Some of the most famous album covers art that of;
The Beatles, this cover showed a picture of the band crossing the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios, their home recording studio. The album entitles Abbey Road was their 11th album.
This was the first Beatles album sleeve to show neither name nor band name on the front.
The photographer of the photo Ian Macmillan was given 10 minutes to take the photo ontop of a steplader in the road while a policeman help up the traffic.
It featured a young baby floating underwater looking at a dollar bill that is hooked to a fishing line.
There was some concern over the fact that 3 month old Spencer Evan's penis was visible in the photo, Cobain the bands lead singer made it clear that the only compromise would be a sticker covering it that said "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."
The idea of the prism was chosen because it shows three different elements; the bands stage lighting, the albums lyrics and Richard White's request for a simple bold design.
Album artwork is extremely important for the artist and the single as it can reflect on the genre and style. For example pop and RnB artists are going to have posed highly edited portraits as their album art to show themselves off while indie bands may have a more artistic artwork.
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are an american rock band and "One by one" is their fourth studio album. The final album was released in October 2002 after a year of construction. Singles from the album included "All My Life", "Times Like These", "Low", and "Have It All". The band planned to release it six months earlier but had an argument over the music saying it didn't sound right which ended up in them recording the whole album a second time. The black heart is suits the album and is used to symbolise the love and lust that band members had for each other throughout the creation of it.
Coldplay
Mylo Xyloto is Coldplays Fifth studio album released in 2011. It was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011, selling 908,000 copies. To date, it has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. Coldplay wanted it to be an explosion of vivid colors as a counterpoint to the subdued color palette of Viva La Vida.
Paolo Nutini
Sunny side up is the second album released by Paolo Nutini in 2009. The album was the eighth best selling album in the United Kingdom of 2009 and the sixth of 2010. It sold over 60 000 copies in the Uk alone. The colours and nature of the music ties into the name of the album "Sunny Side up" projecting positivity in music. Everything thing from the way the eggs connote the sun to the slight yellow gradient on the text help establish this tone.
The XX
The xx are an English indie pop band, formed in London in 2008. The group released their debut album, xx in August 2009. The xx recorded their album in a small garage that was part of the XL Recordings studio, often at night, which contributed to the low, whispery nature of the album. The x symbolises the band’s name and connotes the only iconography on the cover. Without a title or name it creates a highly recognisable cover which can be recreated in later albums or concerts etc.
Mumford and Sons are an english folk/rock band which released their first album "sigh no more" in October 2009. Much of Mumford & Sons' lyrical content has a strong literary influence, its debut album name deriving from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The band won the ARIA Music Award for Most Popular International Artist in 2010, and the Brit Award in 2011 for Best British Album. Furthermore, in 2011 they received aEuropean Border Breakers Award for their international success.
Iconic Album Covers
More Album Art Examples in relation to their genre:
