You are not logged in. Please register or login.

esoterica
 Rep: 69 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

esoterica wrote:

Post here

James
 Rep: 664 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

James wrote:

Not bad at all. You're right....its an improvement.

I was in shock when seeing the album cover for the first time. Yes we had the description for years and of course loads of fakes but when seeing the real thing for the first time......ugh.

Not how I had pictured it.

Not a huge fan of the alt covers either but they were a lot better than the bike and the bike should've been ditched. If anything, release the bike cover as the rare alternate version for hardcore fans.

esoterica
 Rep: 69 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

esoterica wrote:
James Lofton wrote:

Not bad at all. You're right....its an improvement.

Thanks.

The bike could've been a good cover but whomever took the picture (Terry Hardin, whoever that is) is clearly not a trained photographer. It looks like it's a cover for a record called The Golden Basket.

The Red Hand is the best cover and even recalls Appetite For Destruction's original cover however it doesn't fit the songs on the album.

monkeychow
 Rep: 661 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

monkeychow wrote:

Always thought that red hand cover was amazing...way better than what we got.

The original bike with graffiti idea is a decent concept but the execution just wasn't quite right....in that sense it fits the album well hahahahah

Although I do love CD it's one of my fav albums really...but it's amazing that from the mix to the art to the promo to the production time everything about it was always like "well this is cool as shit...but...."

apex-twin
 Rep: 200 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

apex-twin wrote:

Yup, the alternatives were better. My picks - the best fakes.
chinese+democracy.png
Not very Oriental, but visually a much better image. Always enjoyed the simplicity.

guns3.gif
This one captures the meaning of the title on more than one level.

esoterica
 Rep: 69 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

esoterica wrote:

I've always said the bike cover was a lovely artistic statement obscured by a giant bike. It's a shame that, like the album, it was destined to be glossed over and treated with distain and indifference.

The shot was snapped in Kowloon Alley in Kowloon Walled City. The picture is a functional metaphor on multiple levels. The first being that someone risked their neck to graffiti Axl's band name in the middle of a controlled arguably totalitarian state. It's something so far detached from the luxuries of American life that it's hardly to be believed.

tumblr_n37olmAqzc1ql8t12o1_500.gif

From there, the walled-off city could double as a metaphor for Axl himself, walled up in his own mansion. Isolated, quickly returning to dust with unsettling pace.  The general artifice of the place doesn't inspire confidence. An old decrepit building housing the low and the forgotten, best avoided at all costs. It could something mirror the Guns N' Roses brand itself. An old house on a hill held together by sheer will and a labyrinthian maze of tenuous connections. Something that was, if but for a moment.

OshoRKW.jpg

Terry Hardin stumbling upon that message is about as rare as it gets. Truly a once in a lifetime sort of thing. You easily take two lefts instead of a right and well, the writing isn't on the wall, but he did and he was able to capture a relative miracle.

esoterica
 Rep: 69 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

esoterica wrote:

I think when I looked into it back in the day that the 2nd cover Apex posted above is also Japanese in origin.

It wasn't the first time.

Ne6TtwBm.jpg   G6EE4kDm.jpg

16

Vale
 Rep: 4 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

Vale wrote:
Wagszilla wrote:

I think when I looked into it back in the day that the 2nd cover Apex posted above is also Japanese in origin.

It wasn't the first time.

https://i.imgur.com/Ne6TtwBm.jpg   https://i.imgur.com/G6EE4kDm.jpg

16

OMG, either I never looked close enough, or I just have a vivid imagination, but I always thought it was a bunny on that poster... big_smile

ClaudeF
 Rep: 16 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

ClaudeF wrote:

Wagszilla, thanks for the background. That puts the cover art in a while new light.

I've given up on my hopes of the grenade and red hand covers ever getting an official release, but I still dream of finding the promo copies some day!

apex-twin, I remember and loved those two fakes! Thanks for digging those out!

esoterica
 Rep: 69 

Re: Chinese Democracy alternative album covers

esoterica wrote:
apex-twin wrote:

This one captures the meaning of the title on more than one level.

Wagszilla wrote:

I think when I looked into it back in the day that the 2nd cover Apex posted above is also Japanese in origin.

Vale wrote:

OMG, either I never looked close enough, or I just have a vivid imagination, but I always thought it was a bunny on that poster... big_smile

ClaudeF wrote:

Wagszilla, thanks for the background. That puts the cover art in a while new light.

lx3f95y.jpg

I stand corrected. It is Chinese in origin.

The artwork is "Beating The Princess" from "Peking Opera" series, 1997 by Liu Zheng.

Interesting year. Interesting backstory,.

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23353/lot/188/

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/20 … 905076.htm

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB