Lousy Photos in Liner Note Booklet?

[NHChris]

I suppose someone here will chime in and claim that horribly grainy black-and-white photos of the band--clipped from VIDEO footage no less!--is somehow a 'cool' and 'artistic' thing.

I disagree.

That booklet is certainly nothing to crow about, mostly because of the photography. That there's no color is understandable: 4-color printing is expensive. I do not at all understand why grainy pictures from 8mm video footage was 'THE' thing to do here.

How many people here really, really LIKE the photography in the book and agree that it was handled properly? I know U2 pores over details like T-shirt designs and stuff before signing off on them. Indeed, the band probably pored over the booklet design as well. And that has me scratching my head.

Good thing the CD itself is, in my view, the most listenable of all their repertoire.

 

[U2girl]

I don't mind it.
There's a bit of Bono and Edge photographing each other in the middle that is not grainy.

I would prefer the two other Corbijn photos for the cover, though.

 

[Aardvark747]

The back cover is my fave

 

[Hoodlem]

I love the way the images look mpeg encoded. It gives it a very current feeling. You can see the band but they are not completely obvious, kind of mysterious. I can understand why some would not like it, but for me it totally works.

 

[The OOTS]

can we dissect this album some more?

 

[Canadiens1131]

Heh, they're "artsy" photos.

Plus the blurring hides the wrinkles

 

[U2Kitten]

I don't like it. They always seem to distort themselves in some way on the cover or in the booklet, from blurry grainy B&W of most of the albums to the dayglo of Pop. I don't know why, they must be insecure about their true appearance and think they are not hot. They are wrong.

 

[tiny dancer]

The back cover is my fave

Same here too.

 

[irelandwhispers]

I can't stand most of the photos, except the ones with Bono and Edge holding cameras. Bad resolution photos give me nightmares.

Had U2's cover art been more appealing, I probably would have become a fan much sooner. I have to admit the boy with the helmet scared me off. So I was grateful for the Internet where I could hear the music without having to associate it with the artwork.

 

[HelloAngel]

Unfortunately I have no idea what you all are talking about because Universal/Interscope/U2 decided against provided those of us who shelled out the $$ for the Collector's Edition with the liner notes and lyrics - but instead an odd book of drawings.

I want my liner notes and lyrics darnit!

 

[irelandwhispers]

I want my odd book of drawings.

 

[RademR]

nothing special, compared to the photos in ATYCLB their shitte.

 

[Murray]

I want my odd book of drawings.

You sound like a deranged kid talking to Santa Claus!

 

[FullonEdge2]

If you didn't get the regular edition, don't worry about it. This booklet is really lousy. It looks like they threw it together last minute. I guess I should have gotten the collectors edition

 

[lazarus]

I have to agree here. Perhaps they spent so much time putting together the collector's edition, they hastily cobbled together the regular insert. Say what you want about the book having silly drawings and the like, but at least it's different, and there's a lot of stuff to chew on.

As for the booklet, after POP it seems U2 doesn't want to bother giving us a decent booklet. Maybe they're trying to save money on paper. That POP booklet was LONG, and had the foldout in the back. Zooropa had some great color printing. Achtung is the standard to which every album should be held in terms of photography, design, and layout.

Also, those 3 1990's albums gave a whole page to each song's lyrics. The last two albums have tried to cram 2 songs to a page. It's just cheap. God knows they have the money to still do a decent insert; they have more of it than they did 10 years ago!

While I love the Bomb and don't think the band is resting on their laurels, they definitely aren't holding the visuals to the previous high standard, save for the collector's book, which really is a new thing for them, very candid and intriguing.


laz

 

[Bonochick]

Unfortunately I have no idea what you all are talking about because Universal/Interscope/U2 decided against provided those of us who shelled out the $$ for the Collector's Edition with the liner notes and lyrics - but instead an odd book of drawings.

I want my liner notes and lyrics darnit!

Which is why I also bought the regular CD release.
I guess they know that there are a bunch of U2 fans who are suckers and will buy two copies like that.

 

[ultraviolet353]

It is the one major disappoinment of the album--the cover and artwork. You can argue over past albums vs. each other, but never have they done a bad cover or bad artwork/photography. This is awful...and is just so disappointing on such a brilliant album. I htyaed the cover from the get go, but when I saw the liner notes...well, they are even worse. Even though I think this album is brillaint the cover/artwork/and photigraphy I think are all part of the "experience" and it does bother me that they are all terrible.

