| 1st January 2007 05:33 AM |
|
|
| bridges_to_babylon |
Hi,
just a quick question
Can, by any chance, anybody tell me who designed the cover to 'Bridges to Babylon'?
|
| 1st January 2007 10:00 AM |
|
|
| Gazza |
according to the credits on the sleevenotes
Packaging design - Sagmeister Inc, New York
Lion illustration - Kevin Murphy
Desert illustration - Gerard Howland, The Floating Company
Additional Illustration - Alan Ayers
The Images of the "Tower of babel" and "Three Graces" were reproduced under license |
| 1st January 2007 12:21 PM |
|
|
| bridges_to_babylon |
thank you very much! |
| 1st January 2007 12:35 PM |
|
|
| egon |
i see you are working on your top ten of worst album covers! |
| 1st January 2007 01:43 PM |
|
|
| bridges_to_babylon |
Well, I am just interested in why Jagger chose the whole Babylon theme and why the lion on the front cover. I took a look at http://www.sagmeister.com/work3.html to see what notes it had about the choice, apparently Jagger took a trip to the British Museum to check out the Babylonian collection. Does anybody know why Jagger would be so interested in the Babylonian theme? |
| 1st January 2007 02:18 PM |
|
|
| Mel Belli |
quote:
bridges_to_babylon wrote:
Does anybody know why Jagger would be so interested in the Babylonian theme?
As I understand it, Mick was interested aesthetically in bridges -- and conceptually in "Bridges." It was the playwright Tom Stoppard who, in conversation with Mick, added the "...to Babylon" part. I guess it sounded good to Mick's ear, so the whole thing just took off from there.
[Edited by Mel Belli]
[Edited by Mel Belli] |
| 1st January 2007 02:52 PM |
|
|
| glencar |
It could've been Blessed Poison... |
| 1st January 2007 03:09 PM |
|
|
| Gazza |
yep..and until a few weeks before the album came out, that was the title
These days the tour is more significant than the album for the Stones, so I guess maybe they thought of the stage concept first and then wanted an album/tour title which would fit in with it |
| 1st January 2007 03:32 PM |
|
|
| Mel Belli |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
yep..and until a few weeks before the album came out, that was the title
These days the tour is more significant than the album for the Stones, so I guess maybe they thought of the stage concept first and then wanted an album/tour title which would fit in with it
I see what you're saying, Gazza, but I don't think they're so blase about new albums. Just as problematically, they look at the album and tour like they're of a piece. It's all one big thematic package, which inevitably sort of cheapens the album art. That said, it seemed like with ABB that they were gonna break with recent precedent by appearing on the cover. But they ended up producing one of their least remarkable covers ever... |
| 1st January 2007 03:42 PM |
|
|
| glencar |
Mel, the actual album cover is pretty good. On CD it's too small. |
| 1st January 2007 03:59 PM |
|
|
| GotToRollMe |
quote:
glencar wrote:
It could've been Blessed Poison...
quote:
Gazza wrote:
yep..and until a few weeks before the album came out, that was the title
Thank God for small favors...
|
| 1st January 2007 04:36 PM |
|
|
| Gazza |
quote:
Mel Belli wrote:
I see what you're saying, Gazza, but I don't think they're so blase about new albums. Just as problematically, they look at the album and tour like they're of a piece. It's all one big thematic package, which inevitably sort of cheapens the album art. That said, it seemed like with ABB that they were gonna break with recent precedent by appearing on the cover. But they ended up producing one of their least remarkable covers ever...
I think they are that blase. I really think the album title nowadays is chosen primarily to link in with the visual theme to the tour. Blessed Poison wouldnt have worked. Bridges to Babylon made perfect sense.
A Bigger Bang is another example. Right up until the day of the press release announcing the record, it had been announced in the press that it was going to be called 'Manhattan Beach' |
| 1st January 2007 04:55 PM |
|
|
| GotToRollMe |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
I think they are that blase. I really think the album title nowadays is chosen primarily to link in with the visual theme to the tour. Blessed Poison wouldnt have worked. Bridges to Babylon made perfect sense.
A Bigger Bang is another example. Right up until the day of the press release announcing the record, it had been announced in the press that it was going to be called 'Manhattan Beach'
It's only the first day of the year and I've already lost the will to live!
|
| 1st January 2007 05:00 PM |
|
|
| Erik_Snow |
The album titles Goats Head Soup and Some Girls couldn't be used these days, then. |
| 1st January 2007 07:29 PM |
|
|
| Bruno |
quote:
egon wrote:
i see you are working on your top ten of worst album covers!
No one will beat Steel Wheels as the worst ever. |
| 1st January 2007 07:53 PM |
|
|
| Mel Belli |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
I think they are that blase. I really think the album title nowadays is chosen primarily to link in with the visual theme to the tour. Blessed Poison wouldnt have worked. Bridges to Babylon made perfect sense.
A Bigger Bang is another example. Right up until the day of the press release announcing the record, it had been announced in the press that it was going to be called 'Manhattan Beach'
The post-comeback album titles are chosen with tour branding in mind -- I'll concede that. But I don't think it necessarily follows that the band is equally mercenary about the contents of the album. I think they've put a tremendous amount of creative effort into the last three. ... Some would argue those efforts were wasted, but that's another story. |
| 1st January 2007 08:01 PM |
|
|
| Mel Belli |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Mel, the actual album cover is pretty good. On CD it's too small.
