Wrong! Here's three examples of some good ones

- Planet Earth

- Lotusflow3r

- 20Ten

However, I know what you're saying, imo The album covers for the One Nite Alone album and the live shows looked pretty bad (Prince could've designed them on Microsoft Paint but there were still lots of good artworks.

databank said:

I had never cared for PE but when I saw the vinyl in a store some months ago, it blew my mind.

I think PE was one of the best, cover art wise

databank said:

I had never cared for PE but when I saw the vinyl in a store some months ago, it blew my mind.

I think PE was one of the best, cover art wise

Apart from Rave?

That's the worst album cover for me, and I agree that most post-Warners artwork is poor. It often looks like it was designed by someone with just rudimentary knowledge of Photoshop.

paddypurple said:

databank said:

I had never cared for PE but when I saw the vinyl in a store some months ago, it blew my mind.

I think PE was one of the best, cover art wise

It had to have something going for it.

i think its the other way around...i think his BEST covers were post WB.

Rainbow Children

Lotusflow3r

Planet Earth

3121

MPLSoUND

Emancipation (one of his greatest covers ever)

imo, it was his WB lp covers that were cheesey.
...i never liked the 1999 cover and its adolescent looking artistry ... i didnt care for Controversy or Dirty Mind, Lovesexy, or Prince covers either...theyre mostly just half naked P with a blank stare ...Batman was the Batman logo... i dont see any amazing WB covers... Purple Rain lp cover is iconic but i dont see any great art in it

The Vault and Xpectation are pretty bad though

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Apart from the rainbow children and rave One redeeming aspect of so so albums is when they at least look nice When even that isnt there, it's a sad addition to ones collection

Totally subjective and so pro-80's, it's not even funny. Apart of the obvious dislike of post-80's Prince, I don't even see where you are coming from in terms of the artwork except to say all the decades have some bad covers and some good ones.

The Purple Rain cover, although parts of it are beautiful, is cheesy as they come. It's excessive, busy, and full of rock cliches. Give me the 3121 cover over that one. Sometimes, less is more. The 3121 cover has beautiful lighting. It's both warm and distant...behind the dark silhouette in the foreground is warm golden glow in the background..

[Edited 9/5/20 7:22am]

Yes, if I'm not a big fan of TRC the artwork is great, I think that the Emancipation one is very good, but could have been better.

IMO the Warner releases had a consistently high quality artwork up until Graffiti Bridge – that's where the serious problems started. The Graffiti Bridge cover is just awful, and from then on, there were only a handful of good covers. Diamonds & Pearls, The Hits and Come were okayish, but the vast majority varies between amateurish and downright horrendous, with Emancipation, ONA(Piano) and Chocolate Invasion & Slaughterhouse being the absolute low points.

.
The Rainbow Children and 3121 are exceptions. Those are nice. Art Official Age could've been OK without that awful portrait of P on the front.

.

[Edited 9/5/20 8:05am]

Musicology, 3121, Slaughterhouse, Chocolate Invasion, Come, Emancipation, Newpower Soul, 20TEN, Art Official Age: all albums with crunchy artwork post WB.

That being said, I don't think Prince had a ton of brilliant album covers. Dirty Mind, Controversy, Parade, SOTT, and Lovesexy are cool as shit though.

RJOrion said:

i think its the other way around...i think his BEST covers were post WB.

Rainbow Children

Lotusflow3r

Planet Earth

3121

MPLSoUND

Emancipation (one of his greatest covers ever)

imo, it was his WB lp covers that were cheesey.
...i never liked the 1999 cover and its adolescent looking artistry ... i didnt care for Controversy or Dirty Mind, Lovesexy, or Prince covers either...theyre mostly just half naked P with a blank stare ...Batman was the Batman logo... i dont see any amazing WB covers... Purple Rain lp cover is iconic but i dont see any great art in it

You better watch it, the Vanity stans will come for your neck on that one lol

LoveGalore said:

Musicology, 3121, Slaughterhouse, Chocolate Invasion, Come, Emancipation, Newpower Soul, 20TEN, Art Official Age: all albums with crunchy artwork post WB.

That being said, I don't think Prince had a ton of brilliant album covers. Dirty Mind, Controversy, Parade, SOTT, and Lovesexy are cool as shit though.

There are always photo shoot pics that I think "why didn't he use this one?"

but I guess that also goes with why we question his certain choices of singles to release and when

OldFriends4Sale said:

RJOrion said:

i think its the other way around...i think his BEST covers were post WB.

