Just like I feared the cover image and design were revised and the disappointment became a fact! Not a huge one, nonetheless a disappointment like all her previous albums. The poor content of the booklet is even worse! The musical content of the album however is much better than its appearance, some decent productions there. Too bad I can’t stay mad at her for too long! hehe

This shot is NOT included, just to piss me off I’m sure!lol

The Brits might not be world-known for their beautiful women, in fact the opposite, however ironically they always manage to get their best specimens and put together the best looking all-girl bands! A skill they have truly perfected in recent decade. One of their latest manufactured all-girl bands is “The Saturdays”, who somehow remind me of the delicious candies I used to eat when I was kid. Namely the British QUALITY STREET!

I wonder if its the colors of their outfits that remind me of the colorful wraps or the colors of their skins that remind me of the assorted sweetness!

These gorgeous ladies derive name and fashion inspirations from the 60’s however presented with the typical British girl-band POP sound (which on the other had is not the best of its kind and has repeatedly failed proving itself internationally appealing). The art-directors of the band are so conscious and consistent when it comes to the image and artwork of the band’s pictures and products that it should be a lesson to anyone aspiring to present a popular product. The use of color is central in The Saturdays’ concept, even their selection of the girls is color-based. Aesthetically the ethnic blend of beauties provide assorted eye-candies as mentioned above and commercially the target group of young urban teenage girls from mixed ethnic backgrounds will have someone in the band to relate to. This color signature makes them recognizable as The Saturdays’ at the very first glance! Beneath is the cover image and artwork for their brand new album, you can clearly see how they have used an image in a thought-through composition and color combination. Colors are added and removed in order to achieve a trademark.

Pay attention to the original photo and see how they have replaced two of the girls images in post-production, added colors and digitally altered some of the details like the feathers just to nail the balance of the composition right. Compare the shorts of the girl to the right in both versions for instance! Check out the lettering and choice of font. This is the work of a perfectionist, no doubt about it!

As I’ve told you before I’m a vinyl nerd! I stopped buying 1991 when the CDs took over the market and picked it up again few years back when they started to once again releasing mainstream records on vinyl. During the 90’s mainly DJ material were released on vinyl. This clip of the Durans shopping for vinyl at the vinyl heaven Amoeba Music in San Francisco is really cool and John’s argument for starting buying vinyls again is pretty much my own! Watch.

One of my own Duran Duran original vinyls, the LIVE album “ARENA”. Considering the New Romantic that I was (am!), I recall skipping class just to get to the store in order pick up this record on sale one day! One of my first LPs. It’s perhaps my most worn out disc with lots of scratches! It was before I knew how to handle the fragile black beauties. What’s interesting is that the album is double folded, featuring a booklet with photos and all the lyrics. God how disappointed I was when the CDs came and made all the eye-candies (images and artwork) of the albums much smaller!

The entire Beatles back-catalogue has been remastered and is now available both in mono (like the originals) and stereo! This is something the fans have dreamt about for a long time. I’m not a Beatles fan, however this is an essential source of reference for any music collector out there. Since this band and their music have been and still are pivotal for much of the musical creations and productions. Getting this collection is like getting an encyclopedia, you never know when you’re gonna use it but you must have it just in case! The beautifully designed white box-set displayed above comes in mono and features 13 CDs (all miniature LP replicas with original cover art), while the big black beauty beneath comes in stereo and includes 16 CDs and even one DVD. Unlike what you might think its the set above that costs more and not the bigger one! It’s a shame that they didn’t go all the way and transfered the clips to Blu-ray for the maximum experience, even though arguably those old footages wouldn’t have been served better with a HD treatment.

Days ago I posted about Shakira’s upcoming album cover and praised it for its aesthetic and thematic strengths. Now it’s time to show an exactly opposite cover! This one belonging to Brooke Hogan’s newly released album is beyond the doubt one of the crappiest commercial album covers I have ever seen in my life!! What were you thinking girl?!!!!!!!!!!! I mean come ooooooooon!!! Don’t you have a creative consultant or at least someone with a taste and a bit sense to give you suggestions?!! I understand the idea …, I think! But this just looks wrong! The composition and the execution are by all books wrong! It doesnt look like a cool airbrushed pinup but rather like a drawing done by a kid in a Sunday school! One of those images people turn into gifs by adding digital glitter to and type “thanks for the add” on myspace! This just gives me headches! Baaaaaaad bad headaches!!lol

Shakira is one of the female singers who has an annoying habit of gracing her albums with horribly designed covers! Despite being a naturally endowed and attractive girl, she always uses the least flattering angles or crazily cropped images for the cover. And to me a lame cover with a wasted potential is even a bigger sin than a lame cover with no potential to begin with! The annoyance it causes can even put me off buying the product! Or I’d buy it and hide it away somewhere it can’t be seen again, ’til I’ve forgot the tragedy and can focus on the music! You might think I’m kidding but I’m not!lol So it is a pure pleasure to see that the cover of her upcoming “She Wolf” album is to be an exception!

