Great post! Of course, we can't forget The Beatles, whose cover of the "White Album" (designed by Richard Hamilton) was a reaction to the overstuffed, hyper-colorful Peter Blake design they employed on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Granted, the White Album design was most effective as first produced, with "The Beatles" embossed rather than printed in light gray as it was on later pressings.
Can never forget! Really the most iconic of them all and so interesting that it's been done by several artists (Ichiko, Childish & Yseult amongst others)
Never head that led zep story! Classic peter grant. Tri-repetae was a real disappointment after Amber, one of my fave covers, both by designers republic for Autechre. Seems like such a wasted oppty to have a solid color cover. Even a hint of pattern or embossing would be better than plain solid IMO.
It's interesting how many times the all-black motif has been used - Spinal Tap, Prince, Metallica and a Beatles bootleg in addition to the ones you mention, and possibly others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Velvet Underground 'White Light' *almost* qualifies.
It's an interesting sub-genre, and thank you for the insight into some famous covers. I thought of 'Teen Dream' or 'Depression Cherry' by Beach House reading this. I also thought of the physical copies of The XX 'I See You', a reflective surface.
Depression Cherry totally fits in this realm! The XX's 'I See You' is also a great example of making a solid surface actually intriguing on vinyl. Interesting how they adapted it for streaming though!
The Finnish electronic duo Pan Sonic (formerly Panasonic) released several albums that were colour blocked: A, Vakio, Aaltopiiri, Kulma... but I think Gravitoni is a good example of how to breech the flatness of a plain field—it looks icy and cold in a way simple black wouldn't, and feels like Pan Sonic sound. In fact, they all have an intention but that one is maybe the pinnacle.
A dozen comments, yet no mention of Spinal Tap!? ;-)
thank you for being the one we needed!! can’t believe I missed it
Great post! Of course, we can't forget The Beatles, whose cover of the "White Album" (designed by Richard Hamilton) was a reaction to the overstuffed, hyper-colorful Peter Blake design they employed on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Granted, the White Album design was most effective as first produced, with "The Beatles" embossed rather than printed in light gray as it was on later pressings.
Can never forget! Really the most iconic of them all and so interesting that it's been done by several artists (Ichiko, Childish & Yseult amongst others)
I love that Wallows cover. Some others to look at are albums 1, 2 and 3 by Pole.
Spot on, thank you Tom!
Never head that led zep story! Classic peter grant. Tri-repetae was a real disappointment after Amber, one of my fave covers, both by designers republic for Autechre. Seems like such a wasted oppty to have a solid color cover. Even a hint of pattern or embossing would be better than plain solid IMO.
It's interesting how many times the all-black motif has been used - Spinal Tap, Prince, Metallica and a Beatles bootleg in addition to the ones you mention, and possibly others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Velvet Underground 'White Light' *almost* qualifies.
Very true- solid black album covers could be a whole piece on their own
It's an interesting sub-genre, and thank you for the insight into some famous covers. I thought of 'Teen Dream' or 'Depression Cherry' by Beach House reading this. I also thought of the physical copies of The XX 'I See You', a reflective surface.
Depression Cherry totally fits in this realm! The XX's 'I See You' is also a great example of making a solid surface actually intriguing on vinyl. Interesting how they adapted it for streaming though!
I also thought immediately of “Depression Cherry” by Beach House. It’s also textured, which adds a very cool 3D element to it
Santana had the all-white Welcome album in 1973, with the title embossed on the cover :)
Love! So interesting how they changed it for streaming. Most likely due to the illegibility but it truly has a totally different feel.
The Finnish electronic duo Pan Sonic (formerly Panasonic) released several albums that were colour blocked: A, Vakio, Aaltopiiri, Kulma... but I think Gravitoni is a good example of how to breech the flatness of a plain field—it looks icy and cold in a way simple black wouldn't, and feels like Pan Sonic sound. In fact, they all have an intention but that one is maybe the pinnacle.
Thanks for sharing Pan Sonic, Jamie! Adding these to my collection.