Bella Donna - Should Stevie have flipped the artwork?
 

Hi guys,

I'm just listening to my copy of the new Sheryl Crow record and I immediately thought that the picture on the back cover is far better than the one she chose for the front! It's a really nice picture of her that i think sums up the positive mood of the album...

Anyway, this reminded me that I always meant to post a similar thought on here about Bella Donna. I've always loved the image on the back with Stevie looking through the tambourine (especially when seen in full sized glory on vinyl) but never been too keen on the front cover. It's a great shot, whereas I'm just not too keen on the cover one. Does anyone else think the back image should have been on the front and vice-versa?

I really think it works better as a cover shot, with Stevie gazing at us and inviting us "in" to the album, as shows by the "come in.. out of the darkness" text that goes alongside it. So I get why those two things are placed together but I stull think it would have been great if that image was on the front, with the "come in..." text on the back alongside what became the front cover.

Anyone agree or have I just offended you all?!

Well it's funny that you like the back cover of the Sheryl Crow CD more than the front because the back picture is more of a full body shot, which is what Stevie did for all of her CDs in the 80's, the full body shots. I too love the back pic on the Bella Donna album but I do think the front pic is more of an iconic picture of Stevie. Using the back pic as the front would then throw off the consistency for the rest of the 1980's releases, in my opinion.

Well if she flipped them the concept for the covers would have been lost. The idea being that she has just picked up the tambourine and is looking thru it, coming in out of the darkness. The music inside is what she is seeing.
Ahh back to the days when album covers were part of the album's concept and not just a photo slapped on the front.

I always felt this should have been reversed as well, in fact my CD booklet, I insert this backwards, lol...(Do the same for The Rose Soundtrack, which Stevie LOVES),
but I agree w/ the above comment as well....

I've never cared for the tambo photo for whatever reason. Like Travis said, the cover pic of her in the dripping chiffon holding Max the cockatoo is just iconic. To me, it says more about who she is and what her persona is than the tambo pic.

I do know what you mean about the artwork crystallising the concept, and I completely understand how it does this,but I think I just prefer the back pic that's all...

Maybe you're just a backside kind of guy?:xoxo:

I've been called worse - including a ass several times! Haha. Butt yes, you're right...

Yep, same here. That whole picture on the front really brings out the atmosphere into the record.

Fascinating to me that others have 'flipped' the photos in the cd to make a cover they prefer. I did it 8 years ago with 'TISL' making the inside pic of her in the black dress with the Asian writing my 'cover' photo of the cd, and never changed it back, I like it much better! Though, I 'get' the essence of 'running away' or 'escaping' Shangri La, and that's why she chose the cover shot that she did.
I LIKE dodfather's idea about the back of 'BD' being the front cover, I think it would work really well.
The REALLY bad mistake (worst ever?) made was the cover of 'Enchanted'-- granted, it was about her writing and her voice, but to have such an iconic star's box set have an effing feather on the cover was just too lame. I always thought 'Enchanted' would have sold even better than it had, if a killer shot of Stevie had been on the cover of the box set. It was such a missed opportunity, but I think maybe it may have been that Stevie was trying to distance her image from her 'prettiness' so she put the plain feather on the cover, or quill, with her signature.
At the time, I thought she must have wanted the emphasis to be on all of the music she'd written inside the box set... but a freakin' feather for the cover?! Then, 'Sable On Blonde' wasn't even included, which, at least, has a freakin' feather mentioned in the song!!
Madness. Just madness. :) If people like your physical presentation and had been buying it for decades- Use what ya got!
Yes, I know CN was the 'art director' of that cd, but SN approved the cover.
Besides, I think all the brother bashing wouldn't go over with Her Stevieness :)
Not a bit.
Nice brother, good brother, uhh... talented brother. But what a bad cover for the boxset!!

Never thought about it before, but looking at my vinyl now, I agree. brb, photoshop.

[QUOTE=skuncles;901631]Well if she flipped them the concept for the covers would have been lost. The idea being that she has just picked up the tambourine and is looking thru it, coming in out of the darkness. The music inside is what she is seeing.

Well, couldn't she just as easily be looking through the tambourine from the front cover as from the back of an album? I mean, if one could see through a tambo and cardboard, couldn't she as easily have made it the front cover and not ruined her concept? Edit: I guess the back photo would need to be rotated, so she'd been looking back, and not out! Okay, I get it now..
And seeing how the white-winged cockatoo is the first song on Side 2, I think it makes more sense to have the photo with the bird on the back side of the album, not the cover! And 'come in out of the darkness' is track one on Side One, so the back cover sort of makes more sense as the front cover!
Dodfather may be on to something, here.
Nearly thirty years on... Boy, are we hungry for new Stevie music to be giving this such thought, now!~

This is a little uneven because I couldn't find good copies of either picture, buuuut.
http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/1...adonna1111.png

Nice job, goldustsongbird!
Can her handwritten 'come in out of the darkness' go to the right of her image?
I can just imagine it, I bet it would be too hard to photoshop it.

wow. the composition is definitely more engaging but the original cover is so iconic, i can't imagine the pictures being flipped.

