March 23, 2006

108: Love Is Strong

The cover was inspired by the sexiest photo ever taken of actress Scarlett Johansson, from the cover of Interview magazine. The combination of a beautiful actress, and a horizontally striped sweater is irresistible. I was not satisfied with just admiring her beauty from afar; I wanted to incorporate her beauty into my cover design, even if she has ZERO to do with the contents of the CD.
I used the photo as a jumping-off point for the cover concept- I would mock up my own magazine cover, with headlines which include the titles of the songs.
At the same time, I was beginning to experiment with attaching the text to non-straight paths, and what better template than the horizontal stripes of Ms. Johansson's sweater?
  1. Fascination Street THE CURE
  2. Cold Turkey JOHN LENNON (A great dance remix by IDC)
  3. Love Is Strong The ROLLING STONES
  4. She's Gone ERIC CLAPTON
  5. Hypnotized FLEETWOOD MAC
  6. Don't Fear The Reaper WILCO (a low fidelity live recording)
  7. I'm On Fire (live at Giants Stadium 8-19-85) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
  8. Begin the Begin (live 11-19-92) R.E.M.
  9. Use Me BILL WITHERS
  10. Me Myself I - DE LA SOUL
  11. 40 Days, 40 Fights BADLY DRAWN BOY
  12. I Want Love ELTON JOHN (I picked this track off my wife's 2CD Greatest Hits collection, for two reasons: a> it was produced by Jeff Lynne (ELO, Traveling Wilburys), and b>Ringo Starr plays drums.
  13. What Would It Take (from JEFF LYNNE's little-known solo album Armchair Theater.)
  14. You Can't Get What You Want (Til You Know What You Want) JOE JACKSON
  15. Stuck in the Middle vs. Nasty Girl (A silly mashup of Stealer's Wheel and Vanity 6.)
  16. Big Time PETER GABRIEL
  17. Lazy Sunday CHRIS PARNELL & ANDY SAMBERG
  18. Cantaloupe Island YESKA (sampled by US3 for their song "Cantaloop", aka "dip trip, flip fantasia...")