My Top 5

When this idea was first floated I thought it would be easy to come up with a list of my top five favourite bits of cover art. Wrong!! One thing I’ve discovered while combing through my bookshelf and CDs is that it gets quite difficult to separate the artwork itself from the book or recording it belongs to. Hence, there’s a bit of a story behind my reasoning for ordering the artworks the way I have. It’s ended up being a combination of books (well, one book) and recordings. Scroll down gradually if you want a sense of anticipation – I’ve gone from Number Five to Number One. I bet I change my mind about these by tomorrow…

5. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)
This is one of my favourite books ever. I love Eggers’ writing style, his dark humour and the mysterious way that reading this book on the tram back in 2001 made me chuckle out loud. The cover conjures up images of a stage, and *nerd alert* the video to Better Be Home Soon where the song starts once the curtains get pulled back. The back cover of the original edition is also worth seeing – it features a photo of Dave Eggers’ younger brother blowing on one of those little plants that you er, blow on and make wishes on when you’re little. Unfortunately I loaned someone my original copy of this book and never got it back, and the version I re-bought has the same front cover, but a different back cover - bummer. The typeset and layout of the entire book is gorgeous and suits the story beautifully.

4. The Bends by Radiohead (1995)
I came to this album late and borrowed it from someone I was working with at the time. Mum had just got her new car complete with 6-CD stacker in the boot. I left work and was so excited at the thought of listening to The Bends on my way home (a 5 minute drive!) that in my haste, I locked the car keys in the boot and had to call my dad to come and pick me up. Nevertheless, I love the tortured-looking guy on the front and think it’s very apt for the material on the album. Taken together with the title, those little probes on the guy also make me think of someone in a hyperbaric chamber – although I don’t think they actually put any of those little probes on you in there anyway.

3. Woodface by Crowded House (1991)
This is the first Crowded House album I bought and hence the one that started it all. It was purchased during the last weekend of the summer holidays before I started Year 7 in 1992. At the time I was a bit embarrassed about buying it, so I made mum run into Brashs for me to do the deed. Nick Seymour did the cover art (as he did for all their albums) and I’m still baffled as to why he hasn’t pursued a career in art after the band broke up. For what it’s worth, the cover is also much more impressive on CD or LP than on the humble cassette.

2. Everyone Is Here by The Finn Brothers (2004)
I love these guys. I also love this photo of them. They both look a little miffed and a little perplexed. It’s also very appropriate that they’re turned slightly away from each other. I actually have a tour T-shirt from 2004 and this cover photo adorns the back of it. It’s also my favourite shirt.

1. Kid A by Radiohead (2000)
I like to think of this album as the companion to the aforementioned Dave Eggers novel. I was listening to, and reading each one at around the same time in 2001. This particular period during 2001 wasn’t such a great one, and the two entities both helped a great deal. The Kid A cover with its dark, lonely-looking mountains is the only picture that could ever accompany the music that’s found on this album. I actually owned this CD for about 2 years before I discovered the “secret” booklet hidden behind the back casing. Better late than never!