Recently there have been mixed feelings about the return of the vinyl industry. Some say that it is a marvellous thing, that rivalling the increasingly digitalised music-industry, even fleetingly, will bring some balance back to the charts; allowing for passionate artists to reign over it once more. Others believe it to be another facet of the increasingly demonised ‘hipster’ trend (whatever that means), and attribute it to a neo-intellectual pretension, and a denial of technological age. Personally, I fall somewhat more comfortably into the former. I believe the children of the 90s and 00s lacked the physicality and the tangibility of the music they grew up loving and listening to, instead having the questionably-efficient way of accessing their music digitally, immediately, and in most cases, for free. At any rate, lets celebrate the return of vinyl, and with it a heightened importance placed on the ‘album artwork’, and review ten of the most beautiful covers since time began…in my opinion.
10. New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies
A classic, simply and beautiful. The seminal album from New Order is iconic, and a perfect starting point for a collection of beautiful album covers. Saville’s artwork is a rendition of A Basket of Roses by Henri Fantin-Latour, and one must give it to Saville and the band, the choice to use a famous piece of art is a great one. Even if Saville claims he only decided to use it after a friend teased him about it when they were visiting the National Gallery. The album itself is perfectly represented by this cover, it is dark, beautiful, and delicate; yet seductive.
Cover Artwork: Peter Saville
Label: Factory
