"KRAFTY" - Artwork revealed!
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Interesting also that it's an extension of the blurry, monochromatic style of the 'Here to Stay' cover. Wonder if it will repeat itself through all singles and the album? He's generally stuck to his themes in previous releases.
Received an email yesterday from Warner Australia and was advised that the album/single release dates are set to mirror the UK's. Also that the band are this week reviewing and finalising the album artwork so we can expect to see more quite soon.
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Right-side driving, road surface and the trees. Looks like a German auotobahn circa 1970's to me. The reference to Kraftwerk is even more obvious.
Interesting. I just looked at the "Krafty" single artwork and the first thing I thought of was Kraftwerk's Autobahn album cover. Joy Division and New Order members have both stated Kraftwerk as being some kind of influence so I take it as that. It also would've made nice artwork for the "60 Miles An Hour" single too!
I like it a lot - don't care how it compares to any other sleeve, first impression was that it captured some of the spirit of NO.
Okay, let Mr. Saville himself speak:
"My favourite covers are these of The Beatles' White Album, Kraftwerk's Autobahn and...." (the quote may not be that precise, but that's what he said years ago)
Well, it's an autobahn on a gloomy day - perfectly for New Order. But still I consider it's a ripoff unless they made it as A JOKE. But hell I'm not fond of kitch.
On the Kraftwerk connection, although it doesn’t exactly resemble the cover for Autobahn, it does closely resemble elements of a number of KW album sleeves. Having seen the live show twice last year, the visuals of that show was the first thing that sprung to mind when I saw that image.
As was said before, you can’t expect every sleeve to be a “power corruption & lies” or a “technique”, and you can’t expect a 50-year-old graphic designer to have his finger permanently ahead of the pop-culture pulse.
I thought the (computer heavy) work Saville did for the Pirelli calendar last year was fantastic, and among his best in a purely visual sense. He still has it, although I agree it isn’t being focused on New Order anymore.
All his recent work for the band wasn’t as bad as some say on this forum. The cd pull out for “Republic” was brilliant, as was the sleeve for “International”.
I think it's alright. I can can't get worked up about a single cover really, love it or loathe it.
I wonder if this had to be 'redone' in order to fit in with the album sleeve which has also recently been reworked. The Sirens original did feature a beach scene, but had to be rethought after recent events on Boxing Day.
Jeez... Bit hyper-sensitive isn't it?
I'd be against a beach scene for the mere fact that it'd been done two albums prior.
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I am reading DESIGNED by PETER SAVILLE at the moment,aswell as NO IRISH,NO BLACKS,NO DOGS and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE.I can't ever settle just reading one book.But i must say it has really EXPLODED my love of the collection of record sleeves by him.I actually thought REPUBLIC was a great concept too!So i am indeed getting excited not only about the music,touring and laughs to follow,but the new sleeves too.I hope 12 inch and album sleeves are available.As for the book itself it is AMAZING and fits in well with my memories of the EXHIBITION.On top of this DON sent me the photos of LONDON and the talk he did.All the flyres i got from URBIS have been given away to fellow NOOL's.Only got 4 left.Couldn't nick anymore cos security were getting edgy.Don't know why,it's not like i look like a cousin of HAPPY MONDAYS...is it? :D Rocket Mick
Originally posted by Major Tarantino It's a fake
ye its look like the Kraftwerk - but its diferent
Originally posted by Jay993 It also would've made nice artwork for the "60 Miles An Hour" single too!
Indeed. Only the colour stripe is missing 
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Now, seriously, it first reminded me of the Low-life era: minimalistic design, old-fashionned font... Not bad, actually, I quite like it.
Maybe the reference to Kraftwerk will be more apparent in the B-side song? That would be nice.
Don't give a toss about the cover, but the single's crying out for a Kraftwerk-style remix, innit?
The picture is so blurry, I can't even say if the car are going forward on the right or left lane :D
And might I remind to people that the Crystal cover was a lot worst than this? it featured a KNEE you could mistake for an ELBOW? 
I love almost every artwork by Peter Saville. The works he has made with photographs since Republic are really exciting, Ruined In A Day and Get Ready (the album cover) are absolutely wonderful. However, this is even better, he has surpassed himself. Last time we saw anything so beautiful has been the Technique cover. The work he has made on the picture is amazing, not technically, but emotionally. There's the Kraftwerk reference: obviously Saville hadn't heard the track when he started the work, he just knew the title and thought "Mmmh, they said they're returning to electronic, and the title says all: the track is a tribute to Kraftwerk, let's rework Autobahn!". Poor old Saville couldn't guess the track sounded in fact like something out of Side A of Brotherhood. Probably "Krafty" and this artwork would be better for a truly Kraftwerk-influenced electro track, like Everything's Gone Green or Blue Monday. But it doesn't matter, it's been a lucky misunderstanding, becuase he's made this rework of Autobahn and it's breathtaking. I don't know how many noticed, but the perspective of Krafty's image could almost be the reverse of Autobahn, like if you're driving on the opposite direction and you leave the mountains at your back on your trip to return home... Then there's the graphic dynamic of the road, the blurred black'n'white image, and the final touch, those sun rephlexes... it gives a very strong visual impact: the curve, the blur, the rephlexes: these three elements put together are fabulous... It pisses all over Autobahn, anyway. Can't wait to see the album cover! Oh, the font is great too... looks a bit like Low Life, but much better... I like how the "f", "t" and "y" look together, it's simple but elegant... much better than any font used since Technique (if I had one complaint about Get Ready was the too ordinary font).
