CD COVERS and REPRESENTATION

I chose four albums from the Eels to illustrate how one band’s music can change from album to album. This is clearly illustrated in simply the way the band name is written.

They don’t really give much about the band away. It suggests at changing emotions within the music. There are two very bold titles and two lesser ones which say very different things.

Both these cases are very simple but in different ways which say different things.

“Shootenanny” has a very bold font all in upper case and the yellow/white leaps off the black background. There are no pictures, just the band name and the album name. This suggests this band/album is focusing on the music and nothing else. It is quite intimidating suggesting the music is going to be controversial and rocky.

“Electro-Shock Blues” shows dreamy, childlike drawings with a small font for the band name and album titles. It is almost meek and quiet. It looks like the music is going to be something different and it is.

Although these three Eels CD covers are quite similar, in that they are all quite childish and cartoony they all say different things about the music that is inside them.

Daisies of the Galaxy is colourful and playful.Electro-Shock Blues is dreamy and disjointed.Beautiful Freak is simple but shows exactly what it is; a beautiful freak. Maybe this is what they think of themselves.

It’s like the band’s theme to have cartoon covers but not bubble-gum pop cartoons. There’s something more serious about them.

These CD covers from the same band, Panic! At the Disco, show that the music is going to be quite similar between the two albums. This is how they differ from the Eels.

They say cheerful, light-hearted and bouncy. Nothing sinister about it. They say “wacky” and humorous, music that will make you happy. This is definitely for adolescents. The covers are too mature and the colours not obviously bright. They are dulled bright colours. The images are like cut outs and paintings, sort of vintage looking like the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s” album cover.

This is the one album cover I have chosen which actually shows the band. The other covers have been a little disjointed from the band itself.

However, although the band are in the picture it obviously is not very detailed. It is a simple yet effective case with bright colours and bold font. They haven’t chosen a name for the album but just stick to the band name.

I don’t think it says much about the music. It suggests at something in the rock genre, maybe hinting that the songs are bold as well. Red is a dangerous colour, quite alerting as well as the bullet hole which tears the colour apart with sinister silhouettes creating an off-centre focal point.