 

[lmjhitman]

I have to agree here. Perhaps they spent so much time putting together the collector's edition, they hastily cobbled together the regular insert... it seems U2 doesn't want to bother giving us a decent booklet. Maybe they're trying to save money on paper.
laz

Interesting that in a time when artists are worrying about losing royalties to downloading, that they don't provide more of an incentive to buy the CD. I enjoy buying CD's because I like having the liner notes, slipcases, and whatnot. But when the quality of the entire package goes down, what's to stop people from downloading instead of buying? Having said that, I would probably buy a U2 CD even if it came wrapped in brown paper!

I want my odd book of drawings.

For those of you with the Collector's book, has anyone read the whole thing? I've managed to get through most of it, but there are some words that, for the life of me, I can't decipher! I'm a teacher and I've read some pretty crap handwriting in my day, but Bono gave me real challenge!

they must be insecure about their true appearance and think they are not hot.

The solution:
More pictures of Larry!!!

 

[iota]

It seems very "thrown together."

 

[If you shout...]

These liner notes are utterly fucking worthless. I'm sorry, but it's true. Now, while I realize that a cover (which also sucks ass) or a set of liner notes simply cannot make or break an album, they're still quite terrible. This bothers me, even though it doesn't really impact the music....

I really feel that the liners for Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop were works of art on their own--they brilliantly visualized and contextualized thematic components of the albums which they represented. Brilliant photography (for the most part), excellent use of color, and powerful imagery all around which related to and, in some cases, helped to define songs. It just bugs the SHIT out of me that two albums in a row, now, have been so visually uninspiring and, dare I say, horrendous. Even the plain-as-shit liners for The Joshua Tree were better than this--at least they helped to reinforce the vast, empty (not in a bad way), and chasm-like core of the album.

This stuff just makes me sick. I know that I may get jumped on and labelled as a troll for saying this, but this is one of the reasons why this album will never be considered a classic. It's an album mostly good (sometimes great, once HORRIBLE) songs which is visually uninspiring and unmotivated. U2's albums which I consider to be true classics or, failing that, great albums are not hampered by this problem. I still like this album enough, but this whole shitty liner problem just speaks volumes, I think....this album is no classic. I don't think this is the case BECAUSE the liners suck ass, but I think the fact that the liners do suck ass just helps elucidate this point.

 

[Axver]

I actually think this is better than what they put out in the nineties. The Achtung booklet is bloody awful, especially the cover. I hide my copy of that.

Though at the end of the day, I don't think anyone really cares about booklets. To suggest this will impact the classic status of the album is completely absurd. Most people I know don't even look at booklets unless they're really into a band. I've only looked at U2 booklets; for all other bands, I completely ignore them.

 

[If you shout...]

I've only looked at U2 booklets; for all other bands, I completely ignore them.

Really? Wow. I guess that I just look at the concept of an album differently, you know? It's not a big deal, but when I analyze an album (while I OBVIOUSLY spend the VAST majority of my effort on the music), I look at the WHOLE thing: the music, the lyrics, the performance, the vocals, the liner notes, the cover, etc. To me, it's the whole shebang, so to speak.

Also: I love the cover for Achtung Baby!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha ha. I really think that some of the photos are brilliant and that all of them are pretty damn interesting and well-composed. It just...feels right. It feels like the album, to me. When I saw that cover so many years ago I already knew what the album was like. It told me everything I had to know. I think I'm in the minority, though...isnt' that cover almost universally reviled by fans? I hope I'm wrong on this one...

 

[U2_Guy]

I said i'd not post here again but here is a quote from Bono, from u2.com, about the whole new album "experience" thing i was saying here (and if you shout... agrees) and was bashed for saying that a great cover/booklet can help make a classic album.

Come on now, you can bash Bono... But...not really, you ppl won't bash Bono... He's not the easy target is he?


"The idea, says Bono, is that in the age of the download, the CD itself can still remain a little bit apart, a bit special - like the way a Beatles LP was.

'It's trying to make the CD a more important object, because when the Beatles put out Sergeant Pepper, it wasn't just a listening experience, it was a thing you held in your hands and opened - gatefold - and it had all these characters in it. That kind of inspired us to do something special with the packaging (of the new record) - so it's not for everybody but for the ones who get to it I hope they enjoy it.'


Shame on U2 Bono, apart from your good will... You didn't succeeded in making a great art work for HTDAAB mate.

I say the art for AB, Zooropa and Pop are miles ahead of the "art"?? work from those last 2 albums. They are lazy, uninspiring and boring. It's like U2's laughing at our face so bad it is.