Originally posted by Spotnick
And might I remind to people that the Crystal cover was a lot worst than this? it featured a KNEE you could mistake for an ELBOW?
*Erm, isn't it the reason why that pic is so cool?! 
Love the sleeve.Will deffo have to buy the 12".Kind of old fashioned yet at the same time modern.Lovely.
Originally posted by Mick Aneworderfan There's the Kraftwerk reference: obviously Saville hadn't heard the track when he started the work, he just knew the title and thought "Mmmh, they said they're returning to electronic, and the title says all: the track is a tribute to Kraftwerk, let's rework Autobahn!".Poor old Saville couldn't guess the track sounded in fact like something out of Side A of Brotherhood.
Ha ha..........
I love the way of your thinking!! Now we've got this clear, the confusion to disappear.
I think it sucks. Its a half arsed effort,which looks like he found a picture,and thought fuck it ill just blur it over and thatll do. If the album is as bad (it`ll tie in i assume?) then im not holding my breath. The artwork was something special years ago-Republic and its singles were good,1963 was Savilles last decent sleeve. Get Ready was so bad Texas nicked the idea. Retro was also shite! Do i sound disappointed? I am,im fuckin pissed off that its shit and i think Saville has let NewOrder and the fans down.
Alright Major i see your point.But i still like it.Sorry.And i quite like the bottom photo in your ermm.. montage!.
I like the song but I don't like the artwork. 
Get Ready is my favourite.. I don't know. There's something wonderful about it that I love.
I was kind of hoping the artwork for Siren's Call / Krafty would be like my avatar, because when I made it I'd just heard of the album being released, and on every other forum it's that avatar and the CUT "Waiting for the sirens' call". So I've kind of associated them since. Pooey.
I don't know, but the guy on the second-to-last picture is in deep trouble... he's going in the wrong lane!
And don't tell me it's in England, damn it, the stop sign is on the opposite way!
Originally posted by SteveOne I think it sucks. Its a half arsed effort,which looks like he found a picture,and thought fuck it i
ll just blur it over and thatll do. If the album is as bad (it`ll tie in i assume?) then im not holding my breath. The artwork was something special years ago-Republic and its singles were good,1963 was Savilles last decent sleeve. Get Ready was so bad Texas nicked the idea. Retro was also shite! Do i sound disappointed? I am,im fuckin pissed off that its shit and i think Saville has let NewOrder and the fans down.
Well, with the very limited time he had to do a sleeve, I guess it's not as bad as you would think it is.
As I said before, most of Saville's artwork are based on random pictures anyways, gee.. since CLOSER he's been using pictures from other people's work and just added personal touched here and there.
Except Get Ready I guess.
Originally posted by Major Tarantino I think the bottom one in the photo's i found would make a great sleeve
A bit too much "ray of light" (Madonna) isn't it?
As we are discussing the Krafty artwork/saville...just thought id bring this website to your attention.Titled Sleeve by Peter Saville,its a japanese site (in English!)which has a "Discography"of all his artwork for singles ,albums ..etc of all the bands he s worked with.It includes a bit of info on each one like how many copies made ..changes in later releases..different covers for the same record etc...very interesting. I didnt realise there was three different covers for the 12" of ceremony ..the white sleeve ..the green one and also a copper one similiar to the 7"til i went on the site. http://www.tosq.com/petersaville/
I wrote a post for this thread a few days ago but I think the dreaded time-out caught me and blanked the form with no way of retrieving the text :(
Anyways, I quite like the Krafty cover. I wouldn't say it's up there with my favourite New Order artworks such as Fine Time, the Republic period, and even (the best of) period, but it's a hell of alot better than the Get Ready period. I didn't so much mind the "flavoured stripes" approach of GR, but the black and white model photos were pretentious as fuck, and I don't normally say that about Saville artwork as I've been to his exhibition and got his book. The only decent GR artwork is Here To Stay as I liked the blurred shot of the Hacienda's lighting rig plus I had the poster on my wall for 2 years. Other than that, the GR shots of the model were so uninteresting and bland, I remember thinking the camcorder she's holding on the album cover will look extremely dated in five years. It's going to be like looking at an 80s album cover with someone holding a then-period chunky camcorder, and looking at it now in 2005. It would look absolutely shit. GR just wasn't the kind of artwork that made me go "Wow, now that's cool", Technique and Republic did that instantly.
I did hear somewhere Barney was heavily involved in the GR artwork and Saville was horrified at the sleeve having handwritten text, as well as the model photos themselves. Don't know if that's true, but if it was it would shed alot of light on why they were so average. Not to slag off Barney's artistic abilities as I really loved Unknown Pleasures and some of the Electronic stuff, but conflicting designers always result in a substandard product. Also, did you see the shots on the inside of the GR CD booklet? A fucking building site? The first thought when I saw that was "this is a really piss poor excuse for album artwork". Little did I realise once I heard Rock The Shack and Slow Jam I wasn't going to be too keen on the music contained within either.
The Krafty cover is good, the font's good, the photo is appropriate for the song lyrics "Sitting in a car and driving down the road". I agree with Al Jarvis that it's hard to get excited about, but I won't be sad to see the back of GR's artwork. Saville's doing what he does best, established fonts and black & white photos. I seriously doubt he's going to be massively revolutionary at this stage in the game.
Ally.
