Comments on: unknown pleasures

unknown pleasures

the_very_hungry_caterpillar — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:40:57 -0800

Classic record sleeves - re-designed as Pelican book covers (Flickr set).

By: bendybendy

bendybendy — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:32:38 -0800

Nice, and visually witty, but a bit heavy on the distressed look. The distressed paper effects of a hundred del.icio.us photoshop tutorials are the sort of overworking that will make contemporary graphics age poorly compared to the Pelican covers (or Blue Note record covers from the Wu Tang) .

By: rory

rory — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:41:55 -0800

Except the Pelican covers weren't parodying old book design. Would these have been as effective at doing that without the distressed look? A mint-condition 1960s paperback makes a very different impression from one that's been well-loved. Nice find, the_very_hungry_caterpillar!

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:58:16 -0800

Phil Collins still looks creepy.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:08:30 -0800

It's amazing how iconic that Joy Division cover became. I still see that on T-shirts almost weekly.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:28:16 -0800

Who brought the FFT visualizer to the 1960s? (or whenever this is supposed to be)

By: billybobtoo

billybobtoo — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:42:29 -0800

are they books, are they records. i don't get it. can i read it? or is this some trick photography internet thing? curious in orlando...

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:50:13 -0800

are they books, are they records. i don't get it. can i read it? or is this some trick photography internet thing? curious in orlando... They're just the results of a designer taking a favorite design style and mashing it up with some favorite album covers. Nothing more. Just a freshman-level design exercise. And, one that is becoming boringly common. See also Wu-Note Covers, a mash-up of WuTang records with Blue Note art.

By: billybobtoo

billybobtoo — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:54:02 -0800

They're just the results of a designer taking a favorite design style and mashing it up with some favorite album covers. Nothing more. Just a freshman-level design exercise. And, one that is becoming boringly common. thanks!

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:55:05 -0800

I know I'll eventually get tired of the whole "X redesigned as a Y cover" thing, but not today!

By: ryaninoakland

ryaninoakland — Mon, 11 May 2009 05:55:32 -0800

The Pelican style is so much more than this- sad to see it reduced to such a generic algorithm.

By: Hickeystudio

Hickeystudio — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:04:34 -0800

After how wonderful the last pelican post was ( sci fi covers from 60's/70's ), this was a bit of a letdown. Timing is everything. Should've waited longer.

By: GeorgeBickham

GeorgeBickham — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:14:40 -0800

Can't anyone wait for nostalgia to kick in these days?

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:31:26 -0800

And, one that is becoming boringly common. Yes, it is.

By: Spatch

Spatch — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:36:36 -0800

The distressed paper effects of a hundred del.icio.us photoshop tutorials are the sort of overworking that will make contemporary graphics age poorly compared to the Pelican covers The vertical crease used many times on the covers bothered me. I was thinking album covers don't exactly, well, crease like that. Paperback covers, yes. Album covers, not so much. Unless you were really careless with them while playing the record, I guess. My family did have a Simon & Garfunkel album jacket that someone once folded in half while making a Hot Wheels jump. Don't ask.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:42:01 -0800

A more realistic effect would be the wear ring a vinyl album makes on its cover when records are stacked or packed tightly, (go ahead, hate on my, vinyl purists -- I was hell on my LPs) and 45-degree frays at the corners. I thought the name scrawled on the Joe Jackson record was a nice touch, though. You saw this a lot -- people would take albums to parties/sleepovers and this was how you kept track of whose was whose.

By: No-sword

No-sword — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:04:17 -0800

"Beat-up old paperback" is officially the new steampunk. Who wants to start a pool on how long it will be before someone does a casemod to make their computer look like an oversized copy of Day of the Triffids?

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:13:38 -0800

Let's turn this on its head. How about actual Penguin book covers from the 60's and 70's re-imagined as contemporary video game covers? I'm picturing the cover of The Stranger with an grim-faced Maya-rendered protagonist on the front, cigarette in hand, in front of casket on a beach being stalked by stereotyped Arab brandishing a knife, while the sun blazes in the sky. The cover could also feature relevant hardware vendor logos such as NVIDIA Sophos - the world's fastest hardware-accelerated philosophy engine.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:17:39 -0800

This kind of thing would really sell to the audiophile geeks, wouldn't it? Some kind of Criterion Collection for albums? A little thematically unified cover art, a few bonus tracks, liner notes by Robert Christgau or Nick Tosches, new heavy vinyl, etc. I can imagine the internet debates as each new round of albums to be included in the collection is announced.

By: rory

rory — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:19:07 -0800

The vertical crease used many times on the covers bothered me. I was thinking album covers don't exactly, well, crease like that. Paperback covers, yes. A more realistic effect would be the wear ring a vinyl album makes on its cover when records are stacked or packed tightly These are supposed to be books. "Classic records lost in time and format, re-emerged as Pelican books."

By: Spatch

Spatch — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:45:09 -0800

Well that just makes it even sillier.

By: the aloha

the aloha — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:03:25 -0800

meme too!

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:44:26 -0800

Love for the Wonder Stuff!

By: self

self — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:56:19 -0800

the aloha- That word isn't pronounced like you think it's pronounced...

By: rory

rory — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:07:41 -0800

Well that just makes it even sillier. That would be the "Just for fun" part.

By: ob

ob — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:16:04 -0800

Love for the Wonder Stuff! Yes, I haven't heard that album in years, but I loved them when I was 15 or 16.

By: robinhoudt

robinhoudt — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:23:00 -0800

Other media packaging mashups

By: naju

naju — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:30:20 -0800

I would read any novel Autechre decided to put out. Literature algorithmically-generated with Max/MSP could certainly put the Burroughs cut-up technique to shame.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:46:24 -0800

Well, I like it. (Although that vertical crease is noticeably reused far too many times, to the point that it threatens to ruin the whole project.)

By: Ratio

Ratio — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:55:52 -0800

Very cool. Sadly, for me, it has the unmistakable pre-smell of Formerly Neat Stuff That Cory Doctorow And Mark Frauenfelder Will Embrace As If It They Themselves Invented It. I realize this is crazy.

By: celerystick

celerystick — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:02:58 -0800

very "white college radio" that thar collection! rock is dead!

By: the aloha

the aloha — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:47:00 -0800

That word isn't pronounced like you think it's pronounced... the wordplay isn't a pun like how you think it was told

By: the aloha

the aloha — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:00:57 -0800

instead, meme too is a protologism to term derivatives which lack in either timeliness or creativity. this pelican, she flies a little late.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:29:38 -0800

Sadly, for me, it has the unmistakable pre-smell of Formerly Neat Stuff That Cory Doctorow And Mark Frauenfelder Will Embrace As If It They Themselves Invented It. Y'know...I had the same feeling but just couldn't find the right words with which to express it. Thanks!

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:13:25 -0800

14'6! You could buy a suit for that!

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:47:03 -0800

White college radio? Clearly, your view of college radio is rather pedestrian, or not nearly snobby enough. I got a bad taste in my mouth when reading the tagline: Classic records lost in time and format. Some are not what I would consider classic, and most are not lost. I was happy to see From Here to Eternity, which somehow seems fitting.