What Makes A Cover?

Albums covers have evolved over a long period of time. From simple brown slips, to pictures of the musicians, to awe-inspiring works of art that people remember for ages (even if the album wasn't good). This "third era" is what I'm going to be focusing on.

Edited by aglasshouse - May 20 2016 at 15:06

Like all works of art, it's mostly in the eyes of the beholder. It can suggest an insight into the band since they must have had some input (Love Beach notwithstanding ) and therefore an insight into the music. I know I've bought albums (mostly bargain bin stuff) based on the cover and or instruments that the band plays (in my case keyboard stuff). Some times it is reflective, mostly it's not. For me modern and or unique works of art draw my eye Porcupine Tree Signify). Pictures of the band on the cover don't do much for me, but that doesn't mean the music is bad (think ELP Trilogy or Peter Gabriel 1,2,3). I would have preferred that the image on the inside of the ELP's Trilogy gatefold have been on the front and not the head shots. Heavily photoshopped collages I find kind of lame (Dream Theatre Images and Words or Awake)...but that's just me, what do I know?


Edited by JD - May 20 2016 at 19:30

stegor wrote: And don't get me started on 3d renderings. Iron Maiden's Dance of Death...

Controversial covers can sometimes be winners for being memorable. Lots of no name bands have made their mark through this manner.

Dean wrote: There isn't a magic formula for determining whether a particular album cover will be successful, memorable or even good. The art work doesn't even have to be original or particularly well done to be successful but it does have to be associated with a memorable album. Most of the "iconic" covers we remember are associated with memorable albums and this is no coincidence, there are very few memorable covers associated with less popular albums, yet had those covers and albums been switched before release and the results would have been the same - the 'replacement' artwork on the memorable albums would be the one we remember now. While designer/artists like Dean, Thorgerson, Whitehead, Bubbles, etc., are associated with particular bands and covers unless they directly refer to the band (Hardie on Led Zepp 1) or album title (Whitehead on Foxtrot or Nursery Cryme) you can swap their artwork around without affecting anything. [an oft overlooked/unsung hero there is George Hardie who was responsible for three of the most iconic covers ever made - LZ1, DSotM and WYWH ... with special mention for The Song Remains The Same and I, Robot] One thing that has always struck me as curious is Hipgnosis will forever be associated with Pink Floyd in spite of creating many other memorable covers for a lot of other bands, (200 different covers between 1969 and 1982), including those for 10cc, ELO, Renaissance, The Nice, ELP, Wishbone Ash, Caravan, Scorpions and Led Zeppelin plus all those Storm produced later for bands like The Cranberries, Dream Theater and Muse... Many (if not all) of those are interchangeable. /edit: Pop Quiz - we (probably) all recognise this album cover, but who created it?

Roger Dean, obviously. Well, maybe not obviously. It is very different from all of other works.

^Before 3D covers of records (LPs, MCs or CDs, it doesn't matter), it would be nice if mp3 albums were sold with animations for your mp3 players : it's rather sad to see that only a handlet of artists have considered using the nowadays technologies for "illuminating" this dull thing that mp3 albums are.

And I'm not talking about video-clips of songs, I'm just talking of using programmes like Flash players just to have moving pictures instead of a still of the cover of the physical copy of said album. We have the technology, why don't we use it?!

As other members have remarked, the cover needs to go in par with the music. In addition, it is worth remembering that the cover is the first thing that the listener sees. This will tune their mood to certain atmosphere that they should find on the album. A good cover can even build a tension connected with music. And yet, I like it when covers are not the first obvious thing one will think about when one will hear the music first.
Some of the covers I like:
Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three

East Of Eden - Snafu (although here it is hard to tell what the cover represents and what it is supposed to reflect)


Sometimes I imagine I were to record an album and I imagine what my dream cover would look like. It's hard, but I like the atmosphere of Dover-like cliffs during a storm or plain western European countryside.


Edited by ALotOfBottle - May 31 2016 at 09:37

I think Space Hymns is one of Dean's best works. The full painting was after all the biggest cover he was allowed to make and he really ran with it.

Edited by aglasshouse - June 08 2016 at 12:18

I love album covers that are...

-Intimate works of art or photographically provided by the band themselves....subtle and understated.  Something that gives a glimpse into the band's collective world without overthinking being involved. 

-Preferably no (or minimal) text or logos.

-Something that doesn't look like the band's promotion had graphic art firms create something "proggy", which ends up being cliched and overblown, with little actual essence of the group.