Really? I haven't seen a vinyl copy of the album. ... Funny, I've been thinking a lot about album art lately. The conventional wisdom is that it's gone down the drain in the CD era.
But I think the reduced real estate of the CD has forced designers to do very interesting, and very subtly artful, work with packaging. Look at how much cooler the cardboard Digipack is compared to the awful plastic jewel box, for example. Then there's all the little flourishes on the CD itself, the tray underneath and inside the clear spine.
The new Tom Waits compilation ("Orphans") is a beautiful little piece of mass artwork. And there's a lot more like it every year.
ABB didn't have much inside, which was disappointing. Symptomatic of how the Stones rush out product under self-imposed deadlines. I mean, what sense does it make to say, OK, we haven't put out a record in eight years. Let's make one now. But hurry! We've only got five minutes! |
| 1st January 2007 08:54 PM |
|
|
| Soldatti |
quote:
Erik_Snow wrote:
The album titles Goats Head Soup and Some Girls couldn't be used these days, then.
Could you imagine a Let It Bleed world tour now or an Exile On Main St. world tour 2007? |
| 1st January 2007 10:13 PM |
|
|
| pdog |
quote:
Soldatti wrote:
Could you imagine a Let It Bleed world tour now or an Exile On Main St. world tour 2007?
Think of the extra money that they would've made made during Tattoo You, with real artists inking people at concession stands!
|
| 2nd January 2007 04:43 AM |
|
|
| Gazza |
quote:
Mel Belli wrote:
The post-comeback album titles are chosen with tour branding in mind -- I'll concede that. But I don't think it necessarily follows that the band is equally mercenary about the contents of the album. I think they've put a tremendous amount of creative effort into the last three. ... Some would argue those efforts were wasted, but that's another story.
oh, I wasnt suggesting the albums were mere throwaways at all - just the album titles. I dont think the Stones ever take a half arsed approach to a new record, and I happen to like the last 3 anyway - Bridges especially. |
| 2nd January 2007 07:23 AM |
|
|
| gotdablouse |
Yes, B2B still has "something"...musically speaking, that cover art is indeed "odd" and makes no sense really when looking at the contents. Too bad didn't take the "bridges" content to they lyrics section. |
| 2nd January 2007 07:28 AM |
|
|
| glencar |
Remember when Bridges first came out & someone related it to OJ's murder of his wife? Early days... |
| 2nd January 2007 07:32 AM |
|
|
| Gazza |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Remember when Bridges first came out & someone related it to OJ's murder of his wife? Early days...
yes...LOL..there was supposed to be some 'sequence' evident depending on way the lyrics booklet was arranged. Bizarre. |
| 2nd January 2007 07:55 AM |
|
|
| glencar |
LOL I remember "Lowdown" was prominent in the theory. |
| 2nd January 2007 11:10 AM |
|
|
| chevysales |
contrary to others thoughts... i liked that tour and the shows i attended. that includes the no security continuation.
just my 2 cents.
now let me go cry in a corner about the total disaster that has overcome my team/franchise.... |
| 2nd January 2007 11:15 AM |
|
|
| Nellcote |
Saban takes the loot, never to return to the NFL.
'Phins hire Mora JR, or wait for another Belichik
protege to fall from the tree after playoffs. |
| 2nd January 2007 11:19 AM |
|
|
| Gazza |
quote:
chevysales wrote:
contrary to others thoughts... i liked that tour and the shows i attended. that includes the no security continuation.
just my 2 cents.
now let me go cry in a corner about the total disaster that has overcome my team/franchise....
Great tour, even with Ronnie being 'in absentia' for chunks of it. Superb stage show, excellent setlists despite it being primarily in stadiums, great new record with some of the new songs (Out of Control and Saint of Me) developing into crowd favourites and great value for money.
For me, BTB was the last bonafide tour where the Stones genuinely toured behind a new release and were not a nostalgia act and also when they were still aiming the show at their fanbase instead of a older and more select group of high rollers. |
| 2nd January 2007 11:33 AM |
|
|
| GotToRollMe |
I have a special fondness for Bridges To Babylon - the album and the tour. Even the press conference here - Mick driving the band across the Brooklyn Bridge in that red Caddy convertible, Keith riding shotgun, then doing the press and playing a few songs from the album under the bridge on the Brooklyn side - I caught it live on TV and I'll never forget it. The shows at MSG and Giants Stadium were over the top too - some of the best Stones yet! - and I still listen to the album on a regular basis. Love B2B - just love it!
|
| 2nd January 2007 11:45 AM |
|
|
| Gazza |
quote:
GotToRollMe wrote:
I have a special fondness for Bridges To Babylon - the album and the tour. Even the press conference here - Mick driving the band across the Brooklyn Bridge in that red Caddy convertible, Keith riding shotgun, then doing the press and playing a few songs from the album under the bridge on the Brooklyn side - I caught it live on TV and I'll never forget it.
We got it as well. Sky News interrupted their normal schedules and carried it live - what other band's tour announcement would garner such coverage on the other side of the world, even though there was no tour dates announced for Europe at the time? I left work early to get home to see it.
That first glimpse of the band in the Caddy driving across the bridge is one of the most iconic images of them ever. |
| 2nd January 2007 03:53 PM |
|
|
| GotToRollMe |
Is that whole thing - from the ride over the bridge to the press conference and songs - available on DVD anywhere? I've got it on VHS but it'd be nice to have on disc.
|
