Album Covers
Time to look at some pretty pictures.
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U2's 'Boy' & 'War', using the same kid (Peter Rowan, a brother of Bono's friend), the cover was a metaphor itself for U2's music, from the raw adolescent energy of their debut to the seething emotions in 'War'.
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Both amazing albums, Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' had a money shot of his rear, the real controversy though was whether it was indicative of him doing a No. 1 on the American flag. His right hand looks suspicious though. Ryan Adam's 'Gold' had him facing the camera, but the flag appears to be upside down this time, taken months before, the album was coincidentally released two weeks after 9/11.
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Why bother making your own album cover when you can just borrow from the greatest artists of our time. Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' uses the fairly popular 'Liberty Leading the People', the elements in the painting do mean something, though I won't be explaining it. Fleet Foxes eponymous debut uses a painting by Pieter Brugel the Elder, 'Netherlandish Proverbs', look closely and you can see proverbs acted out literally. My favourite? "Tossing feathers into the wind."
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About the most famous of all album covers, Frank Zappa didn't like it though, recreating a spoof for his own album.
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Two iconic singers, two iconic albums, two iconic album covers. 'Horses' was Patti Smith's debut album and set her up as the progenitor of punk rock. The portrait was taken by good friend Robert Mappelthorpe, he was famous for black and white photos of naked men and women. 'Born to Run' was Springsteen's ticket to the big time, taken by Eric Meola, not yet posing, Bruce leans casually against the big man Clemons. Conversely, Meola is famous for his color nature shots.
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I think I read somewhere before, that if you get famous enough, all you have to do is put the band member's faces on the cover. The Beatles 'Let it Be', Blur's 'Greatest Hits' and U2's 'Pop'
-Ed
vsU2's 'Boy' & 'War', using the same kid (Peter Rowan, a brother of Bono's friend), the cover was a metaphor itself for U2's music, from the raw adolescent energy of their debut to the seething emotions in 'War'.
vs 
Both amazing albums, Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' had a money shot of his rear, the real controversy though was whether it was indicative of him doing a No. 1 on the American flag. His right hand looks suspicious though. Ryan Adam's 'Gold' had him facing the camera, but the flag appears to be upside down this time, taken months before, the album was coincidentally released two weeks after 9/11.
vs 
Why bother making your own album cover when you can just borrow from the greatest artists of our time. Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' uses the fairly popular 'Liberty Leading the People', the elements in the painting do mean something, though I won't be explaining it. Fleet Foxes eponymous debut uses a painting by Pieter Brugel the Elder, 'Netherlandish Proverbs', look closely and you can see proverbs acted out literally. My favourite? "Tossing feathers into the wind."
vs 
About the most famous of all album covers, Frank Zappa didn't like it though, recreating a spoof for his own album.
vs
Two iconic singers, two iconic albums, two iconic album covers. 'Horses' was Patti Smith's debut album and set her up as the progenitor of punk rock. The portrait was taken by good friend Robert Mappelthorpe, he was famous for black and white photos of naked men and women. 'Born to Run' was Springsteen's ticket to the big time, taken by Eric Meola, not yet posing, Bruce leans casually against the big man Clemons. Conversely, Meola is famous for his color nature shots.
vs
vs
I think I read somewhere before, that if you get famous enough, all you have to do is put the band member's faces on the cover. The Beatles 'Let it Be', Blur's 'Greatest Hits' and U2's 'Pop'
-Ed