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BEST ALBUM COVERS OF 2007

Posted about 1 year ago
I've put together a list of 30 album covers I've been impressed with over the course of 2007... I'm sure I've missed some (feel free to add your own or pick your favorites from the following list...) I've even added a cool tune to listen to while you check out the artwork... From Blonde Redhead's fantastic "23" album (one of my Top 11 of the year, which I posted on earlier)... here, in alphabetical order, are my favorites...AMIINA "Kurr"What says "Icelandic Rock N' Roll!" quite like four women knitting... works for me!THE ARCADE FIRE "Neon Bible"Cover and album named synced perfectly.BEIRUT "The Flying Club Cup"I haven't heard this album yet, but it's on my "must buy" list... the cover proves that an old classic photo beats some crappy Photoshop job every time.ANDREW BIRD "Armchair Apocrypha"...back of an owl never looked so good...BJORK "Volta"She can do no wrong... well... maybe she can, but I don't care...BLONDE REDHEAD "23"Classic meets "whoa!"... Stopped me in my tracks...BURIAL "Untrue"Dark and mysterious.THE DECEMBERISTS "The Crane Wife"...gorgeous pencil sketch...EARLIMART "Mentor Tormentor"I never got the story behind this one... maybe it's an artist's conception of an aerial view of Earlimart (a small town in the Central Valley of California), but regardless, it works...FIELDS "Everything Last Winter"I definitely want to read this. ..and listen, too...FOO FIGHTERS "Echoes, Silence, Passion & Grace"...not a big fan of the band, but dig the cover...GOODBOOKS "Leni"Okay. I'm cheating a bit... this is a single cover, but it's too good (much better than their album cover) to pass up.GRUFF RHYS "Candylion"The main Super Furry's solo album (It's a great album!) is reflected perfectly by this tiny paper lion...PJ HARVEY "White Chalk"This, people, is how you do portrait covers.HOLY FUCK "LP"Great photo... I might have played the type a bit differently, but whatever...IRON AND WINE "The Sheppard's Dog"A brilliant splash of paint with fantastic colors wonderfully applied and you get a great cover...JAY Z "American Gangster"This could have been bad... instead, it worked brilliantly. Album cover, movie poster... anything... Jens Lekman "Night Falls Over Kortedala"...so... a guy getting a haircut by some clouds is a great cover? Apparently so.KINGS OF LEON "Because Of The Times"I've got a great idea! Nevermind.LIARS "Liars"Exhibit A: Negative space can be a very good thing.MENOMENA "Friend And Foe"I can't even begin to describe how cool this cover is... and the image above does it no justice... wonderfully rendered by Craig Thompson, this die cut cover is interactive as the cd illustrations fill the holes in the cover to create all kinds of merriment. Worth picking up!THE NATIONAL "Boxer"Great photo with great type equals great cover... (which combines with great music! yay art!)OKKERVIL RIVER "The Stage Names"I wonder if this is what the women of Amiina worked on when they were done with that blanket.POWDERFINGER "Dream Days At The Hotel Existence"Again... this could have been bad, but the curtains and the illustration are set in a perfect scene... type is so so... but the package sings....ST. VINCENT "Marry Me"Another classic portrait shot... Sure, she's beautiful, but you know what?...if you put Iggy Pop in her place, it would still be a great cover... (but I'd rather have her in there)TRAVIS "The Boy With No Name""Let's put the band on the roof of a building and take a picture."... oh, but what a fantastic cover... perfect.THE TWILIGHT SAD "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters"Bright, creepy and cool.WHITE RABBITS "Fort Nightly"...nailed it.YEASAYER "All Hour Cymbals"YEA for cutup art! Robert Pollard would be proud....and finally...EFTERKLANG "Under Giant Trees"This is a remarkable cover... The Danish band released their mini-album earlier this year in a limited-edition... The album came with puzzle cards that... well... check out the video!
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Comments (31)

  1. ZenPop
    ZenPop says ...and here's more Efterklang with the great visuals of the cover artist, Nan Na Hvass... this video (and the music) is brilliant...
