The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I was able to get a copy of the actual cover art for At This Time. It is not the one shown on CDUniverse, CDNOw etc. If you would like to get a copy e-mail me at jetsetdesignps@aol.com. I will be happy to pass it on.

You can also view the art work here:
http://hometown.aol.com/jetsetdesignps/ ... index.html

Thanks for posting that. Now all we need is to hear some of the music! Anyone know when that preview website launches?

what a real good cover!!he looks great..isn't he??

How cool does Burt look!!??

I hope they definately go with that cover - he does look great!

I did the old "right click and save" with it on my computer and made it my background. It looks great!

The cover is pretty gritty looking. I like it tho, he reminds me of
Gil Evans of Miles Davis fame. Interesting.

I cannot open the page. Tried yesterday too. Any suggestions? Are you sure this is the one?

I think the adidas refers to the collaboration with hiphop-producer Dre, because adidas was one of the first clothing-brands that was embraced in the hiphop-culture. Great Cover!
Werner.

LOL. They're also the clothes Burt typically wears.

Something which is puzzling to me about the cover is the sun is directly behind him bouncing off his shoulder (nice touch) yet the shadows on his face indicate the sun is to his right and in front of him and he seems to be squinting.

What a great observation! It`s (now) obviously a composite photo with the camera lights casting the facial shadows. It`s probably too late to change the cover now, but I`ll chuckle every time I look at it from now on. If Vermeer could see this, he`d be groaning in his grave.

Someone mentioned a (possible?) preview website. I think we are now so close to the actual launching that it would be a lot better to listen to the songs in their entirety without possibly having an ever lasting influence of a clip heard over and over again prior to the actual experience of the entire songs. Burt's songs are such a work of art, and have such an integrity, that I'd hate to run the risk of affecting my future perception/enjoyment ot them by listening to bits of the record prior to its launching. (Truth be told, I did listen to the BBC program, but I wouldn't have done it -- not for the songs -- if we had been this close to being able to listen to the songs in their entirey and in a good sound system.)
This is not to say that I believe there's anything that we can do to ruin our enjoyment of a Bacharach work performed under his supervision. It's just a thought -- my 2-cent suggestion.

While I agree with Blair Cummings' assessment Vermeer would be rolling over in his grave with the mixed lighting sources on the photography used for the cover it doesn't mean the photograph is a composite shot. It is very possible Bacharach was standing on a roof top somewhere but there was additional lighting used (abused) rather than going with only natural lighting. If nothing else the effect is jarring to the eye.
Being used to the glamour shots of the 60's/70's LPs (Futures, The Green Album, Make It Easy) someone in marketing probably thought it would be a good idea to get a more gritty, urban quality going for this one. For my money it's a near miss.
Besides the mixed lighting sources the photograph isn't doing much for Bacharach's eyes, nose or chin. At any age , let's face it, Bacharach is an extremely handsome man and this photograph downplays the strengths and accentuates the negative. In a nutshell, it's doesn’t do him justice.
Having said all that, of course it’s all about what’s inside the jewel case not on the cover, but one has to wonder what was going through the Sony art departments collective mind.

Groovy, groovy, groovy cover.


Ballsy. Chic. "In your face". Uncompromising.


As for lighting, questions of composite, etc., I'm not bothered at all.

All good graphic art nowadays has been "tweaked" somehow or another. The feeling is what matters.

Case in point: Look at the modern photo of BB standing in his double-breasted suit on the LOOK OF LOVE 3-disc anthology... They've lengthened his body, in the time-honored fashion of magazine fashion models, in order to make him look impossibly svelte, "heroic" and chic.

Not a one of us on earth lives for Reality... in its rockiest sense. Not really. If we did, we'd have all slit our wrists a long time ago.

Anyway, a good artist learns the rules... so he can break them. Which may be the very message BB wants to convey with this album.

A very cool CD cover. I even like the slight (not so slight?) smirk of disaffection he wears on his face.

Bravo!