Jump to content

How much does album art affect your impression of the music?


Rush Didact
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm a fan of Hugh Syme almost as much as I am of Rush themselves, his artwork is an inseparable component of each album for me. Part of what makes Permanent Waves so great is the fantastic cover and the colour scheme used throughout - black and white shot with streaks of red and yellow. Likewise, Roll the Bones left an impression on me from a young age, the earth tones seem integral to it.

 

On the other hand, I think the lackluster cover used for Clockwork Angels may be part of the reason I never paid much attention to that album. I remember being disappointed by it even before the album was released - it looked (and still looks) cheap and digital, like something you'd find on a dollar store compilation CD. It's also unusually blunt compared to the high standard set by Hugh and Neil's other concepts: "The album is called Clockwork Angels, so let's put... a clock... on the cover. Get it?" There are none of the trademark visual puns that made the covers from the 80s so great. (Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals and Power Windows come to mind.) It's probably the least inspired Rush album cover since the debut.

 

Maybe as a photographer myself I tend to overvalue the visual, so I'm curious to know if anyone else has this same attachment to the band's artwork.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bad album art doesnt change my opinion

Good album art does.

Styx' Pieces Of Eight album has always been my favorite album by them, but I despise the album art! My least favorite Styx cover!

Hugh Syme stands out among album-art designers, and a lot of his I enjoy. Almost the entire Rush catalog has at least very decent album covers. The P/G art isnt all much special to me, but that album is still really well done and the cover has no affect on my opinion of the album.

Edited by ST3V
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This reminds me of a post by the soundofvinyl page I recently saw on Facebook and they asked people to comment on what album art is unlike the music of the album. I posted Royal Scam by Steely Dan. I get the impression that it's a prog rock or 70s metal album and not Steely Dan with the imagery.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kinda related...

 

Back in the day ( early 70's ) when I was looking for new music, I'd go into a record store and purchase an album based off the cover art. I would not know the band.

 

One band, I discovered this way was The Strawbs. The album From the Witchwood. I became a Strawbs fan and have seen them many many times over the years.

 

50425336671_985bb7b67c.jpg

Edited by custom55
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

None at all.

 

However, when I was young without responsibilities, cover art might make me choose to look at an unknown artist if the art seemed indicative of a style I liked (if it was really political, for instance.)

 

And of course a great cover is excellent as art unto it self.

 

But how the music sounds?

 

Some of my favorite albums have bad art, and some terrible albums have great art. It doesn't factor in to the aural experience.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't matter to me. Good album art is fine but it has no effect on my opinion of the music. Which is good, because there are a lot of albums I really like that I think have ugly covers.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not at all for Rush. I never thought their album artwork was anything too great. They're just album covers. Now, if we're talking about a band like Iron Maiden whose artwork is top notch and projects great visuals than it does enhance the music a little bit.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Art definitely can affect the overall experience to me. Obviously if the music is good then it's good, and if it's bad it's bad, but the art is a valuable part of the atmosphere the music creates. It often helps to steer my imagination somewhere more direct than the music alone can point it. I usually find my favorite albums have art which compliments the music in some way.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me, it's like food. Is presentation important? When you sit yourself down to a meal - yeah it is important. Ultimately the food tastes the way it tastes and a great presentation won't change that, but all things being equal, yeah I'd rather the food look nice on the plate and not be a slurry dispensed into my gob with a feeding tube. Textures, aromas and visual presentation - all part of the package.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the onset of CD and nowadays digital I think artwork has taken more of a backseat.

 

Back in the days of vinyl, part of the whole experience (for me anyway) was to get home, pop the album on and browse through the sleeve material while listening. However subliminal, i think that if the album was

in any way good, a real good cover gave you a 'feel good' factor and made the music somehow feel better. Two albums spring to mind ... When I purchased the Alice Cooper albums Schools Out and Billion Dollar Babies I remember wallowing in the sheer luxury of the sleeves whilst the music blasted out. My memories of those events are not just music based, but a combination of music and art. (Having said that, they were damn fine albums and damn fine sleeves!)

 

On a different note, in those days you would typically browse through tons of album sleeves in the record store and maybe a cover would just catch your eye (and your imagination!) Here's an example I experienced back in the day. It was 1975 and a 17 yr old zepphead was browsing the albums with cash burning a hole in my pocket. This caught my eye ....

220px-Force_It_cover.jpg

... I lifted it and just knew by looking at the cover that this had to be a great album. UFO were pretty much an unknown act then so the artwork was already influencing me. Needless to say, I purchased the album and began a great musical love affair with UFO. So I do think artwork back then in certain ways influenced your perception of the music to a degree.

Edited by zepphead
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of what makes Permanent Waves so great is the fantastic cover and the colour scheme used throughout - black and white shot with streaks of red and yellow....

On the other hand, I think the lackluster cover used for Clockwork Angels may be part of the reason I never paid much attention to that album.

 

You will recall that Peart ambitiously meant CA to be the culmination of his artistry in terms of drumming & lyrics and integrated this with the songs and a sci-fi book. The artwork itself was tied into the songs and the tour itself (e.g. the runes & the songs https://rushvault.com/2012/05/03/meaning-of-rushs-clockwork-angels-runes/). I call that a pretty tall order and while I think, say PW, is more stunning visually, the end product is quite impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not at all for Rush. I never thought their album artwork was anything too great. They're just album covers. Now, if we're talking about a band like Iron Maiden whose artwork is top notch and projects great visuals than it does enhance the music a little bit.