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  2. dachmo
    dachmo says great idea, this blonde redhead album is growing on me. I already liked it but even more so these past few days.
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  3. Zeroskilz
    Zeroskilz says Nice post. I liked the covers from The National and The Twilight Sad too. Blonde Redhead's album cover is nice for its simplicity. Nice covers. I haven't seen a lot of them. Other covers I liked: Maps- Interpol- Editors- The Cribs- Bloc Party- Battles- Arctic Monkeys-
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  4. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Thanks Dach!... Zero... Thanks for the post... those are some great ones... Especially Editors (how the hell did I forget that one?!) and The Cribs!... those would have made the list... the Bloc Party one reminded me of the other cover I forgot... THE BLOC PARTY ONE!... not the one you put up... This one...
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  5. Zeroskilz
    Zeroskilz says I've never seen that one. That's beautiful! What country was blessed with that cover? I'm jealous.
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  6. ZenPop
    ZenPop says I found this as a "pre-release" cover... I guess they changed their minds... I wouldn't have....
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  7. Zeroskilz
    Zeroskilz says Agreed, that's the better cover.
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  8. Sam The Artist
    Sam The Artist says oh amiina, WHAT WILL THOSE CRAZY LADIES DO NEXT!? i remember going to the store and just starting at that battles cover for so long. lol.
    Permalink posted 01/06/2008
  9. dermahrk
    dermahrk says Owl? I would swear that's a parakeet / budgie.
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  10. Marigold
    Marigold says I love the Menomena cover. The Earlimart one is really cool as well. I think we should not forget about this gem. It was outdated before 2007 and after 2007 but maybe that is why I think it is so damn funny.
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  11. HelenMarie
    HelenMarie says Love your post! Brilliant video at the end too! Thought this was a cool cover...
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  12. kristiana
    kristiana says Oh! thanks for this post, what fun. I love that Efterklang cover, and the puzzle cards are a fantastic idea! The video was beautiful too, wow. Kinda like if Escher and Bosch got together to do a child's nursery. :)
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  13. kristiana
    kristiana says I suppose I should add one of my favorites! C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\shellac.jpg
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  14. kristiana
    kristiana says whoops, that didn't work at all!
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  15. kristiana
    kristiana says
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  16. TylerDurden
    TylerDurden says The Battles cover is great.... ZENPOP...thanks for opening that can of worms, it brought out the best of everyone.
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  17. Bartleby
    Bartleby says Thanks Zenpop for this collection of visual delights. My favourite from your selection would be Efterklang, Elimarkt and Menomena. Mainly because they're more to do with visual creation accompanying music rather than being at its service. What do you think makes a good album cover/artwork? It seems to me that album covers serve two purposes: baiting the potential listener and buyer (marketing) and branding the artist (giving them a visual identity). Both are equally important when it comes to "assessing" album artworks. However, I must say I favour the visual originality to any marketing or branding. (Have you noticed that portrait covers are more often used to sell female artists than male? What should make of that?) Of course with the generalisation of downloads (rather than actual hard copies), I wonder if the album artwork will not be lost soon. That's just my two cents.
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  18. kristiana
    kristiana says Not to worry, Bartle'by! What with vinyl making a comeback, so too will interesting album art (I'm hoping). ZP, while over on your top 11 list, I caught myself staring at that Blonde Redhead cover, and realized it was reminding me of this...
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  19. Bartleby
    Bartleby says Hopefully, hopefully there are still fervent champions of the album artworks on "their fine Arab charger" ;)
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  20. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Bartleby: Thanks for the comments!... I think great cover art can't be categorized either way... The bottom line to me is the word "art".... though most people can agree generally on a lot of things, it's still a very personal thing... what appeals to me might not appeal to you... For my part, I thirst for something that looks like it can be hung up on my wall. Something that stands on its own... If it works with the band or music, so much the better... Eventually it will become linked with the band anyway... so yeah, it does add (like videos) the visual to the musical... (you can probably tell that I generally like clean design... usually a central point of interest... something bold or compelling.... so many covers just lay there... doing nothing...) I also think too many band settle for crappy covers.... LONG LIVE ALBUM COVERS! (and don't think I don't worry about that...)
