Era

Album: Remixed Series
Artist: Verve
Cover Artist: Rick Guest, Hollis King, David Ellis
Design Studio: Graphic Theory

I’ve seen this around for years and I always thought it was “The Verve” remixed. Now I find it’s actually Jazz remixed I’m interested. Verve records has a good amount of info & media on the series here. What makes this series stand out for me is the strong concept behind it. Each new cover [...]



Album: Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Artist: The Mothers of Invention
Cover Artist: Neon Park, John Williams

As lame as this makes me sound, I don’t think I could name a Frank Zappa song to save my life. When I saw this cover I initially thought it was for Blink 182 or a similar band. But this lack of knowledge won’t spot me from talking about this iconic album cover and one [...]



Album: The Jarvis Cocker Record
Artist: Jarvis Cocker
Design Studio: The Designers Republic

I always thought this cover of Jarvis was a painting, it’s only on closer inspection I see it’s a photo. The photo was taken by Serge Leblon Here’s a photo from his portfolio that reflects the feel of this cover. Most photographers I know always try to pursue their personal projects with someone else’s dollar. [...]



Album: Drop It In Their Laps
Artist: The Cops

The albums 80s feel certainly carries across to the cover of the album, the single and their previous EP. I can’t tell if it’s a painting or a photo as I don’t own this album but either way it feel fresh even though it’s trying to go retro.



Album: Fundamental
Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Cover Artist: John Ross
Design Studio: Farrow

By itself the Fundamental cover is just a nice minimal designed cover. It’s only when put together with all supporting artwork for promos, font, singles, DVDs, merchandise, posters do you see the strength in having a simple yet interesting visual direction for an album. All credit to Farrow Design for their ability to keep the [...]



Album: Playtime is Over
Artist: Wiley
Cover Artist: Per Crepin, Christopher Peabody
Design Studio: Oscar & Ewan, Eat Sleep Work Play

Wiley’s latest, and said to be last, album “Playtime is Over” is a great example of how hip hop doesn’t always take itself too seriously. I love the subtle humor and juxtaposition of colour, you almost do a double take. It reminds me of when I used to colour my lego black with a big [...]



Album: Look Sharp
Artist: Joe Jackson
Cover Artist: Michael Ross, Brian Griffin

My knowledge of Joe Jacksons music doesn’t go further than having “Is she really going out with him” in my 80′s mix. Which shows how much I know, as the song was released in 1979.



Album: Beyond The Neighbourhood
Artist: Athlete
Cover Artist: Stevie Gee
Design Studio: Big Active

This caught my eye while browsing on Amazon. The complex screen printed shapes spell out the band name in an abstract way, although this is only really evident in the posters.



Album: Chutes Too Narrow
Artist: The Shins
Cover Artist: Jesse LeDoux

I think Jesse LeDoux’s artwork was a great choice for Chutes Too Narrow, and I guess the band didn’t have to look too far considering Jesse worked as an art director and designer for Sub Pop Records. His playful, poppy and avant-garde style perfectly reflects the music on this album and the musical nature of [...]



Album: Amnesiac
Artist: Radiohead
Cover Artist: Stanley Donwood

We would have posted this earlier but Rob had packed up the album in a box and we couldn’t find it. This was the first album I remember seeing fancy packaging for and wanted to buy it for that reason alone. There must have been other before but this one sticks in my mind.