 

Maiden have produced some stinkers, too, though: Exhibit A, Dance of Death. Terrible 3-D computer rendering, even for its time, with little sense of space, depth, etc. The Derek Riggs covers are artwork on on their own, of course -- hanging in my office at this very moment are Powerslave and Somewhere in Time.

 

For the OP question, like others have said, if the art is good, yes, it adds something. If it's weak, it doesn't really detract, unless it's out and out repulsive or something -- the artwork for In The Court of the Crimson King has always been off-putting, but "21st Century Schizoid Man" is still a rocking song!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Album art can heighten my initial interest in the music. In the album age closely examining the cover and inner sleeve while listening used to be a big part of the experience, too. The art could be transporting for a studio album, but especially for a live album. While the bottom line is of course the music, part of what makes Power Windows, say, a way cooler listening experience than Hold our Fire, is the atmosphere set by the art.
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Album art can heighten my initial interest in the music. In the album age closely examining the cover and inner sleeve while listening used to be a big part of the experience, too. The art could be transporting for a studio album, but especially for a live album. While the bottom line is of course the music, part of what makes Power Windows, say, a way cooler listening experience than Hold our Fire, is the atmosphere set by the art.

 

Best live album cover art?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cover art can set a vibe for an album, pre-listen. Unless the art is truly lazy or just plain poor it shouldn`t negatively affect the feel of a record. I`m thinking Sabotage by Sabbath, compared with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Or Fair Warning compared to Diver Down - they are signs that a band might not be at its peak.

 

A perfect record has a bunch of things to look at whilst you listen, both seeping into your subconsicous. Skynyrd`s One More From The Road, especially as a gatefold double LP, would be a good example of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Album art can heighten my initial interest in the music. In the album age closely examining the cover and inner sleeve while listening used to be a big part of the experience, too. The art could be transporting for a studio album, but especially for a live album. While the bottom line is of course the music, part of what makes Power Windows, say, a way cooler listening experience than Hold our Fire, is the atmosphere set by the art.

 

Best live album cover art?

Some of my favorite live album packaging...

 

220px-CheapTrick_Live_atBudokan.jpg It included the Japanese tour booklet, too

 

 

220px-WOACover.jpg Cool gatefold pic, two-sided poster included with the album

 

 

220px-Queen_Live_Killers.png Loaded with live band pics, outrageous lighting effect for the age

 

 

 

And the from one of the real master bands of album packaging....

 

 

220px-Alive_2_cover.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was young (and my heart was an open book), I used to get a new album, put it on the spinner and then lay down on my bed and stare at the album cover while listening for the first time. When it came to Rush, those album covers were awesome to get sort of lost in.

 

"Fly By", "Caress", "Farewell", "Hemis", "Perm", "Moving", "Exit", "Grace", "Power", "Presto", "Roll" and "Test" have a lot to see.

 

"Rush", "2112", "All", "Sig", "Show of", "Counter", "Diff" and "Vapor" don't have as much going on, but they're still cool.

 

"Hold" and "Clock" are dull. (Although I still say I see an evil face on "Clock".)

 

"Snakes" is just awful. As usual, all this is just my opinion.

 

Initially, the album artwork adds to the excitement of a new album, but ultimately, over time, the covers have no effect. Just lasting nostalgia.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diver Down

A great inner sleeve of band pics...

 

1275b96936c3cc36913f15fa02b13d7b.jpg

 

img_0406-2.jpg

 

And back cover.

In my VH devotion, I bought the DLR records on vinyl, even though I don`t have a record player. I framed them for my guitar room.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diver Down

A great inner sleeve of band pics...

 

1275b96936c3cc36913f15fa02b13d7b.jpg

 

img_0406-2.jpg

 

And back cover.

 

Diver Down really should have been a great, grandiose, fake, double live album with a bonus EP of original tracks. Live tracks culled from the great Fair Warning tour. That back cover art work and inner sleeve would have done very well for the live record.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not at all for Rush. I never thought their album artwork was anything too great. They're just album covers. Now, if we're talking about a band like Iron Maiden whose artwork is top notch and projects great visuals than it does enhance the music a little bit.

 

Maiden have produced some stinkers, too, though: Exhibit A, Dance of Death. Terrible 3-D computer rendering, even for its time, with little sense of space, depth, etc. The Derek Riggs covers are artwork on on their own, of course -- hanging in my office at this very moment are Powerslave and Somewhere in Time.

 

For the OP question, like others have said, if the art is good, yes, it adds something. If it's weak, it doesn't really detract, unless it's out and out repulsive or something -- the artwork for In The Court of the Crimson King has always been off-putting, but "21st Century Schizoid Man" is still a rocking song!

 

I've always thought the cover for In The Court Of The Crimson King perfectly illustrated the lyrics to 21st Century Schizoid Man. Just completely freaked out and freakish himself, unable to bear the horror of the post-modern world.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't matter to me. Good album art is fine but it has no effect on my opinion of the music. Which is good, because there are a lot of albums I really like that I think have ugly covers.

At last you're back in thrall!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...