Rainbow Children

Lotusflow3r

Planet Earth

3121

MPLSoUND

Emancipation (one of his greatest covers ever)

imo, it was his WB lp covers that were cheesey.
...i never liked the 1999 cover and its adolescent looking artistry ... i didnt care for Controversy or Dirty Mind, Lovesexy, or Prince covers either...theyre mostly just half naked P with a blank stare ...Batman was the Batman logo... i dont see any amazing WB covers... Purple Rain lp cover is iconic but i dont see any great art in it

You better watch it, the Vanity stans will come for your neck on that one lol

why, did Vanity draw it?

Any of these photos would have been great For You album covers

This first one, if he was sitting the same way with a guitar

I don't think you can really draw a line with/after WB. I mean... 1999, Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds & Pearls, Symbol, Gold Experience, Chaos & Disorder, The Vault... plenty of spit-ugly covers when he was with WB. I don't think you can say that the quality went down significantly, it was always a bit hit and miss before that. After Laura LiPuma left, that's a better demarcation point.

Tacky would be the common theme that comes to mind - but that's late 90s/00s computer graphic design in general.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Apart from the rainbow children and rave One redeeming aspect of so so albums is when they at least look nice When even that isnt there, it's a sad addition to ones collection

I think that statement small-minded and disrespectful to the talented artists who did photograph him and create fresh artwork. Clearly, Prince liked it. If you wanna talk horrible, talk about 3121. It's a non-photo, to me. So what, he's got the album title on his jumper. Not a very deep cover. But it is what it is. He saw value in it. Frankly the first two records have atypical, boring ass covers on them. The only reason Dirty Mind is relatively interesting is you can see both sets of Prince's sideburns, and in 1980, that was quite a thing for any album cover. was a lift from the "7" video - not very interesting per se.

These folks Prince had working for him worked on the fly, and was constantly pushed to create something out of nothing. Parke, Sam Jennings, etc. The fact that Prince guided them, and approved it means you're challening Prince on his art. It ain't got shit to do with WB years vs anything else.

I have absolutely no issue with the 1999 album over in that I thought it pulled you in and prepared you for the mystery of the music and themes.

Keep in mind for the 3121 cover it was done in his dressing room while he was waiting to perform at the NAACP Image Awards, and they simply used the rooms lamp for the lighting.

Don't see the creativity in the 3121 cover.

OldFriends4Sale said:

I have absolutely no issue with the 1999 album over in that I thought it pulled you in and prepared you for the mystery of the music and themes.

.

I much preferred the single album cover, especially with the green coat. But then again, I feel 3121 is one of his better covers of the 21st century. (along with The Rainbow Children, NEWS and 20ten)

.

So to each their own. Prince liked each album cover enough to release them. At least he never provoked discussion with any other part of his art.

almost all his cover art, the first time i see it i'm like "wow this is sort of dumb looking" but as you become more and more familiar with the music, you start to see the covers as being part of that glorious album soup and it warms up on you, much like a bowl of soup.

covers that i thought were genuinely masterful from the moment they first met my gaze? dirty mind, 1999, purple rain, atwiad, parade, sott, lovesexy, symbol, 3121...

maybe i take my comment back, it might not be "almost all" his art. the worst of it was from 90s onward and even then i have a soft spot for most of em

[Edited 9/5/20 12:29pm]

Shannon319 said:

I love it. I think its a beautiful cover. Less is more. It is so beautifully lit.

the 1999 cover is soooo ugly but that is partly its charm. Its rock n roll. Purple Rain's cover is too much...the picture and the flowers and the rock n roll font...pick one. Parade is a gorgeous cover. SOTT is a mess as a cover but that is kind of what is cool about it.

Really why some of his covers in the late nineties look lame was better expressed by another poster here who pointed out the advent of computer digital crap that became dated after the nineties. His covers were quick to me made. But with a man as beautiful as he was, any cover with just his face well photographed and well light is really all that is needed...thus why Parade might be my favorite 80's cover.

feeluupp said:

Keep in mind for the 3121 cover it was done in his dressing room while he was waiting to perform at the NAACP Image Awards, and they simply used the rooms lamp for the lighting.

Don't see the creativity in the 3121 cover.

Yes, she did.

RJOrion said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

You better watch it, the Vanity stans will come for your neck on that one lol

why, did Vanity draw it?

Shannon319 said:

Yes, she did.

RJOrion said:

why, did Vanity draw it?

ok....learn something new everyday...i always thought Prince drew that