| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 12/02/2020 : 05:11:08
For the truly bored, please join me on a fast pasted journey to determine the best album covers that our man's discography has to offer.
Here is the list from when we did album survivor, are there any missing that we should add:
Come on Pilgrim
Surfer Rosa
Doolittle
Bossanova
Trompe Le Monde
B-Sides
Frank Black Self-Titled
TOTY
Cult of Ray
Oddballs
Frank Black and the Catholics Self-Titled
Pistolero
Dog in the Sand
Black Letter Days
Devil's Workshop
Show Me Your Tears
Sunday Sunny...
Snake Oil
One More Road for the Hit
FMRM
Christmass
Bluefinger
SVN Fingers
Petit Fours
Let The People Speak
Golem
NSE
Paley & Francis
Abbabubba
Indie Cindy
Head Carrier
Beneath the Eyrie
Do we want to add EPs, compilations, box sets, all those covers, etc?
I have no idea what kind of participation we will get on this. I will wait a few days to see if anyone wants more album art work added to the list, then we will start the voting, which will probably be vote two off at a time for the first several rounds.
Hopefully this will give a few of us something to do.
Let the games almost begin! |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/22/2021 : 19:31:28
Versus the survivor results. Pretty consistent:
1) Surfer Rosa
2) Doolittle
3) Trompe
4) Bossanova
5) TOTY
...
6) Frank Black
7) Come on Pilgrim
8) Beneath the Eyrie
9) Black Letter Days
10) Bluefinger
 "If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/20/2021 : 06:18:06
Alright, so updated tally. I decided to leave all the contenders there so any additional votes can be easily added if they aren't in the top 5 but are in the top 10:
(1) Surfer - 24 pts
(2) Doolittle - 24 pts
(3) Bossanova - 20 pts
(4) Trompe - 17 pts
(5) Frank Black - 15 pts
And continuing on:
(6) Black Letter Days - 5 pts
(7) COP - 4 pts
(8) Teenager of the Year - 3 pts
(9) Beneath the Eyrie - 3 pts
(10) Head Carrier - 1 pt
(11) Dog in the Sand - 1 pt
(12) Pixies B-sides - 1 pt
(13) Cult of Ray - 1 pt
Two reelers brings up an interesting point that I don't know we discussed, I presumed we were strictly talking cover art but if it was the whole art package, that may have changed some votes... and I also love the COR blue - I want a copy of the vinyl release even though I don't have a record player just for that. And yes, I did interpret stuczuba's BLD as DITS. ;)
"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| Sprite |
Posted - 02/17/2021 : 11:21:07
POD, now that's a cover! |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/17/2021 : 04:57:28
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
does this mean you may have been voting for the wrong covers? does this mean we have to start all over?
 it's educational
I think that one time does render the whole exercise null and void. Sorry everyone.
If we're starting again then I'm all in on Pod for the win :D |
| Discoking |
Posted - 02/17/2021 : 00:26:11
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
little intermezzo: just out of nowhere i'm going to claim already that there's been massive voter fraud in this album cover survivor election.
we will require a lot of recounts and will go to every court in the country.
I CALLED IT!!!
it's educational |
| Discoking |
Posted - 02/17/2021 : 00:24:01
does this mean you may have been voting for the wrong covers? does this mean we have to start all over?
it's educational |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/16/2021 : 13:51:40
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
the BLD cover has a band photo?
it's educational
It took me a while to find it too.
BLD is code for Dog In The Sand - didn't you get the memo?
(Sorry, I so meant DITS. I dont have a physical BLD anymore - does it even have a band photo?) |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 02/16/2021 : 13:11:26
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
the BLD cover has a band photo?
it's educational
It took me a while to find it too. |
| Discoking |
Posted - 02/16/2021 : 06:43:57
the BLD cover has a band photo?
it's educational |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/15/2021 : 00:06:41
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite
Just to bring it up to 5
Sprite
1. Doolittle
2. Bossanova
3. Surfer Rosa
4. Trompe
5. BLD
Same 5 for me, different order:
1 Surfer
2 Bossa
3 Doolittle
4 Trompe
5 BLD - love a proper band photo. Also, picked a replacement copy up of ebay for a couple of quid and it turned up signed :) |
| two reelers |
Posted - 02/13/2021 : 04:45:43
Including the inner sleeve artwork as well, my top 5 are:
- Frank Black (because of the FB-logo)
- Bossanova (Planet Pixies is a such a good description of their own world)
- Surfer Rosa (BOOBS! - that would not be possible today)
- Trompe (inner artwork with the rockets)
- COR (that is the most beautiful blueish color tone I've ever seen)
I joined the cult of Souled American / 'cause they are a damn' fine band |
| Sprite |
Posted - 02/12/2021 : 15:00:32
Just to bring it up to 5
Sprite
1. Doolittle
2. Bossanova
3. Surfer Rosa
4. Trompe
5. BLD |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 02/11/2021 : 09:55:07
Great idea everybody
My top 5 are
1) FB
2) Trompe
3) Bossanova
4) Surfer
5) TOTY |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/11/2021 : 09:03:19
Good idea!
