The Chemical Brothers: Push the Button
I’ve always liked both The Chemical Brothers music and their artwork. Push The Button is no exception. I was about to talk about their latest (and pretty damn good) album ‘We Are the Night’ but thought I’d wait to see if any more singles are released before delving into that one.
What I didn’t realize before starting research on Push the Button was there were so much artwork created for it. There’s three singles, each with a second disc and a colour variation, a live album, ITV and even two fan based bootleg remix albums! All kept in the same iconic styling and each supporting the iconic look of the album cover. And that’s not even counting press ads, posters, flyers.
The style of artwork reminds me of Soviet propaganda posters of the post WW1 era. Their limited colour palette and stark imagery stands out in a CD rack of over produced imagery.
Each singles artwork has a theme and is carried across both covers. The second cover was created the UK release where two discs were released. The rest of the world received just the single disc.
Galvanize was the first single and is themed “Construction” or maybe “Destruction” depending on how you read the artwork.
Each single also had a alternate coloured cover. These were used to denote the 1-2 track promo copies of the album. Usually sent to press.
And the UK 2nd disc cover. This UK version is one one of my fav from the series.
Believe came next and again the theme can be read differently. The megaphone prompts me to think of protests and the spreading of information while the siren’s provoke images of warnings and dictatorship. (Deep I know!)
The coloured promo version.
And the UK 2nd disc.
The last single was The Boxer. The international disc seems like a celebration or political rally while the 2nd UK disc feels like a political rally going back to my statement that the artwork could have been inspired by Soviet propaganda posters.
You could also say it looks like the Myspace logo guys protesting about how crap their site is.
The alternate colour here is a punchy orange.
The UK 2nd disc definitely feels more political and was the only cover to use a script font rather than the bold, block text on all the others.
Artwork for the download only Live05 album also continued the art direction of the album.
The artwork was even adapted for an interactive TV promotion.
This was in the UK where ITV is actually used unlike in Australia where it’s still in its infancy. More details here.
You can download some of the artwork as wallpapers and icons on The Chemical Brothers website. But with so much artwork out there why only offer two different desktops? Oh well. EMI were kind enough to send us print ready files of the covers so I can create my own.
A collective of DJ’s produced a remix album as a bootleg called “Flip the Switch” which recreated the artwork perfectly. They did this for the main album seen below.
And the Believe EP.
This was the same group behind the Prodigy remix project the year before.
I nearly forgot to mention that the team behind the artwork was Tappin Gofton who have produced the last 3 Chemical Brothers covers, not to mention Coldplay’s X&Y. They commissioned Big Active’s Kam Tang to illustrate the covers. Kam was also responsible for the latest Gnarls Barkley covers too.
Sadly their website has no information and they’ve kept a low profile on Google.
Rob:
Illustration done by the equally enigmatic Kam Tang.
www.kamtang.co.uk/
# 03 Sep 07 at 8:16 am
Ash:
Thanks for the info Rob, I’ve updated the post. Kam has done heaps of stuff.
# 03 Sep 07 at 8:31 am
Chris B:
I spoke briefly with Simon Gofton just before a recent trip to the UK. He was too busy to meet up at the time, but he seemed a pretty nice guy, he’d probably fill you in with anything you wanted to know if you got in contact via email.
# 03 Sep 07 at 10:35 am
Ash:
Thanks Chris, I had already emailed them a few days ago, so hopefully they aren’t too busy.
# 03 Sep 07 at 10:52 am
vectr:
When this album came out, I thought the cover may have been a sort of response to the Zero 7 cover that came out shortly before it.
(does this page support html in comments?)
But someone on a forum *apparently* asked one of the Brothers and it wasn’t. I still find the resemblance / juxtaposition interesting, as they represented somewhat different ends of the commercial electronica spectrum at the time.
(Also, that Coldplay cover must be inspired by ‘New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies’)
# 21 Sep 07 at 2:17 am
vectr:
“(does this page support html in comments?)”
Evidently not ;)
Zero 7 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_It_Falls
New Order - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power%2C_Corruption_%26_Lies
# 21 Sep 07 at 2:54 am
Singles » The Chemical Brothers: Push The Button:
[…] x40239 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI was about to talk about their latest (and pretty damn good) album ‘We Are the Night’ but thought I’d wait to see if any more singles are released before delving into that one. What I didn’t realize before starting research on Push the … […]
# 28 Sep 07 at 4:30 am
Xezzy:
Yo, check this out: http://chantsdeluttes.free.fr/mai68/images68/affiches/100a199/159.jpg
Isnt this familliar?
This is the print dated 1968 I guess, printed in france, its a slogan of revolution. Now the message is clear :) If u know french of course :p And historical facts about modern french revolution.
# 06 Oct 07 at 9:58 pm
Ash:
Hey Xezzy,
great find. This indeed must have been the inspiraton for the cover. I’ll edit the post to include this.
My info on the French revolution is vague. My short trip to Versailles filled me in on some of the top level stuff though. “Let them eat cake” etc etc.
# 07 Oct 07 at 11:01 am
Felipe:
Awsome this blog!
Really great references! Congratulations!
# 20 Oct 07 at 2:18 am
Chrstphr Drby:
This is by far the best, most in depth look at a release i’ve seen so far on this website.
Hadn’t even seen some of these sleeves before, makes me which i bought the singles as i love looking/sniffing my booklet for ‘Push the Button’.
There is always ebay?
Also i have to agree with your choice of favorite sleeve. Good Work!
# 22 Jan 08 at 2:49 am