I like this better as the back cover because in 1981 and 2010 we are starved to see a full body shot of Stevie. Especially back then, we loved seeing the leg warmers over the platform boots. You did a nice job though, Lisa.

[QUOTE=Dodfather;901596]Hi guys,

I'm just listening to my copy of the new Sheryl Crow record and I immediately thought that the picture on the back cover is far better than the one she chose for the front! It's a really nice picture of her that i think sums up the positive mood of the album...


Oh, how is the Crow cd, 'front to back, back to front'? I'll admit my favorite cd of hers was 'C'mon C'mon' w 'The Globe Sessions' or her debut as my second favorite. Does she rock a little on this new release? Sorry to use the 'RAL' line in a non-Stevie way, but I don't like me any folky Sheryl. Though, I really did like someone's story and imagery within it about driving through the mountains and having either Detours or Wildflower(s?) being stunning to listen to in that setting, and I believe it.
While writing of Sheryl, isn't 'Safe and Sound' just amazing? LOVE that song, the cd version is very good, but there was some early version of it she did on a 9/11 benefit telethon put together by George Clooney and a late-night (awards show?) version that both topped the version on the cd. Love that song. Think I'll buy the new Sheryl tomorrow, and maybe the Cyndi Lauper blues cd. Seems they might make nice bookends to each other.
Dodfather, has any new Duffy cd been released in the UK yet? I keep hearing about new music from her, but in the States, anyway, it seems to be delayed. Duffy's a girl with some real potential, I think. Or, perhaps, it's an already realized potential, that first cd was good.
But I think she can really go further. In your opinion, has she peaked? Couldn't be, could it, yet?

I like the cover left as is. Even with the legwarmers she was wearing at the time. I actually prefer the boots without them and glad they were put away. It shows off the boots more without them, why cover them up? Suede or velvet has a natural crease effect up the leg anyway.

I've always loved the back cover of Bella Donna but does anybody else agree with me that she looks like a white Donna Summer in this shot?
Speaking of reversing front/back shots, I definitely think this should have been the case for The Other Side Of The Mirror cover. The back shot is gorgeous whilst the front shot is just plain weird with all the re-touching. The face doesn't even resemble Stevie.

Yes - I love this! Well done!

I'll post a review of the Sheryl album in the Chit Chat room later. I really quite like it, but NOT the bonus track... I prefer rocking Sheryl too, by quite some margin. My favourite album is The Globe Sessions followed by Sheryl Crow. As for C'mon C'mon I think the title track may be my favourite on there...


No new Duffy album yet. Although her first album did get one of those really, rreally annoying re-releases with an extra track (Rain On My Parade - it's good) on it. I hate that. I just bought that one song off itunes. The problem was that there was major over-exposure of Duffy in the UK. She was everywhere and you couldnt get away from the album. She also did a Diet Coke ad.

I do like her first album but had to put it away because I got sick of it. She needs to stay away for a little bit and come back (maybe next year) with aother good album, then she might have some longevity and not just be someone with one giood album and a lot of hype.

I scanned my album sleeve to try it, but it didn't look right when I added it. Too crowded.

Well they did sort of already do this, the Italian sleeve for "Edge Of Seventeen" did just what you've suggested.

Mine's better. ;)

I ADORE the tambourine picture of Stevie, but I do think it works better as a back cover - especially on vinyl. The front cover is just so iconic.

In my opinion, the only album artwork that should definately have been flipped was 'The Other Side of The Mirror.' I think the back cover for this album is far more interesting...

I actually did a version of the cover like this a couple months ago, as I planned on making a special Bella Donna CD for my sister w/ alternate versions and outtakes... I wondered the same thing, how the back cover would look as the front. I used the "Bella Donna" text from the original cover & the "Stevie Nicks" from a foreign (outside U.S.) single (I can't remember which one).

I was never completely satisfied with it, but here it is:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/8...aalternate.png

at least this 'cheesy' version wasn't used on the cover though...


http://rockalittle.com/leather&laceuk.jpg

I like the cover as is. I love how it's a full-length shot. I've never liked the tambo picture on the back. Even though she seems to aim for "doe-eyed" in most of her photos, that one's just too deer-in-the-headlights.

