Paranormal Cover

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Saint&Sinner » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:53 am

You can never beat trash for me. I adored (and still do) that cover. It has that Alice sexuality and oozes effortless cool but seems to have a darker more menacing side lurking. Classic.

I don't mind the new one, im liking the use of the Constrictor/raise your fist era lettering (tho I doubt its a stylistic change of music to match ::((: ...sadly!)
I know some people bemoan modern album artwork and i agree that the "golden era" was you 70's/80's but id argue that some bands take great care in this department. Lots of metal bands especially put out lavish packages/boxes with works of art for covers.
Stuff is there if you want to look for it I suppose.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by GailsFriend » Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:39 am

I am just wondering.....does this mean Alice will have 2 heads to cut off in concert? Because....honestly....that would be pretty awesome. MORE BLOOD!
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by del » Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:04 am

Just showed the cover to a bunch of my daughters friends all in their 20's. General view was they liked it as they hate all "that pretentious and poncy artwork" you get on "dad rock" covers. The words "sharp, edgy, clean and interesting" we're used for this one. Led on to a review of all Alice's album covers and the ultimate top 5 chosen by the girls (who individually love, Mushroomhead, Calvin Harris, 1975, indie, classical, Tiny Tempah and Drake) was:

1. LITD - they all loved the back cover and the eyes.
2. Easy Action - thought the pictures were amazing and loved the red (?)
3. DaDa - found the cover the most interesting of all to look at but it confused them as well.
4. ACAS - they have all heard Alice and thought this was closest to the image he has in their eyes.
5. Para.. - toss up between Fistfull and this. Both pictures made them keen to hear what was inside,

..least favourite were:

5. B$B - liked the inner pictures but thought the cover was boring as hell
4. Killer - universal view was that the snake ruined it.
3. RIFYAY - thought it was a joke cover
2. W2MN - and again!
1. GTH - and again!!

Different views.....

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by killer wolf » Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:49 am

Pitta wrote:Looks like the new Metallica.
lol, what?
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by killer wolf » Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:57 am

i think it's interesting, but w/out knowing the album content it seems like an odd choice; obviously at this point i'd be more expecting some ghostie type cover. not sure if it would have worked better if one head was normal Alice and the other was full-on Alice, above point refers again. still, it's the inside that counts, i appreciate good covers but i spent my time listening to music not looking at the pictures; aside from classic Eddie art, it's not like i'll be after a poster for my wall.
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Lazarus » Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:03 am

Fer God's sake, retire the splatter logo.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Dannorama » Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:44 pm

del wrote:Just showed the cover to a bunch of my daughters friends all in their 20's. General view was they liked it as they hate all "that pretentious and poncy artwork" you get on "dad rock" covers. The words "sharp, edgy, clean and interesting" we're used for this one. Led on to a review of all Alice's album covers and the ultimate top 5 chosen by the girls (who individually love, Mushroomhead, Calvin Harris, 1975, indie, classical, Tiny Tempah and Drake) was:

1. LITD - they all loved the back cover and the eyes.
2. Easy Action - thought the pictures were amazing and loved the red (?)
3. DaDa - found the cover the most interesting of all to look at but it confused them as well.
4. ACAS - they have all heard Alice and thought this was closest to the image he has in their eyes.
5. Para.. - toss up between Fistfull and this. Both pictures made them keen to hear what was inside,

..least favourite were:

5. B$B - liked the inner pictures but thought the cover was boring as hell
4. Killer - universal view was that the snake ruined it.
3. RIFYAY - thought it was a joke cover
2. W2MN - and again!
1. GTH - and again!!

Different views.....
But I thought this was for us, not a new audience...? Only half kidding - I always appreciate a young girl's point of view. Wait... That almost didn't sound right!
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Holly Grail » Sat Jun 03, 2017 3:47 pm

To me the album cover is OK. I appreciate the fact that he prefered a raw photo without photoshop on the face (except the double face).
On the other hand even though the idea is good, the team did not do a super professional job . Two things I dont like is the white background and even more the very boring lettering in "Paranormal". The fact that "m" is hidden in white is quite annoying. Still , I think that seeing the photo covering the real album , its gonna be quite attractive on the self!

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by The son of Don Quijote » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:12 pm

I agree with you Holly Grail, the album cover is OK. I would also prefer something else on the background instead of plain white and lettering in the album title could be more exotic and vivid.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by firstmanonmars » Sat Jun 03, 2017 10:11 pm

It really is a terrible cover. W2MN is not even close (!), hence my disappointment. A new album is awesome of course! But I don't understand why most of the old artists/bands put out records with hideous covers. The new Purple album was surprisingly beautiful, so for a while I had high hopes for Paranormal. I'm looking forward to the release, make no mistake! I can't wait to listen to the single! But. I don't understand the thoughts behind the making of the Paranormal cover... This time I really had to express myself. Thank you. Alice for president!

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Dannorama » Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:11 pm

firstmanonmars wrote:It really is a terrible cover. W2MN is not even close (!), hence my disappointment. A new album is awesome of course! But I don't understand why most of the old artists/bands put out records with hideous covers. The new Purple album was surprisingly beautiful, so for a while I had high hopes for Paranormal. I'm looking forward to the release, make no mistake! I can't wait to listen to the single! But. I don't understand the thoughts behind the making of the Paranormal cover... This time I really had to express myself. Thank you. Alice for president!

