Album covers that evoke urban themes.
This blog post is republished with permission from NJ Urbanthinker.
There is a synchronization between urban planning and music. My previous article, Top City Planning Songs, highlighted this. Music can tell a story of a built place, the changing landscape of your hometown, the mundane synchronicity of some suburbs, the story of urban life, architecture, design, and countless other themes. However, this article takes a different approach. The topic of this article is my list of top album covers with an urban planning theme. Now, urban planning is a broad term. To make this list, the album cover has to have either a combination or single element of architecture, community, neighborhoods, transportation network, built, and the natural environment. As a bonus, many album covers are from some of my favorite musical acts.
The Streets - Original Pirate Material
The first album cover to make the list is from the English Hip Hop artist Mike Skinner, better known as the Streets, and his breakthrough inaugural 2002 album Original Pirate Material. The Streets self-produced the album himself in his own flat (English slang for building). The image of the album cover for Original Pirate Material is of the 1960s neo-modernism architecture of London of the Kestrel House, an 18-story building in North London. The image jumps out at you and captures the essence of urban life in London depicted in 18 stories of building. Rut Blees Luxemburg, a German photographer who studied in London, took the image.
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
The second album cover to make the list stays in London and is the album cover for the English rock band Bloc Party's second album theory 2007 album, A Weekend in the City. The album cover is taken in London's Westway highway network interchange. The image shows direct levels of a road network, and a never-ending trail of illuminated lights depicts the traffic from vehicles on the network. What I find fascinating about this picture is that within the busy road network, there is a basketball park below the elevated highway and a soccer field next to the elevated highway. Even with this transportation network's built environment, there are still outdoor recreation areas. This picture was also from Rut Blees Luxemburg. It is not a coincidence that Mr. Blees' pictures in London make the album covers for two iconic English bands.
Nas - Illmatic
The next album cover to make the list is Nas' Illmatic, the breakthrough and classic hip album Illmatic released in 1994. The album cover shows a young Nas (Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones) with the backdrop of the Queensbridge affordable housing complex where Nas grew up, which is the life experience basis on which much of Illmatic is based. The album cover depicts a young Nas, with his makeup, life instances, and interactions, made up of the physical place where he lives, the Queensbridge Housing complex located in Queens. In an interview from 2001, Nas is quoted, "When I made Illmatic, I was a little kid in Queensbridge trapped in the ghetto. My soul was trapped in Queensbridge projects.”
In the Heights
In the Heights was originally a musical play and was adapted into a movie in 2021. It is dear to me as I grew up in Washington Heights. I actually saw the play off-Broadway before all the success it eventually would have. The play/movie tells the story of a mix of characters in my hometown of Washington Heights in upper Manhattan through music. The main character is Usnavi, a bodega owner, and the community of individuals he interacts with in the neighborhood. The album cover backdrop depicts typical 5-6 story pre-war buildings of Washington Heights, the George Washington Bridge, and the cast of In the Heights dancing in the streets. It shows the vibrant community of Washington Heights, which is accentuated on the album cover.
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
It's fitting that an album entitled The Suburbs has an album cover that makes the list. The Suburbs is the third album from Arcade Fire, where much of the album's lyrical content is inspired by band members Win and William Butler's upbringing in the Woodlands, a suburban community of Houston, Texas. The album cover is artwork of a typical suburban brick house with a typical suburban car from the early 1980s and a pine tree. From an article by Happy Mag, the house on the album cover was from a photo shoot of houses from The Woodlands. The album packaging would go on to win the Grammy for Best Recording Packaging.
Radiohead - Ok Computer
Ok Computer is the third studio album released by Radiohead in 1997. It is also my favorite Radiohead album, with one of my favorite songs, Paranoid Android. The album cover depicts a backdrop of a highway interchange with vehicles traversing the built network. According to an NME article, the interchange depicted on the album's artwork is based in Hartford, Connecticut, between Interstates 84 and 91. The article suggests a band member may have taken the original photo from a window of a Hilton hotel the band stayed in after a show during their 1997 tour of the album. The artwork of the built environment of a roadway network is a common thread of several of my great albums, which are covered with urban planning themes.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the fourth album from Wilco, released in 2002. The album cover is of the two towers of the Marina City development located in Chicago. The image does not show the full extent of the 65-story residential buildings, but the top half is shot at an angle. The Marina City development is a mixed-use project with a 10-story hotel, which was finished in 1967. The residential towers are of unique modernist design, with a circular layout offering 360 degree views. They are iconic and worthy album cover for this excellent album.
Drake - Views
Views is the fourth studio album released by Drake in 2016. The album cover is an image of the top portion of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, where Drake is from. Looking closely at the album cover, you can see Drake sitting atop the tower. It was admitted that Drake was photoshopped and was not sitting on top of the tower. The album cover makes this list, not because of Drake but because of the image of the CN Tower, the iconic 1,815-foot-high tower with an observation deck. The CN Tower was built in 1976. On a trivia note, the CN Tower was the world’s tallest free-standing structure until it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The CN Tower pays homage to Drake’s hometown of Toronto and is an omnipresent structure worthy of making this list.
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Sujfan Stevens Illinoise, also known as Sujfan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise is his fifth album, released in 2005. The album is a concept album, with every song referencing places, events, and persons related to Illinois. What is worthy of the album cover? How about the iconic architecture of Chicago, Illinois, with the John Hancock Building in the forefront? The album cover was created by artist Divya Srinivasan, who combined several Illinois themes, such as the architectural outline of Chicago and even an image of Al Capone. Illinoise is a fascinating concept album telling stories of Illinois, highlighted by the prolific architecture of Chicago on the cover.
Pink Floyd - Animals
Animals is the tenth album released by Pink Floyd in 1977. The album cover is an image of the Battersea Power Station located on the south bank of the Thames River in Battersea, England, a suburb of London. The power station was built between 1929 and 1935 and decommissioned in 1975. So why does this album cover make the list? Not only is the brick building rich in architectural details with its four smokestacks, but it’s also a reminder that we can not have cities, suburbs, and rural areas without the availability of power and how it makes our communities run. The site is now the site of a mixed-use redevelopment project that restored the historic power station building and constructed approximately 800 residential units, new retail and restaurant space, and open space.
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Feed the Animals is the fourth studio album released in 2008 by the mashup specialist Girl Talk. Girl Talk is a DJ who specializes in samples and creating mashups. Feed the Animals has over 300 music samples by other artists to make the 14-track album. The album has many standout mashups, but my standout is Jay Z rapping over Radiohead’s Paranoid Android. The album cover is of a typical suburban home with the letters “GT” emblazoned on the front lawn. Though nothing stands out with the home, it’s a reminder that most of the housing in the US is single-family housing while we are facing a housing shortage in our country.
Album covers tell the story of an album and are essential for the visualization, image, and what transpires. These album covers tell a story of urban planning, the myriad of themes, and the synergy behind the music and the built environment.
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