Is This It (Original)
The Strokes
In 2000, The Strokes members had part-time jobs and practiced new material weekly at a recording space. They released a demo in the fall of that year and Ryan Gentles attention. Ryan was a talent booker at New York City's Mercury Lounge. From the support of their personal mentor and producer, The Strokes recorded three tracks ("Modern Age", "Last Nite", "Barely Legal") which were on their first album Is This It, released July 2001.
The above image was the cover used internationally. Colin Lane, the photographer and cover artist, took some spontaneous photographs of his then girlfriend after she got out of the shower. It is a black and white photo of her her hip downward with a leather gloved hand resting on her buttocks. Lane did not have any inspiration for taking the photograph and quoted, "I just wanted to take a sexy picture." The composition of the photograph is mostly asymmetrical, it's heavy on the right side of the frame, yet balanced. The glossy, black glove defiantly (which seems slightly above centered) catches the attention of the viewer; against the highlight of the woman's hip.
The left side of the frame has a nice, asymmetrical curve to it because of her body. The all caps, sans serif text is on a continued line tucked in the upper left. The red is the only color on the album and makes emphasis on the title, not the bands name. The band consciously left out the question mark, claiming that "it did not look right." To me, the text seems separated from the image. I either look at one of the other and have to intentionally tell myself to read the text.
Even though the above cover was used in other countries, the cover design was changed for the U.S. market for being too sexually explicit. Side note: some of the tracks names were also change after the 9/11 attacks. The American cover use a psychedelic photograph and was designed by CERN. Even though it is a photograph, I view more as a watercolor painting. The colors go very great together and there is a lot of movement, yet it doesn't seem like a psychedelic piece. Also, the text against the yellow wasn't the greatest decision because it just gets lost and seems they didn't put thought on where to place it well. The frontman made the discovery of the "psychedelic" cover and in the band biography "mentions the fear of objections from America's conservative retail industry and right-wing lobby as reasons for the artwork's alteration." What I do like about the American cover, is how it does look like hand done watercolor. It sort of looks like a starry space scene with the blue parts. As previously stated, I do not think it's a psychedelic cover, just a really nice piece of art work the band decided to use as a cover.
Citing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_This_It
Even though the above cover was used in other countries, the cover design was changed for the U.S. market for being too sexually explicit. Side note: some of the tracks names were also change after the 9/11 attacks. The American cover use a psychedelic photograph and was designed by CERN. Even though it is a photograph, I view more as a watercolor painting. The colors go very great together and there is a lot of movement, yet it doesn't seem like a psychedelic piece. Also, the text against the yellow wasn't the greatest decision because it just gets lost and seems they didn't put thought on where to place it well. The frontman made the discovery of the "psychedelic" cover and in the band biography "mentions the fear of objections from America's conservative retail industry and right-wing lobby as reasons for the artwork's alteration." What I do like about the American cover, is how it does look like hand done watercolor. It sort of looks like a starry space scene with the blue parts. As previously stated, I do not think it's a psychedelic cover, just a really nice piece of art work the band decided to use as a cover.
American Cover:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91SyZlC7NDL._SL1500_.jpgCiting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_This_It
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