The Best Album Covers of 2011

Michael's Music Madness

Review of 2011 

Although often overlooked by many, the cover art is an integral part to album. It's what people first see when they pick up the record and it can lead to people buying or it or putting it straight down immediately. Even though bands think it's a good idea to put a picture of them 'looking cool' on the front of the album, their best bet is actually to have something unusual and inspired.

In 2011, there was a fair share of artists trying to look cool:

(and failing to do so) 

                                          

And artists opting for the weird and wacky:

So here we go my favourite five album covers of 2011:

5.  Kasabian -  Velociraptor!

The cover art to Kasabian's fourth studio album features guitarist Serge Pizzorno screaming. This image is then repeated another three times. Bonkers!   

4. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne

Two of the biggest rappers around with made a collaboration album - to the excess.

So with a massive sounding record, what image can they use to represent it?
Well, it's a golden; regal and grand picture with an usual design that just works so well.

3. Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You                     

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 This album sleeve sees a fly on top of a pill. Say no more.

2. Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding

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It's a picture of a girl riding a crocodile in an old fashioned  newspaper. What's not to love?

 1. The Horrors - Skying

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My favourite album artwork of the year is this magnificent piece of art with epic scenery and colour scheme. It's just beautiful.

So that's my favourite album artwork of the year.

What's yours?

Let me know by leaving a comment below or tweeting me @MWB709

Kasabian Album Review

     Album Review
     Kasabian – Velociraptor!
     9/10

For a band who have had the ‘lad rock’ tag for the last seven years, you would expect their fourth album to sound unoriginal; dated and frankly boring. However with Kasabian, this is certainly not the case. With their last album “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum” which went on to sell a million copies in the UK alone and their smash hit “Fire” which turned out to be the festival anthem of the year, they gained a much bigger fan base. This has led them to make themselves bigger and even better than previously.

The album starts with a bang (or in this case a gong) with ‘Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To’, a song which has an almost theatrical element to it and a sublime leaping beat. It sounds like it could easily be a Last Shadow Puppets tune but, to be honest, it’s far better than that. After that is the lead single ‘Days Are Forgotten’ which is a fighting track with lead singer Tom Meighan aggressively singing about “chewing on monkeys’ brain” over an incredible rolling tune.

Throughout the album there is a mixture of different sounds that you might not expect from Kasabian. Exhibit A of this is the song ‘Goodbye Kiss’ which sounds more like Roy Orbison than their often compared-to contemporaries Oasis. It’s a beautiful song about a “doomed from the start" relationship with a grand chorus. This unpredictability continues throughout the album with Daft Punk inspired ‘I Hear Voices’; the psychedelic ‘La Fee Verte’; the monstrously heavy ‘Switchblade Smiles’  and the mad adrenaline surge of the title track. The best, however, is saved for last. The album's closing track, ‘Neon Noon’ seems like Kasabian’s take on Pink Floyd with an electro vibe that that sounds even more fresh and haunting every time you listen to it. This song alone makes the whole album seem worth listening to and shows the final evolution of Kasabian into experimental brilliance.

 Velociraptor! is an incredible album, a modern day classic even, one that should stand the test of time. Through this record, Kasabian have proved what they are really capable of. The ‘lad rock’ tag should be eternally removed from them now and instead they are now the best music act around today.

Favourite Songs:  Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To; Re-Wired; Goodbye Kiss; La Fee Verte and Neon Noon