![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Blur, despite a promising start with Leisure (1991) with its back cover reference to Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother (1970) echoing the music’s homage to early Floyd tracks like ‘See Emily Play’, sped downhill from then on, though they did try. The Britpop contingent, while certainly addressing their image in a very conscientious and commercially-aware manner, can hardly be called visually adventurous and seem to have formed a symbiotic, rather than the traditionally antagonistic, relationship with their labels’ marketing departments. Bands and record companies still take imagery seriously, but perhaps they are just not as visually literate as they once were. All in all, despite the efforts of designers like 23 Envelope for the 4AD label (who knew that people will buy a record for its cover), contemporary sleeve-design is in a pretty sad state. But even this kind of artwork looks better on a 12-inch vinyl sleeve than on a 5-inch CD box, and, ironically, the only people taking a serious interest in vinyl cover design today are the dance bands for whom the 12-inch single is still a viable medium. Perhaps the only type of design that has successfully addressed the problems accompanying the emergence of the CD as the dominant music medium is the very graphic type of imagery, associated with companies like Designers Republic, that has adorned electronic music in all its various flavours. ![]()
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