Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Abuelo Igor]

I have a lot of trouble associating composers with large red dots

With a white background, maybe Takemitsu...

[Peter Power Pop]

Could they have made the text harder to read?

Yep – by closely matching the colour of the text with the colours in the background.

But that's hard enough to read. The largest version of the cover I could find (on Hänssler Classic's website) is a little easier to read, but it's still hard:

[Jo498]

The cover is not pretty and an incoherent mixture of the flowery script, background ornaments and the dot/arrow graphics, but actually spot on. You will still find slightly similar graphics in German  railway stations pointing to help desks or designated meeting points for tourist groups or so.
Because the Denon sampler is probably catering to "best of classics" listeners it invites them to meet at/with popular classical pieces. So it is ugly but not as stupid or arbitrary as one might have thought.

[kishnevi]

Tonight's listening agenda has produced two candidates for this thread.

Why use a stock photo of a statue showing someone throwing a baby off a balcony?

This one should have been easy to remedy.  Do not wait until after the photoshoot to tell your subject he did not shave very well that morning.

[Peter Power Pop]

Tonight's listening agenda has produced two candidates for this thread.

Why use a stock photo of a statue showing someone throwing a baby off a balcony?

I must admit I didn't notice that. I noticed other things. (See following paragraphs.) Having a second look, I think the baby-off-the-balcony thing might actually be a Lion-King thing:



At least I hope it is.

There are three things about the Praetorius cover (not including the baby gettin' chucked off the balcony) that I find bothersome:

1. The font/typeface used for "Praetorius". I think that's wildly inappropriate/anachronistic;

2. The bits of red in the top left and right make me wonder, "Is that lens flare?"; and

3. I think the overall colour scheme is dreary with a capital "D".

As for the other cover...

This one should have been easy to remedy.  Do not wait until after the photoshoot to tell your subject he did not shave very well that morning.

I didn't notice Ivan Fischer's five-o'clock shadow (photographed at five past five).

I like the acute accent in Iván's first name doubling as an "i". I think that's cute. But I don't like how Iván's "I" intrudes on "Festival". Grrr.

The blue-ish box with all the text inside looks like a tattoo to me.

And I'm not a fan of the placement of the logo. To me, its position is wrong, wrong, wrong. Why – apart from "Well, we've always put the logo in that place on our covers" – would anyone willingly put the logo there?

[Peter Power Pop]

I'd love to be able to say something witty and erudite about this cover, but I can't think of anything.

All I see on this cover is a human being standing in a way that I'd describe as "not terribly natural".




This one's a little better, but Alexandre's pose still looks awkward to me. What is he looking at? Did someone hoist his piano in the air, and he's trying to figure out a way to get it down?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I think Tharaud tried to do a little better in this one but it didn't quite work out.

[Peter Power Pop]

I think Tharaud tried to do a little better in this one but it didn't quite work out.

Oh dear.

I like the background location, though. It makes me me want to go see a movie.

[Peter Power Pop]

I think Tharaud tried to do a little better in this one but it didn't quite work out.

Here's the original photo. If you click on it, you'll find yourself basking in all its 6,144 pixels by 4,096 pixels glory:

[Peter Power Pop]

It seems that poor old Alexandre (or maybe that should be "rich young Alexandre") just can't be photographed decently.

Here he is with a lamp growing out of his head:

[Peter Power Pop]

And here's a photo of Alexandre competing for attention with a very shiny piano lid. To me, the reflection from the lid makes this photo much busier than it needs to be:

[Peter Power Pop]

There are two things about this photo:



1. Alexandre appears to be all alone in the theatre. Is the photographer trying to portray Alexander as a lonely boy?

2. He's not even sitting on any of the chairs (all the seats are up).

[Peter Power Pop]

"Why won't all those photographers leave me alone?"

[Peter Power Pop]

I just found an alternative front cover for Alexandre's Le Bœuf sur le toit: Swinging Paris album:



I found it here.

Was that the original cover? And if so, why, record company? Why?

[Peter Power Pop]

And another unhelpful photo of Alexandre:



Don't photographers like him?

[snyprrr]

I think Tharaud tried to do a little better in this one but it didn't quite work out.

He looks like the typical white-guy-with-no-rhythm.... and it's a "swing" album---- oy vey!!!!! Classical guys aren't usually known for their rhythmic freedom----


yes- all the pics are ghastly poor guy

[Mirror Image]

I thought the original cover looked bad enough but this one just takes the cake:

[TheGSMoeller]

I'd love to be able to say something witty and erudite about this cover, but I can't think of anything.

All I see on this cover is a human being standing in a way that I'd describe as "not terribly natural".

[asin]B00MR4FR8M[/asin]

[James]

I love this thread ..

[EigenUser]

And another unhelpful photo of Alexandre:



Don't photographers like him?

My first thought: