Recently in Album Art Flashback Category

In 1995, Annie Lennox released her second solo album. Medusa featured covers of songs that were all originally recorded by male artists. Four singles were released from the album, No More I Love You's, A Whiter Shade of Pale, Waiting in Vain and my personal favorite Something So Right (right).

The artwork for Medusa features a black and white portrait of Lennox with her name inked onto her forehead in what looks like old fashioned typewritter lettering. The black and white image was quite an interesting choice considering that Lennox's eyes are an amazing shade of pale green.

Medusa was re-released later in 1995 as a deluxe version with an additional CD of live tracks and a new version of Something So Right as a duet with Paul Simon, who originally wrote and recorded the song. I prefer the original album version without Simon.

Image by Fritz Liess via Flickr

The year was 1978 and King Tut mania was sweeping the nation. My twin brother and I skipped school just to see the King Tut exhibit at the L.A. County Museum of Art. What we didn't know was that a class from our high school had also made the trip and we ran into several faculty members the minute we walked through the entrance.

The exhibit was worth the risk of detention. The teachers even overlooked our skipping school for the event.

My interest in King Tut was rekindled this week with the airing of King Tut Unwrapped on the Discovery Channel. In addition to memories about the 1976 to 1979 exhibit, I remembered the song released by actor, comic, ann musician Steve Martin.

King Tut by Steve Martin and The Toot Uncommons became a huge hit after Martin performed the song on Saturday Night Live. The Toot Uncommons were actually members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The single reached #17 on the Billboard chart.

The single was recently released by Rhino Records as a Digital 45. Like many Digital 45s, the artwork that comes with the MP3s is substandard. I have created a better image using other examples found online.

In 1982, German pop group Trio had an international hit with Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha (typically shortened to Da Da Da). Like the lyrics of the song, the album art for Trio's debut album was very simple. The cover for the German version of the album (right) included the address and telephone number of the band's publicist, which was once commonly seen on promotional albums.

The English version of the album replaced the contact information with drawings of three faces, which are presumed to be the members of the band. While this album cover seems like is was created in minutes using a magic marker, it really does suit the musical style of the band. Many of their songs were limited to three cords and had very simple and repetative lyrics. Trio disbanded in 1984.

In 1997, Da Da Da was used in a popular Volkswagon commercial and the song experienced a brief revival. It has been covered many times over the years.

In February 1986, British rock band Public Image Ltd (PIL) released their fifth studio album. The album cover concept was inspired by the labels of generic or "no name" products that began being sold in grocery stores in the late 1970s.

The concept had been used four years earlier by San Francisco punk band Flipper. The Flipper album (right) used the "yellow label" generic product label and featured a barcode. The Flipper album cover doesn't really work because it did not hold true to the standards of the generic product label. Rather than simply placing the word "album" on the yellow cover, the word "generic" and the band's name was also included. The inclusion of the band's name and pointing out the obvious by actually putting "generic" on the cover results in an epic fail.

Later in 1986, Flipper released a live album called Public Flipper Limited: Live 1980-1985 (right) in retaliation for PIL's use of the generic brand concept. Unfortunately, the cover for that album also fails as a parody. No attempt was made to imitate the distictive PIL logo or a previous PIL album cover (many of which have notable designs). If Flipper had parodied PIL's Metal Box album in some way, the effort would have been worthy of applause.

The PIL cover used the more familiar white label with a blue band. The three release formats were labeled accordingly — album, compact disc, and cassette. The music video for Rise opens with a generic screen that reads "video" to coninue the concept through to that medium as well.

In 1985, the new wave band Baltimora had a smash dance hit with the single Tarzan Boy. The song was the first single from the album Living In The Background (right). Tarzan Boy made it to #13 on the U.S. chart and #3 in the U.K. The album charted at #49 in the U.S.

Both the single and the album have at least three different sets of cover art. The one that many people may be more familiar with features comic book characters. They are similar to the art direction of the music video for Tarzan Boy.

Tarzan Boy is often featured on '80s retrospectives as an example of New Wave dance music. The music video has had over 7 million views on YouTube. The song is often mistakenly attributed to Limahl.

On January 31, 1981, American rock group Blondie hit the number one spot on the Billboard chart with The Tide Is High. The song had been released as a single in October of 1980 and appears on the band's fith studio album Autoamerican (right).

The cover art for The Tide Is High is somewhat unique. It is one of the few cases in which a detail of the album art has been used for the cover of a single. The album reached the number seven spot on the U.S. chart and the second single Rapture also became a number one hit.

The painting that appears on the cover was done by Martin Hoffman. I do not have any additional information about him.

I thought I would be appropriate to have a New Years Day theme for my first blog post of 2010. So, I created a composite of the cover for U2's 1983 single New Year's Day. The song is the third track on the band's album War (right) and was the lead single.

The cover art for War and the previous album Boy have always creeped me out a bit. There seems to be a weird pedophilia vibe going on that I just don't get. The cover art for New Year's Day also has a photograph of a semi-nude boy. (U2 fans, please don't jump down my throat.)

New Year's Day has been named by Rolling Stone as one of the top 500 songs of all time. It was written in support of the Polish Solidarity movement.

This Album Art Flashback is a look back to an album recorded last New Years Eve. Barenaked Ladies performed live in Detroit and did a rather unique version of Auld Lang Syne. I've posted the video and the album art. Happy New Year! I'll be taking tomorrow off from blogging. Have fun and be safe.

Yesterday, I posted an article about a remake of Cyndi Lauper's 1984 hit Girls Just Want To Have Fun by a new artist. Shortly after I published the article, I received some nasty comments in response to my opinion of the new song, Girl I'm Tryin by J Brazil.