There a couple on page 9:
Sprite
1. Doolittle
2. Bossanova
3. Surfer Rosa
4. Trompe
Jamie
1. Bossanova
2. Doolittle
3. Surfer Rosa
4. Black Letter Days
5. Head Carrier |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/11/2021 : 08:19:40
It would be interesting to have everyone list their personal top 5, in order, and do a weighted total to see what the top 5 ends up being in that configuration.
My Top 5
1) Frank Black - 5 pts
2) Surfer - 4 pts
3) Doolittle - 3 pts
4) TOTY - 2 pts
5) COP - 1 pt
Looking at the other two most recent top 5 posts in the thread,
Brank Flack's: Doolittle gets 5 points, Trompe 4, BTE 3, Surfer 2, B-sides (!) 1.
Jake3's: Surfer 5, Doolittle 4, COP 3, Trompe 2, Bossanova 1
If it were just us three then the final tally would be. Of course it would be better not to tally as we go to get a pure/individualistic result vs the temptation to have strategic votes.
(1) Doolittle - 12 pts
(2) Surfer - 11 pts
(3) Trompe - 6 pts
(4) Frank Black - 5 pts
(5) COP - 4 pts
"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| coastline |
Posted - 02/11/2021 : 05:08:10
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
for the very last round, i am going to vote for surfer rosa.
it was very hard to make a choice, but it had to be done.
it's educational
|
| Discoking |
Posted - 02/10/2021 : 23:50:37
for the very last round, i am going to vote for surfer rosa.
it was very hard to make a choice, but it had to be done.
it's educational |
| jake3 |
Posted - 02/10/2021 : 06:27:05
Well done to those who organised it. Great work.
Top 5 for me would be the original 5 Pixies albums. Unbelievable really for saying Charles has released so many albums, but that classic 4AD Vaughan Oliver work really was a step above.
1. Surfer Rosa
2. Doolittle
3. Come On Pilgrim
4. Trompe Le Monde
5. Bossanova |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/10/2021 : 05:46:49
My top five would be
1) Doolittle
2) Trompe le Monde
3) Beneath the Eyrie
4) Surfer Rosa
5) B-Sides |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/10/2021 : 05:45:43
The people have spoken and Surfer Rosa is THE FRANK BLACK ALBUM COVER SURVIVOR. Elegant, mysterious and classic.
Thank you Bedbug for your work in hosting this, to everyone who participated, and to Vaughan Oliver for the wonderful artwork that has become a part of all of our lives.
Order:
Frank Black and the Catholics
Cult of Ray
Indie Cindy
Petit Fours
Let The People Speak
One More Road for the Hit
Honeycomb
Paley & Francis
Snake Oil
Abbabubba
Pistolero
Devil's Workshop
Head Carrier
Golem
B-Sides
Svn Fingers
NSE
Oddballs
FMRM
Christmass
DITS
SMYT
Bluefinger
Black Letter Days
BTE
Come On Pilgrim
Frank Black
TOTY
Bossanova
Trompe
Doolittle
Surfer Rosa |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 02/09/2021 : 14:26:02
quote:
Originally posted by Brank_Flack
We are now at with less than 24 hours to go:
Doolittle 7
Surfer Rosa 2
(Do you want to do the honours of calling it tomorrow Bedbug?)
I’m honored that you would consider me, but I would love to see the torch passed to you.
And to all, I hope we can think of another FB themed game to play to help us through Covid
|
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/09/2021 : 07:07:27
We are now at with less than 24 hours to go:
Doolittle 7
Surfer Rosa 2
(Do you want to do the honours of calling it tomorrow Bedbug?) |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/08/2021 : 10:03:03
Very cool, thanks for posting that background.
"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/07/2021 : 10:02:13
https://www.snapgalleries.com/simon-larbalestiers-classic-pixies-images-and-their-backstories/
The Surfer Rosa series was a collaborative effort between myself and Pixies graphic designer Vaughan Oliver. This was the first time I was to photograph a stranger with a sense of intimacy and candour. Working in a similar way to “Nimrod’s Son” – my title for the photograph used on the cover of the Pixies EP Come on Pilgrim – Vaughan and I hand-built a set in the upstairs function room of a pub in South West London.
We needed a purpose-built, slightly raised, stage so that we could shoot with the set in an elevated position. Years on, Vaughan and my recollections as to the story behind the set differs somewhat (perhaps I misheard the original story) but my interpretation that I carried over the years was that Pixies frontman Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis/Frank Black) wrote some of his songs in bars with a Spanish themes in his hometown of Boston.
I wanted to develop the sense of decay and texture from my earlier images and we laced this with Catholic references (a theme inherent in the Pixies’ music but also deeply embodied in mine from several years before when documenting Greek Orthodox Churches in Greece and Turkey). For added irony we added the nailed fish motif ( carried over from Come on Pilgrim) as well as an original guitar from the band, which we embellished by breaking.