This “exploitation” inspired cover and the video that comes with it, adhere to the rules of aesthetics and the chosen theme very well. For instance the ill-red rigid lettering cuts through the earth tone color-scheme, however it does so in accordance with the exploitation genre and to serve the purpose of the theme. Even the cover of the single is thought through! Well done girl! Well done!

I have previously mentioned that as someone who is interested in cover art and design I sometimes buy albums just for the sake of the artwork, without having a clue about the kind of music it contains! La Roux is my latest purchase of such kind. I just love the composition, the color combination and lettering. Very chic, 80’s style. The face and hair also remind me of my good friend Lena. Now remains to be heard what the music actually sounds like! If it is the Electro-POP that the cover conveys, or not!

After Iggy Pop’s voice over on the English version of “Persepolis“, Marjane Satrapi returns the favor by illustrating the recent album of the old PUNK icon. I had seen the cover before the release, but wasn’t aware of it being the work of Satrapi. You can’t really say that the cover reminds of her style or that its a clever image for a cover, it looks more like the cover of a random Jazz/Latin American album. Even though the music of this album is rather Jazzy its still Iggy Pop and this cover isn’t! I like the interior design and illustrations (like the portrait of him on the vinyl cover) however, which are closer to her personal signature style! The set above is the numbered limited edition, click here to order from French amazon.

note: thanks to Siamak

You have heard this trio’s songs in our music section and watched their videos as well. 7th Music Band started of as a 13 piece band 10 years ago and perhaps due to their initial number of bad luck (13) they have been constantly struck by bad luck ever since! Member after member has left the band and the band name “Seven” which was registered when the band had seven members seven years ago was given to the other boy-band instead! Seven became eventually a trio but kept their seven-based name for the luck linked to the number. So its safe to suggest that this is a rather superstitious band!lol Recently they released their debut album “Baa To Mimoonam” which has now been reissued in improved quality. The music is reportedly kept in same soft POP/ROCK style as the first released songs, since the public response to those was so positive says the band. I really like the album cover, its really refreshing especially with recent album covers such as Benyamin’s in mind. But what’s interesting is that the band specifically refer to their appearance on the album cover as completely natural, without striking a pose for the shot! I however am not too sure about that, if thats not a conscious pose then I don’t know what is! And keep in mind that this is a professional poser talking!lol

One of the things that annoys a DVD collector is a rating logo on the cover. Not discretely on the back, but rather on the front! Like the UK logos and even worse the Australian logos. Now the German government has apparently decided to break the record by introducing the biggest and ugliest logo that has ever been! And by that having their industry practically kissing their Limited Edition-export goodbye! Talk about ruining a collectible, which such items really are. Often even numbered. Imagine buying an original Reuben with a big ass ugly logo on it saying “Warning: Nudity!” I remember IRI censoring the images in children’s books back in Iran, when I was a child. Hand-painting veils on for instance the fairy godmother in the popular Japanese edition of Pinocchio! Might sound funny but it was really tragic. Never could I imagine a Western society turning so morally panicked that it loses perspective and respect towards art and culture! Its shameless really. Look at the new ATB album displayed below, the Limited Edition is graced with such a disgrace just because it happens to include a music-video DVD! Now that’s one Limited Edition I personally wont buy, thats for sure! They haven’t even considered hiring a creative team to at least making it blend in the design. A sign of pure ignorance and arrogance!

I have many times in my reviews urged artists and companies to use the talent and creativity of their fans in the design of their products. Instead of letting unengaged professionals throwing together unengaging artworks with neither meaning nor appeal, use some of the excellent fanart out there. Or arrange contests in which you provide high resolution images and an overall concept for artistic fans out there to develop and present. This way you interact with your fans on a whole different level, you let them help to produce the product which they are supposed to pay for! That will make them a part of the project and therefor also a protector of the art. They will feel responsible towards the creation and act accordingly. The owners of the Iran-based Hermes Records who are famous for their bohemian style and avantgarde approach to Iranian music have taken a step in such constructive direction. Hopefully more will follow their steps!

