Here are two takes on the unpopular design direction the Cocteau Twins took on their eighth album, Four-Calendar Café. The original was a sharp departure from the elegant and mysterious designs that adorned their previous releases.

I’m a big Pixies fan, but not a big fan of the solo work by their lead singer, Black Francis. When the Pixies broke up, I bought Frank Black’s (as he was now known) first two albums, which I just couldn’t get into. His third album, The Cult Of Ray (referring to author Ray Bradbury, hence his image in the Revized version), had the most boring cover (incidentally, the first that wasn’t designed by Vaughan Oliver). This sealed the deal for me: I would never buy another Frank Black album again.

Most people know the song “I Melt With You,” but not the band behind the hit, Modern English. Their first five albums were all designed by Vaughan Oliver. Their sixth album’s design makes them look like a completely different band (and they probably were by this point, to be honest).