Cd cover analysis improvements
- 1. ALBUM ANALYSISBY REBECKA WADE-SAVAGE 12CC Click on album to see review.
- 2. The Picture is in black and white which gives the smoke a more prominent feel in the album cover as it stands out to the background. Moreover, the smoke being colourful links into the idea of the album title of being too weird to live, too rare to die cause in that world of black and white the smoke is very rare to have. The person featured on the album cover is the main vocalist in the band showing that they include the band on the cover. However, only he is featured on the cover due to the album being personal to him unlike the rest of the band. The main singer is staring at the audience through the mirror making it harder to turn away from the cover. The album cover name is written in a smaller font than the band name as well as the font is different except for the words ‘Live and Die’ which are juxtaposition to each other. It also links into some of their songs which are located on the album such as ‘Far too young to Die.’ The titles of the music are located on the back cover and are written in the same font as the title. The number of the songs are written in red which could mean they are more important as you need the to know which track is which when listening to the CD. Moreover, the barcode is incorporated into the design. The Lead Vocalist is in a open top car looking into the mirror which gives the feel as if he is looking at the audience which is looking at the music titles. Also, the image contains lens flares which gives it an almost vintage feel. Moreover, the artist looking through the mirror at the audience could mean that he is looking at our reactions to his music, however, doesn’t want to openly admit it. Lastly, the open top car gives the album a rock style theme which links into their music. The background is quite boring as it’s of a abandon/run down area which gives most of the focus onto the singer and the smoke. The singer is wearing all black and is smoking which gives of the feel of rock which links into their type of music. Lastly, the singer is looking down at the ground rather than at the audience which could symbolise him being respectful to the audience or he is almost being open about his music as his arms at hanging at his sides. The front and back cover of the album is in black and white with the only colour being the smoke and the numbers meaning the overall design is matching.
- 3. Panic! At the Disco are a American Rock band which released their album ‘Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die’ on October 8th 2013 from the producer Butch Walker. The genre of music is rock which links to the albums black and white imagery and the artists body language/appearance. This is due to him wearing only black clothing and smoking which is commonly linked to the rock genre in music. Furthermore, the only colour on the back of the album is red which is another which is commonly linked to the rock genre of music. The imagery on the album is of the main vocalist of the band who either smoking or driving in a open top car. The front cover imagery gives of the feel of rock due to him smoking, wearing black and in a abandon area. However, the smoke which is colourful (thus contrasts the rest of the album) makes it feel less rock and something new instead. Also, the imagery has completely swapped the colours around so usually the smoke is black and white while the rest of the world is in colour but instead the band has chosen to swap this around which in turn links into the title of the album ‘too weird to live, too rare to die’ as the band’s music is unique just like the smoke in the black and white world. Moreover, the artist in the picture seems to be walking away from the building which could mean he is trying to unique in the world which in turn once again links back to the title of the album. The main person in the cover is looking downwards with his arms at his side while smoking which gives an openness to album which in turn makes the main singer look like he is being open about everything. On the other hand, looking downwards instead of straight ahead can be seen as a sign of respect meaning that he could be being respect to the audience. The layout of the album is focused mostly on the top left hand corner and the mid right of the album. The writing of the album for this band is usually found in the top left hand corner which is why they probably located it there. Furthermore, the layout has meant that the test and the main picture do not overlap thus take the importance away from one another. The title is located above the band name which may indicate that the title of the album is a reflection of the band itself. The text style is one which links into the band as they usually use that type of font in their album art. In the title of the band and the track list on the back is written in a style of font like bebas. However, in the title they are changed the words ‘Live’ and ‘Die’ to the same font as their band name which are contrasting words which gives on another feel of rock to the album. Also, the font they use for their band name looks handwritten thus fives the feel of rock and it being personal to the artist. The use of symbolism in the album cover can seen through the smoke in which the singer is smoking as unlike the rest of the world the smoke is colourful and different which may indicate that the he is creating something new and never seen before (smoke though mouth = lyrics come from his mouth also) but it could also mean that just like the smoke this album is going to be too rare to die however to weird to some people to live. This could be seen as the band’s view of themselves in the industry of music.
