Amazing Album Cover Art
One of my favorite parts of getting a new CD is looking through all the artwork. Now with iTunes and all the other places to digitally download albums and songs, it seems like album art is starting to die off (or at least in decline). This article is a list of some well designed album covers (although there are a lot more) which are split up into five categories; illustrations/paintings/design, minimal design, photo based design, photo manipulation, and covers where the title and band is within found objects.
Illustration/Painting
In these album covers there are no photos, they are made with illustrations or paintings.
24 Grana
Ghostwriters
2nd Chapter of Acts
How The West Was One
Air
Moon Safari
Anthrax
The Greater of Two Evils
Blink-182
Blink-182
Boston
Don’t Look Back
The Crystal Method
Divided by Night
Dave Barnes
You, The Night & Candlelight
The Decemberists
The Hazards of Love
Genesis
A Trick of the Tail
Gnarls Barkley
The Odd Couple
Linkin Park
Road to Revolutions (Live at Milton Keynes)
MIKA
The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Nada Surf
Let Go
My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade
ZZ Top
XXX
Minimal
These album covers use photos and illustrations, but what makes them different is the large amount of space and the minimal visual elements. Many of these covers use their logos for the main visual artwork.
30 Seconds to Mars
A Beautiful Lie
AFI
Sing the Sorrow
Bad Company
Bad Company
Blink-182
Take off Your Pants and Jacket
Radio 4
Enemies Like This (single)
Photo
The main visual element for these album covers is a photo, usually either showing the band or having some connection to the title of the album.
30 Seconds to Mars
This is War
3 Doors Down
Seventeen Days
Artic Monkeys
Humbug
Athlete
Tourist
Bush
Razorblade Suitcase
Gerald Albright
Groovology
Goldfrapp
Ooh La La (Single)
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis
Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground
Muse
Uprising (Single)
Saves the Day
Under the Boards
The Zombies
R.I.P.
The Zutons
You Can Do Anything
Photomanipulation
These album covers use edited and manipulated photos as their artwork.
50 Cent
Before I Self Destruct
Alice in Chains
MTV Unplugged
The All-American Rejects
When The World Comes Down
Anathema
A Fine Day to Exit
Angels & Airwaves
We Don’t Need To Whisper
Audioslave
Revelations
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Bloc Party
Silent Alarm
Daughtry
Daughtry
Fringe Season 1 Original Television Soundtrack
Muse
Kings of Cydonia
Nine Inch Nails
With Teeth
Nine Inch Nails
Year Zero
Nirvana
In Utero
Sarah Brightman
Symphony
Found Objects
This group of album covers feature art that looks like found objects with the band name and album name on it.
Alice Cooper
School’s Out
The Allman Brothers Band
A Decade of Hits (1969-1979)
Chicago
Chicago V
Nightwish
Made in Hong Kong (And in Various Other Places)
Amazing collection, my favs are 30 Seconds to Mars – A Beautiful Lie and Audioslave – Revelations
Nice post.. I had same idea about album covers but unfortunatelly I’m still facing problems with hosting and can’t start blogging :(
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your blog and have my children check up here often. Thumbs up!
@Franco: I think the 30 Seconds to Mars – This is war one is my favorite. Something about the combination of the photo (and how it ties in with the name) with the knocked out letters really draws me in.
For sharing thank you very much good very beautiful work.
album covers are always cool. NIN was super awesome
This post is just truly amazing . thank you !
These are so cool, Tyler. Thanks for collecting and showcasing the cover art. They are certainly inspirational
Talk about inspirational; music AND design together. My wife is utilizing the album covers as inspiration for her interior design stile-ings. Check these out:
http://bit.ly/aZ9HUS (Flaming Lips)
http://bit.ly/cClPuC (BlackStar, Bjork,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
http://bit.ly/avHCHH (Just Jack, The LK)
http://bit.ly/bWpMWI (Crystal Castles, Cut
Copy, Passion Pit, Cold Cave, Jay
Electronica, The xx)
Thank you very much for ‘listening.’
good read enjoyed thanx.