il Buono, il Brutto, il AlbumArto
Take a band. Take its album cover highlights. Take its album cover lowlights.
Swish it all around in your mouth. Comment.
DEPECHE MODE
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This is the cover to Depeche Mode's 1982 album A Broken Frame. It features an absolutely beautiful scene photographed by Brian Griffen. It's such an awesome image that Life Magazine named it one of the "World's Greatest Pictures" from the 1980s. According to Pop Rock Gallery, "this photo was shot in Hertfordshire, just off the Motorway M11, and all effects were achieved in camera." Half the album is comprised of synth-poppy fun beats, but though Depeche Mode wouldn't perfect their electro-gloom sound until later, the other half of the album is dramatic enough to warrent the use of this particular cover image. My only real gripe is the purple text at the top. Yucko.
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This is from Depeche Mode's follow-up album, Construction Time Again, released in 1983. Same photographer, cheesier photograph. It features an industrial worker about to smash himself some Matterhorn. At least, that's what it's supposed to be. Forced perspective works only to a point, and we know that when this fellow brings down the hammer he's not going to hit anything. In fact, I bet immediately following this snapshot he found himself tumbling down the Alps. And once again I don't like what the cover designer did with the text. I understand that it's slanted to mirror the mountain, but doing that forces it to become a (distracting) part of the image. Interesting note, though: you'll notice that in this picture and the one before the subject is facing away from the camera. Griffen purposely did this because he felt that it would allow the viewer to more easily place his or herself in the subject's shoes.
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This is the cover to Depeche Mode's Only When I Lose Myself single released in 1998. Here we have what appears to be a very stark and very orange hotel room. Rick Guest with the photography credit here (though Brian Griffen did do the surreal "Only When I Lose Myself" music video). I don't really know why this image appeals to me so much. Maybe it's because hotels remind me of travel, and I love to travel. Maybe I'm oddly attracted to simple geometric shapes. I do know that the blank television set is jarring, but somehow completely appropriate. The band logo in the mirror creeps me out just a little bit, and I don't know if the letters themselves are actually backwards, or if the entire image itself was flipped around after the picture was taken. Anyway, several different versions of the single were released, and as with differing versions there are varying (though thematically similar) covers as well. Example, example, example.
Take a band. Take its album cover highlights. Take its album cover lowlights.
Swish it all around in your mouth. Comment.
DEPECHE MODE
[click for bigger]This is the cover to Depeche Mode's 1982 album A Broken Frame. It features an absolutely beautiful scene photographed by Brian Griffen. It's such an awesome image that Life Magazine named it one of the "World's Greatest Pictures" from the 1980s. According to Pop Rock Gallery, "this photo was shot in Hertfordshire, just off the Motorway M11, and all effects were achieved in camera." Half the album is comprised of synth-poppy fun beats, but though Depeche Mode wouldn't perfect their electro-gloom sound until later, the other half of the album is dramatic enough to warrent the use of this particular cover image. My only real gripe is the purple text at the top. Yucko.
[click for bigger]This is from Depeche Mode's follow-up album, Construction Time Again, released in 1983. Same photographer, cheesier photograph. It features an industrial worker about to smash himself some Matterhorn. At least, that's what it's supposed to be. Forced perspective works only to a point, and we know that when this fellow brings down the hammer he's not going to hit anything. In fact, I bet immediately following this snapshot he found himself tumbling down the Alps. And once again I don't like what the cover designer did with the text. I understand that it's slanted to mirror the mountain, but doing that forces it to become a (distracting) part of the image. Interesting note, though: you'll notice that in this picture and the one before the subject is facing away from the camera. Griffen purposely did this because he felt that it would allow the viewer to more easily place his or herself in the subject's shoes.
[click for bigger]This is the cover to Depeche Mode's Only When I Lose Myself single released in 1998. Here we have what appears to be a very stark and very orange hotel room. Rick Guest with the photography credit here (though Brian Griffen did do the surreal "Only When I Lose Myself" music video). I don't really know why this image appeals to me so much. Maybe it's because hotels remind me of travel, and I love to travel. Maybe I'm oddly attracted to simple geometric shapes. I do know that the blank television set is jarring, but somehow completely appropriate. The band logo in the mirror creeps me out just a little bit, and I don't know if the letters themselves are actually backwards, or if the entire image itself was flipped around after the picture was taken. Anyway, several different versions of the single were released, and as with differing versions there are varying (though thematically similar) covers as well. Example, example, example.
