Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Peter Power Pop]

It is bizarre that pixelated images were remotely popular..!

Well, back then (the mid-'80s) it was new technology for graphic designers. If there's anything that's catnip for graphic designers, it's something "new".

Which reminds me of the old phrase: "Just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done."

[Peter Power Pop]

It is bizarre that pixelated images were remotely popular..!

Speaking of trends in graphic design...

The "page curl" was popular for a while. Deutsche Grammophon used the effect quite often:






The page curl even ended up as the feature of this cover:

[Jo498]

As I wrote when the pixelated covers came up last fall, this has "1980s" spelled all over it. And that's why I love them
Computer graphics were cool because they were new and made with computers (and they are supposed to look that way), not because they were pretty. (I expected an economical crisis after 2000, not because of the year 2k problem but because now nothing could be advertised as "something something 2000")

A few years later when digital was still hot but now also affordable in a midprice series, DG had a whole series with Vasarely-style covers, and some flashy silvery "3D". Alternatively "neon light effects"

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the silvery stuff gets even worse but now the computer graphics are smooth...

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Laser might have been 1960s tech, but now it's used to play music from silvery CDs, so give us covers with laser beams (bad picture quality, unfortunately)

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The "digital corner" (and later "4D) also shows the obsession with digital technology. It destroys the classy yellow cartridge but it was taken as a sign of the best quality so one happily shelled out full price...

[Peter Power Pop]

As I wrote when the pixelated covers came up last fall, this has "1980s" spelled all over it. And that's why I love them :D
Computer graphics were cool because they were new and made with computers (and they are supposed to look that way), not because they were pretty. (I expected an economical crisis after 2000, not because of the year 2k problem but because now nothing could be advertised as "something something 2000")

A few years later when digital was still hot but now also affordable in a midprice series, DG had a whole series with Vasarely-style covers, and some flashy silvery "3D". Alternatively "neon light effects"

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[snip]

I have a CD from the DG 3D Classics series – this one:

[Jo498]

I think the pictures/graphics in that serious are quite good but the overall design, especially the silver 3D logo is somewhat tacky.
Musically, it was not a bad selection. I think I have the Mendelssohn I pictured, Brahms 1st with Giulini/LA and maybe another one.

[Peter Power Pop]

I think the pictures/graphics in that serious are quite good but the overall design, especially the silver 3D logo is somewhat tacky.
Musically, it was not a bad selection. I think I have the Mendelssohn I pictured, Brahms 1st with Giulini/LA and maybe another one.

I bought the CD for the Schubert Unfinished Symphony, with Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Philharmonia Orchestra. It's glorious.

[Peter Power Pop]

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I was about to say that this is the kind of cover I usually see on those ultra-bargain-basement CDs that are piled up in haphazard, unsorted heaps on trestles in department stores, and selling for $2 each.

But then I saw the Philips logo at the bottom. Eep!

[North Star]

I was about to say that this is the kind of cover I usually see on those ultra-bargain-basement CDs that are in a heap on trestles in department stores, and selling for $2 each.

But then I saw the Philips logo at the bottom. Eep!

Thank heavens JEG has his own label nowadays.

[Peter Power Pop]

Thank heavens JEG has his own label nowadays.

Ugh.

Or putting it another way: What?

[North Star]

Howard Hodgkin. Autumn Foliage. 98/99. Oil on wood. Anything wrong with it? Would you have preferred a mugshot of Gardiner, or a photo of Ein deutsches Requiem, illustrating what one looks like?

[ritter]

I think Sinopoli really likes himself quite a bit......

Well, to Sinopoli's credit, it must be said that this first album you've posted, Moonfish, was published posthumously (10 or 11 years after the composer's death). So I presume good old Peppino had nothing to say in the matter...

[Abuelo Igor]

These pictures of Sinopoli make me want to start a "Conductors with best hair" thread. I mean, look at the Bruckner cover!

[Peter Power Pop]

Howard Hodgkin. Autumn Foliage. 98/99. Oil on wood. Anything wrong with it?

As a painting, nothing at all.

As an image, though, I find it unattractive. (But that's my [lack of] taste in art.)

And as an image for an album cover, I find it unenlightening. That image doesn't tell me anything about the music, or the composer, the orchestra, the conductor, the year it was released, the record label, if it was a traditional performance, or an historically informed performance, if it was an historic recording, how many CDs there are, nothin'.