 

[Mac Phisto]

I remember reading in Until The End of The World that Corbijn wanted to use a single image for the Acthung Baby cover, but the band was against it. After lengthy discussion, instead of choosing just one image, they plastered the cover with all the photos that they were choosing from. If my memory serves me, Corbijn was not happy about the decision.

 

[iota]

Who cares if Corbijn was happy with it or not?

Achtung is their best CD booklet to date, followed by Zooropa. If the new album is anything like what Corbij is happy with, may we be evermore blessed with his scowl.

 

[Hoodlem]

AB is hands down the coolest album art I have ever seen. It totally fits tyhe music. Like someone else said, you can tell what the music will be like just by looking at the album art. POP was very good in this same way as well.

The new cover is great except for the cover (why that photo?). I love the images inside. Has kind of an apocolyptic feel to it. I am not sure it fits the music well though.

ATYCLBs artwork bored me to death...kind of like the music. So with that one at least the art fit with the music.

 

[U2girl]

I said i'd not post here again but here is a quote from Bono, from u2.com, about the whole new album "experience" thing i was saying here (and if you shout... agrees) and was bashed for saying that a great cover/booklet can help make a classic album.

I disagree. A cover/booklet does not make a classic album.

JT had a very simple cover/booklet pictures but it didn't make the album what it is.

Speaking of Corbijn, I can't remember the last time he only provided 2 pics apart from the cover for U2.
(OK Zooropa doesn't count because it had no band shots and it used the tour images)
Not that I don't like the computery feel of 8mm pics, it's just...interesting.

 

[PowerSurge]

I suppose someone here will chime in and claim that horribly grainy black-and-white photos of the band--clipped from VIDEO footage no less!--is somehow a 'cool' and 'artistic' thing.

I disagree.

That booklet is certainly nothing to crow about, mostly because of the photography. That there's no color is understandable: 4-color printing is expensive. I do not at all understand why grainy pictures from 8mm video footage was 'THE' thing to do here.

How many people here really, really LIKE the photography in the book and agree that it was handled properly? I know U2 pores over details like T-shirt designs and stuff before signing off on them. Indeed, the band probably pored over the booklet design as well. And that has me scratching my head.

Good thing the CD itself is, in my view, the most listenable of all their repertoire.

Its obviously pointless to discuss ART with someone who calls a piece of artwork a "cool artistic thing" sarcastically. So I won't. Too bad because I do this kind of work and I had some really great thoughts about it. Later....

 

[womanfish]

The photos and booklet in general for this album are DISGRACE!!!! I was just flipping through the POP booklet last night, reading the amazing lyrics and noticed how completely awesome the photography and printing and layout is. Really very cool in all aspects. I opened the flimsy little booklet for this album only to find blurry smudges that look like something I might have taken with a $5.00 110 camera when I was eight years old. Only much WORSE!!!

With piracy being a problem, I would think that making quality artwork would be a priority to get people to the stores to buy the real thing.

Get it right next time guys.

P.S. - The cover art may not MAKE an album a classic, but it does help to complete the whole classic package. Think about it. the cover of the JT is iconic, as is Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper, Zepplin IV, Nevermind, etc...

 

[lazarus]

Achtung Baby: BEST--PHOTOS--EVER. I could go on and on about this. The one with Bono blowing out the smoke, the black & white w/ sleeveless Bono, the widescreen Bono & Larry at the cars, The FLY, the band in DRAG photos!!! Say what you want, but U2 will NEVER be cooler than they were in 1991. Maybe people don't place a lot of importance on this stuff, but as great as Achtung Baby was to listen to, it was poring over that booklet that probably made me truly love the band. There was something to chew on. Such reckless abandon...you really felt that the recording of the record was an adventure, not popping over to "HQ" and then a vaykay session in the South of France. This new album is great, but I'd love to see them record somewhere exotic and see what happens. Jamaica, maybe?

It's a little unfair to criticize the Bomb booklet without exception though, because the collector's book really is a piece of work that doesn't seem tossed off. There's a lot of heart in there, and stuff that really makes you think. It's not often that you get a peek into the doodlings and musings of the band members. Plus, Larry painting?! That's worth $30 right there. Perhaps the booklet for the regular version should have featured little-revealing close-ups of the book's artwork. A little tease for those that might want to see more.

One last, scary possibility is that they left the good Corbijn photos out of the booklet so they could sell more 2005 calendars. It just came to my head! Don't shoot!


laz