“Photo Contest for an upcoming release

1000 Acacias (Hooshyar Khayam) - Piano Solo
Hermes Records in conjunction with the photographic site AKSbazi.com are launching a photographic contest for the cover of the upcoming release 1000 Acacias (Piano Solo by Hooshyar Khayam).
To enter the competition you will need to register on AKSbazi.com’s homepage and look for 1000 Acacias under ‘upcoming projects’.
Submissions must conform to AKSbazi.com’s required size format which is set at max 1000 pixels width or height and not larger than 500KB. In addition a high resolution copy of the work must be available by the winning artist for printing purposes.
The contest will be open to submissions from Ordibehesht 16,1388 (06/05/09) and will close on Tir 31, 1388 (22/07/09). The winner will be announced on Mordad 3,1388 (25/07/09).
“Please note that the contest may not produce a winner”

In the event of a winner being selected, the product will be produced on minimum 2000 copies, distributed both nationally and internationally with full credits to the photographer.
A small token of appreciation will be delivered to the winner on behalf of Hermes and AKSbazi.com.

Tips:
- Should you wish to see previous album covers produced by Hermes records, click here.
- The photos do not necessarily need to contain Acacias! Participants are free to have even their abstract approach to the album name and its music.
- In order to listen to excerpts of the music from the album click on the samples below”

http://www.hermesrecords.com/

Keri Hilson’s debut “In a Perfect World …” and Ciara’s “Fantasy Ride” album, are two albums that I have been waiting for. Two albums that I have been anticipating, imagining great designs and artworks for. Yet both have seriously disappointed!

We have heard Keri Hilson’s beautiful voice and seen her lovely face and figure gracing Timbaland’s different projects, yet when she comes out with her own debut the album is filled with not a single outstanding song. Not to mention a decent artwork! When this cover image leaked together with the album and surfaced the Internet it looked just like a bootleg job. Rushed and inconsistent! If you are a downloader of underground Iranian music you recognize the whole fashion from the images that often promote the tracks. Sadly this tasteless montage showed itself to be the official artwork. What can I say, this album is no perfect album …!

I’ve mentioned Ciara’s upcoming album in this blog before, and the fact that its been postponed an entire year. But finally the album looks like getting to see the light of day tomorrow. With an awful cover! Not chica herself but rather the artwork. And the shocking part is that the postponing has been due to this very artwork taking a whole year to finish! Unbelievably true. The limited edition features a red variation of the same cover. It is supposed to be comic book inspired and some kind of mini graphic novel is to accompany the book. If the art featured on the cover reflects whats to be inside, then truly what a waste of time on no talent!

Shahab Tiam’s follow up to his successful debut “One” is finally out! I’m really pleased to see the cover, not just because I happen to have a similar jacket!lol The composition, the color coordination and the letterings are perfect for a portrait-cover! “Zarabaan” is now available in the Bia2 store. Click here to buy the album.

SlidePack packaging is the industry’s latest act of desperation to find a way to sell you hardcopies! Often re-packaging of albums that have already sold well, new runs get the budget treatment to be sold cheaper. Its basically the crappiest kind of packaging I’ve ever seen! Both in terms of creativity and quality. Even bootleggers do a better job! I would never, EVER spend a single penny on such legal piracy! NEVER!!! The day this packaging becomes the rule, God forbid, I will gladly become a digital music collector. Hail the digipaks, hell even the jewelcases are superior to this crap! The Iranian (domestic) industry’s recent standard packaging, the cardboard slitcase, has now an almost equally worthless rival!

Speaking of self-describing album covers the recent Chris Cornell album features one typical example of how it can turn out to be a true deception! Cornell who had cut his hair Springsteen-short and adopted a softer approach to ROCK in his previous albums, both as AUDIOSLAVE’s singer and solo-artist, “looks like”  returning to his Soundgarden-roots judging by his appearance on the new album’s cover. No matter if you know who Chris Cornell is or not, when you see the cover of the album you almost immediately understand its messages. What it is telling you is loud and clear! The long-haired artist who has jumped high up into the air in order to smash his guitar as hard as possible can’t be anything other than a ROCKER! This imagery is in fact the very symbol for the ROCKER archetype. And the “lazy edges” surrounding, the mere title “Scream” and the gravity-enforcing vertical text all play parts to eliminate any doubt that you might have. This is a ROCK album by a ROCKER!!

