CD/ Album Cover Analysis

The album cover serves three main purposes:

1. To advertise and identify the contents of the music product.
2. To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists 
3. In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional efforts surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it.

We begin our CD cover analysis with Eminem's s 6th studio album titled 'Relapse'. The cover shows pharmaceutical pills scattered into the shape of his face to show a personal insight to himself and take us through the troubles and hardships in his private life. Fighting his addiction to prescription drugs and checking out of rehab, he seems to have dedicated his album to one of the lower points of his life as well as his best friend Proof. The label in the bottom left resembles a doctor's prescription sticker to further emphasise the theme of the artwork and to show an inside joke as it states Doctor Dre prescribed the pills. Andre, more known as "Dr.Dre" produced most of the beats in the album. Die hard Eminem fans will instantly see the link between the graphics and the artist as Eminem has made a habbit of displaying personal issues in his art, whereas newer or less informed followers may struggle to see the concept behind the image.  Its genre is hip hop but notice the difference in the album art below of the same genre.

Kanye West collaborated with Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami to influence the album art for his album Graduation. Murakami's surrealistic visual art is characterized by cartoon creatures that appear friendly and cheerful at first glance, but possess dark, twisted undertones. The album artwork expresses colorful, pastel imagery influenced by Murakami's affiliation with anime and manga.

The cover is based on Kanye's theme of student life. School. It's a place of dreams, of righteousness, a place to have fun. It's also occasionally a place where you experience the rigid dogma of the human race. Kanye's music scrapes sentimentality and aggressiveness together like sandpaper, and he uses his grooves to unleash this tornado that spins with the zeitgeist of the times. I too wanted to be swept up and spun around in that tornado.

—Takashi Murakami

The final image from the photoshoot for the album "Rated R" was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth who stated that "Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album." The album cover was released on October 27 2009and features Rihanna in a glum state and contemplative pose, wearing a leather top with her hand covering her right eye, each finger being wrapped in an intricate set of rings. The black-and-white cover was compared to the outrageous 1980s album covers by singer Grace Jones. The genre of this album is R&B/ Pop so it goes against some of the conventions of its genre as well as a CD cover in general. The lack of colour and use of her name goes against what is typically expected in a Pop album and a CD cover in general. The"R" in the top right corner was designed as a two edge sword. One side symbolizes strength and the other vulnerability. This being Rihanna's most personal album to date, British artist and director Simon Henwood said he spoke with Rihanna extensively for months before the album's release.

This is the 10th studio album art for British electronic dance band, Pet Shop Boys. The album sleeve was designed by Mark Farrow & Pet Shop Boys. The cover features a large tick, taking up most of the space on the cover, and is made up of eleven different coloured squares. In the top left corner the text reads, in small font "Yes, Pet Shop Boys".The cover design was inspired by German artist Gerhard Richter. If you ever needed proof that less was more, it's right here because the album's cover was nominated in the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards shortlist in the Graphics category! Bold colours have arguably become a reocurring theme for the Pet Shop Boys as they have used them in 4 of 10 studio albums. The colours do compliment the music genre as it shows energy and vibe which is what we personally belive they were looking for in a conservative way, as the cover on a whole, isn't as energetic as you would expect it to be. What do you think? Give us you're opinions about the latest cover of  the most successful duo in UK music history.

Load is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It marked the first appearance of a new Metallica logo.The first and last letter of the name had rounded off its edges greatly simplyfying the appearance from the previous 1980's logo. The cover of the album is original artwork by Andres Serrano who has become notorious for his controversial work. This peice in particular, entitled "Semen and Blood III", is one of three photographic studies by Andres Serrano created in 1990 by mingling the artist's own semen and bovine blood between two sheets of Plexiglas. James Hetfield, lead vocalist had this to say about the cover in a 2009 interview with Classic Rock magazine:

"Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of Load was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid shit that they felt they needed to do."

Infinity on High was released on February 5th, 2007. Its the fourth album by an American rock band named the Fall Out Boy. I chose this album CD Cover as it attracted me due to its unique design which i find quite clever. The title is taken from a letter written by Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo in 1888, in which he describes his renewed health and the vigor it has instilled in his painting. Van Gogh's exact phrasing has been translated as "Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all". The clock on the wall could also be related back to the title as the world 'infinity' means never ending is parallel to time being infinite.

My own interpretation of the album cover is that it portrays a conflict between religion (life) and death. This is because the moon is presented and this a symbolic in both Islam and Christianity  as being a way of  guidance which if interpreted by a religious critic is a guidance to God. The lamb is also a symbolic figure in the Jewish religion as lambs were used as a sin offering in the Temple. In Christianity however, Jesus is considered "The Lamb of God" who was given as a one-time sacrifice for all, he was also known as a "shepherd". Furthermore, the wings on the lamb could signify it flying to heaven. Continuing the religious analysis of the album cover, a black crow placed in the corner in the Victorian and middle-eastern cultures would symbolize its presence as a sign of bad luck and even death. And as the black crow is standing on a pumpkin patch which is usually seen during Halloween which is known to celebrate death and the evil spirits. This album cover signifies a clash between the two beliefs. Books are placed behind the lamb's legs and this could be a symbolism of knowledge and this could be interpreted as the knowledge from God. The red cloth however could symbolize blood which relates back to the whole idea of death. The location seems to be set in a child's bedroom which ties in with the notion of innocence, the open door shows a lttle room which in my opinion is a way of distinguishing the two different worlds. The real world which is behind the door and the "after-life".