- 4. The title of the album and the band name is located at the top of the cover in small text which gives the image underneath more importance to the audience. This could be to give the feel of inclusion for the fans due to only the fans of the music would know of the image and thus would feel like true fans. The main focus of the album is the boy with the American flag on his face who is wearing a stripy blue and black t- shirt. He is staring right out at the audience which a blank expression. This gives the boy an angry and dark feel to his face which links into the album’s title ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’. The boy is wearing dark clothing which links into his dark face paint which only covers half his face which could link to the fact that he is half psycho, half beauty. The back cover of the album features the band walking away with their back facing the audience except one of them which is wrapped in an American flag in the same colours as the image on the front the cover. He is staring at the audience which once again links into the fact that the audience can’t break eye contact with him and thus will look at the album more. The band walking away from the audience could represent that they are starting on their journey of music while it could also meant this could be their last album and thus are walking away from the audience. The track list on the back of the album is written in the same font as the title and the band name which makes the writing look dated and links into the feel of retro America/Patriotic (the flags, clothing and backgrounds). The band members are all wearing leather jackets which are usually seen as rock clothing which links into their type of music. The background of the image is commonly seen as a standard American scenery (desert, tumbleweed s etc). Also, the sun gives a dusty feel to the album which makes it link even more into the rock genre.
- 5. American Beauty/American Psycho is the sixth album realised by Fall out boy which is an American Rock band. The album was released on January 16th in 2015 by Island Records. The ‘American beauty’ comes from the album by the grateful dead while the ‘American Psycho’ comes from the book by Bret Easton Ellis. The genre of music is rock as the band is described as an ‘American Rock Band’ due to their pervious album was ‘Save Rock and Roll’. The genre of rock comes across in the album due their front cover featuring dark/punk type face paint which is commonly linked to rock music as well as their back cover features the band in leather jackets in a abandon setting which can be once again seen as rock. Furthermore, the colours on the people on the album are black and blue which are dark colours and can be seen as linking into the idea of rock of roll. The imagery on the front of the album is a young boy wearing black face paint which covers only half his face and is in the style of the American flag. The boy is wearing a tank top which is blue and black and is in central focus of the image as the house in the background is blurred. The back cover contains the imagery of the band walking away (back to the audience) while one member with the American flag is looking back at the audience. The imagery is used to create symbolism such as the boy’s face is only half covered showing that he is half American beauty and half American psycho (which links into the title of the album). His facial reaction can also link to this due to him looking expressionless so it gives him a dark and angry vibe. Furthermore, the colours he is wearing are black and blue which are colours usually linked to bruises thus violence which also links into the theme of anger shown through the boy’s face. Another way symbolism is used through imagery is the back cover of the album contains the band looking away from the audience while one of them is looking back which could show that the band is daring to do something different and unique so is not following the social norm. This can also be shown through the boy’s face as instead of going horizontal the flag is instead going vertical meaning that the band is showing they are sticking to the social norm but at the same time they are changing it to mean something else. The text in the album is quite traditional which links into the theme of patriotism which is commonly seen as old. The text placement is seen as being small and usually located at the top of the album meaning that you have to look for it to be able to see it. The colour of the font is black which on the front cover is hard to see, however, it stands out on the back cover. The representation of the band in the album cover is one which is quite rock and political due to them giving an almost riot look to their album due to their colour scheme which suggest violence as well as the face paint which looks more like war paint which links in once again to the theme of violence. This can also been seen through their song titles on the back cover such as ‘Kids aren’t alright’. Moreover, the American theme is shown also through the song titles ‘Fourth of July’ and ‘Hotel in NYC’. This shows that the band was trying to get the theme of American and violence across in their music. The mise-en-scene of the photo features a middle class house which can suggest the boy comes from a affluent background which can suggest that the band came from an ordinary background. On the other hand, it could relate to the audience as they made the background to make the audience feel an connection to the album. The middle class background can also symbolise that in every house there is potential to be an American beauty or American psycho.
- 6. The hands are mirrored which links into the title ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ and are bound in gold silk which can also link to the song ‘Gold’ which is on their album. The hand also being tied together could symbolise the band feeling trapped within making money (gold silk) and wanting to break free. The bird is being released by the hands which may can link to the songs ‘I bet my life’ and ‘Smoke and mirrors’ which is about breaking free and making your own way. Moreover, the bird could also represent their music as the hands could mean the band while the bird is their album which is being released into the world. In the top left hand corner there is the album’s release date which has been mirrored which links into the title of the album. The background of the album is covered in web which contain words and numbers which is quite hard to see due to the very dark background. Also, the web looks like a broken mirror which once again links into the title of smoke and mirrors. The background goes from black to almost light green which could show the bird escaping confinement and flying away to freedom. The bird almost looks like it was forced to fly upwards by the hands which could show that the band felt the album wasn’t ready when it was released. The font used for the band name is the font usually found on imagine dragons covers, moreover, the band’s name is much bigger than the album name meaning that the band’s name would be much more noticeable rather than the album name. There is a cross behind the track list which is usually associated with religion. This could symbolise that to the band their music is their religion or that the music itself contains religious features. The text is written in the same font as the title of the album but it doesn’t contain the track list. The writing is written on the cross and is central to the album back. Moreover, the font is the lightest image on the back cover which the rest is dark.