But what you don’t realize is that this image is nothing but a deception! Something which you will find out as soon as you put the CD in your player and press play! In his third solo album Cornell has had an elaborate and least-said unlikely collaboration with none other than Timbaland, whose eclectic touch has turned even this album to an Electro/ROCK fusion! This of course will disappoint many, many fans who pick this album on the sole premise of the cover’s promise! It should be mentioned that Timbaland’s involvement in other genres, although appreciated by many open-minded artists and fans (including yours-truly), is a capital sin for the puritans! Duran Duran’s original guitarist Andy Taylor basically left the band when the band hired Timbaland’s services for their latest album “Red Carpet Massacre”!

Have you too pre-ordered the new U2 album “No Line On the Horizon”, due out tomorrow? I hope you have gone for the Limited Edition boxset! If it looks anywhere close to the proto pic and is of the same quality as the ultimate “The Joshua Tree“, then its worth every money spent!

Lily Allen is one of those artists whom I cant really make my mind about. Some songs I really like and the others I just cant stand! But I really like the cover of her brand new album which is really a visual sum-up of her image and music, combined with a thought-thorough composition and colour consistency. Its simple yet descriptive, you basically know what you’re gonna get musically just by looking at it! Its neither surprising nor deceiving! This in my opinion is one of the main missions of an album cover which is accomplished here. The lass herself looks the way her music sounds, offbeatly sexy! The following images are from a recent concert which display her peculiar image very well!

lol I know! I know!lol However this image was once something which was placed on a cover to actually stimulate you to pick it up for an evening of “this” for two! It really makes one wonder how people thirty years from now would consider the version of today as shown below. What might look completely normal and neutral to us today might be just as laughable and tacky for people of the future. For the tiniest details we can’t even imagine!

Greatest Hits or Best Of collections are by fans considered cash-cow milking, which is often planned and executed in time for Christmas! Just to give you an opportunity to conveniently give away a neatly packaged bag of treats as presents. Since hardcore fans already have all the tracks available on such compilations, even though there are almost always a couple of new tracks included to get even them buying the commercial package! But Greatest Hits work very well when you do know an artist and like a few of the songs, but don’t really want to get the entire career on discs. They are also a good way to present a new music to someone who has never heard of an artist. So even though Greatest Hits are intended commercially one should not reject them as solely market spam! One thing which is very important when it comes to such collections, perhaps even more than studio-albums, is the aesthetic presentation of the album! Its something which is to sum up all the albums represented on the collection along with the overall image of the artist so far. Here I give you an example of one cover which I find thought-through and another which I find a failure.

The first and functional one is the cover of Simply Red’s brand new Greatest Hits collection which portrays the singer of the band Mick Hucknall as the one-man-band that he always has been seen as. Against the white background which conveys the tranquillity of the album glows the red 25 and his ever-red hair, which has retroactively put the red in the band’s name and a sparkle in the music! The hands-in-prayer position signals a maturity of 25 years in business along with a sense of being at peace with him-/themselves. The second and of course the terrifying example is Christina Aguilera’s long awaited Greatest Hits album, which strangely enough totally neglects every bit of change and development in both Christina’s image and music through her decade-long career! Instead it rewinds things back to the 90’s, you saw a similar cover on Leila Forouhar’s “Tasvir” a decade ago. The futuristically minimalistic design, the extravagant make up and the close-up shot, everything just feel wrong and out of date. It neither sums up the career nor image, but rather gives one a single-layered picture of what this album is all about and an unpromising hint about where-to things are heading!

Dido, one of the best selling female artists in the history of British music, has just released her brand new album. There is not much surprise embedded in the music, as expected! When it comes to aesthetic presentation, however, there is a huge surprise in your face! And that is the image used for the cover, which goes against the consensus of the genre. According to the tradition, when a solo female vocalist of this style and calibre releases an album, people expect to see the artist in rather artistic (or pretentious, if you like to call it) poses being portrayed on the cover. Especially if she is beautiful, which Dido happens to be! Something which has been utilised and adhered to in all her previous albums! The new album however, entitled “Safe Trip Home”, has neglected the tradition, the commercial expectation and instead focused on the poetic concept of the music per se! The result is an album cover more appropriate for- and expected from a “band”! Yes, not even a male solo artist, but only a band! It is the kind of cover one finds on the albums by POP and ROCK bands, without any glimpse of the members of the band. Conventionally such design signals “band”, just focusing on the concept. Not an album by a female singer/songwriter! The decision is rather interesting and makes one wonder why Dido has decided to shift focus from her attractive artistic persona to the music and thereby risk losing a big portion of her commercial appeal (is it to provoke reconsideration regarding genus in the industry or merely an artistic statement?), but most importantly HOW she has managed to convince the record company to let her get away with that!

Dido, the way we know her!