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I was going through my CDs today and noticed something...
...The cover of the first Neu! album looks remarkably like the WFTSC cover in terms of its color scheme and minimalist design. I wonder if it was an inspiration, or just a fluke...
If this was mentioned already, I'm very sorry! _;;;
I could see them making a little nod to Neu as a lot of Kraftwerk fans tend to like Neu as well. Not sure if Neu is the inspiration for Saville's sleeve for WFTSC, but seems possible.
Wasn't the original cover art changed due to the tsunami or something like that?
Unfortunately, Saville didn't design the cover for **[orange]W[/orange]hat[orange]T[/orange]**he **[orange]F[/orange]**uck, **[orange]S[/orange]**ucky **[orange]C[/orange]**over.
His preferred design was reputedly a remake of PC&L's cover with live flowers.
And yes, apparently the cover was changed due to the tsunami.
bLuE oRdEr wrote: Unfortunately, Saville didn't design the cover
Oh, I just assumed he did. I guess I could have looked, but that means that I would have to get off my ass to do it.:)
Am I the only one that thinks the cover is an obvious reference to the table of the elements? In Douglas Coupland's 'Shampoo Planet' there is a mock 'Table of Elements' that lists '100 - N - New Order' I don't know if he meant the band (he is a fan)or new order in a political sense, but maybe that's where they got the idea from.
I actually really like the design as a whole with the photos in the booklet. I think it's great.
Saville is listed as Art Director and took the photos in the book, so I think it's a stretch saying he didn't design it.
The album is featured in his portfolio on his website www.savilleassociates.com Check out the website if you haven't already, it's really cool.
bLuE oRdEr wrote: Unfortunately, Saville didn't design the cover for **[orange]W[/orange]hat[orange]T[/orange]**he **[orange]F[/orange]**uck, **[orange]S[/orange]**ucky **[orange]C[/orange]**over.
His preferred design was reputedly a remake of PC&L's cover with live flowers.
And yes, apparently the cover was changed due to the tsunami.
And who did design the cover?
Howard Wakefield, who posts here. I would imagine Howard may reply to this thread and set everyone's mind at rest!
...I doubt, Mr. Wakefield knew that 'NEU!' cover, when he designed the 'WFTSC' cover; there are so many similar covers around, that's nothing new [HAHAHAH - NEU!) for me...
The Saviour wrote: ...I doubt, Mr. Wakefield knew that 'NEU!' cover, when he designed the 'WFTSC' cover; there are so many similar covers around, that's nothing new [HAHAHAH - NEU!) for me...
How do you know he didn't know the Neu! sleeve?
...I indeedly do not know that, and maybe I never will know, but I have my doubts on it...
...more infos about NEU!: ...
NEU! (Feb. 1972) LP-version: BRAIN/Metronome [Germany] 1004; gestrichen/ out of print, illegal CD-Bootleg [declicked vinyl-copy]: GERMANOFON (Luxemburg) 941025; (of course) not available officially official CD reissue available. (label: Grönland, distr. EMI/ Astralwerks (U.S.A.). catalogue no. 7243 5 30780 2 7, UK: 530 7802) Klaus Dinger (Banjo, Schlagzeug, Gitarre, Vox) Michael Rother (Gitarre, Bass)
...did yer know, Mr. Wakefield ?... ;)
The Saviour wrote: ...I indeedly do not know that, and maybe I never will know, but I have my doubts on it...
I'm not trying to break your balls, but why would you post on something you don't know?
I don't know if the Neu! sleeve was any kind of influence on the WFTSC sleeve, but it wouldn't be strange to me if it was. The periodic table of element's idea makes a little more sense to me, but who knows.
The Saviour wrote: ...but who knows. (sic !)...
...end of my part of the debate here...
And mine begins and ends here...
oldmonkey wrote: Howard Wakefield, who posts here. I would imagine Howard may reply to this thread and set everyone's mind at rest!
The cover is based on a graphic Peter saw a couple of years ago on a truck at Berlin airport. It was a fluorescent 'No' on a white background. It was going to become part of a different project, but was put forward as one of the many options after the Tsunami. It is purely by chance that it said 'No'.
The pre-Tsunami image was taken in 1955 by Eliot Elisofon, found in the book 'The Great Life Photographers'. It is of a naked Tahitian girl bathing in a river, not a boat, as suggested a while ago.
For the record - the cover is not inspired by Neu, Right Said Fred(!), any other record sleeve or the Periodic table.
