FEATURE:
Cover Aversions
IN THIS PHOTO: The cover for perila’s album, how much time it is between you and me?
Is Album Art Still Important and Interesting Today?
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DURING such a tough and changeable time…
PHOTO CREDIT: Marc Fanelli-Isla/Unsplash
there is uncertainty regarding the music industry and its prosperity. We are not sure whether many festivals and gigs will go ahead during the summer. At the end of last year, great news came out concerning the success of vinyl sales. 2021 was another that saw the boom of the treasured format. The Guardian take up the story:
“For many people, placing a record on the turntable will always be the quintessential musical experience.
Sliding a shiny black disc out of a gatefold sleeve and dust jacket, laying it on the turntable platter, then the unmistakable crackle and the low, almost imperceptible analogue rumble as the needle slides into the groove.
Before the digital revolution, vinyl was the premier choice for listening to music. But the format’s resurgence in popularity over the past few years shows no signs of letting up, with new figures predicted to show sales growing to their highest level in more than three decades.
Adele, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Abba all all competing for limited vinyl pressing plant production capacity
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), more than 5m vinyl albums have been bought in the UK over the past 12 months, up 8% on sales in 2020 and the 14th consecutive year of growth since 2007.
By the end of the year, vinyl will have accounted for almost one in four album purchases – the highest proportion since 1990 – according to BPI estimates.
But why? There are tactile, sensuous and theatrical qualities to vinyl that made it a unique format, said Andy Kerr, the director of product marketing and communications for Bowers & Wilkins, a British audiophile speaker maker.
Popular streaming services used digital file compression to lower internet bandwidth that “tend to make the sound tinny”, Kerr said. “Vinyl is the opposite of that. It tends to make the sound lush and warm.”
But Kerr said he did not think the renewed interest in vinyl was being led by audiophiles. “I do think a huge amount of what’s going on with vinyl is not about the sound at all, it’s about the theatre of it, it’s the experience of it,” he said.
“The LP record forces you into that [experience], you don’t tend to skip every 30 seconds because you don’t like the way that the song is going, you tend to listen to it all the way through.”
Tom Fisher, record buyer at Rat Records, a secondhand record dealer in Camberwell, south London, said lockdowns had led to “frustrated demand for music as a cultural thing”.
“If you can’t go and see a band you might buy an album or T-shirt, [that satisfies you] in a way that digital doesn’t fulfil,” he said.
Emphasising that his comments related to the secondhand trade in LPs, Fisher said: “The only thing I would say about the renewed interest in vinyl is that it is not really very good for creative music and art, because the interest in vinyl is retro”.
There are a number of reasons why vinyl sales have boomed and continued to trend upwards. That need for a physical connection at a rather edgy time has translated to music. In the absence of gigs, many people are without the usual physical connection to music. People want to support artists and rely less on streaming platforms and the low payments they provide artists. Also, people want to enjoy albums in their long-form state. I feel there the communal aspect of a record shop draws people in. Legendary albums are reaching new generations, whereas some major artists like Ed Sheeran and Adele are reaching a wider demographic. One might think younger fans would stream more than buy vinyl. Perhaps we have this moment where listeners are more concerned with preserving an album rather than listening and having this ephemeral relationship with music. I think that vinyl sales will continue to flourish for many years to come – as formats like the C.D. decline and many people are heading away from streaming. One of the major reasons to buy an L.P. is that it lasts and you have this piece of art. Some people buy vinyl purely because of its imagery, rather than the music that is on it. Whilst I think albums should be bought and heard, I can understand why some people buy classics albums: because of the sleeve and the striking imagery. One does not see too many articles regarding eye-catching album covers. The Vinyl Factory ran a feature last year regarding the best artwork and packaging.
IN THIS PHOTO: The cover for IDLES’ album, CRAWLER
The reason I bring up the subject of artwork is because, although vinyl sales have increased, I think that album covers are getting less ambitious. Although 2021 saw some great album covers (including IDLES’ CRAWLER), I tend to find that most albums have really boring covers. The most-popular albums of last year, by and large, sport rather ordinary and plain covers. The artist not really going for a concept or a new angle. The best covers tend to be from the albums that did not sell hugely or get the huge critical attention of artists like Little Simz, Self Esteem, Arlo Parks, Billie Eilish, Wolf Alice or Adele. 2021 was a year defined by women making the strongest and most interesting music. In a wider sense, the album covers were not exactly timeless. Think about some of the classic albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind, The Clash’s London Calling, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, or Blondie’s Parallel Lines. Even though the latter is the band shot with not a lot else, it is the outfits and colour scheme that makes it iconic. There have been some sensational album covers the past decade or so (I think Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly, is the most stirring example). Maybe the reason why so many of the classic album covers were from the 1960s-1990 is because there was no streaming and it was physical sales. Seeing an album cover leap out from the shelves is one of the great pleasures of vinyl. You are transfixed before you have heard a single song!
IN THIS PHOTO: The cover for Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Not to say 2021 was a wipe-out for album covers, though it has been quite sparse. I think my favourite cover is Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Not because it is quite explicit; I love the concept and the image stays in your mind. This article lists some good album covers, though I think most of them are quite unadventurous and do not hit you as hard as the very best. Similarly, whilst this article lists some genuinely strong album covers, most of their favourites are defined by bright designs and bold images. There is less intricacy and layers than one would expect. I guess a lot of the classic covers have a simplicity. Maybe something bright and sharply-coloured is a more popular and successful cover angle compared to detail or anything cinematic, creatively rare or enduing. For example, how many of these album covers genuinely linger in the mind?! Whereas I love Arca and Cedric Noel’s covers from this feature, there are not many others that capture me. Maybe there is psychology or something ‘2021’ behind the shift in album art and its importance. Artists may argue they want the music to be the most important thing, but physical albums also need to have a good cover in order to sell! There is something slightly unsatisfactory about a great album with a mediocre cover. This does not seem to have put off vinyl buyers this past year. They have turned out in their droves and boosted sales massively! I wonder if this year will see more interesting album covers. I have been compiling playlists for albums celebrating big anniversaries in 2022. Interestingly, many of the covers that I like best are from over thirty years ago. The albums I am featuring from 1992-1967 are vastly more intriguing than those from 1997-2017 (though 1997 has a few pearls!). Although the past year has sported some unique covers, too many albums have been based or boring portraits, bright images with no real depth or point…or there has been little that takes the breath. As the vinyl growth continues, one would like to see more in the way of engaging and iconic-worthy covers. To me, a wonderful cover design elevates an L.P…
IN THIS PHOTO: The (rather unmemorable) cover for Adele’s new album, 30
TO insane and giddy heights.