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  21. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Sam: Thanks for the comment! Yeah... I stared at the Battles cover too... I finally went "oh! Mirrors!" Dermahrk: hey... I think you're right... funny... I just saw an owl the whole time... now I can't see anything but a parakeet... (maybe because it IS a parakeet) Marigold: Yeah, I'm love those covers, too... and that one you posted!... hilarious. I saw that before and did a double... no... triple take... one of the cheesiest I've ever seen.
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  22. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Sunshine: Thanks so much!... and that's a great Rufus cover, too... I don't think I saw that one... Kristiana: Thanks! Isn't that video great!?! One of my favorites! (Do I see another list?) ...and cool cover... Who's that for? (same for your other post... who's that?) Tyler: My pleasure!
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  23. kristiana
    kristiana says Shellac, Excellent Italian Greyhound. I think it may have been on the inside for some releases, cover for others. That, my friend, is a portrait Dali did of Lady Dunn. It's in the permanent collection of my local art gallery. I looked at that painting up close and personal many times before I noticed the extra leg. I guess it's not that easy to see in this image here on your post. What a prankster!
    Permalink posted 01/07/2008
  24. goodmusiconly
    goodmusiconly says Great choices ZP. I love Sam Beam's painting on the Iron and Wine cov, what a multi-talented guy he is. The Menomena is very cool indeed (I spent such a long time at a venue one night looking at all the details on their tour poster, love it), and Efterklang's puzzle cards are something else! I got the chance to talk to Aaron and Ariana / Earlimart when they played here a couple months ago. From what I understand, the cover art was adapted from a screen shot from an autocad program. It really turned out great. Here's another great one - and I like this too.
    Permalink posted 01/08/2008
  25. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Kristiana - I CAN'T believe I didn't recognize the Dali piece!... (My art history teacher is probably swallowing bleach right about now!) Erin - Couple of good ones there!... I'm guessing the Mandell one is by Jason Munn... looks like his work anyway... (he's a fantastic poster artist from Oakland, by the way...) Thanks for the Earlimart info... I had a chance to ask them a few months ago, but didn't think of it... Worked out great is right!
    Permalink posted 01/08/2008
  26. Mike the Knife
    Mike the Knife says Album covers? What are album covers?
    Permalink posted 01/10/2008
  27. ColdandComposed
    ColdandComposed says Nice. I hadn't seen a list like this. You're missing Cloud Cult's "The Meaning of 8". Photobucket Then again, they create two pieces of art every show. Which are always fantastic.
    Permalink posted 01/14/2008
  28. FluxCapacitor
    FluxCapacitor says Great post. Loved your picks and commentary. And I just know Blonde Redhead's 23 is going to be my next favorite album. Thanks!
    Permalink posted 01/16/2008
  29. ZenPop
    ZenPop says Mike... ouch. the world of downloading... is there room for art?... sure hope so... CandC... Thanks... I wasn't familiar with Cloud Cult... (they create two pieces of art every show?... I guess I better make myself familiar with them!) Flux... Thanks!... yeah, 23 is fantastic!...
    Permalink posted 01/16/2008
  30. ColdandComposed
    ColdandComposed says I will shamelessly promote Cloud Cult everywhere I can. Definitely look into them. My top album of 07 as it were, but most people have no idea who I'm talking about. Craig (the lead) is fantastic. They've got yet another album coming out in April. I've seen them once, and have tickets to go again.
    Permalink posted 01/16/2008
  31. Anna
    Anna says It's so great to see such a post. My arty self thanks you kindly! No one said that we shouldn't judge an album by its cover, right? Good, 'cause I'm already in love with Efterklang. The Cinematics - A Strange Education:
    Permalink posted 01/31/2008

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