Back in April, I went to see this exhibition about the album cover in The Civic Gallery in Barnsley. This is a subject that brings together my two greatest passions - graphic design and popular music - and I'm pretty sure this will be the subject of my dissertation.
The album covers were laid out in chronological order, starting with the first ever illustrated album cover designed by Alex Steinweiss in 1939, and going through to releases from 2009 such as Roots Manuva's 'Slime and Reason'. The show also covered four formats: vinyl, cassette tape, compact disc and digital releases.
The exhibition had some brilliant pieces of design on display. The Rolling Stone's 'Sticky Fingers' LP from 1969 designed by Craig Braun and Andy Warhol shows a crotch complete with real zip.
I liked Peter Saville's design for New Order's 'Unknown Pleasures' - it often tops the Top 100 type lists.
My favourite piece of music packaging ever is for 'Ladies And Gentlemen We Floating In Space' by Spiritualized, designed by Mark Farrow's design house in 1997. My older brother was a big CD buyer in the 90s, and knowing he owned it, I raided his collection to take a closer look.
I think the packaging is so brilliant because it takes the pill analogy and carries it through immaculately. From the silver foil blister pack containing the CD 'tablet', right down to the 'Patient Product Information' booklet.
The copy writing is superb. The musicians are 'active ingredients', the recommended dose is to 'play once, twice daily', and the possible side effects include 'delirium, a sense of intoxication and visual and auditory hallucinations'.
The exhibition was excellent, concise without missing anything important out, and who knew Barnsley had such a little gem of an art gallery? I could write about this subject all day, but I'll stop here. Hopefully I'll be able to write 10 000 words on the topic for my dissertation.
Spiritualized are genius.
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