The font is Helvetica not Arial - they are quite different... Also, it was suggested in another thread that Arial is Peter's favourite font, well it isn't...
Hope this clears a few things up - I would post the Elisofon image, but for copyright reasons, I cannot oblige. If you find it though, I will tell you if you are correct. In the book, she is next to a white horse... ;)
Howard, that's excellent - many thanks!
You don't happen to know where the sample at the start of Jestream comes from, do you? Just a thought!
Thanks again 
This is my first post, so hi to everyone. I'm intrigued about the original cover idea but i think i've found the image Howard mentioned on the Life site (as it's their own reproduction it should be ok to post here). Can you confirm Howard?
Jim McCormack wrote: This is my first post, so hi to everyone. I'm intrigued about the original cover idea but i think i've found the image Howard mentioned on the Life site (as it's their own reproduction it should be ok to post here). Can you confirm Howard?
Close, but that is not the one. The image is from the book I mentioned...
I've been a pretty dismissive critic of the WFTSC cover, didn't like it at all at first sight, and I hope you won't take that personally...
Still, the CD has been called a grower here on NOOL, and even the cover is becoming a grower for me-- very simple and clean.
That said, the Life cover here is very attractive, and would have led to a WFTSC cover that I would probably have loved at first sight (I know it's a different photo than the one you're referring to). And obviously, it's light years in design from what became the WFTSC cover. Can you explain what the design team was trying to express with the Elioson-inspired cover, and what you were trying to express with the [orange]No[/orange] cover? And how both of those are related to WFTSC?
Howard, I’m sure you are aware that this issue has been troubling some of us.
And yet, it doesn't answer the question we have. Why was this image deemed unsuitable? Was this a decision by the band, the label?
I suppose you may not be able to give any more details. If that’s the case, thank you again for this titbit, which is of great interest (and has caused me to buy an excellent book!)
Sorry for the quality of the image, by the way. The picture was taken with my camera phone. The image itself is quite grainy, similar to the one that was posted earlier.
While I am apologising, I hope the RSF comment didn't offend. It was only a joke; I didn't think for a second that this cover was the influence. However, I remember the cover for the Right Said Fred album as being one the first to make use of the smaller cd format rather than being a scaled down version of a 12” cover. It stood out against all the other cds in the record shop, having bright colours and letters large enough to be read from across the store. When I saw WFTSC, it did occur to me that this cover may enjoy the same advantage.
Congratulations on finding what appears to be the unused image, Big.
I'm not sure why HW was so coy with his clues.
Perhaps someone just decided this wouldn't work that well as a CD cover.
BIGINOIL wrote: Sorry for the quality of the image, by the way. The picture was taken with my camera phone. The image itself is quite grainy, similar to the one that was posted earlier.
While I am apologising, I hope the RSF comment didn't offend. It was only a joke; I didn't think for a second that this cover was the influence. However, I remember the cover for the Right Said Fred album as being one the first to make use of the smaller cd format rather than being a scaled down version of a 12” cover. It stood out against all the other cds in the record shop, having bright colours and letters large enough to be read from across the store. When I saw WFTSC, it did occur to me that this cover may enjoy the same advantage.
Well done with finding the image... Bernard chose the Tahitian girl for the cover, but when the record company asked us not to use it, we had to come up with an alternative.Warners asked Peter to start from scratch, but with time an issue, the only solution was to go through his extensive archive of photos and notes. 'No' and the other images are all part of his 'Estate' project, apart from the 'Waste Painting' which was remixed for the back inlay. 'No' was the strongest contender out of the 30 or so of Peter's 'ready mades' that we put forward. All the images for this campaign are found things or photos we have taken - they were not shot specifically for the album.
April's Creative Review has a good article on it....
*RING* *RING*
"Hello, Saville Studios"
"Yes, Hello, Warner Brothers here... We're having a bit of a bother over the New Order cover, it seems..."
"No!"
"Yes, I'm afraid so, and we'll need a new design...."
"No!"
"Yes, and we'll still need it by the same date, I'm afraid..."
"No!"
...and the rest was graphic design history....
bLuE oRdEr wrote: *RING* *RING*
"Hello, Saville Studios"
"Yes, Hello, Warner Brothers here... We're having a bit of a bother over the New Order cover, it seems..."
"No!"
"Yes, I'm afraid so, and we'll need a new design...."
"No!"
"Yes, and we'll still need it by the same date, I'm afraid..."
"No!"
...and the rest was graphic design history....
YES
