Particular band album covers; Muse.

"Muse are an English alternative rock band from Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, keytar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals, keyboards, guitars, harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, sampling, harmtar). After the release of their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations, keyboardist and percussionist Morgan Nicholls has performed live with the band. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances (often being claimed as 'the best live band in the world') and their fusion of many music genres, including space rock, progressive rock, alternative rock, heavy metal, classical music and electronica." 
- Wikipedia info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_(band)

Muse, to me, are a very weird but amazing band. They are very random with their music genres. Many albums contain different kinds of music on one, but their music also changes from year to year. The lyrics to their songs are also very strange, and complex. They're more like very very good poems. They're written by Matt Bellamy.
Another weird thing about Muse is the covers. They're all very random. Being a pretty long running band, there is also plenty of them so I thought this would be an excellent band to look at.
Muse also means something to think on, something inspirational, and something around progressing particularly in science or art. Thinking about this in terms of album art, I think it's visable. They're definately something to think about, they're definately inspiring, and very art-y.
Examples; 

 

        So as you can see, they're all a little strange. I think they're amazing though at the same time.

I don't really think there's any rational reason to many of them, but I can guess what I think.

Showbiz; The girl on the front in the white dress looks kind of like she could be a movie star, or in some kind of  'showbiz' career. I'm not too sure why she (or it looks like) is on the moon. I think that's just Muse being Muse.

Absolution; Absolution means to be freed of guilt, sins, or greed. Mainly in a kind of religious way. The religious part could explain why the shadows on the ground have their arms out, maybe like jesus on the cross. Maybe the man looking up into the sky is looking to God. Maybe.   

Resistance; It doesn't really make much sense at all. All I can think is 'The Uprising of the teddy bears.'. This is a newer album, maybe they were just trying to attract the attention of new fans. Either way, I can't tell if it has been photoshopped or if they actually did plant teddy bears into the ground.

My Top 5 Album Covers (of the CDs I own) in my opinion

I thought posting my opinions on the top 5 albums covers (that I own) would be a good idea, so here it goes :)
I'm going to try my best to purely base it on the album cover, and not the music!

I think this is my favorite because it's very colourful, but it's still simple. The cover is related to the album title, so it's not completely random or pointless. The bands name is in decent sized lettering on the front so I can recognise it if I want to listen to that band. The lettering is also the font that the band typically use, keeping a kind of consistancy in the album covers.

On the back there is the tracklist, and on the inside the image on the front is also a small booklet with lyrics to the songs inside it, as in many CD's now.




I think this album cover is a very pretty but simple cover. The explaination behind the butterfly on the cover is some lyrics in a some called 'Brick By Boring Brick'; 'Now she's ripping wings off of butterflies'. Brick By Boring Brick is one of Paramore's more known and loved songs.
The bright yellow on a neutral grey background makes it stand out, and it's a very recognizable cover to Paramore fans. This is common with another of their CDs, Riot. Another CD with a simple yet affective cover. However, I don't think that's the case with the 'All We Know' cover, which isn't as simple. But it's also an older CD.
The font in the top right hand corner is a simple font. The word 'Paramore' is written in a font that is used on a lot of Paramore's CD's. 

I think this album cover is very warming and friendly. It's very simple again, with just a simple image in the middle. I think it looks like a man and a woman holding hands, it could just be two people, but it looks like a man and a woman to me.

The Script often sing about break-ups, and the majority of their songs arn't happy songs. This one in particular has been said to be sadder than others, which could explain the picture on the front some more, like they're offering support or something. I think it's a very nice cover anyway.

The title 'Science and Faith' is a popular song on the CD also.   

This CD cover is actually made of card or paper, not plastic like the others. They might have done this because they're not a huge band and it was cheaper, or they might have liked it to be a little different.

The picture on the front isn't as simple as the others, or at least not in the same way. It's a photograph with a young boy, possibly relating to the album title 'While We're Young' (It's a song on the CD). I don't really know why it's a young boy that looks like he's running away from home, or travelling somewhere on his own though. I really like the photograph and the colours of it though!

This is the other Paramore CD i was talking about in the 2nd picture.
The cover is abit busier, but it's still simple in a way because of the simple red sofa being the focus.
The font for the band name is the same as the other CD, and there's some smaller italic writing for the album name, also similar to the other CD.
This CD isn't as popular. I don't find it as appealing as the others really. I bought it because it had alot of songs I liked, then others I'd never heard before.

