Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[AnotherSpin]

OMG! Was this actually physically released on the market? Its stupidity defies belief.

Today's market is dictated by the consumer. It reflects the demand and calibre of the consumer. If everything is written literately, some consumers may take offence at the publisher's high-handedness. An illiterate consumer may even sue the publisher, his illiteracy being disregarded. In this cover everything is correct.

[Madiel]

An illiterate consumer may even sue the publisher

This is fantasy.

[AnotherSpin]

This is fantasy.

So far, yes. But it won't be long. Stupidity is clearly winning on a global scale.

[Wendell_E]

OMG! Was this actually physically released on the market? Its stupidity defies belief.

I think it's streaming-only, rather than a physical CD set, but that's the image used for at it at Amazon Music, Spotify, etc.

[San Antone]

This just out - with what I see as a pretty ugly cover.  Not even sure what it is.

Bach: The French Suites
Mahan Esfahani



However, the playing is good.

[pjme]

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,239.msg1226955.html#msg1226955

F.X. Messerschmidt

A cover art insight for Mahan Esfahani, Harpsichordist's latest album:
At first sight, it's impossible to believe that the artwork on the cover of our Toccatas album is anything other than a twenty-first-century, highly stylized black-and-white portrait (of an anguished Mahan, perhaps?). So it comes as a shock to realize that Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783) was a near contemporary of Bach, and that the sculpture is the best part of 250 years old.
Messerschmidt is chiefly remembered for the series of extraordinary sculpted self-portraits he undertook towards the end of his life—there are a few much more conventional works which were royal commissions—which must count as some of the most remarkable sculptures of the eighteenth century. He gave them all the generic title 'Kopfstücke' and the humorously descriptive names linked to many (A Constipated Man, A Hypocrite and Slanderer, etc) are nineteenth-century accretions. Some commentators see in the extremity of the facial expressions the symptoms of mental illness (the artist claimed that the Kopfstücke helped protect him from evil spirits), but the Enlightenment saw a rise in interest in the artistic and scientific exploration of physiognomy—the collection of frighteningly lifelike wax anatomical models made for Joseph II dates from around the same time—as well as in radical ideas of art which look beyond conventional beauty. As such, the cover image provides the perfect match for Mahan's thrilling Bach, which is similarly, uncompromisingly, modern."
To sample the album, read the accompanying booklet notes, or download a free track, click here: http://bit.ly/2M1Zykm

[Madiel]

This just out - with what I see as a pretty ugly cover.  Not even sure what it is.

Bach: The French Suites
Mahan Esfahani



However, the playing is good.

Whole series of Esfahani recordings by now.

[Symphonic Addict]

Brilliant music, awful front cover.

[San Antone]

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,239.msg1226955.html#msg1226955

F.X. Messerschmidt

A cover art insight for Mahan Esfahani, Harpsichordist's latest album:
At first sight, it's impossible to believe that the artwork on the cover of our Toccatas album is anything other than a twenty-first-century, highly stylized black-and-white portrait (of an anguished Mahan, perhaps?). So it comes as a shock to realize that Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783) was a near contemporary of Bach, and that the sculpture is the best part of 250 years old.
Messerschmidt is chiefly remembered for the series of extraordinary sculpted self-portraits he undertook towards the end of his life—there are a few much more conventional works which were royal commissions—which must count as some of the most remarkable sculptures of the eighteenth century. He gave them all the generic title 'Kopfstücke' and the humorously descriptive names linked to many (A Constipated Man, A Hypocrite and Slanderer, etc) are nineteenth-century accretions. Some commentators see in the extremity of the facial expressions the symptoms of mental illness (the artist claimed that the Kopfstücke helped protect him from evil spirits), but the Enlightenment saw a rise in interest in the artistic and scientific exploration of physiognomy—the collection of frighteningly lifelike wax anatomical models made for Joseph II dates from around the same time—as well as in radical ideas of art which look beyond conventional beauty. As such, the cover image provides the perfect match for Mahan's thrilling Bach, which is similarly, uncompromisingly, modern."
To sample the album, read the accompanying booklet notes, or download a free track, click here: http://bit.ly/2M1Zykm

I still find the cover ugly, because of the perspective. Had it not been done as an extreme close up, I would not think it ugly, but a fine work of art.

[Peter Power Pop]

Brilliant music, awful front cover.

Jeepers.

It reminds me of the London Underground map:

[Symphonic Addict]

Jeepers.

It reminds me of the London Underground map:

I even prefer the map to that cover.

[JBS]

Jeepers.

It reminds me of the London Underground map:

Also the MBTA map for Boston's system, and probably many others around the world.

[Madiel]

Brilliant music, awful front cover.

Yikes. Even the font. The whole thing conveys "here is a mountain as drawn by someone who is just learning how to use the software".

Possibly that's what actually happened, but they charged the client full price.

[71 dB]

I even prefer the map to that cover.

Here you go: 

[pjme]

Funny!

I'll stick to the score though:

[Peter Power Pop]

Here you go: 

Fabulous.

[71 dB]

Fabulous.

Thank you! 

[Peter Power Pop]

Seen over at the "What are you listening 2 now?" thread:

Viennese Lute Music



[Album details at Bandcamp]

[Scion7]

^ now that is awful

[71 dB]

Seen over at the "What are you listening 2 now?" thread:

Viennese Lute Music

"Hey girls, you won't believe what I have to tell you! You know my boyfriend is a freelance photographer and does photos for magazines and other clients. Well, he just bought a new camera and while testing it out accidentally took a photo of my bare back while I was on the grass of the nearby park. He also had to email the new photo he took for a classical music CD cover to the company that does the cover art. Well, of course my boyfriend accidentally sent the photo of me instead of the real cover art photo of a lute or something! Murphy's law stroke and there was this trainee working in the company unable to figure out the photo is wrong one! You won't believe this, because this is so crazy, but now the photo of my back me on the grass is on the cover of 2000 copies of some lute music CDs!! They had to pay me $1.800 for the rights to use that photo. I wonder how well those CDs sell, hahah! Meanwhile my boyfriend had to apologize for sending them the wrong photo and he was paid only half of the $300 he was supposed to get. Isn't this the craziest story you are ever heard?"

This is the only theory I can think of how that cover "art" could have happened. Even the texts look like "placeholders" for the real text done with proper font.