Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Peter Power Pop]

So spelling it "MUSICK" adds some sort of old-world feeling the performance? I hate gimmicks like that.

Yeah, I'm not keen on that either, going all "Olde Worlde" with words when they may not have been written that way to begin with.

Why not have "Fire-Workes", as it was written on an etching from the time of the work?



That's in the top part of this:





Update:

Brian posted this:



Hmm... When was that particular score published? In 1749 – or some time later? Time to investigate...

According to IMSLP (where that image came from), that particular score was published in 1788. Was it fashionable to write "Musick" in 1788? Or was it "Musick" in 1749 as well?

Also on that IMSLP page, there is another score of the same work, and it simply says "Firework - Music". That's from 1884.



The more I look, the less clear this is becoming.



Update 2:

Elsewhere on that IMSLP page are other scores. From a PDF of one of them (which is undated) I extracted two images:

Front page


Inside


Even in the same score the spelling isn't consistent. ("Roÿal Firewors"? Huh? And it's the first time I've ever seen oboes written as "Hoboys".)

[kishnevi]

Hoboys derives from hautbois, the Francophone way to say oboe.

The 18th century still had not quite standardized orthography.  Which is why you might see music, musick, and musicke all on the same page.

[Peter Power Pop]

Hoboys derives from hautbois, the Francophone way to say oboe.

The 18th century still had not quite standardized orthography.  Which is why you might see music, musick, and musicke all on the same page.

I'd seen plenty of hautbois, but never hoboys.

"Hoboys" is my new favourite word.

https://www.youtube.com/v/apgL0QcoXIc

[Peter Power Pop]

Same CD, I have trouble deciding whether the front or back is worse:

And in the Weird Photos Of Alfred Department we have:

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Giant plant ball eats house?

[Peter Power Pop]

Giant plant ball eats house?

I've just spent that last half-hour trying to find out where that tree is, but no amount of image searching is letting me know.

I think that's one of the least appropriate classical music album covers I've seen. Precisely what a spherical tree with metal leaves situated next to a white building has to do with Brahms, or clarinets, or even the musicians involved, is a complete mystery to me.

By the way, my least favourite aspect of that front cover is the bit of the white building in the bottom left of the photo.

My second-least favourite thing about the album cover is the text touching the border on the left side. To quote Arrested Development, "No touching!"

https://www.youtube.com/v/_LEJ6tZI7_k

Oh, and here's the back cover:



Where is that?

[Peter Power Pop]

That is apparently a real cover. I don't believe it, but Amazon.com is selling it.

[Luke]

Having only been back posting here for a few weeks, I hadn't caught up on this fun thread until this morning. Nothing much to add, except that a few pages ago there was much bemusement and hilarity at a picture of an incandescent, bulging-eyed Enescu:

"You son of a bitch. I kill you!!!"


I wonder why he's so angry 

Sorry to be tedious and factual, but that picture is found in Neol Malcom's biography of Enescu, and apparently shows the composer imitating the actor Mounet-Sully in the role of Oedipus (of course, Enescu's masterpiece is the opera Oedipe, so it's clearly something close to the heart for him). I googeld up a fewimages of ounet-Sull - it looks like Enescu wasn't a bad impressionist, either, down to the bulging eyes, so perhaps we can add that to his enormous list of accomplishments:




As for this thread, nothing else to add at this point except....



Pop will eat itself, indeed....

[Peter Power Pop]

Having only been back posting here for a few weeks, I hadn't caught up on this fun thread until this morning. Nothing much to add, except that a few pages ago there was much bemusement and hilarity at a picture of an incandescent, bulging-eyed Enescu:

"You son of a bitch. I kill you!!!"

I wonder why he's so angry 

Sorry to be tedious and factual, but that picture is found in Neol Malcom's biography of Enescu, and apparently shows the composer imitating the actor Mounet-Sully in the role of Oedipus (of course, Enescu's masterpiece is the opera Oedipe, so it's clearly something close to the heart for him). I googeld up a fewimages of ounet-Sull - it looks like Enescu wasn't a bad impressionist, either, down to the bulging eyes, so perhaps we can add that to his enormous list of accomplishments:



As for this thread, nothing else to add at this point except....



Pop will eat itself, indeed....

I'm glad you're back, Luke.

Okey dokey. I'd like to mention a few things...



Thanks for explaining Mr. Enescu's bug-eyed, freakin'-me-right-out facial expression.





