Brian Campeau
SPB: What is your favorite album cover of all time?
Campeau: I'm a big fan of a photo which tells a story, whether or not you understand that story. By this I mean a photo that keeps you looking at it and the more you look at it the more you discover.
Hipgnosis (the guys who did the Pink Floyd album covers) were really good at this. Jeez, the more I think about it the harder this question becomes. So, screw it, I'll go with Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.
I bought this album when I was on a high school trip in Ireland. I had no idea who these guys were at the time, but the packaging made it so perfect. The cd came in a prescription medication box and you had to pop the cd out of a plastic thing with foil on it (like a Nurofen, but singular and way bigger). Also included was this paper which explained how the pill/CD should be consumed.
Why did I think this was so great? Because it totally explained what the music was about long before hearing it. After listening to the album and seeing how appropriate the cover and packaging were, I looked into who this band was. Fair enough, the singer, Jay Pierce, was previously in a band named Spacemen 3, who had released an album called Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To.
Perfect.
Other notable mentions:
Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real
Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Rage Against the Machine - Self Titled