'Best' album covers of all time?

According to the Rolling Stones writers, the top 10 greatest album covers are;
                                           

This is 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' by The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper was a ficticious persona that McCartney wanted to create, one for everyone in the band.

It's a very colourful and attention grabbing cover, and there's lots of places to look. I think The Beatles are on this at the left hand side, in their suits. The band dressed in their suits would be what album covers typically were at this time, and I think it's cool that they have that on it and a people in fancy dress and loads of colour. It's a very jolly album cover.

I think the language on this album by the Sex Pistols might not have been expected at this time (1977). I'm not sure, but I don't think it would have been something to be written on an album cover.
It's a simple cover that looks more like a poster, it's in a bright yellow to attract the costumers eye.
I think it might attract either curious people or fans of the Sex Pistols because I don't think it's an album someone would buy because a friend suggested it.

  

No. 3 is another album by The Beatles. It's called 'The White Album', this is because it's white, obviously. There is a picture, it's just not visible. If you look closely, 'The Beatles' is written in the center in a small font. I think people might have seen it and thought it was printed wrong or something, making them look further into in and maybe interesting them into buying it.
I like the simplicity of it. This was released a year after the album at number 1. It's strange how they went from such a busy album cover to an almost completely blank one.

This is 'Sticky Fingers' by The Rolling Stones. I think it gives off a good 'rock' image, with the contrasting on the image and then the red stamp kind of font over it. It's pretty simple, and I think most rock CDs have maybe been inspired by this. An album by 'The Pretty Reckless' looks pretty similar to this, with the same kind of contrasting on the picture.
Again, it's simple. There artist isn't featured on it (they could be I guess) and the title and artists name are on the front in a red font that sticks out against the picture.

I don't understand this album cover much. I think it's just really random. It's another by The Rolling Stones and is called Born In Exile. I think it's just a load of photos that the band found interesting put together onto an album. It looks good, and still has a kind of rock image, but it's more interesting than the other because it's a busier cover and there's alot more to look at, like individual pictures.

The album name is scrawled at the top in red writing again, it's not in a very neat font.
Exile means to be banished or to be away from their home, so the title sort of means to be 'born away from your home'. I think this is to add to how abstract the album cover is.


Information found on;

- http://rateyourmusic.com/list/fedderedder/rolling_stones_100_greatest_album_covers

Different genre, different design.

It's pretty obvious different music genres have different album cover designs. This is because they attract different audiences, and need to appeal to different 'types' of people.



Pop;   This is a popular music CD. I've already analysed it in my second blog post, but i'll do it again. It has bright colours, and the popular name/brand of the CD in big letters on the front, making it stand out again other CD's in shops, also making it easy for someone to find. They're released 3 or 4 times a year, each time featuring the popular music at that time.

Pop/ Rock; CD covers like these normally have an artistic picture on the front, often related to the lyrics of a popular song on the CD. They also have a certain text for the band/artist, like the 'Paramore' on the front of this one, this text/font is used on most of their album covers. I think it gives all the albums a kind of connection, making them all similar in a way.






Rock;

Good and Bad Album Covers?

Today i'm going to research what makes an good album cover, and what makes a bad album cover in my opinion.
I say in my opinion because I think some people might prefer certain things for different reasons. They might like a big title so they know which CD it is if they have bad eye sight, and someone else might think it looks better simple and without a huge title.

When I think of an album cover that would catch my eye, I think of a bright album cover with an interesting or funny picture on the front which clearly has the band/artists name on the front. I love colour because I think it makes a CD stand out from others, and colour just makes it look pretty in my opinion. When i'm looking for a CD, it helps if the title or artist name stands out because I have bad eye sight so if I'm look for a particular one, I can save a lot of time looking. They probably don't mean to have big titles on it for that though, the artist probably just thinks it looks good themselves.

When I think of what i'd consider a bad album cover, I think of one that just looks cheesy. Like a Highschool Musical cover. I don't mind album covers with the artist on them, but covers with some kind of art or photograph appeal to me much more.

'Album art brings together two artists, the designer and the musician.'

