MUCC’s album Shion comprises of a normal plastic CD case and
a more unusual sleeve made from cardboard. As a Japanese band I find the sleeve
appropriate to the construction of the CD case, typically in Japan and on
imports they would have obi strips, however as Western adaptation, the sleeve
proves to be the alternative. The front cover is an extreme close up of (I’m
assuming) one of the band members mouth. The image is stylised in a way that it
reflects the heavy, rock music that MUCC play. Moreover, another connotation to
their nationality is the characters for Shion written in the traditional top to
bottom format. On the back of the sleeve is an image of the band members, this
is in its simplest form self-promotion. And next to it the song titles in both
Japanese and English. The motif of a bloodied mouth continues onto the CD
itself, however in black and white and also the area behind the CD holding
section. The artwork booklet that comes with the CD in this case is very
informative and offers a lot of images for fans to look at. Each page is
dedicated to one of the band members and opposite is the lyrics to all of the
songs in both Japanese characters and the English alphabet. The colour scheme
throughout the CD pack is red and a black gradient scale to white. If I had to
mark this CD pack out of 10 I would mark it a solid 8. When I first brought
this album in 2008 I was really excited and pleased to find so much in the
booklet, whereas others I’ve only been presented with the thank you note from
the band members. Furthermore, the CD also offers a bonus song and when
inserted into a laptop of DVD player the music video for ‘FUZZ’. If I had to
make one change to the CD pack it would be that a poster or poster- like fold
out should be included.
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
MGMT’s album Oracular Spectacular is made out of cardboard
and is in a simple book like format where you open one side and the CD is
revealed in a little slot. This particular method of arranging a CD case is
very eco-friendly as it uses bio degradable products and nothing else. Both
front, back and the inside of the case are dedicated to images of the duo. 2 out
of 3 are mid shot photographs, and to the pleasant surprise to some girls and
guys they are topless. Furthermore, the inside photograph shows them going to
burn money (which is illegal in the US), this adds to the construction their
image and who they want their music to appeal to. The CD itself is bright neon
orange and is in the format of a classic record. The artwork booklet is in the shape
of a poster foldout. One side is a mind boggling pattern while the other is a print
of the band members writing the lyrics of the songs. The feel of the whole CD
pack is a real reflection of the music and the type of characters the duo are.
For me it’s almost like a revisionist look at hippy-ness of the 70’s and pretty
much being on acid. Extra features that
the CD also has to offer are the music video from ‘Electric Feel’, a tour photo
album and photos from the video shoot for the music video ‘Time to Pretend’. If
I had to make a change to it I would keep this consistence in their second
album! (I didn’t like it nearly as much as the one). I would rate this album
set as a 9 out of 10 because this front cover jumps out to me personally, the
type of photography that they use is not over stylised as most albums are i.e.
Lady Gaga, Rihanna etc. which appeals to me. Moreover, the extra are brilliant
and allows me as a fan to see into their lives more and feel closer to the
artists…
Bloc Party - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY
Unlike the last two CD sets the one for Bloc Party’s ‘A
Weekend in the City’ is very traditional. It opens from the right side like a
book revealing the CD on the right hand side and the artwork booklet on the
left. On the outside the cover for the front and back reflect the title of the
album with slow shutter photography used to create the effect of the car lights
going past fast. The images are of inner city buildings and motorways. White
text is used against the images to contrast the colours and make the cover bolder.
Inside the colour scheme is black with the CD itself being black and the pages
of the artwork booklet. In the booklet every other page is an image of each of
the artists. However, I’ve noticed that there’s a difference between Western
and Eastern representations of bands. In the MUCC album each band member had an
equally close up photograph and they were all styled in a way that made them
equal and just as important as each other however with slightly different
personalities for their band persona. Bloc Party’s album images of the artists
are different in the Kele the lead singer captures your attention as you flick
through because his image is the closest and the boldest, while the other band member’s
images are more fleeting. This difference shows how society in the west tend to
see and present bands, the ‘music players’ and the star (the lead singer) while
in Japan band members are more equal and each have their own target audience,
this is more clearly demonstrated though another Japanese band called An Café who
have recently split up. Each band member has his own image and together they
almost create a boy band type of appeal where a fan can pick and choose who
they like the most because there IS enough material on the bass guitarist for
instance. For the album I would rate it a 5 out of 10, its simple and it doesn’t
jump out at me in the shops, nor does it offer any other form of material about
the band other than the few images in the booklet. Nonetheless, it’s like Ronseal
as it doesn’t exactly what it says on the tin and provides me with Bloc Party’s
Album and it represents Bloc Party’s ‘cool London kids’ image.
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