This sparked a series of comments between a few AAX blog regulars and one commenter who suggested that I quit blogging. This made me consider exactly what made me dislike the remake of Girls Just Want To Have Fun, besides the Autotune vocals.

Cyndi Lauper is one of the most amazing vocal performers ever. When her debut album She's So Unusual came out, she became an overnight sensation. She appeared on the cover of magazines (right) and her music videos were played in heavy rotation on MTV. Not only was Cyndi Lauper unusual, she had obvious talent.

Originally written and recorded by Robert Hazard from a male point of view, Lauper's version of Girls Just Want To Have Fun was more than a pop song, it became a feminist anthem. It has been covered by over 30 artists over the years, most of whom have given Lauper the respect she deserves.

The J Brazil version of the song returns to the male point of view. It takes a song that has been adopted by women as an anthem of empowerment and changes it to a male chauvanist rant. To make matters worse, the new song has an immature, mocking tone that just doesn't work for me. There is no doubt that thee are young men who will identify with this new version of the song. However, there is no question which version is superior.

I have recreated the cover of the single for Girls Just Want To Have Fun using several examples found online. There are quite a few different covers for this single. The composite includes most of the common graphic elements.

My favorite song by British pop duo Eurythmics is Thorn In My Side. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart released the single in August 1986. It is the second track on the album Revenge (right). The single reached number five on the U.K. charts and made it to 68 in the U.S.

The cover of Revenge has always bothered me because Annie Lennox's eyes were made to look like those of a cat. Lennox has absolutely beautiful eyes and I think it was almost a crime to have altered them. They also made them them blue, when they are in reality the most amazing shade of pale green.

The cover for the single features an artistic double exposure portrait of Lennox. I have recreated it by making a composite of several examples found online.

When I was 12, I saw a cartoon on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour that had a lasting impact on my life. The cartoon featured a song performed by Cher called One Tin Soldier and was presented as a Christmas message from the popular celebrity couple. Many of you who were children in 1972 may also remember that the cartoon by British animator John David Wilson. I recall that it was made available as a short film and played in classrooms.

One Tin Soldier was written as an ant-war protest song by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. In 1969, the song was recorded as the title track of an album by a Canadian pop group called Original Caste (right). It reached #34 on the Billboard chart on February 7, 1970. The song became a popular piece to teach school kids in those days before Fox News would claim teaching a song about peace is socialist propaganda.

In 1971, the song was recorded by Chicago pop group Coven and used as the theme song for the movie Billy Jack. It was retitled One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack). The song appeared on the group's self-titled album and reached #26 on the Billboard chart on October 30, 1971. Coven never charted again and as a result One Tin Soldier often appears on "one hit wonder" lists. However, the song has been on the charts twice as the one hit for two different groups. I am not sure how many times that has happened.

In 1984, singer, songwriter and political activist Bob Geldof and singer/songwriter Midge Ure wrote Do They Know It's Christmas? to record as a benefit for famine reflief in Ethiopia.

On November 24, George Michael, Boy George and Culture Club, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Paul Young, Kool and the Gang, Sting, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2, Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware of Heaven 17, Phil Collins, Paul Weller of Style Council, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, Jody Watley, Bananarama, Marilyn and members of Geldof's band the Boomtown Rats recorded the song. Ure produced the single and it was released as a five days later under the collective name Band Aid.

The sleeve for the single was designed by Sir Peter Blake, who is most famous for designing the covder of The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is a collage that features traditional Christmas art surrounding the shocking image of starving children. 

Since today is World AIDS Day, the 1990 compilation album Red Hot + Blue: A Trubute To Cole Porter is a fitting choice for an Album Art Flashback. The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite and Afrika Bambaataa for the Red Hot Organization as the first major AIDS benefit by the music industry. The album included 20 songs by major recording artists including U2, Erasure, Jody Watley, Annie Lennox, and Jimmy Somerville.

Music videos with educational information about AIDS were created for the songs and played on ABC as a television special. Many of the videos became popular hits on MTV. The album has sold over a million copies worldwide.

The album cover features a collage that includes a photograph of Cole Porter covered with images of a red heart, a green plus sign, a blazing fire, and a blue cloud. The CD booklet contain two informational articles called What AIDS Is + Isn't and What We Can Do About It.

On November 25, 1989, pop music duo Milli Vanilli had a number one hit on the Billboard chart with Blame It On The Rain. It was the third single from their debut album Girl You Know It's True and the last one to chart before the lipsyncing scandal that brought their rise to stardom to an sudden end and had them stripped of their Grammy.

Blame It On The Rain was written by songwriter Diane Warren and recorded by uncredited vocalists. As with the other songs released as being performed by Milli Vanilli, radio play of the single ceased overnight and it faded into obscurity.

I have recreated the cover art for the single using several examples found online. Like all of Milli Vanilli covers, the single features a photograph of the attractive young male models, Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, hired to lipsync the songs and portray a pop duo in public appearances. Along with images of the photogenic pair, the artwork included a slick logo design.

In honor of this Veterans Day, I have a special album art flashback. I have recreated the cover of Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler's album Ballads of the Green Berets using several exampes I found online.

In 1966, the title single from the album, Ballad of the Green Berets, was number one on the Billboard chart for five consecutive weeks. The song was written by Sadler and Robin Moore while Sadler was recovering from a leg wound he suffered in the Vietnam War. It topped the charts ahead of The Beatles and Rolling Stones and has sold over nine million copies. The song was used in the 1968 film The Green Berets, which starred John Wayne.