Fear not; ‘Sputnik Discusses’ has not been retired just yet. This blog’s absence over the past fortnight was simply due to the most deadliest of all diseases: the dreaded man-flu. Let me tell you folks: It got me good and proper this time around. You know that a music lover is sick when they’re just lying there for days on end doing nothing at all, yet can’t muster the energy to throw on an album or ten as background music. The dreaded lurgy isn’t completely gone either, so I had to think of a way to turn my lack of writing – and thinking – energy into a positive. What I’ve decided to do is write on a topic that I have no real strong feelings on, thus leaving the majority of the discussion up to you! It’s therefore fitting that the topic at hand actually came from one of you… So much thanks to elcrawfodor for the suggestion.

More than that however, ‘Sputnik Discusses’ is going even more interactive than it already is. It’s simply not enough that you get to write what you want in the comments section. In this discussion’s case, some of your responses will actually make the blog itself, since I will update it (most likely on a daily basis) as the discussion heightens.

So what is the topic of discussion at hand? Well, as the title suggests; It concerns album art. Even back in my purchasing of vinyl and compact disc days, I was never really huge into what an album’s front-cover depicted. It definitely didn’t affect my purchasing decision, that’s for sure. Even nowadays, I only tend to glance at album art, sometimes nodding/shaking my head in (dis)approval, but always moving on quickly. If anything, I like the “simple, but clever” method of album art, probably best depicted by Toto’s 1981 LP ‘Turn Back’ [left]. However, I know that I could even be in the minority on this entire topic, with many music fans feeling that album art can occasionally be an extension of the music itself.

Ok, I better leave it at that, since I need the room to post the album art in the next few days. They will be of my choosing, so the judge’s decision is final. I’m looking to roughly add about 5 album covers, so let me know what do you think is the best album art of all time? As per usual, please try to keep your responses concise. One answer would be great, but let’s say no more than three. Furthermore, for those who are huge fans of album art, educate this naysayer by letting us know why.

As they say at the end of those dreaded English essays: DISCUSS…..

===========================================

Our first reader-generated content comes courtesy of the very first reply to the blog, so thanks to Rowan5215 for not only being so quick on the trigger, but also providing the art to Pink Floyd’s 1994 album ‘The Division Bell’. Created by English graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, the cover is especially striking, while being simultaneously simple and complicated. Two large metal-head sculptures were erected and placed out in a field in such a way that a third face also appeared. To top it off, a cathedral was also framed on the horizon.

Our second contribution took a lot longer to come than I thought it would, but ExplosiveOranges finally picked up the slack and mentioned King Crimson’s seminal debut LP ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ from way back in 1969. A painting by Barry Godber, the prog-rockers immediately knew that the artwork would go on to become the Schizoid Man of the album’s opening track. Extremely striking, there’s also a rather mesmerizing quality about the cover which you can’t help but to examine.

I know this was supposed to be an avenue for people who could not access the staff blog to have an input into it, but what am I to do if a staff member puts forward an album cover that takes my fancy!? Our third contribution comes from our resident metal nut Voivod, who wanted to list a whole bunch of album art, but only listed one. That one was 1995’s ‘Draconian Times’ by British metal veterans Paradise Lost. Created by English graphic design studio Stylorouge, the bright and eye-catching cover appears to incorporate many forms of art, while keeping in mind the gothic nature of the quintet’s music.

Next up in our little Top 5 countdown concerning album art is a cover that was suggested by CK and backed up by JS19. It is from the LP ‘Écailles de Lune’ by French shoegazing post-metal act Alcest. Created by Fursy Teyssier – who is both a part-time collaborator with Alcest, as well as being the founding member of the not too dissimilar Les Discrets – it is a lovely piece of art where all different shades of blue come together to form sharp images. It’s definitely a cover which is meant to put you in a certain kind of mood to listen to the music contained within.

In what will most likely be the final contribution to this blog concerning the best album art, rockandmetaljunkie – along with a handful of others – contributed the seminal 1970 self-titled LP by metal pioneers Black Sabbath. While it appears to be a house in the background, it is actually a watermill on the River Thames in Oxfordshire. And while many might feel that it is Ozzy Osbourne in the foreground, it’s actually a woman. While no members of the band can recall her name, it was apparently a fan who visited Black Sabbath backstage. Everything about the cover itself is strangely beguiling. The feel of the picture is especially three-dimensional and the color tones are deceptively striking. It’s just one of those pieces which could range anywhere between perfectly normal and rather nightmarish.