“IN RAINBOWS” BY RADIOHEAD

This album cover is an explosive display of colours (quite literally you are in a rainbow)

and sets the mood perfectly for an equally colourful and varied listening experience. I

think the reason why the artwork works so well is because you could not describe the

music visually in any other way - the powerful reds represent the “hyperactive mania” of

the song Bodysnatchers (as described by frontman Thom Yorke), or the passion of All I

Need, while the blues and oranges evoke the more peaceful mental image of “Ripples on a

blank shore,” mentioned in the song Reckoner, and the lighter blues remind me of the

sparseness of 15 Step. Overall I would put this up there as without a doubt one of the best

album covers of all time. The packaging itself is as sprawling and vast as the music

contained on the CD within. As you can see in the image below, the CD is contained within

a cardboard case which also holds a booklet of art (which Radiohead include in all of their

albums), a lyrics book and several stickers. Pictured at the bottom right of the slide is the

deluxe edition, which featured a second disc of bonus songs. I think this sprawling

packaging suits the massive variety of sound that the album has – you can feel immersed

in the artwork and therefore have a stronger emotional attachment to the music itself as a

result of this excellent visual accompaniment.

“PINKERTON (DELUXE EDITION)” BY WEEZER

The deluxe edition of Pinkerton opens up into four panels, and contains two CDs and a

booklet of lyrics and information about the album. The style of the artwork is consistent

with the front cover, continuing with the Japanese theme referenced both visually

(Japanese artwork on the front cover) and in the lyrics. The inside packaging contains the

quote “Everywhere in the world, the roving Yankee takes his pleasure and his

profit, indifferent to all risks. He drops anchor at random...” from the opera Madame

Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. Madame Butterfly is referenced on multiple occasions

throughout the album (in the song El Scorcho, the line “my heart stops listening to Cio-Cio

San” refers to the character of Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly) – the album even gets its

name from the main character of the opera, BF Pinkerton. Inside the CD sleeve is a booklet

of lyrics and photographs taken by filmmaker Spike Jonze, who worked with Weezer on a

lot of their music videos. I think that the black and white/sepia tone colour scheme works

with the album because it is a very dark album lyrically. I think that black and white would

have looked too bold, so the yellow hint that the whites have is really a nice touch.