I so agree with you about the Enchanted Box set. It really should've been Stevie's picture on it. I do love the Blue Lamp picture inside but if not that than some beautiful outtake photo. She's got tons of them. How could not ONE of those outtakes not made the cut so to speak. I'll not ever understand really. I myself like BD like it is.....I also think they (the pictures) front & back covers that it was meant to be that way. Personally, I don't like the Shangri-la LP cover. The outtakes are more beautifu.....esp the one with all the flowers. That should've been the LP /Cd cover....same with the outtakes for Street Angel.....more beautiful......but we all like what we like and there's nothing wrong with that either. I also think the Timespace photo could've been better as well. Another outtake or something.....anyway.....its all good......:shrug::D

I love the pictures from this photo shoot. Though I wouldn't want it for the BD cover but it is beautiful to me. I have that photo for my UK BD standup that I have hanging on my wall right now.......I love that blue beret hat too....now if I could just find a hat like that & that crystal tamborine......:D:shrug:

Yeah, the Street Angel artwork is God-awful! Even though it was by her brother she really should have put her foot down - but then everyone hates that cover! I really don't like the Timespace pic much either, it barely even looks like Stevie!

Timespace was the first picture I ever saw of Stevie and I thought she looked really beautiful. All I could say was "I want Stevie Nicks' hair."

Now it creeps the ***** out of me.

No~ I love the full body shots....she needed to show off the pretty hankerchief hems and the gorgeous boots with the satin warmers~;)

I disagree on both counts......I think the front cover head shot on the Sheryl Crow is much more striking....I find the back shot sort of blah and run of the mill, sort of an outtake shot.
As for BELLA DONNA......I can't imagine it any other way. This cover is totally iconic, and her best cover BY FAR (Only TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA comes close!).
Remember, "Bella Donna" means "beautiful woman", and is also a type of poison....I don't think that double meaning would be captured if the covers had been reversed.
Plus, I like the thought that the beautiful woman/deadly poison has picked up the tamborine and seen thru to the other, more magical, side!

Has anyone noticed that on all of Stevie's covers (except for Street Angel), her hair is curly? Even long after she started wearing her hair straight all the time, she curled it for the album cover photo shoot (The Dance, SYW).

Sadly enough, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to Stevie's album covers although I can identify them all. I also was never one to really "study" her wardrobe and hair and choices methodically. I mean I know the different looks over the time periods but I guess I'm so entrenched in the music and seeing her live I've never really given the other things much attention so I feel at a loss in this thread. Anyone else feel this way? Probably not because if you do you wouldn't be reading this!

Oh I think Stevie fans pay close attention to her hair and clothes through the years. It's part of her persona and the whole package about her we like. Yes I think a lot of us wish she would bring back the wild sexy messy hair. She looks so good.

YES...Shaken, not stirred baby@!

p.p.s. The "Bella Donna" cover is perfection, and should be as it always will be.

I agree with you also....I love the full body Stevie from head to toe or platforms....Too me thats what made those LP covers special. Thats what made Stevie special. So when the 90's came it all changed. TS was ok but could've been better. I love the blue color but not how big her head looks on it. I think if she didn't want to do a new photo shoot for it which those aren't I think there from Mask photo session?? If I'm wrong please correct me cause I think in the Mask tourbook theres outtakes esp with the blue cape or bedspread as someone has told me it is/was?? I think outtakes from previous LP covers or heck 4 shots or one outtake from BD and a multicovered back of outtakes would've been cool. I do love the picture that was on the cassette single and cds for Sometimes its a B*tch....the one with the flag. I also have the rare poster for that. Its awesome. I guess Stevie also signed 11x14 sized photos ltd editions at her Mom's store back in '91/'92 if I recall they were like 200.00 and all sold out so I couldn't get one....bummer. Anyway, I've been disappointed with the covers in the 90's and even 2000 too. Enchanted the pics in the booklet are nice but there really could've been more nice and rarer outtakes shown. Plus a really really wonderful college outtake poster would've been great starting from BD to up to that point......a college shirt would've been nice too. Not that I didn't love those shirts at the Enchanted concerts but well......hind sights 20/20 sometimes. I have this cool Annie Lennox poster thats a small college of her solo lps and its colorful and really cool if only Stevie had done something cool like that or her marketing dept that is.......Also... not to get too off track but on the Pat Benater LP cover for Tripico from 1984....its interesting cause it reminds me somewhat of Stevie how Pat is on this checkered floor in a dress and with a bird in hand......and its from 84.....has anyone noticed the similaries on this.....its interesting to say the least.....It seems more Stevish that Pat......its odd too......sorry I don't know how to post a photo here for it.......Also with the Shangri-la cover...I like to see the front of Stevie instead of her back....thats why the outtake photos are so much better IMO than the pictured that was used......esp the pic with the beautiful flowers.....that is beautiful....so why couldn't they have used these outtakes for the tourbooks through the yrs??? Of course its her brother doing them....so I guess I answered my own question really......its sad and a waste.....but thats IMO only.....no offence......:shrug::D