[LobsterSan]

I just picked up some new CDs today, one of which was a double set with a neat shiny-fabric cover. It's kind of like a bound book. The album was tosca - dehli 9, which, musically, was a bit of a disappointment for me. But the packaging and coverwork is pretty damn cool. So what are some of the best covers and packaging/extras you've seen?

Some others I like:

The Grassy Knoll - III: Comes with a durable plastic wrap on the outside, and is a three-page foldout paper type CD case. The coolest thing about this one is that they have an industrial size rubber band binding the case together, with "the grassy knoll III" imprinted on it.

Pizzicato Five - The Sound of Music: Comes in a plastic sleeve that you slide out, revealing a paper foldout style case. The plastic sleeve is clear, and has the album title printed on it in silver, which shows quite nicely against the white paper background. An extra incentive with this CD is that P5 included a "carte pizzicato" fan club card that looks like a credit card. Keen!

Buena Vista Social Club: Jewel case comes in a paper sleeve along with a gargantuan booklet, complete with translations and some great pictures.

 

[Braver]

I like the special edition of Bruce Springsteen - The Rising.

also very neat is the Porcpupine Tree - Stars Die box. its a box, with inside two CDs in colored translucent plastic sleeves, and a thick booklet with a total biographyof the band.

I've also spotted a totally stylish Miles & Coltrane box-set. a high quality red box which holds a couple of black cases. looked really nice, but out of my budget for now, it's $110. nice price for such a set, definately on my Santa wish list.

 

[JMedeiros]

Quote:

Originally posted by Braver I like the special edition of Bruce Springsteen - The Rising.

Agreed on this one...I like the all-paper packaging as well and the bound book look of it.

A vintage favorite is the original triple gatefold LP of The Who's Tommy....loved that artwork and lyric booklet

 

[gloco]

Iron Maiden's Live After Death 2LP has some great artwork and is a gatefold to boot. Plus, the booklet has tons of pics and even a listing of all the dates for that tour as well as tidbits regarding what it takes to get a tour up and running.

 

[rickcr42]

all Lps

Rare Earth Live-OD green knapsack that actually opens like same with each of the two records in its own compartment

Alice Cooper-Schools Out : the album cover is a school desk which actually opens like a desk.The record itself is in a plastic bag which is heald on by panties

J.Giels Band Bloodshot : Not the cover but the pure clear "blood" red vinyl looks great

Santana : I can remember as a stoned teen staring at the lions head long enough to ACTUALLY SEE that the "head" is made up of various persons and body parts

rolling Stones Ssome Girls : the original cover , only because of the crapstorm it caused with the celebrity pictures that were not authorized to be on the cover

YES-Close To The Edge : inside artwork

Santana Araxes : NO NAME ! NO TITLE ! NOTHING !
and the retailers being older and having no clue about rock music had no idea or did not care so it sat on the shelf with no marking until some genious figured out who and what it was

Crosby,Stills & Nash : poor niel young is stuck on the back looking out the door while the three in the title sit on the front couch.Talk about being treated like crap !

Jefferson Airplane Volunteers : I still get ill just thinking about the inside artwork---the nastiest looking peanut butter and jelly sandwich you could possibly conceive of "larger than life" , as if I need it that big to wretch

the CD has ruined the age of "album as Art".Even when cool it is just too damn small to have enough leeway for the artist to do a serious concept

There are many more , a lot of times a lyric sheet came with the record album and the cover was considered a statement of art back in the "old days" and more often than not came with a two by three foot poster which immediately went on my wall.

Yes my room was a scary place to be back then , for more reasons than i care to go into

 

[insanefred]

Ooo, favourite album cover has got to be Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene, I love that one! As far as packaging goes, the 23-lp set of Solti's Ring cycle is pretty awesome, a large slipcase with five pull-out folders with each opera, and the Introduction to the Ring set. Weighs a ton though! But a set of performances like that deserves such a lavish box. Now if I only had time to listen to it this side of summer!
Andrew

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Animal Logic II has a great cover -- Polar bears in the desert. Unfortunately I can't find a pic on the web that does it justice. They're all low-res and color-shifted.

 

[Braver]

also ver nice IMO: the special edition Peter Gabriel remasters. just like an LP, but smaller.

I'm also a sucker for things like the comic in Aimee Mann - Lost in Space. (dunno what I mean? buy the damn thing already!

)

 

[nanahachi]

ok, now im wishing i didnt always use copies of my original CDs, b/c all of my jewel cases are stacked out of eyesight.

ill have to go digging tonight, maybe put up some scans or find pics online. i am a sucker for CDs that come in a paper sleeve that the case fits in. I dont find it especially environmentally unfriendly since most CDs dont do come with it, and hopefully the paper isnt being thrown away, but kept as a decorative device. i think they're kind of unique and cool looking.

I highly recommend that people try to put up pics of their favorite covers, like the way John (JMedeiros) and insanefred did. at least IMO, I really enjoy seeing what various covers look like.

 

[elrod-tom]

My personal favorite is the Beatles' Revolver. Gotta love all that line art.

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

sigur ros first album, sealed in purple plastic with a purple plastic cd case to boot, I thought it was cool anyway.

I also have 2 queen items which I thought were off the page in coolness, one is a 3 inch singles boxset in a thick leather like box with the cds in miniature lp type covers. and a queen single for the show must go on which came in a totally cool blue thick box with a discography poster inside.

I'm sure I could think of more.......

 

[sapphiremodena]

My top 4 are:

1. Matthew Good Band - "The Audio of Being" has some excellent watercolour images by a famous artist, can't remember his name, but they are cross sections of the earth, and other paintings typical of a geography textbook. Then on the back of the booklet, there are two pictures of the earth rotating, and it says: "the world's still turning? > the world's still turning." It all has a very, very eerie feel to it.

2. Pink Floyd - "Pulse" has some great artwork in there and some cool photography as well. Very nice.

3. Matthew Good - "Avalanche" has a mylar negative insert which covers the actual cd booklet, greating a really neat effect. There's also a the word "avalanche" etched into the back of the booklet and a short poem etched into the back of the cd booklet. It's hard to describe, but it's very well done.

4. Sigur Ros - "( )" Sometimes I hate the design, sometimes I love it. It's kind of weird, but whatever. I just like it, it's neat.

5. Radiohead - "Kid A" is like a huge puzzle of weirdness.

 

[djgustashaw]

the strokes - is this it
VAST - visual audio sensory theater, i love the bi colored eye....

 

[Guardian]

Quote:

Radiohead - "Kid A" is like a huge puzzle of weirdness. [/B]

The Special Edition artwork is amazing.

 

[Ebonyks]

I've always been partial to the artwork of relics, personally