John Foster takes music packaging very seriously. He has deconstructed the design of the recording industry through his personal work and his books, Maximum Page Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport) and the upcoming For Sale: Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW) – out now! As well as a monograph of Sub Pop’s Art Director, Jeff Kleinsmith, slated for publication by the label in 2009.
He will be poking and prodding various albums on a weekly basis so please be sure to keep an eye out!
This week’s victims:
Greatest Gimmick Cover Ever?
I am completely breaking with form and giving you a lot to look at with just a minimal explanation. The pieces featured really don’t need much of my jibber jabber – they are above it.
I was inspired by the offhand mention of the new Animal Collective cover and it’s on-line optical illusion being the best cover ever. I know it wasn’t intended to start a larger discussion and I didn’t give it any merit, but it did make me wonder - just which cover did I think was the greatest gimmick cover ever?
The answer ended up being something of a stalemate wrapped forever around one complicating factor – intended results.
The first is the Andy Warhol designed cover for The Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers.” The image itself, a gritty black and white photograph with more than a little focus on the tight leather over a semi-fluffed male member, would be enough to merit consideration based on it’s provocative nature alone. There are few instances of sleaze coming across so arty.
Far from happy to stop there – Warhol put in (at a great expense) and actual zipper to be pulled down. I could go on and on but the genius is obvious:
The only misstep keeping the design from being called a tremendous success? Just that it destroyed all of the vinyl placed in front of it by scratching it with said zipper’s pull tab.
Which brings us to our next fave – Durutti Column’s “The Return of the Durutti Column.” Sleeved entirely in single sided sandpaper(which couldn’t even be printed on, but had to be stamped with the Factory Records catalogue number) took that sense of destruction to another level. Inspired by label head Tony Wilson’s love of the Situationist philosophy and tactics, the sandpaper didn’t bother the stacks of it’s own record but was all too happy to scratch everything else in sight once it got to the store and was lonely by itself. All as planned. Brilliant.
Oh yeah – both records are amazing and deserving of such care in their packaging – for entirely different reasons.
Final score (out of 10): 10.0 design, 10.0 for the music (both records.)
God loves a cheerful giver.
Q: Which record do really really really enjoy?
A: The Durutti Column
FUN FACT: Members of Joy Division and other Factory groups helped assemble this album. So if you have a first edition copy, Ian Curtis may've touched it.
FUN FACT: "The Return of The Durutti Column" was recorded in about three days.
I actually have that Rolling Stones album.
A: I really really enjoy both records. Honest.
More Fun Fact: Depending on who tells the story, Ian Curtis is more or less the only one that assembled the sleeves as the other members of Joy Division and Gretton all spent their time watching porn while he folded away.
Less fun fact: this is my worst batch of writing yet. I promise not to work these up after midnight any longer...
i have that too!
I dig that these are vinyl-based covers, however. But I would.
another fun fact: the sandpaper actually started to destroy the record itself (inside the sleeve) as well. they had people coming back with them all scratched up. I guess due to sand getting inside the sleeve.
Fun fact: Sticky Fingers had to be kept and shipped with the zipper pulled down to keep from denting the tracks on the record. With the zipper down, it simply dented the center label.
Yet another fun fact:
John Cooper Clarke's "Snap Crackle & Bop" record copied the Rolling Stones conceit and put a lyrics book in the first edition:
Also, note the ties between John Cooper Clarke and the Durutti Column (Martin Hannett produced/played on both albums, the "Return" album had a Martin Hannett flexi-disc in the first edition, Vini Reilly played with Clarke from time to time, etc.)