Monday, June 7, 2010

Stupidest Giraffe

Aren't too many parts nowadays for singing giraffes, nor album cover designers.

They're still out there, sure.  Sometimes turning the limitations of 3.5 inch CD into a little piece of art, sometimes turning it on it's head entirely.

The time of taking over two sides of 12 inch has gone, instead the designer has to think about what looks good on a mp3 player.

Cover art is no longer a sales tool.  It's an afterthought.

This is a 1970 bluesy-prog album produced by Shel Talmy.

I bought it for the cover about 20 years ago.

Credit to the comic goes to "Angus McGill and Steve Thomas".  The most I can find on them is that Angus McGill was a countercultural writer in the 60s, possibly along the lines of Terry Southern.

I like the apparent crudeness and naivety of the illustration.  Upon inspection, there's a sophisticated painterly quality.  Kind of like Red Grooms or Maira Kalman.

The album is gone, record stores on gone, even the music video has taken a tumble.  I hope we'll see a new resurgence of illustration and art as "marketing" for music. 


This post was inspired by the posters (which I like a lot) on Sixth Avenue for the new Christina Aguilera album. 


Above is not the poster, but the same illustration.

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