I can't find a comparable photo, but the guy on the left reminds me a lot of Tim Curry. And I like how the guy on the right is looking askance at the guy on the left.





Judging by the blood on his clothing, I don't think anybody liked him.



And as for pop eating itself...



The thing that bothers me about that cover is not the unfortunate positioning of the people on it. It's the text. I'm not keen on how the white was left inside the lettering.

For me, the worst case of pop eating itself is this:



That's an album by Danish prog rock band Mew. It's called And The Glass Handed Kites, and it was released in 2005.

I like the album, but that's one of the worst album covers I've ever seen. And the more you look at it, the worse it gets.

[Artem]

I've just spent that last half-hour trying to find out where that tree is, but no amount of image searching is letting me know.

I think that's one of the least appropriate classical music album covers I've seen. Precisely what a spherical tree with metal leaves situated next to a white building has to do with Brahms, or clarinets, or even the musicians involved, is a complete mystery to me.

By the way, my least favourite aspect of that front cover is the bit of the white building in the bottom left of the photo.

My second-least favourite thing about the album cover is the text touching the border on the left side. To quote Arrested Development, "No touching!"

https://www.youtube.com/v/_LEJ6tZI7_k

Oh, and here's the back cover:



Where is that?

In Vienna. It is the Secession Building.

[Peter Power Pop]

In Vienna. It is the Secession Building.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Artem. Trying to discover the identity of that building was doin' me head in.



Vienna Secession

 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

That was some good fun! Thanks, everybody!

[Madiel]

Well, that tells you what it has to do with Brahms, then. It's a building in Vienna, and it's of the right time period for late Brahms. Completed in the year of his death.

Maybe we could save the cranky "what has it to do with Brahms" comments about how it's a completely inappropriate classical music cover until AFTER the facts have been researched?

Or at least say "whoops, sorry" afterwards!

[Luke]

Yes, and now that I know what that image is, it makes a lot of sense, as a choice of subject at least. The actual design, that is, the lack of visible context and the confusing perspective made it hard to work out what was going on - was it a composite image? what was up with the scale? - but now it makes me think of all those old questions of Brahms the conservative/progressive/Janus-figure, questions which are particularly important in these late masterpieces.

[Peter Power Pop]

Well, that tells you what it has to do with Brahms, then. It's a building in Vienna, and it's of the right time period for late Brahms. Completed in the year of his death.

Maybe we could save the cranky "what has it to do with Brahms" comments about how it's a completely inappropriate classical music cover until AFTER the facts have been researched?

Or at least say "whoops, sorry" afterwards!

Orfeo: I don't think anyone was thinking about how the image on the cover related to Brahms. I think Luke was concerned about an enormous tree ball eating a building, and I was just keen on knowing where it was.

 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Orfeo: I don't think anyone was thinking about how the image on the cover related to Brahms.

Yes, I was simply focused on how bad the cover was. That's the point of this thread. If we need a thread for "Hidden Meanings In Bad CD Cover Designs" then someone needs to make one!

[Peter Power Pop]

Yes, I was simply focused on how bad the cover was. That's the point of this thread. If we need a thread for "Hidden Meanings In Bad CD Cover Designs" then someone needs to make one!

Looking for hidden meanings would probably make my head hurt.

[Madiel]

Orfeo: I don't think anyone was thinking about how the image on the cover related to Brahms.

Maybe you should read your own post again, as you've clearly forgotten it!

I think that's one of the least appropriate classical music album covers I've seen. Precisely what a spherical tree with metal leaves situated next to a white building has to do with Brahms, or clarinets, or even the musicians involved, is a complete mystery to me.

If you weren't thinking about it, it's very impressive that you managed to write about an issue you weren't thinking about. You even managed to put it first in your list of issues you weren't thinking about.

[Peter Power Pop]

Maybe you should read your own post again, as you've clearly forgotten it!

Er, yep.

If you weren't thinking about it, it's very impressive that you managed to write about an issue you weren't thinking about. You even managed to put it first in your list of issues you weren't thinking about.

Oops. Sorry about that, orfeo. (Note to self: Read what you've typed, Peter.)

Well, at least I now know what a giant tree ball has to do with Brahms.

Thanks, Big O, for helping to clarify my cloudy (and thoroughly unreliable) mind.

[Mookalafalas]

I couldn't find a smaller version of this. Sorry.