Would you have preferred a mugshot of Gardiner, ...

Nope. We have plenty of those.

... or a photo of Ein deutsches Requiem, illustrating what one looks like?

Nope. We probably have plenty of those as well.

I just wouldn't have minded something that gave me an idea of what's on the CD (apart from the text that tells me in a plain way). And something I found more appealing.

[Madiel]

Howard Hodgkin. Autumn Foliage. 98/99. Oil on wood. Anything wrong with it? Would you have preferred a mugshot of Gardiner, or a photo of Ein deutsches Requiem, illustrating what one looks like?

Yes, I really like it as a cover. The colour palette is quite harmonious.

As for it not telling you anything... erm, that's what the writing is for.

[Peter Power Pop]

Yes, I really like it as a cover. The colour palette is quite harmonious.

As for it not telling you anything... erm, that's what the writing is for.

Yeah, but I was just focusing on the image. I edited my previous post to mention the text. (I was hoping no-one would notice that I forgot to mention the text in my previous post, but you posted your response before I got a chance to add it, you speedy thing you.)

[North Star]

Yes, I really like it as a cover. The colour palette is quite harmonious.

As for it not telling you anything... erm, that's what the writing is for.

Yes. And I'm not sure whether that image really doesn't give an idea of what the music is like, with those autumnal tones.

As a painting, nothing at all.

As an image, though, I find it unattractive. (But that's my [lack of] taste in art.)

You like it as a painting but not as an image? Huh?

And as an image for an album cover, I find find unenlightening. That image doesn't tell me anything about the music, or the composer, the orchestra, the conductor, the year it was released, the record label, if it was a traditional performance, or an historically informed performance, if it was an historic recording, how many CDs there are, nothin'.

I just wouldn't have minded something that gave me an idea of what's on the CD (apart from the text that tells me in a plain way).

Show me one cover image that tells the release year in a tasteful manner.
All those criticisms are applicable to Led Zeppelin IV and Pink Floyd DSOTM covers as well. I bet you hate them as well. 

[Madiel]

Yeah, but I was just focusing on the image. I edited my previous post to mention the text. (I was hoping no-one would notice that I forgot to mention the text in my previous post, but you posted your response before I got a chance to add it, you speedy thing you.)

Well, you're still leaving me scratching my head. You say you want the image to tell you about the performers and the music, while simultaneously excluding some of the most obvious means of doing that.

Saying you don't want a picture of "ein Deutches Requiem" while also saying you want a picture that tells you about the music is rather mind-bending.

[Jo498]

The "Mega Classics" was a low price re-issue series and I suspect the look would not have felt as cheap 1997 as it does today. But quite "sensationalist" and out of style for "serious music".

Another gem (the contents of the disc are really very good) and witness of the "high tech" craze of the lat 20th century: "Laser Line Classics", note the "high tech" on the left and the three threedimensional Ds on the lower right..

[Peter Power Pop]

Yes. And I'm not sure whether that image really doesn't give an idea of what the music is like, with those autumnal tones.
You like it as a painting but not as an image? Huh?

When I said "nothing at all", I meant that I thought there was nothing wrong with it as a painting.

As for what I'm looking at, it doesn't appeal to me.

Show me one cover image that tells the release year in a tasteful manner.

Tasteful? I probably can't do that.

(It'd be more accurate for me to say, "I definitely can't do that.")

For me, things like clothing and hairstyles usually give me a general idea of the year. But words like "clothing", "hairstyles", and "tasteful" don't always go together.

All those criticisms are applicable to Led Zeppelin IV and Pink Floyd DSOTM covers as well. I bet you hate them as well. 

Not at all. To me, it's standard practice for the images on rock music album covers to have nothing to do with the music inside.

Oh, there is one thing that annoys me: Peter Gabriel's first four albums. They're all called Peter Gabriel. Grrr.

[North Star]

When I said "nothing at all", I meant that I thought there was nothing wrong with it as a painting.

As for what I'm looking at, it doesn't appeal to me.

So, to put it succinctly, you don't like it - and whether it is considered as a painting or as an image isn't relevant.

Tasteful? I probably can't do that.

(It'd be more accurate for me to say, "I definitely can't do that.")

For me, things like clothing and hairstyles usually give me a general idea of the year. But words like "clothing", "hairstyles", and "tasteful" don't always go together.

Precisely. So I doubt that you really wished it had conveyed that information.