What Do Album Covers Mean to You?

[GucciLittlePiggy]

That's the best subject line I could come up with for this post, but essentially I'm asking my fellow forumers if an album or single's artwork ever affects your enjoyment of said album or single?

Ever since I started listening to primarily albums rather than individual songs, I've noticed that the album covers really affect how I listen to the records. I don't consciously state "This album has a great cover, therefore, the album is great," but the cover really changes the mood of the album for me.

For instance, when I listen to my favorite record, Kanye's Dark Fantasy, the songs sound, well... red. It's weird, but when I listen to an album, the artwork is constantly on my mind throughout its duration and it affects the mood. And as I alluded to, I actively associate colors with songs. The instant I hear the first notes of "Paranoid Android" regardless of the setting, I'm suddenly floating in a blurry sea of blue and white.

Maybe others don't have the same music and color associations I have, but I'm sure many of you connect the visual elements of the artwork with the lyrical or musical content. I can't listen to the man rapping and singing on Nothing Was the Same without picturing a boy with his head in the clouds, and every word out of Claire Boucher's mouth on "Kill V. Maim" might as well be coming from a grotesque extraterrestrial (with a cute voice, of course).

On a somewhat related note, throughout my listening history I've discovered that envisioning the artist(s) of a song or album in the studio actually performing or recording the music can enhance my experience TREMENDOUSLY. If I recall correctly, the first artist I did this with was Kanye. I imagined Yeezy on the mic spitting rhymes and sitting in the studio crafting beats. Somehow, this technique has never failed to improve the quality of the music for myself.

[Sunwoo1213]

For me, I think Album art makes me to remember the album more significantly and it helps me to create an image for the album.

[whuntva]

They say you can't judge a book (or an LP in this case) by its cover. And yet, we do regardless.

You look at Abbey Road, perhaps the most famous album cover, and you hear a more intimate portrait. If you interpret the cover to mean the Beatles are breaking up, then you hear a mournful, sad record with implementations from all four of them.

My favorite album cover is In Rainbows, since it's to the point and minimalist, with some eye catching colors. And like you said, it paints the music in a different light. I just hear amidst the rhythmic chaos spats of color and alien chords.

And while it may be weird to "judge" an album by its cover prematurely, you can judge while your listening to it based on the cover.

[luney6]

I have noticed the same thing you described, Gucci Little Piggy, happening to me as well, with album covers and the slideshows on youtube videos. But then again, how does the color the song appears to be affect the quality of the song?

[notbrianeno]

As someone with synesthesia, I find album covers can definitely enhance my "perceptions" of the music. Even though my music perception is often more perceiving the texture, three dimensional shape or space of a sound, the visual aesthetic of a cover is sometimes worked into how I "see" the color of the sound.

[GucciLittlePiggy]

How does the color the song appears to be affect the quality of the song?

Well, it doesn't necessarily make the song better or worse, but it affects the mood for me. I think the rules of visual design apply here, wherein different colors have different associations. For example, in MBDTF the color red gives the album energy and POWER and at times feelings of rage. That might not be a great example because those moods are already pretty explicitly used throughout the album anyway, but it's all I can think of right now.

In most cases, though, the album cover may actually be meaningless since I don't really know how my feelings toward an album might change if it had a different cover. If Kanye ends up going so far as to change the cover of TLOP then I may get to see how the songs change.

[babydoll]

And while it may be weird to "judge" an album by its cover prematurely, you can judge while your listening to it based on the cover.

Exactly. Would you listen to these based on their album covers solely?
http://www.nme.com/photos/50-genuinely- ... ves/147726

[Toni]

I totally understand what you mean, Guccilittlepiggy. Although not having the same degree of synesthesia as many other people, I use to unwittingly associate some songs and albums with colors, textures, landscapes and, in fact, this is one of the most important ways by which music affects me. Records that are able to generate these impressions are always thrilling. The majority of these albums keep with the same kind of visions throughout all their lenghts (like Fear of Music, The Joshua Tree or Merriwheater Post Pavillion), while a few others look like a collage of songs with diferent colors one after another (Revolver, Parklife, London Calling, Viva La Vida).
Then, like many of you have said, sometimes the cover arts guide you to experience an album in a way you possibly wouldn't otherwise. My two favorite covers (In Rainbows and Remain in Light) are great examples of this effect for me. All those combinations of colors, space, concepts and feelings are taken into the audition and help those albums to create their own and particular world.
I've always considered that great music leads to great covers (and as do great lyrics lead to great music), although that's obviously not a rule. I think that the greatest achievement of a cover art is to be able to capture the atmosphere of an album and to translate it as an image. This could explain why a good cover doesn't make a good album, but can help you perceive it as being better than you would find had it come with another artwork.

[luney6]

Personally, I wouldn't say emotion, but feel. Otherwise, completely agree with you GucciLittlePiggy. Through and through.

[Zombeels]

I have actually bought albums on the album cover alone. Sometimes I made a great discovery. Other times I was really dissapointed. There are some great albums with lousy album covers and I wish the artists put a little more thought into the design of the cover.

[Jirin]

I see the album cover as the band's way of giving a visual association with the album to show you a little bit of their meaning and their interpretation.

Like, one of the greatest album covers of all time might be Nevermind with the baby swimming for the dollar. One image that sums up alienation.