Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers

The best CD covers grab buyers’ attention at CD stores while capturing the feel that the musicians are portraying.

Smashing Magazine put out an article called “100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers”.    It not only contained new artwork, but some remarkable old CD covers, as well.    I went through the list and pulled out my favorites – both artistically and musically.

The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute (2005)
This CD cover draws some curiosity.  Listen to the album, and it may make sense to you.  The music rocks from all direction – speed, complexity and texture are its noteworthy attributes.

Thom Yorke – The Eraser (2006)
Simple design catches your eye.   Great solo album by Thom Yorke of Radiohead.   This album actually is one of the main inspirations for my current solo project.

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
This is a classic and one of the many great Beatles records.   I can’t imagine being without Photoshop to make this cover.

The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
I love the visual for the “Pink Robot”.   The music at parts is quite out there, just like this record cover.   I’ve been obsessed with this album for the longest time, it never gets old.  It is one of the top albums of all time.

King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
Cool street art, yet a quite disturbing cover.   Great album.

Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
This cover has a nice vintage look.   If you actually have the CD, it is made out of cardstock paper, which adds to the feel of the album artwork.   Honestly, it took me several months to actually ‘get’ this album.   But when I did, I realized how fantastic this album is.

Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)
The cover represents the record very well – technology in modern life.   Top 5 records of all time, I’m sure you’ve heard most of these songs.

Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
Colorful cover… good match to the album name.  With Radiohead being my favorite band, I’m glad to see them on this list more than once.   Make sure to purchase this record if you haven’t already.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
Another classic and top favorite on my list.   The Smashing Pumpkins did a great job with what would be ‘branding’ on this record.   Their album artwork, music videos, DVDs, all followed this vintage fantasy very well.


The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – It’s Blitz (2009)
I’m not quite sure if this was photoshopped or real photography, but this cover is just cool.    The album is pretty impressive as well.   This was added to my music collection recently and it rocks, even more so than their previous record, Show Your Bones.

Check out the rest of the 100 Obscure and Remarkable CD covers at the URL below.   If you have any favorite album covers, I’d love to hear what they are.

100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers [Smashing Magazine]

Other URLs to check out:

35 Beautiful Music Album Covers [Smashing Magazine]
Billboard Top 40 Design Showcase [Smashing Magazine]

Do you have any favorite CD covers not listed here?  Please share!

Doves – Kingdom of Rust, A Must-Have Album

5/5 Stars

As a avid music listener, my latest obsession is the recently released record by the Doves, Kingdom of Rust.

The Doves

For those of you that don’t know, the Doves is a rock band from the UK and is probably one of the greatest bands out right now.  No, but seriously, they rock.  Having been a Doves fan since 2002, I think that their albums continue to get better over time.  The band does an excellent job in composing mature music involving complex layers with rich textures.  Doves do not put out great songs; Doves put out great albums.

Doves’ previous release, Some Cities, stood out as one of the best albums in 2005.  Since then, my anticipation grew for another album that is just as good or even better.  5 years later, Kingdom of Rust was released by Astralwerks Records in early April 2009 and it has exceeded my expectations.

Jetstream opens up the record perfectly by bringing you in gradually with soft tones and an escalating tempo.  The song is vocally led by their drummer, Andy Williams.   Andy Williams is not their main vocalist and definitely has a distinct voice.   PopDose describes this as a “vocal sound easily mistaken for Tears for Fears’ Curt Smith“.   His voice is excellent for certain songs, but probably not best at leading every song on their albums.    Jimi Goodwin, their main vocalist, does a great job on vocals.   His voice can be described as being more accessible.

My two favorite songs on Kingdom of Rust are “Winter Hill” and “Spellbound”.   If you’re comfortable with the Doves’ sound, “Winter Hill” will make you feel right at home.

This one review states it clearly for me – “…with a looping mellotron intro to “Winter Hill,” the group quickly pulls back from its gut for inspiration …It’s easily the most fully realized track of the bunch, and arguably the best songwriting ever pulled off by the trio.” (Strange Dance)

“Spellbound” is another great song.  It has a nice melodic hook that pops up in several places throughout the song. 

The same review above says “… the layering of acoustic rhythm guitar and melodic electric guitar on “Spellbound” sounds like a few separate tunes off Radiohead’s The Bends.”

I’m not going to argue against this Radiohead comparison, another one of my favorite bands.

The 5th song on the record, 10-03, is worth mentioning.   10-03 is an interesting piece as it stands out among the other songs on the album.  Its composition is far from the traditional song structure.    The song starts off nice and slow and eventually builds to a rocking climax.

Pitchfork describes it well here: “Goodwin’s sweet, moonlit serenade is eventually upended by a creepy chorus of ghostly voices, launching a psych-rock eruption that suddenly transforms the song from Kingdom of Rust‘s most elegiac moment into its most unsettling one.”

Overall, the album is fantastic.   There are traces of sounds from the previous records, but there are some new approaches that Doves took to make this Kingdom of Rust.   Apparently, the Doves took longer than expected to write this record and went through different stages of song-writing inspiration to get this done.   Whatever they went through, it was all worth it because Kingdom of Rust is definitely in the running for #1 record in 2009.

I encourage you to pick up this record ASAP!

So back to “design”, what do you think about their album cover?

Tracklisting: 1. Jetstream 2. Kingdom of Rust 3. The Outsiders 4. Winter Hill 5. 10.03 6. The Greatest Denier 7. Birds Flew Backwards 8. Spellbound 9. Compulsion 10. House of Mirrors 11. Lifelines

Band Members: Jez Williams Jimi Goodwin Andy Williams