Frank Ocean x Wolfgang Tillmans
Art and music have always influenced each other but when the two come together magic happens. Here’s the 10 best album covers ever created by visual artists
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Album The Velvet Underground & Nico
Designed by Andy Warhol
In 1977, The Velvet Underground released their debut studio album “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, which was produced and recorded with Nico, their German vocal collaborator. The album was actually recorded during Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) event tour, where he featured The Velvet Underground and Nico as part of the musical performances for the numerous multimedia events in 1966 and 1967. Being one of New York’s most influential cool kids, Andy Warhol quickly gave the band tremendous exposure, which combined with their lyrics about drug abuse, sex work and S&M shot them to stardom. At the time, however, the record was almost completely ignored by music critics but nowadays the 11-track masterpiece is considered one of rock’s most critically acclaimed albums.
When Warhol designed the album’s cover to feature one of his prints of a banana, he also designed a flesh-coloured banana that was underneath a peel-of-sticker found only in early copies of the album. The making of these covers delayed the release, but the record label MGM decided to pay for the losses incurred since they figured the album would become a best-seller, especially featuring a print by the famous Andy Warhol.
Patti Smith
AlbumHorses
Designed by Robert Mapplethorpe
“Horses” is the debut studio album by American musician Patti Smith who along with her band became favourites in the New York underground scene. The album’s photography was taken by master photographer Robbert Mapplethorpe – Smith’s former lover and close friend. The cover shot was taken under natural lighting at Mapplethorpe’s partner’s Greenwich Village penthouse. In the image Patti is wearing a plain white shirt she’d bought at the Salvation Army on the Bowery and by simply styling it with a black jacket over her shoulder and her iconic black ribbon, Smith quickly became an effortless trendsetter. However, in an interview for the Carroll County Times, Smith explained that when they did the “Horses” cover she never intended to make a big statement. “That’s just the way I dress. It was an image I was looking for. Robert shot the picture, a mix of Baudelaire and Sinatra,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking male or female or gender-bending”.
Grace Jones
Album: Island Life
Designed by Jean-Paul Goude
After Grace Jones’ comeback album “Slave to the Rhythm” became a major commercial success, Island Records decided to release “Island Life”, a compilation album featuring her biggest musical hits from the albums; “Portfolio”, “Fame”, “Warm Leatherette”, “Living My Life”, “Nightclubbing” and of course “Slave to the Rhythm”. Since the compilation project lacked new singles the expectations for the album’s chart performance were rather uncertain, but after it was released “Island Life” actually topped charts all around the world.
The cover for “Island Life” was designed by Grace Jones’ then-partner Jean-Paul Goude, and due to its pre-photoshop grandeur, it became one of pop culture’s most iconic images. The album features Grace Jones in a breathtaking arabesque position, which is in fact anatomically impossible, but through Goude’s revolutionary style of making credible illusions through his cut-and-paint technique it’s often thought to be real.
Blur
Album: Think Tank
Designed by Banksy
“Think Tank” is Blur’s 7th studio album. Its artwork was stencilled by the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy, who has stated that he would’ve never done the album cover if he hadn’t needed the money. Even though Banksy designed the artwork reluctantly, he still managed to capture the art rock style that Blur desired and, in 2007, the cover art sold for £75,000 in an auction.
The Hours
AlbumNarcissus Road
Designed by Damien Hirst
“Narcissus Road” is The Hours’ debut album and it is named after a road in West Hampstead, London. Upon release the album didn’t get most favourable reviews and in fact the only good aspect of it was said to be the cover art. Damien Hirst didn’t only design the cover but also helped fund the album’s production, which leaves us wondering whether he was too much or too little involved.
Dan Bodan
Album: Soft
Designed by Julien Ceccaldi
Dan Bodan is celebrated for his velvety voice and brave approach to sentimental terrains as he chases after something real, something radiant. “Soft” is no exception to his emotionally fuelled musical style, as evidenced in almost every single from the album. For the album’s artwork, Bodan asked contemporary artist and fellow Canadian Julien Ceccaldi for his comic brilliance. Given Ceccaldi’s Manga-inspired styling in which he creates narratives surrounding conflicted heroines with exhausting attempts to maintaining the image of a content self, the cover portrays every sentiment found in Bodan’s moving album.
Fatima Al Qadiri
Album: Brute
Designed by Josh Kline and Babak Radboy
“Brute” is Fatima Al Qadiri’s second solo album whose the production explores the theme of authority. Focusing on the relationships between police, citizens and protests worldwide, the artist pays particular attention to events in the United States, where she is also based. For the album’s cover design which features a Teletubby’s face behind a SWAT officer’s mask, Al Qadiri collaborated with Babak Radboy and Josh Kline, who, the year prior to the album’s release, exhibited “Freedom” at the New Museum Triennial. Like “Brute”, Klein’s immersive installation for the triennial was inspired in great part by the Black Lives Matter movement, thus making this album’s artwork an instinctive decision from both parties.
Sonic Youth
Album: Sonic Nurse
Designed by Richard Prince
“Sonic Nurse” is the alternative rock band’s 13th studio album. The album’s cover art was designed by American painter and photographer Richard Prince, who used his “Nurse Paintings” series to put together the artwork. The series was created by scanning covers and titles of novels primarily sold at newsstands and delis, to be personalised with acrylic paint. Sonic Youth’s album also honours the visual artist with “Dude Ranch Nurse”, a track named after one of Prince’s works with the same title.
Action Bronson
Single: Actin’ Crazy (part of Bronson’s debut album “Mr. Wonderful”)
Designed by FRKO
The Atlanta Native FRKO once told Highsnobiety that his work is a direct reflection of growing up in the Georgia capital in the ’90s. “I have people come up to me and they’ll say my work reminds them of the old Atlanta, back when it was raw. I saw a lot of crazy stuff growing up and I want to share it through art.”
Before FRKO was asked to design the artwork for Action Bronson’s “Actin’ Crazy”, he was posting illustrations inspired by his music to Instagram, in the hopes that Bronson would like them and repost them. After bagging five reposts, FRKO finally decided to email Bronson’s manager and within a month the manager got back to him asking him to design the single’s cover, which took FRKO only a day to make. When asked about what inspired the artwork for Bronson, FRKO told XXL: “I listen to his songs over and over and every time I find a silly or just ridiculously clever lyric that prompts me to draw something.”
Frank Ocean
Album: Blonde
Designed by Wolfgang Tillmans
Four days ago, the internet went nuts over Frank Ocean’s highly anticipated sophomore album release. On 19 August 2016 the world was first introduced to “Endless”, Ocean’s unforeseen visual album that served as the most unbearably genius teaser of what was coming the following morning. Frank Ocean’s fans went crazy over his visual album but what took the world by storm was the sudden release of “Blonde” (stylised Blond) on 20 August 2016. Both the visual and studio albums caused controversy ever since they were released, but what came as a surprise (like everything else surrounding Frank Ocean’s latest affairs) was the permanent removal of the visual album from any website other than Apple Music, and Universal Music Group’s decision to terminate streaming exclusives from now onwards. Anyhow, the reason why this album was featured in this post is because like you might already know, Wolfgang Tillmans was involved in both the visual and studio albums. For “Endless”, Frank Ocean decided to feature — without Tillmans’ consent — one of his unreleased songs, titled “Device Control”. Moreover, Wolfgang Tillmans also shot the captivating photography Frank Ocean used for the artwork in “Blonde”, and apparently dropping the “e” for the cover art, was another surprise for Tillmans.