Sitting or standing?
 

Remember when TISL was just getting press right before it's release? Most of the pics of the album cover were of Stevie sitting with her back on the arch, and the title in the upper right. Then the album comes out and she's got her back to us looking out under the arch.

I personally liked the sitting pose better, it seemed very zen/buddist to me.

Anyone else with a thought?

Randy

Here's the other pic. I wish I could have uploaded them onto 1 post...

Randy

PS: Someone tell me if they can see the first attachment, because I can't. Here is is again, just in case...

Yes I remember that- and I liked the sitting picture over the the one that ended up being better as well......

I always thought the one of her standing w/ her back to us would be great as the back photo...Oh well, Its still incredible cover art, and brought her back to form with her best dramatic cover photo's

But I seem to recall most people preferred the one that ended up being-some mentioned Stevies face looked stange or somthing to that effect

I like the style of both of them-except th standing one her curly hair looks very 80's permed-why didn't they have straight hair?
The sitting down one has something weird about her head shape or eyes or something.
My favorite pics were inside -the witchy looking ones with the Japanese calligraphy!

I was kind of surprised that they ended up not using the first photo that had leaked out... but to hear Stevie tell it, apparently that was never meant to be the album cover.

I just happened upon it again recently, but right now I can't remember the exact interview... anyway, she says that they took one test shot, and then dove into a full-fledged photoshoot... but when they looked at that test-shot, they all knew right then and there, that *that* had to be the album cover.

Some people are turned off by the cover, because they get the vibe that she's walking away from the listener... but, to me, it feels more like she's beckoning us to step into her world for an hour, and to follow her on the journey that she's taking.

(As a side note, I love her hair on the cover, and wish she'd wear it like that more often!)


Johnny Stew

I'm so glad they didn't go with the sitting cover. The picture looks fake to me - her head looks too big for her body or something. I swear when I first saw it, I thought someone had just photoshop-ed a picture to go along with the early copy of TISL that was circulating. :)

The final cover is very gothic and seems to fit the theme of the record.

Mike B.

The standing/walking shot is fantastic! I really thought it was a great cover when I saw it. From what I heard, this picture was shot just after she had gotten up from sitting on the floor.

The hair is great, too!! I wish she'd go back to the wild style of the Belladonna era....

I really like the cover of the album a lot. Ya know, when I look at it this is what comes into my mind. Stevie saying: "Standing in the doorway, Watching out to sea, Calling out to me" as the lyrics say in How Still My Love. I also agree that it is her wanting us to follow her into her world.

I thought both photos were nice, but the standing one that actually made the cover is my favorite of the two. I just love everything about it!

:) Michelle

I love that album cover so much! Standing is my preference! It's very elegant. I have looked all over for a full size poster of this and cannot find one, so I settled for one of those 12 by 12 pics for the record stores!

ok-so everyone disagrees with me about the hair-Ijust think it looks so 80's-Istill think straight would be better.
The cover does stick with her album cover theme of full body shots (except for...almost... Street Angel) ...I like when her clothes are more costumey though (Wild Heart, OSOTM) and less like the same dress that'sbeen on the cover of Rumours...Bella Donna...now TISL. Even Rock a Little (if it wouldn't have looked so cut out and glued on a white background)!

I agree with Ricohv about Stevie's hair on the TISL cover photo. Whilst the "Rapunzel look" is perhaps appropriate for the vibe and theme of "Shangri-La", it does have that worrying resemblance to those tasteless perms she was so fond of during the '80's. I'm glad she was photographed from behind because those curls would not be so flattering these days.

The photo of Stevie inside where her curly hair is being blown (also the cover of the Planets single and TISL Tour Programme) and she is turning towards the camera is one of the ugliest shots I have seen of her. I much prefer her with straighter, sleeker hair. Any hint of a curl or wave these days is ill advised - check out her drab appearance on Letterman when she performed Everyday and also the Rosie O'Donnell show around the same time. Her hair aged her and had a definite "mumsy" feel about it.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not obsessing over her appearance - I just simply perfer a simpler, more understated look. Having said that, I really dug those cocodile skin trousers she wore in the Destiny's Child video and that slight bit of crimping to her hair was quite cute because it was only one or two small sections.

Regarding the Rock A Little cover photo looking "cut out" - well that's because it was. If you compare it to the outtakes from that same photo session, it is quite obvious that the shot they used was majorly doctored to make her look thinner. Even without the comparsion, it always looked a little strange to me - her face also appears to have been manipulated to some extent. The final transformed image has been placed on the white background as we know it but is quite clearly fraudulent.

Of course, Stevie is not alone here - virtually every publicity shot of a celebrity you see these days has been retouched, from actors to models, even as young as 16. When you consider that the likes of Britney, Christina and god knows who else parade around with hair extensions, a full palette of makeup, false body parts etc and then insist on a soft lens, I think Stevie's not doing too badly.

I'm just glad that the days of those wretched "close ups" featured in the Red Rocks and Tango In The Night concert videos are long gone. The first thing I noticed about The Dance video was how natural Stevie looked (especially in comparison to the overly painted Christine) and that the filming was clear with very little filtering. Apart from anything else, those re-filmed segments during the '80's detract from the emotion of some brilliant performances and make the aforementioned videos unwatchable.

Running towards the sea...
 

I also prefer the standing, running towards the sea cover as opposed to that "not great" (IMO) photo of her sitting on the floor...it doesn't look like her AT ALL in that photo...there's something wierd about it, I agree. I like her hair in the standing photo also...it's different, and from the front, it probably looks like this, huh?

http://www.sararhiannon.com/tislott4.jpg

Yep....