First post from an actual Martian! Welcome. Your opinion is well put, and agreed upon by this terrestrial being. I think that we all are anxious to hear the music. That is where the rubber meets the road.
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by vince_raven » Sun Jun 04, 2017 2:40 am

Alice would sell more records if he put someone prettier on the cover.....like Justin Bieber.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by GailsFriend » Sun Jun 04, 2017 2:31 pm

What's the point of artists investing money in a product that doesn't even sell?

We, the fans, of course, will buy the album....but, no one is interested in the album artwork anymore because downloading is rampant.

Sad, but, true.

Alice's album covers have been simpler and more cost effective for years now....better spent money on stage and touring and merchandise....where the money is made.
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by guttertrash » Sun Jun 04, 2017 2:56 pm

Albums are selling. Just not ones that rock fans care about. The record labels left rock music behind. It doesn't mean the artists should just not care anymore though. It is cheaper now to make a good album than ever, and you can do it pretty easily. You can also make money off of it. The problem is that older artists do not know how to take advantage of the new age, but local and regional bands are finding themselves in much better situations than they ever have. Many of them put a lot into their packaging, because they care about the artform of producing and completing a whole album. To toss off artwork due to the fact that it won't sell is just laziness and a sign that maybe it is time for an artist to call it a day, because whether it sells or not, it is still art and should be treated that way by somebody who considers themselves artists.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by guttertrash » Sun Jun 04, 2017 3:08 pm

You know the great thing about the internet? Information is obtained, and studies can be done on that information. Studies have been conducted that show a large portion of music downloaders actually buy the product. Many of the studies that show a correlation to downloading and drop in sales have been based on small cross-sections of people who were surveyed and then the info. correlated, but when you can track large swathes of people's actual movements, you get a much better idea of what's going on. The only thing downloading can be blamed for is giving people the whole product to listen to, and in many cases, the consumer decides to buy one track off the internet instead of buying the whole album due to lack of care for the rest of the track. This is the label and the artist's problem for putting out a product that isn't desirable as a whole complete artwork, but this also goes back to the label and artist blaming the music fans for their downfall instead of realizing they are the issue. Also when you stream music, the front cover pop-ups on spotify or whatever, so it's not like it is not seen by people, so the artwork should still be considered a part of the process...at the least, take some time to make a front cover look good. Yet again, somebody who is an artist, especially somebody like Alice who has spoken openly of his love for visual art, should really strive to the whole package enjoyable.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by wind_up_toy » Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:29 pm

GailsFriend wrote:Alice's album covers have been simpler and more cost effective for years now....better spent money on stage and touring and merchandise....where the money is made.
I'm not sure I can agree with the latter half of your comment.

I'm not keen on the new album cover, but also don't think it would cost much to have something most of us would be happier with. The problem with the last few albums as I see it is that they have just been too comical looking. I pretty sure just a different pose and, in the case of the album, less heads would have done the trick.

A case in point are the 'posed' promotional photos from The Eyes of Alice Cooper. I thought those were pretty good and would like to have seen something like that.
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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Dannorama » Sun Jun 04, 2017 7:20 pm

wind_up_toy wrote:...The problem with the last few albums as I see it is that they have just been too comical looking. I pretty sure just a different pose and, in the case of the album, less heads would have done the trick.

A case in point are the 'posed' promotional photos from The Eyes of Alice Cooper. I thought those were pretty good and would like to have seen something like that.
For comparison
It almost looks like the same picture. Actually, I much prefer the new photo, based on how he looks in general. He almost looks ugly in the older pic.


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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by guttertrash » Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:45 pm

We are comparing a promo pic to an album cover? The promo pick worked just fine for it's purpose, but they made an album cover that worked for Eyes also. However this new cover doesn't even do that. The link of the picture of Alice sitting down reading the book of magic or ghost stories or whatever does fit the concept, but paranormal activity doesn't mean growing a second ghastly evil head.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by Babysquid » Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:05 am

GailsFriend wrote:What's the point of artists investing money in a product that doesn't even sell?

We, the fans, of course, will buy the album....but, no one is interested in the album artwork anymore because downloading is rampant.

Sad, but, true.

Alice's album covers have been simpler and more cost effective for years now....better spent money on stage and touring and merchandise....where the money is made.
If no one was interested in cover art anymore this thread would have never got past one post let alone three pages. There are people who appreciate a good album cover and there are artists that still produce good cover art. Download may be rampant but paradoxically there has also been a revival in vinyl which is the perfect medium for great artwork.

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Re: Paranormal Cover

Post by wind_up_toy » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:14 pm

Dannorama wrote:
wind_up_toy wrote:...The problem with the last few albums as I see it is that they have just been too comical looking. I pretty sure just a different pose and, in the case of the album, less heads would have done the trick.

A case in point are the 'posed' promotional photos from The Eyes of Alice Cooper. I thought those were pretty good and would like to have seen something like that.
For comparison
It almost looks like the same picture. Actually, I much prefer the new photo, based on how he looks in general. He almost looks ugly in the older pic.


You've pretty much illustrated my point mate. You don't need to spend a fortune on a cover, just present what you have in a decent way. Lose the 2nd comedy head and you're not far off something that many of us would probably accept a little more.
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