This post is admittedly a reaction to the 4AD record label’s de-emphasizing of their cover art that was once one of their trademarks. The brief is to basically utilize existing cover art and attempt to create new art and capture at least some of the essence of the older, beautifully designed covers. Note: the Bon Iver cover below features the work of Shinro Ohtake, whose artwork appeared on several Throwing Muses covers.

Great article at Sleevage.com: Sleevage: The Modernist Editions

I was wondering what a “conventional” 4AD remaster reissue might look like. What I came up with was a clear outer sleeve with the logo and word “REMASTERED” on the front, and then the barcode and fine print on the back. Each would be a lavish two-disc digipak set–with loads of rare bonus tracks, of course–with newly revized v23 artwork, too, metallic inks and all.

One can dream.

Matador Records recently sponsored a Belle And Sebastian cover art contest for their BBC Sessions compilation. Pretty much the idea for the Revized website, minus the contest (though I hope to have one, one day). Lots of nice ideas here…

The Sound Of The Smiths compilations are the first to feature a band photo, but I always loved the way Morrissey used film stills (for the most part) on the classic sleeves. Beauty in its simplicity. Here are two Revized takes using James Dean (one of Moz’s faves) and Harvey Keitel, who gave permission too late for this image (from Who’s That Knocking At My Door) to be used on their final album, Strangeways Here We Come).