Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Peter Power Pop]

This is among the worst I have ever seen. It's like the real image they wanted to use malfunctioned and nobody noticed the error. And to make matters worse, the artwork is grainy and pixellated, like they've blown it up from its original size.



If I were the artists, I'd be angry.

I've had a look around the Interwebs and couldn't find a non-pixelated version of that image anywhere. It's possible that the photo is meant to appear that way (i.e., pixelated).

I went a-looking for more information (call me Curious Pete), and found this on the back cover of the album:




Cover image: 00GAWJ-29604784.jpg, from the series Broken Sets (eBay), 2009, by Penelope Umbrico (Courtesy of the artist and Mark Moore Gallery L.A.)

[From: http://www.naxos.com/SharedFiles/pdf/rear/9.70205r.pdf]




That led me to Penelope Umbrico's website, where she says this about the Broken Sets series:




"Broken Sets" are cropped images of broken LCD TV screens for sale on eBay. These abstract formal compositions collapse the breakdown and failure of new technology with the aesthetic formalism of utopian Modernist abstraction. (I find it fascinating that I cannot find any of these broken TVs to photograph myself. I am reliant on eBay where they are sold in lots for parts – rare, now, is the TV repair shop that sells used TVs - they're not cost effective to repair.)

[From: http://www.penelopeumbrico.net/brokenset/brokenset_text-a.html]




That doesn't tell me anything about The Problem Of The Pixelated Photo™.

I reckon there's only one way to find out, and that's to contact the artist herself. I think I'll do that right now.

[Peter Power Pop]

Hey, in the 80s pixellation was cool! ...

Yep. For designers, it showed off their expertise with the then-latest graphics programs. We've come a long way, baby.

Modern computers and graphics for everyone!

And the paperless office.

It's probably pure nostalgia, because I started listening to classical music back then and as a teenager could only afford so few CDs, but I love looking at all those covers from the time and sometimes I am seriously tempted to get stuff I do not really want (much less need) on Ebay or so, because the covers remind me of this time...

Me too.

[71 dB]

I've had a look around the Interwebs and couldn't find a non-pixelated version of that image anywhere. It's possible that the photo is meant to appear that way (i.e., pixelated).

It is meant to look like that.

That doesn't tell me anything about The Problem Of The Pixelated Photo™.

It's a cropped 500x316 pixels image, that's why it's so easy to see what the digital camera has captured and what jpg-compression has done.

You are into such aestetics or then you aren't. I think the Naxos cover is cool and at least "different".

[TheGSMoeller]

Holy Crap! Pixelated demon drummer-boy!

[Peter Power Pop]

Holy Crap! Pixelated demon drummer-boy!

That's scary.

[TheGSMoeller]

That's scary.

I remember buying this CD in the 90s, even then the cover looked ridiculous and cheap.

[Brian]

I don't have Photoshop, but I can offer this...

[snyprrr]

I've had a look around the Interwebs and couldn't find a non-pixelated version of that image anywhere.

sO THIS IS HOW YOU'RE SPENDING YOUR COLLEGE MONEY?

[ibanezmonster]

(Original image)

Jarvi looks scarily like Putin... which reminds me. A Kim Jong Un version would be be awesome. After all, he invented the symphony.

[Jo498]

the demon drummer boy surely takes the prize; I couldn't believe that it was an original cover...

[ibanezmonster]

the demon drummer boy surely takes the prize; I couldn't believe that it was an original cover...

I think it's kinda cool. Cool because it's so ugly.

[North Star]

Holy Crap! Pixelated demon drummer-boy!

Hey, this looks much better if I squint my eyes just enough  ... so that I can't see. 

[Peter Power Pop]

I don't have Photoshop, but I can offer this...

Excellent.

[Peter Power Pop]

sO THIS IS HOW YOU'RE SPENDING YOUR COLLEGE MONEY?

No sir. I never went to college – or universities as they're called here in Australia – so there's no wasting of educational resources on my part. (As far as I'm aware.)

(Handy Hint: The Caps Lock key is at the far left of the keyboard.)

[North Star]

(Handy Hint: The Caps Lock key is at the far left of the keyboard.)

I see you've met Snyprrr. 

[Peter Power Pop]

It is meant to look like that.

It's a cropped 500x316 pixels image, that's why it's so easy to see what the digital camera has captured and what jpg-compression has done.

You are into such aestetics or then you aren't. I think the Naxos cover is cool and at least "different".

I've had a look around the Interwebs and couldn't find a non-pixelated version of that image anywhere. It's possible that the photo is meant to appear that way (i.e., pixelated).

[snip]

I reckon there's only one way to find out, and that's to contact the artist herself. I think I'll do that right now.

I emailed Penelope, and she told me that the pixelation is deliberate. You're quite right, 71 dB.

[Peter Power Pop]

Jarvi looks scarily like Putin... which reminds me. A Kim Jong Un version would be be awesome. After all, he invented the symphony.

One Kim Jong Un version comin' up...

[Peter Power Pop]

[TheGSMoeller]

That needs to go under the great album cover art thread. 

[ibanezmonster]

Lol! Well, I suppose that would be the version he would release.



I was thinking of something like this:




Or this: