Oops - Double post!
[This message was edited Thu Mar 25 13:35:34 2004 by BinaryJustin]

Did somebody really post this at Housequake.com as being the cover, or was it an artist's impression of how they thought the cover may look?

I also saw squiggly lines on the cover of the CD Prince was holding (in the photo where he's resting his head on Mani's lap). I didn't think it was tree branches though. I saw it as writing or notation of some sort.



See this thread from the beginning of the month: http://www.prince.org/msg/7/82702

p.s. That image I made isn't intended to be anything else than an illustration of what I saw - I'm not saying that's how it will look, I'm just displaying how I saw it.

Who cares bout the cover... as long as the music doesn't suck! If i based my Prince music purchases on covers these would definitely be ignored.

For You (what's with the weird transition???)
Prince (boring cover, but a blurry picture of him nude riding a flying horse?)
Graffiti Bridge (overdone it)
Diamonds and pearls (everyone on it besides the hologram sucks)
Symbol (a blurry video still from '7'?)
Emancipation (cheesy photoshop stuff)
Crystal Ball (a decent design but no Prince appeal)
Rave un2 joy fantastic (the shiny blue suit sure didn't help the sales)

As a graphic designer, I think Prince has some of the worst covers for a superstar. Either he hired some half-assed designers or ran out of budget for cd covers cuz of who knows all the unreleased stuff he did.

BinaryJustin said:

I like it!

bkw said:

Well, yeah - I'd like it too if it looks something like that. Here's the original picture of Prince holding the cover with the mysterious squiggles on it.

Tom said:

Help me!! Somebody help me!!!

I've fallen and I can't stop laughing.

BinaryJustin said:

Yep it's different. In the one posted part of the pic is missing and it way darker than the one in his hand. The squggles don't exactly match up either...but very close.

Budsmoker said:

As a graphic designer I tend to agree with you, could it be too much control from Prince himself resulting in these crappy covers? Or like he has said about the "Interactive" game - "I had nothing to do with it".
As a child of the times however, I found the covers to 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade to be cool and relevant.

This one is worserer.

superspaceboy said:

looks to me like the side facing us is the back do to the lack of a spine. regardless the backgrounds are not the same.

The cover of Rave is pretty cool, I must admit. It's got simplicity, but it doesn't look cheap. I just wish the original mix would've been in a proper jewel case . . .

lonelyxmas1 said:

Long live The Rainbow Children cover! One of his best.

charlottegelin said:

[b][i]Damn U people complain SO MUCH! Just be glad our favorite rock star is still alive releasing music. Alot of U call yourselves fans, but there seem to be no way for him to please U. Its his art, get over it and buy the stuff if U want. If U dont, shut the hell up. DAMN!

mayB the team at Sabotage Records could come up with something better? Cover art is 100% important to any project, IMO ... Me wishes he'd ask Joni to paint a cover for him ... (xsuce me while I drift away, dreaming, dig if u will the picture) ...

It's a given the cover's gonna suck...trust me, it could be MUCH MUCH WORSE.

Crystal Ball and Emancipation and NewPowerSoul - I mean, wow.

Rave was an improvement but still pretty frou-frou in a not-so-cool way...the remix package which arrived almost 2 years later was packaged better, I thought.

TRC was obviously a huge improvement, but that's because it's strictly a painting from an artist. There are no words, so there's no need for cheesy fonts...oh man, those fonts kill it every time. somewhere in the mid 90s it became impossible for anything written from npg to look anything but cheesy and embarrasing. I doubt that'll ever change.

I kinda like the new cover...although I'm not sure how much people wanna just stare at his face...I mean I do, because I'm as obsessed with him as he is with himself. But, you know, Joe Q. Spermbank or whatever.

What about the Chaos and Disorder cover? That was really cool. Emancipation looked like something spray-painted on the side of a van, New Power Soul was just weird, I liked Rave though. Come was very eery. N.E.W.S looked amateurish, but Rainbow Children and One Nite Alone had great covers.

manonearth said:

Dude, I 've seen the Promo album (full album) and it has this pic as it's cover, it wasn't some single...
And well... http://www.amazon.com/exe...c&n=507846

Neversin.

More fake covers, I need more fake covers...pleaaaaassssse!!

mochalox said:

Neversin said:

Aw, nuts.

Another ugly ass cover.

A plain white background would have been SO much better.

Hell, just a plain white cover would have been so much better.

mochalox said:

I'm up for that!

my sheep and your sheep need to get 2gether...

I posted the Amazon.com Musicology link over at NPGMC.

The thread was deleted within minutes.

That is not only the worst Prince record cover I've ever seen, but its the worst record cover of any act that I have ever seen.

http://images.amazon.com/...LZZZZZ.jpg

Please tell me that this is only a temporary image for use by Amazon.

Even the Black Album had a better cover than this.

Anxiety said:

Oh, Lawd!!! I made a post at NPGMC yesterday saying that the image was circulating on the org and at housequake and asking folks to have a look and give their opinions. I added that I didn't care for it. Of course it was removed post haste. I was told it was because I had posted a "rumor" and they weren't allowed. Okay, fair enough I guess.

But here, you'd actually linked to the image at amazon.com where it's officially posted and available for sale. What's the problem now? Do they just not want any critical opinions over there? Is that the bottom line?

Damn ridiculous!

Peace, David

I'm a graphic designer too, and this Musicology cover is pretty bad.

• The side photo is "OK", but he needs to retire the moonwrap.
• The background image is poor, and the cutout is rough
• The font is OK, but the warping of it is something that a novice would do. Choose a good font, and you don't need effects.
• This album should've had something retro/nostalgic on the cover. See Paul McCartney's Run Devil Run for what I was thinking . . .

Sorry to bash the cover. I don't really care what the cover looks like, as long as the CD label looks cool and the music is jammin'.

squirrelgrease said:

This is a good cover, I think . . . but again, the worst choice of fonts EVER! The composition of this is pretty good, and I liked the idea of the 3 eggs (ONA being the first egg to crack, and then 3 more albums to go). We know how that worked out . . . ONA Live.

I'm starting to get a little weary of the usage now that he has reclaimed the name PRINCE. Let it go . . .

One word if this picture becomes an album cover CHAD!