ECM (and Blue Note) cover art is one of the primary reasons why I miss vinyl albums. ECM records not only had fine photography and design, but often beautiful textures as well. Some were glossy, some matte, and a few had unusual effects, such as a pinstripe pattern in the cover. As I sit here, I can look up and see Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts 10-LP set on the shelf. It's a bit worn after 30 years, but still a beatiful piece of work, even before you hear the music.
There are a lot I like, but choosing one off the top: Rypdal's Chaser.
Powerful image by itself and pretty well sums up the music.
I got the LP just to have it large ...
I've liked many ecm covers over the years, but they lost me with most of the 'latest style' ones. The blurry stuff is just plain boring to me. What? Same with the music? Ah yes, sorry.
The recording is as intriguing (and as good) as the cover art. These were the good times, if you ask me.
I was still in high school when i listened to this record and i was very impressed by both the music and the cover.
The cover certainly helps bringing images to your mind and create a small universe. (that's what i recall at least)
This is an intriguing one, I don't have a copy of it so I can't comment on the actual recording.
It is.
I read something about this a while back, possibly in the Sleeves of Desire book, that the photo is of members of a religious sect, the young woman is somehow considered gifted (hence the look she is getting from the elder). She is mimicking the stance and hand position of the photographer.
Maybe someone can fill in the details.
Last edited by BargeOn; May-20th-2008 at 01:44 PM.
Now you see it, now you don't. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
My favourite is Sankt Gerold by Bley/Parker/Philips. I love the covers with just lettering. This one could be a medical package, a book of nuclear secrets - who knows? In addition, the black writing on blue background is almost illegible!
But I think the covers have been a bit uninspired for the last while. Well, 'Little Imber' is nice, but they have become a bit samey. I guess it's artistically unacceptable in 2008 to use designs such as in lpgeffen's post above. BUt the odd bit of colour would be nice! (yes, I know the Bley is almost pitch black!)
orangefunk: I completely agree about the two Arild Anderson albums. To this day they stand up and sound contemporary. I ripped both from vinyl to cd-r.
This is why I never download an ECM CD from iTunes. (You can do that, can't you?) I want the cover art, and physical product and package as it was conceived.
I have seen the flickr photo group, and there's lots of very nice work there. Thumbs up for it. The ECM album covers has perhaps single-handedly made me want to get into photography and graphic design.
Request for ECM information for our Hard Format website
A friend of a friend I met at the Ronin concert at Kings Place last week suggested I post the following request to Steve Lake here.
I co-publish a non-profit website called Hard Format devoted to music-related design. We receive between 300-700 visitors a day, have been linked widely on the web and received a number of mentions in the press.
We recently expanded the site to include a section on key designers and would like to publish a page on Barbara Wojirsch and Dieter Rehm. We would of course link through to the ECM site.
To date we've published pages on Barney Bubbles, Tina Frank, Reid Miles, Russell Mills and Alex Steinweiss and we've been promised material by Vaughan Oliver, Ian Anderson, Jon Wozencroft, Susan Archie and Non Format.
If Steve is reading this, we'd much appreciate an email as to whether he would be prepared to send us some decent quality images and some form of supporting statement. My address is colin@eleventhvolume.com. Steve, if you're not interested, please let us know and we won't bother you again. Thanks for your time.
You kind of have to see this in real life- the word "Passio" somehow looks like it might be inked or painted on in blood. I can't imagine a better way to represent the music than that
Last edited by Sutch; March-31st-2009 at 03:48 PM.
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Originally Posted by Korowa
