they've taken from the '90s to today. Their newer stuff may seem bad when compared to their classic works, but in judging every album and every song they've done on its own merits, I think it just shows how versatile of a band they are. Thrash, sophisticated metal, soft, grunge, and even bluesy rock. They can do it all and do it good.

[trashcanman]

Can you seriously listen to "Unforgiven Too" without feeling the urge to punch Lars in the face, Benjamin? Or that retarded "nyah nyah nyah" part from "The Memory Remains"? How about those lyrics to "Saint Anger": not even a little bit lame? I really want Metallic to kick my ass at least one more time -especially now that the awesome Robert Trujillo is onboard- but I just don't see it happening.

[Benjamin Haines]

trashcanman said:

Can you seriously listen to "Unforgiven Too" without feeling the urge to punch Lars in the face, Benjamin?

Yes. ;D Call me a heretic, but I do like that song. Granted, "The Unforgiven" is about 600 times better (easily one of the best songs they've EVER made), but "The Unforgiven II" does sound nice to my ears.

trashcanman said:

Or that retarded "nyah nyah nyah" part from "The Memory Remains"?

That didn't bother me a bit either. I thought having Marianne Faithfull actually sing on the song fit in very nicely with the subject matter, and I dig Kirk's guitar bit during her part.

trashcanman said:

How about those lyrics to "Saint Anger": not even a little bit lame?

St. Anger is definitely the weakest album in Metallica's pantheon, and for good reason. They literally made that album up as they went along, writing what came to mind, riffing what came to mind, and recording it as they went along. On top of that, the production was intentionally nonexistant, meant to sound like a band performing in the garage for the first time. The songs on that album were meant to sound big, ugly, and heavy. I can see why it doesn't suit the tastes of listeners of the band's other work. It's their most unsophisticated work ever, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't dig it.

I actually wrote something of a review of St. Anger not too long ago. If you feel like reading my complete thoughts on it, here it is.

trashcanman said:

I really want Metallic to kick my ass at least one more time -especially now that the awesome Robert Trujillo is onboard- but I just don't see it happening.

Don't lose hope quite yet. Their new album has already been written and recorded and is in the mixing stages as we speak. It'll be released sometime in early 2008, and if you like old school Metallica, you just might be in for a treat. Read some of the noteworthy points here.