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Old 09-06-2024, 02:36 PM
dubman
BigColor&Excited4SoupMan
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,598
Re: Ranking Underworld's album cover art
As a FORMER graphic designer, I have a VAGUE idea of why I like what I like, but just enough that I'm going to be more ARROGANT about it.

Dubnobass - the blueprint of type treatments for me. So much "chaos" in type today is a contrivance because it doesn't feel like it has any real energy underneath it. it's all "vibe" and it's not enough! you need a city under your work. the repetitions, the builds, the stretched text fire escape structures. the flavors of type clashing. huge, HUGE inspiration.

Second Toughest - my favorite album covers go against the feel of the music, but complement it so well that it makes you realize those characteristics in the music as well. the music itself is sculpted, polished, and smooth, but the artwork kicks with life, pure dynamism your eye tries to make shapes of, but it's all energy. brilliant.

Beaucoup Fish - Perfect Blues across the board. immediately evocative, so exact. and that light taupe for the Franklin type! What decision tree took that route? It is... so fucking cool. ugh.

Oblivion with Bells - The cover itself is a mess imo. I wanted it to zoom in on a particularly good section (there are many!), but the way it is now is too much, too hairy. the artwork inside and the accompanying books of jam are absolutely marvelous though. Love the Garamond(?)

Strawberry Hotel - first impressions are that it's a bit left-handed, but good. I like the sentimental tchotchke angle. Kind of like Barking but in real space, and as I said in the album thread it feels like a big bouquet incoming. A work made whole by the long road behind it. That color scheme vibrates a little too hard for me, and for as good as their logo is (seriously, the best since OWB), I'm sad that it's sectioned off like that, but it's good. It's a good cover, Jim.

Barking - This is the most confounding one of them all for me. I look at it and I wonder why it's contained in white, but it wouldn't work if all that bright beautiful chaos took up the whole space. I don't know how to solve this issue unless, again, you zoom in! Opening the special edition up, the first two pages feel immediately more coherent, more beautiful. Overall it's always been a bit awkward, but I still respect it.

Drift - I liked the inconsistency of the photo choices throughout. this isn't a complete package, it's (spiritually) an endless scroll, a re-purposing of a photo diary. I liked the typeface too even if the arrangements were a bit searching. Unfortunately the final package that the offline world saw was ROUGH. I tried to go into the spirit of things with that dog, but it's a dog. You slapped a dog on there. What does that say?

A Hundred Days Off - You know what. Like. Fuck this thing. I think I can say that after 20 years. It also doesn't matter after that long, it's iconic in its own way, but what an absolute goof. what a flat, dumb little photo. Maybe it reflects the more domestic, cozy, less remote type of aesthetic that blue-cool BF had going, but ehhhh... I think it's a copout. Good type though. Big, bold, and tight.

Barbara Barbara - I really like the type, actually. it's modern for a serif, it's broad but packed. feels solid, feels right. like picking up a good rock or stick. The artwork itself was a horror to behold. I got The Fear.

Last edited by dubman; 09-06-2024 at 02:39 PM.