This album produced by Butch Vig was regarded as the best rock album of all time. It was released in September 1991 and became an unexpected huge success in late 1991 due to the popularity of its single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Nirvana's Nevermind is a well-produced yet emotionally raw album. Nevermind had restored the gritty passion, rebellious mentality and cathartic power long missing from mainstream rock. 

I interpreted this epic album cover as a message stating that from a very young age we humans have innate attraction to money, wealth and fame. This idea reveals what sort of world we live in, where 'every man for themselves' however placing a little child on the album indicates innocence and this reveals a conflict between the two. The colour blue  in many diverse cultures signifies in religious beliefs as a peace bringer, or is believed to keep the bad spirits away. Another interpretation of the colour blue could be related to 'feeling blue' or 'getting the blues' which represents the extremes of the calm feelings associated with blue i.e. sadness, depression, lack of strong (violent) emotion. 

Though the album may seem simple it still has so much to say.

Crazy Town is a rap rock band which originated in Los Angeles. Their first album The Gift of Game was released on November 9th, 1999. The girl licking the lollipop on the cover of the album is a fictional character created by Crazy Town, known as "Little Lolita". Both the album title and the picture of Little Lolita are based on lyrics from the song "Lollipop Porn". The album cover was designed by co-lead singer Shifty Shellshock's father and uncle.

The album shows conflict between what is pure and innocent i.e. butterfly tattoo, halo, ponytails and a lollipop and what is contaminated and devilish i.e. lightning tattoos, devil horns, evil smile, pierced tongue, and tattoo's on her fingers. The plain black background is a conflicting connotation. It can be either serious and conventional or mysterious, sexy and the album cover portrays both these characteristics.

Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces is the fourth studio album by a South African band. The album was released on October 19, 2007 and worldwide on October 23, 2007.  The cover artwork was designed by David Ho, the same artist who designed theVicious Delicious cover for Infected Mushroom. The covers apparently display the same character: Candice the Ghost. 

My interpretation to this unique design contains many factors such as innocence- due to the use of the little girl aswell as sadness, depression and emptiness. The lack of bright colours emphasizes the gloomy atmosphere which David Ho is trying portray. The skeleton that has replaced the character (Candice the Ghost's body states from a religious prespective that there is no life after death and that all dead bodies remain in ghost form after they die which parrelles that story of Candice the Ghost whereby the little girl dies from falling off a tree and lieing there in the bright sun. Another interpretation as to why her body is in a skeleton form is to emphasis her body decaying from the heat of the sun, which is a very painful and slow death for a young innocent girl.


Analysis of CD Covers of our chosen music genre:


Name of poster: The art of rock poster from Presley to punk

This is a rock genre poster which is quite catching. The focus of just the characters head on fire adds to the interpretation that all rock fans/folks are considered "hot headed" and therefore seen as aggressive and quite short tempered (stereotypical beliefs) or it can symbolize the passion flaring out of the character presented. Having a purple background juxtaposes the image as it symbolizes calmness and good judgment. Having the character in blue also conflicts the idea of anger as the colour blue symbolizes calmness. Its due to these conflictions that adds to the beauty of the poster.  

The title of the poster is quite striking as its bold and works well with the dark coloured background allowing the white to stand out against the red colour. The font in which was used is quite artistic which adds more class into the poster making it seem more professional. Having the title of the works in block capitals allows the title to be read easily and adds to the whole concept of catching the attention of the audience. 

Name of poster: Green Day Poster

This punk genre poster is really quite unique as it allows different interpretations to be made. Some would interpret the image of the hand holding the heart as having control over other's lives, and this could be referred to the Americans as shown in the title "American idiot". Both the song title and the heart are in red symbolizing the Americans passion of having control or death. The clever use of having the heart as a shape of a grenade could be interpreted as life being precious and it could end in any given moment or it can be interpreted as others such as the Americans for example having control over our lives and are so powerful that they are able to end our lives in an instant. The use of colours are quite effective, the black background allows the red and white to stand out attracting the audiences attention. Black symbolizes evil, power, anger and this is seen through the image of the hand holding a bleeding heart.

 The title of the poster "Green Day" is quite catchy as its in bold and in written in block capitals. Having one word in each line could be interpreted as allowing the chance for the audience to read each word without being confused and to allow consolidation of information adding more value to the poster. Here again their is a use of white in the title which we have noticed is quite common with punk posters. The use of the black background and white writing could stand for mourning and cheerless occasions. Other interpretations and symbolisms can be made with the use of black and white; black for the loss, and white for their passing onto the heavens as the colour of white symbolizes purity as its a sacred colour.  However the red used in "american idiot" could symbolizes aggression, love, blood. The colour red and white are usually worn by shrine maidens which again can be linked to God. Even though "american idiot" is not written in block capitals it still is rather catchy and is easily visible. 

While we were researching posters and CD covers we came to realise that most of them are quite similar in terms of colours that the titles are used. From the posters that we have posted above a trend of having white coloured titles or black seems to be quite important as they are seen as the fundamental colours and are more likely to stand out and grab the audiences attention. It is due to this we have decided to use this idea and use it when we create our own CD Covers and Poster promoting our music video.