5 of the Worst Latin Music Album Covers

I thought this was written pretty humorously. Caily at Panama Travels came up with some pretty awful covers. Kudos for that! Rather than reprint it here, visit the site.

Banned Album Covers

Was there ever really a time when you couldn't show a toilet on a product without it being banned from the public's eyes? Seems so quaint now in this day and age, sad to say. Gibson has an interesting list of banned album covers from over the years. Remember the Beatles' butcher cover? The Mamas and the Papas toilet fiasco? Be forewarned, some of these images are not safe for work.

"Everyone thinks it's a dying art," Stoltze explains in his Fort Point Channel studio. "But the truth is that there's a lot of really great things still being done by the small record labels and designers."

So says the author of the new book, 1000 Music Graphics: A compilation of packaging, posters, and other sound solutions in an interview with Christopher Muther at boston.com.

Stoltze is optimistic about the future of album art. I’m trying to be. He things that people will continue to want to have something tangible in their hands instead of just a bunch of digital files. That seems right to me and since it’s something I love to design, here’s to the little flicker of hope that Stoltze has given me.

Are You Experienced

I read an interesting interview this morning on MusicDish.com with photographer Karl Ferris who designed the first Jimi Hendrix album release, "Are You Experienced." If you haven't listened to this album, do yourself a favor and purchase it. It's one of the most creative albums that was released during the 60s in my opinion.

Ferris mentions in the interview the frustration he had with the Reprise record label in getting his vision into print. Things didn't go quite the way he hoped they'd go. Here's the link, and it's well worth your time reading about this bit of graphic design pop history.

Calcutta School of Music

Here’s an interesting promotion for the Calcutta School of Music. Every year the school enrolls students for classes on classical music. The displayed notes were played through kiosks helping to communicate audibly what they were seeing visually. The promotion was created by Ogilvy and Mather, India. [click on photo to enlarge]

Play Boys Party

Play Boys Party With The Hotvill's

With all the mourning for the passing of album/CD cover sized art, I thought I would balance everyone's happy memories with this offering.