For Surfer Rosa I wanted to retain the distinctive Polaroid edges that we used on the Come on Pilgrim sleeve, so I shot again with Polaroid’s Type 55 – a unique film that yields a positive print as well as a very fine grained negative that can be printed from in the darkroom. There is a discrepancy between the film negative and Polaroid print in that their film speed (ASA/ISO) differs greatly – the print was given a speed of 50-75 but the negative was only 6-12. In layman’s terms this meant that to get a usable negative, one had to over expose the print – not good when requiring the approval of an art director who often had to show a client!
More often than not, several were made at varying exposures: something to suit both client and photographer. Ambient temperature was also a factor, and in the case of the Surfer Rosa session, we were shooting in the middle of Winter, where room temperature was near freezing. This resulted in the negatives being stored in very cold sodium sulphite solutions throughout the day as the shoot evolved. By the time I had got them back to my darkroom, many of the negatives had semi-solarized: in other words, the shadows had partly redeveloped in the freezing temperatures. This was a factor that we were to capitalize on when I made the prints and Vaughan designed the sleeves.
|
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/07/2021 : 10:01:19
https://www.anothermanmag.com/life-culture/10532/secrets-behind-pixies-iconic-sleeve-art-vaughan-oliver-simon-larbalestier
Inspired by the Spanish-language songs on the album (Vamos, Oh My Golly!), Oliver had the idea to feature a topless flamenco dancer. With Larbalestier, he constructed a set above a pub opposite the 4AD offices in south London, the photographer adding small but symbolically charged details like the crucifix and Picasso-like guitar fragment (the instrument belonged to Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, according to Oliver).
The shoot for Surfer Rosa has a singular, haunting quality that’s lost none of its power today. The images derive some of their uncanny feel from a photographic technique – ‘solarisation’, where negatives are reversed in tone through exposure – pioneered by surrealist photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray. But Larbalestier says the effect was a “happy accident” caused by near-freezing temperatures in the darkroom. Says Oliver of the result: “It just had an atmosphere. There’s a mystery and ambiguity to it, but there’s also an emotive context. You don’t have to work at it.” |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 02/06/2021 : 07:39:16
I also used to think Surfer’s photo was vintage. That they created it is beyond belief.
Doolittle is not even in my top five, sorry fellow forum friends. |
| coastline |
Posted - 02/06/2021 : 07:20:43
The vintage-looking photo on the Surfer cover is great, but the cherry on the top is that they placed it off-center and placed a single word in the remaining white space. The font is perfect with the photo, and what I only just realized is that the album's title isn't even there. Sublime. Sorry, Doolittle, nobody was ever going top Surfer.
__________________________________________________
If all you see is violins, then I make a plea in their defense. |
| stuczuba |
Posted - 02/05/2021 : 23:01:29
Surfer edges it, both classics but I thought the front image of Surfer was repurposed vintage art for ages - knowing they created it and so perfectly fit it into that white space just can't be topped by Doolittle.
(Though I do think Doolittle probably edges it in a CD Jewel case).
So Doolittle in Second, Surfer ftw |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/05/2021 : 11:25:28
quote:
Originally posted by Discoking
can we have a final round after this one, to vote the winner off the island too?
NO SURVIVORS!
it's educational
This made me lol
"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/05/2021 : 06:40:05
Voting so far:
Doolittle 6
Surfer Rosa 2 |
| jake3 |
Posted - 02/05/2021 : 06:35:07
Both top tier covers and worthy finalists. 'Surfer Rosa' shades it for me today as the winner.
'Come On Pilgrim' would've been my choice for third so I was a little sorry to see it go a little sooner than I'd of liked. I know singles and EPs weren't included (as we'd have been here forever!) but I'd like to give a quick shout out to 'Here Comes Your Man' and 'EP1' - Both excellent work. Well done Vaughan Oliver (R.I.P.), Simon Larbalestier and Ian Pollock.
 |
| Sprite |
Posted - 02/05/2021 : 04:05:13
quote:
Originally posted by Brank_Flack
^ Do you mean to vote against Surfer Rosa Sprite?
Just so everyone is clear: vote to eliminate an album - I understand that it might be a bit more confusing with only two remaining!
Good point! I vote to eliminate Surfer Rosa |
| Discoking |
Posted - 02/04/2021 : 23:09:39
can we have a final round after this one, to vote the winner off the island too?
NO SURVIVORS!
it's educational |
| coastline |
Posted - 02/04/2021 : 16:24:36
I vote Doolittle off the island.
__________________________________________________
If all you see is violins, then I make a plea in their defense. |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 02/04/2021 : 07:23:26
^ Do you mean to vote against Surfer Rosa Sprite?
Just so everyone is clear: vote to eliminate an album - I understand that it might be a bit more confusing with only two remaining! |