- 7. ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ was released on 11th February 2015 from Imagine Dragons by the label KIDinaKORNER. Imagine Dragons is considered an American Rock Band, however, their music can be considered pop rock. The title of the album comes from their song smoke and mirrors. The genre of music in which the album relates to is commonly rock which can be seen through the dark colours, however, the album cover is not considered normal for music in it’s genre which normally have reds, blacks or rock symbolism while imagine dragons has golds and greens. However, the religious link in the album can be seen as rock as most rock bands usually contain crosses or religious symbolism in their music/cover art. The imagery on the album is of a bird being released from two mirrored hands which are tied up by golden silk. Moreover, in the background there is designs of webs or broken mirrors which contain numbers and words. The hands being confined by the gold silk can link back to their song ‘gold’ and could also symbolise that the band feels confined with their popularity that they cannot be free to do what they want. Also, the bird can symbolise their music and that they want their music to deify the social norms and unique to the world. On the other hand, the bird seems almost forcibly thrown into the air which could mean that the band felt as if the album was not ready to be produced, however, was forced to release it, to create more money (gold silk). The imagery is focused mainly in the middle of the image while the text is located in the centre which lets the audience know easily who’s album it is and what it’s title is. The text is located also in the open hands meaning that just link the bird the hands are releasing the album and band out to the world. The text font for the artist’s name Is one which they commonly use for most of their singles and albums thus is personal to them, on the other hand, the title of the album is not written in the same style and is considerably smaller than the band name. This could indicate that the band feels their name and image is much more noticeable than the album’s title. The album writing is also white which makes it stand out against the complex imagery due to it being the only thing which is white on the album cover which could show that they see the album are pure as white=purity in religion, however, it could of just been to make the writing stand out against the dark background. The styling of the logo is that some of the letters are slanted so that some are complete while some stand alone. The writing is used due to the fact they the fans will automatically know who the band is, however, this could also signify that the band feels conflicted about their band name due sliding to different sides. The name of the album is called ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ which is an old-fashioned term for staged magic which is in the simplest terms, tricking people using optical illusions. This can also be seen through the bird being released which links into the fact they magicians released animals from hats in their performances. Moreover, the spider web is attached to the bird which gives it the illusions of flying to the audience due to the fact that the spider web cannot be seen. This could symbolise that the band feels that they are tricking their audience with their music into thinking it’s magical when in facts it’s just smoke and mirrors.
- 8. The logo of the band which is on every single they are produced. The yellow makes it stand out against the black background and it looks painted on making it have a rebellious feel. The strike in the circle could represent that the band feels that they are imperfect or rebellious by not having a perfect circle and thus are not perfect yet. The title of the band and the album. The band name is bigger than the album name meaning people would notice them before the album making them more noticeable. The yellow and black could symbolise danger as animals use it to make them seem dangerous. However, it could be to make the band more unique against the other albums. The logo of the band is located above the track list showing that the band wants people to know the logo before their music or to show people that if they want more from the band then look for the logo The track list is in yellow which makes it stand out against the black background and links into the yellow of the logo. The island logo is prominent in the front and back cover which could show that they want their production company to gain more popularity while on the other hand it could they want their fans to recognise them through the production.
- 9. The Prides are a Scottish Synthpop band located in Glasgow and is made up of three members. They have so far released 11 songs and one album which is ‘The Way Back Up’ which was released in 2015. The imagery used on the album is only their logo which could symbolise that they want people to judge them for their music rather than who they are due to the lack of their faces. Also, it could symbolise that they want their logo to be their main branding focus that they want their fans to feel include so that only ‘true’ fans would know who they are. The logo is written in yellow and looks messily painted on showing that the music may be exciting and rebellious which would appeal to young adults and teenagers. The logo is also a circle with a line down it showing that they want to be unique or be a different sector than the rest of the music. The font is quite small compared to the logo and is written in a style such as ‘Zona Pro’. Moreover, the writing is white which keeps it apart from the logo and the dark background. The name of the band is in larger writing than the album name which could show that they want their name to be known rather than the band. This can link into the fact this is their debut album. The colours are black, yellow and white which can be link with danger as in the animal kingdom, animals use theses colours to warn of potential predators. This could symbolise that the music is unique and rebellious which would bring in potential audiences who want something different. The album does not represent race as there is no people located on the album nor does it represent any growing problems in society. The line through the circle could symbolise segregation as there is one part cut off from the other. This could show how the band is different from the other bands out there. The strike through the circle matches the italicised I in the band name which could allow fans to recognise the band and feel recognition.