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Thanks to the relentless onward surge of downloading and piracy, album art as a discipline – and by extension the notion of a record or CD as something tactile, with an aesthetic value that complements and deepens your appreciation of the music – increasingly belongs to a bygone age.
Some bands are fighting a rearguard action. Radiohead care so much about album art their designer, Stanley Donwood, is practically a sixth member of the band. The fact ‘In Rainbows’ initially came out as a download was in some ways a red herring: the band’s true intention was to focus attention on the immaculate deluxe vinyl discbox that came out at the same time.
Of Montreal are another band who recognise the importance of the visual element in establishing fan loyalty. In a bid to deter illegal downloading their last album ‘Skeletal Lamping’ was made available in a beautifully designed box set that included T-shirts, stickers and a (skeletal) lampshade.
More recently, Animal Collective’s head-swimming, optical illusion sleeve for ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ is a tacit recognition that an album can nourish the eyes as well as the ears. In that sense, it’s of a piece with iconic sleeves such as Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’: something to be held, pored over and pondered – possibly while stoned.
So, if the art of the album sleeve is in its death throes, if not quite dead, now seems a good time to debate the finest examples. I’m not necessarily thinking of ‘iconic’ sleeves – ‘Sgt. Pepper…’. ‘London Calling’ etc. More the sleeves that you personally hold dear, albums that, purely because of the way they’re designed, give you a rush of nostalgia/aesthetic joy/appreciation …………
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