This post is admittedly a reaction to the 4AD record label’s de-emphasizing of their cover art that was once one of their trademarks. The brief is to basically utilize existing cover art and attempt to create new art and capture at least some of the essence of the older, beautifully designed covers. Note: the Bon Iver cover below features the work of Shinro Ohtake, whose artwork appeared on several Throwing Muses covers.

I have it on good authority that This Mortal Coil reissues are forthcoming, hopefully in 2010. In the meantime, here’s an imagining of how individual sleeves from a four-disc vinyl box set might look. The fourth disc would contain tracks from the three singles, plus “Acid, Bitter, And Sad” from Lonely Is An Eyesore. The sleeves would be printed on matte stock with spot varnishes on the photos, and the graphics printed with copper metallic ink. I’m positive original graphic designer Vaughan Oliver has something amazing in store for this reissue.

By the way, if you’re going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area on January 7, 2010, I’ve contributed 12 background films inspired by Vaughan Oliver to a performance called The Music Of This Mortal Coil–the first live tribute that I know of. Tickets are $12 and available here. And here’s the poster I’ve designed for the show, which will be given away for free at the gig:

One other unpopular Cocteau Twins design was their BBC Sessions compilation. Here is a Revized version by contributor Stian in a v23 style.

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.