Album Covers

From top (left to right):

• Bjork - Post (1995)
• Dido - Life for rent (2003)
• Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous (1978)
• The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
• Destiny's Child - Number 1's (2005)
• Razorlight - self titled (2006)
• I am Kloot - self titled (2003)
• The eels - electro-shock blues (1998)
• Massive Attack - blue lines (1991)

I've grouped them according to the style/main image.

* The 1st row all have an image of a singular person. The women are both solo artists, and although Thin Lizzy is a band, their album cover predominantly shows their lead singer/guitarist.

* The second row all use images which show a whole band. Both the Beatles and Razorlight use the whole band in one image, Destiny's Child places three seperated photographs next to one another.

* The 3rd row however, is using graphics to represent the band and the album. The I am Kloot album has used simply the name of the band in bold writing, The eels have used what appears like a hand-drawn picture, and Massive Attack have adapted a well-known symbol.

It'd also be interesting if i categorised chronologically. (Differences and similarities between 1960s and 2000s)

Typical Features an album cover has:

Front:
• Main image
• Name of artist
• Title of album
• Band logo? Title in a recognisable style of the artist

Back (i.e. the sleeve)
• Track list
• Special Features
• Another predominant image underneath the text

Institutional information:
• Price
• Barcode
• Record Label
• Year of publishing
• Copyright
• Individual track writers, composers, engineers, producers
• A reference number
• Band members
• Guest performers

Spine:
• Name of artist
• Title of album
• Record label
• Reference number

Inserts:
• Further institutional information for each individual track
• Song lyrics
• Photographs of artist
• Thank Yous

Purposes of an album cover:
To protect the album
To advertise the contents
Using the artistic design to reflect the creative intentions of artists
To reflect the principles, attitudes etc of record label
To stand out, to be interesting and eye-catching
To boost sales, enhance profit