| At the beginning,
the cover for “It’s alright” was meant to be part of Cindy Palmano’s
photo session (who also shoot the photo for the album “Actually”) made
for “The Face” magazine inspired by Tim Burton’s Batman movie… According
to Chris, the pose was to ‘suggest Batman and Robin without being too
literal’. The photo session was not well received and the black & white
version was used for the Japanese EP “In Depth”, where the typographic
usage on the cover matched all the “it’s alright” releases. Instead, Mark
Farrow now working for the design studio “Three Associates” (3a) decided
to use the “optometrist” shots from Eric Watson, images that became an
iconic cover on the Pet Shop Boys career. Actually, they decided to use
another shot from the same session for the UK release cover of their first
book “Literally” |
|
When
“It’s alright” was launched as a single, Neil said “You want
to make the record something special… I personally think -the sleeve-
it’s an important as the music. You’re buying an object, so you want
it to be a beautiful object. I also think a sleeve should give you things
to wonder about.” Chris’ “optometrist” glasses cover was used in many
different formats: German-only 3” CD, UK 5” CD, 7” and 12” vinyls. Limited
editions for the 7” and 12” vinyls were released subsequently, including
an outer black “bellyband” like the one used in the “Introspective 3x12”
Limited Edition” release to place the title in front and the track list
in the back, leaving the sleeve images untouched. For the 7” release,
Neil’s shot was used for the front cover -as it was used on the tape
cassette- and placing Chris’ to the back. The typography used on the
bellybands started using fluoro-colours, inspired in the coloured bars
of the “Introspective” cover and the merchandising and stage elements
used on their first tour MCMLXXXIX.
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