Album art will have been around for ages, but i'd like to find out when it actually started to make an impact on albums and when people actually put some thought into it rather than just putting a photograph with a CD and calling it an album.
So I've been searching the internet to find abit of background on album artwork. Here's what I've found, put into a few paragraphs in my own words :)

Sources say it was first introduced (not 'created') in the 1940's. They started off as drawn illustrations and then in the 50's moved on to being photographs. The photographs normally showed a 'typical' life. For a start, everyone was white, were in suits or cocktail dresses and usually featured 'perfect' children.
One guy called Sgt. Pepper (The Beatles. An alternative persona of the band members) decided to change it into something more creative, like the music itself and started to bring together two artists, the musician and the designer. He started to forget head-shots, portraits, and band photos, and focused (or not focused) on things that weren't reality based. 'Sgt. Pepper' came up with a sheet of paper cut out dolls and cut out moustache. He printed lyrics on the back.
After 'Sgt. Peppers' ideas, it became a kind of competition as to who could get the best-selling album art. The Rolling Stones even produced an album with a 3-D cover dressed as wizards in an effort to 'beat' The Beatles Album art even insprired fashions in the 60's. People were more adventurous about what they wore. Creative such as David Bowie followed the trend, another thing which influenced crazy fashions.

At the beginning of the 90's when CD's replaced vinyl as the main music player,
Even 20 years later, vinyls still arn't considered out-dated in a way. People use them in lots of different ways. This generation still think they're cool looking. I've even seen bags made out of old records in a shop. They're still considered creative and unique. Not many people know the roots of album art, but as I've researched this, I've found it really interesting and I'm glad I took the time to read up about it.


Information from; 


- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper's_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_art
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album_cover

Analysing CD's

I've decided to write a little bit about why I think the album cover was chosen/designed, how it attracts a certain audience and how effective I think it is.

My CD's

YOU ME AT SIX - HOLD ME DOWN.

This is one of my favorite albums. Being my favorite band, there were afew CD's to choose from since I hadn't got any of the CD's from them at that time. The album art did attract me to this one because the colours were bright, and the front is very pretty.
After listening to the CD, I thought the cover might have a link to one of the songs on the album, Fireworks. It isn't a firework exactly, but it looks kind of like a colourful explosion, like a firework.
It doesn't feature the artist/band on the front.
I think it will attract an audience who is familiar to the band, because of the band name being very clear on the front. The colour could attract an audience who is just browsing through CD's and may make them choose this over a duller CD if they could only choose one CD.

A DAY TO REMEMBER - HOMESICK

I like the art on the album, it looks creepy but cool. I think it's strange how the actual band name and title arn't on the front though, although they are on the side of the CD case. I think that it's made to look creepy because the album name is 'Homesick' (The title of a song on the CD) and when you're homesick, you could be in a strange and unfamiliar place you haven't been to before. Maybe the light at the end is their home. Again, it doesn't feature the artist but it does have the a person/figure on it.

I think the picture is supposed to make the audience look closer at the CD because the band name isn't on the very front. When it's in your hand, you might flip onto the back to see what songs are one it if you recognise the band, and see if there's some you know. I would anyway.

PEGASUS BRIDGE -WHILE WE'RE YOUNG

 This band creates (or created. They split up last month) a different kind of music to the others. The songs are much softer, except maybe one titles 'Ribena' which is more pop-y, one of the more well-know and well-loved ones.

The album cover features a young boy, which relates to the title 'While we're young' (Which is also a song on the album.). I think the photograph is beautiful. It also has a faded look to it, which could make it look like it was taken when they WERE young. But obviously it was taken for the album cover, over used as the album cover. It probably isn't anyone from the band.

My brothers CD's
NOW! THAT'S WHAT  I CALL MUSIC!

The 'Now, That's What I Call Music' CD's feature popular music (usually from the top 40 charts) at that moment in time. There are 3 released each year. One around easter time, one near summer time, and one in November. This one was clearly released in the summer, because it has seashells on the front, like a beach. It's not a new one, it was the first one I could find. It doesn't have artist on the front because it has various artists on the CD.

The 'Now!' CD's are a well-known CD, so big title on the front will mean it's easy to find in big media shops like HMV.

FLOORFILLERS 2010

This is a remix CD. I think it was one my brother just randomly picked up or one he got for christmas from our cousin. It's colourful and puts across the image of a club. The '2010' on the CD makes me think that they are released annually (every year) with the new 'biggest dance hits of the year'. On the front it names big names that will be on the CD to catch eyes of fans. It has 2 CDs which is clearly marked as another selling point.

I think the audience is clearly people who like popular and 'now' dance music.