davidthedesigner

i've got it taped #20: mmm mmm mmm mmm*

God Shuffled His Feet by the Crash Test Dummies, from 1993

Design and art direction by Kevin Mutch.

*.

i've got it taped #19: forward march

First Circle by the Pat Metheny Group, from 1984

Cover design by Barbara Wojirsch.

The first of many Pat Metheny albums. Mind you, it was necessary to get past the first track (here, played live).

i've got it taped #18: CC33

Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms: Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain by China Crisis, from 1982

No design credits.

Never heard of China Crisis? Well, they sounded like this (the fool, fool, fools).

i've got it taped #17: "when did you first know you were canadian?"

Even Cowgirls get the Blues - music performed by k.d. lang, from 1993

No design credits, but this did remind me of kd's interview with Dame Edna.

i've got it taped #16: we must be fearless

This series was never meant to be about the music. Mostly because I don't have a cassette player readily to hand, so I can't easily listen to any of it. And also mostly because what you see posted here simply represents a few snapshots in time. They're like family photos, if you like: they're reminders of who I once was, or how I once looked (when there was a lot less of me). And I'm not yet someone who lives in the past.

Instead I've been trying to look at them through my designer's eye. I must say, though, that I've been surprised by how well some of them stand up when they've been freed from their nasty plastic cases and been given room to breathe on a screen display. And I have enjoyed tracking down the connections and the links through to designers, artists and photographers who are mostly still practising.

But this one reminds me that it is sometimes about the music too.

Brother's Keeper by the Neville Brothers, from 1990.

Art direction & design by Chuck Beeson and F Ron Miller
Cover painting by Alison Saar

By the way, I'm really pleased to have discovered my first fellow design blogger in this series, in the shape of F Ron Miller (even though he only appears to post but once a year).

But back to the music, and I'm imagining that most of you reading this will have never heard of the Neville Brothers. If that's the case, just listen to this:

Enough said, eh?

i've got it taped #15: mixed and mastered digitally

Lyle Mays from 1986.

Design by Norman Moore (this one, probably)
Photo by David A. Cantor (this one, probably)

i've got it taped #14: he was bound to turn up...

...sooner or later, now wasn't he?

Neil Young Unplugged from 1993.

Art direction & design by Janet Levinson
Still photography from video by Joel Bernstein

i've got it taped #12: ex japan

Rain Tree Crow by Rain Tree Crow (David Sylvian, Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri, Mick Karn) from 1991.

Photography by Shinya Fujiwara
Design by Russell Mills
Art direction by the aforementioned D Sylvian, plus Y Fuji

i've got it taped #11: fly by night

The Nightfly, the first solo album by Donald Fagen from 1982.

No design credits.

i've got it taped #10: up a level

World Machine by Level 42 from 1985.

Art direction by Alwyn Clayden
Design by Red Ranch
Photo by Mike Trevillion