Check out that album artwork!
published on The Courier 25/04/2016
Sin-Rou Chen shares her top 3 all-time favourite album cover artwork designs
- The Beatles-Abbey Road
Not only was their music the most amazing of all time, so were their album covers. As well as the iconic cover of the popular album ‘Revolver’, this cover design is one of the famous covers of The Beatles.
As many people may know, this photo has drawn a whole bunch of fans to the road to make their own version of it. The reason why the public and fans of The Beatles, including myself, love this album cover so much is because it gives a vivid impression of what a casual picture of their lives may look like: walking across the street under dazzling sunshine in the middle of the day. It’s interesting that McCartney has no shoes for a reason unknown.
Furthermore, the confidence of this world-famous rock band was revealed by their facial expression and posing, as well as something usual on its front cover: neither the artist name nor the album title were shown. Sure, why did they need that?
2. Muse-Uprising
With a gloomy sky, dark grass full of teddy bears, and the curious title ‘Uprising’, the cover expresses a sense of bizarre humour.
This is one of the most attractive album covers of English rock band Muse. The brilliant idea was thought up by talented designer, Storm Thorgerson, who has created a tonne of music albums in the UK. Interestingly, the fame of most ingenious and artistic album cover designers usually revolves around rock band albums. They are, usually, more creative and intend to let people’s imagination run wild.
The strong contrast between the idea of teddy bears and the dusky background makes an amusing and mysterious combination: Are they heroic fighters who are going to overthrow a regime of some sort? Where is the bright earth’s atmosphere, running kids and emerald lawn that are more commonly associated with teddy bears?
Did you ask that question too? That’s why I love this cover.
3. Liszt-Another World Record
This is a piece of enjoyable design involving abstract concepts. I am neither a fan nor an expert on classical music, but for a classical music album, this one is really innovative.
A couple of years ago, I accidently saw it online when I was searching for elements for my design module project. For obvious reasons, the outstanding design caught my eyes.
It’s true that when it comes to classical music albums, abstract illustrations are commonly used on the front covers. However, not all of them are harmonious and delicate like this one.
To be honest, I have no idea what the music inside is about, or the name of the man on the cover. I am pretty sure he is a great musician or composer though. But what I do know for sure is that if I could handed artwork like this to my design tutor, I would definitely get the best grade in my class.
