LIMITED EDITION : cheryl - only human (boxset)

 As a progression from her last album (2012's 'A Million Lights'), Cheryl seemed to up the quality-factor of music and visual with this album, in conjunction with her return to the X-Factor. This also saw a high-quality boxset version released for the new album 'Only Human'. Let's jump into it below and see what Mrs Fernandez-Versini has to offer!

 

First off, I think this is her best album cover to date. They've all been pretty standard head-on beauty shots but this one seems to up the gloss factor with that animal strip running through her face and the type is simpler and more striking. YES!

 

 

For the boxset, the type gets an added edge of a lovely burgundy coloured foiling, I love it.

 

The foiling is used on the back cover of the box also, for the tracklisting:

 

The boxset has a lovely matte finish for the cover and the hinged lid fits beautifully over the base.

 

Click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :)

LIMITED EDITION : laroux - trouble in paradise (deluxe box set)

When Laroux first announced a comeback after multiple years silence, I was very happy. I was even happier when the 'Trouble In Paradise' album was announced and EVEN HAPPIER when the cover art was unveiled (stay tuned for that, if you still haven't feasted your eyes). The cherry on top of this already multi-layered feast was that the album would also be released a deluxe box set...so let's go In For The Kill and dive in...

One major selling point of this edition was the fact it has it's own exclusive cover, very much in the vein of it's Pop Art, collagey original artwork - this one elaborates more on the lazy, sun soaked Americana imagery we had already seen glimpses of.

And what says Americana better than a nice glossy glaze! Certain elements of the matte cover have been stencilled out in a shiny coating which adds to the texture and look of the piece. Stunning :)

This is a limited edition boxset - only 3000 were produced - each one is individually stamped.

I love that the outside box feels quite understated, glossy and white. It makes the insides pop even more so...

Click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :) 

LIMITED EDITION: girls aloud - ten (limited edition boxset)

 

Continuing the girl group theme (see my last post on All Saints' 90s-licious deluxe edition), we're now moving to Girls Aloud and their greatest hits collection 'Ten'. Celebrating a decade in the spotlight, this was a celebration of their biggest songs and the impact on pop they has achieved. Keep reading to see my cover-to-cover look into this Whole Lott History...

 

Quite a subtle start to the edition, for a band usually known for the Xenomania off the wall pop moments (a la 'Biology') and iconic, eye popping artwork (a la 'What Will The Neighbours Say?') this seemed a surprise to me - where's the colour? Where's the girls? It's sleek...but doesn't feel very Aloud to me...

 

OK! Here we go, shocking pink lining - now we're talking. Sleek black outside, bright pink inside: the embodiment of a grown up girl group? Love the cover art to the album, which we'll inspect more later.

 

Click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :) 

LIMITED EDITION: all saints - all saints (deluxe edition boxset)

Now, I'm going to take us on a trip down memory lane...back to 1997 and girl groups were ruling the charts. There was of course (my favourite) the Spice Girls and their slightly cooler, lil bit more urban sisters All Saints. All Saints debut album 'All Saints' was a collection of slow burning downbeat pop with flavours of R&B and I loved it! This deluxe edition is special to me as I had no idea it existed (no mention of it on most of the internet or wikipedia pages) until a year or so ago, when I was browsing eBay and this appeared in my recommended! So lets pour a cup of Black Coffee and take a trip back to the 90s...
there's gunna be a lot of khaki so hold tight...

The front of the boxset, I think, is pretty strong graphically - that stencil type the band used as their logo was bold and felt a little grungy too. Their first album seemed to have this cammo green palette throughout, which is used for this also.

Close up on the sticker, also you can see there is an almost faux-leather texture to the box.

The lid's off and you are greeted with a big A and S :) (also this kind of constellation motif on the letters used throughout the album art later also). This is an oversized photo booklet, which we'll explore more in a moment, but first, underneath that...

 ...We see the rest of the contents! The original album, a remix album (one of the first remix exclusive albums to be released and chart, fun fact) and - as it's the 90s - a VHS of the band's music videos. *swoon*

Click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :)

LIMITED EDITION : kylie minogue - kiss me once (limited edition vinyl box set)

So, I felt it was high time for another round of "My Editions" - where I post about a limited edition piece from my personal collection. This time I'll be diving 'Into The Blue' with Kylie Minogue's 'Kiss Me Once (Limited Edition Vinyl Box Set)'. It's a gorgeously kissable, silk cloth-bound box set filled to the brim with sass. So let's get going!

First stop, what's included:

- 12" double vinyl of the standard version of the album 

- Deluxe edition of the album on CD (With exclusive artwork featuring handwritten lipstick text by Kylie herself)

- Card featuring digital download code for the album

- 5 x 12" art prints on heavy paper stock, featuring an exclusive image only in this box set and a hand numbered life size kiss from Kylie

- 12" vinyl sticker sheet with 'Kiss Me Once' lips graphic

- 12" "faux window" featuring raindrops and the album title, so you can recreate the album artwork!

All is contained in a silk cloth-bound 12" vinyl box. 100 copies were signed by Kylie at random.

Next stop...some beautiful images and commentary of this dee-lightful box set:

A close up on that loverly, shimmering silk cloth-bound box. It simply features the 'Kiss Me Once' lips graphic stitched in the middle of the lid and it's hard to get the full effect without holding it in your hands. I spent a solid twenty minutes just stroking it... (in honour of 'Les Sex' and 'Sexercise' of course!). A simple touch, but it really adds to a sense of elegance about the piece.

It's a very slimline box, I was actually quite surprised when it arrived. At first glance it looks like it could only fit in a couple of vinyl - but keep reading to see what else is included.

Lid off and you're greeted by more lips and lipstick...I'm sensing a theme... It really does remind me of Christina Aguilera's 'Bionic', but it's so gorgeous I'm willing to overlook it

Click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :)

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : sky ferreira - boys

MY FAVOURITE SONG OFF THE ALBUM <3 Good selection Sky and I'm loving this kind of throwback to Hammer Horror posters.

NEW MIXTAPE ARTWORK : jojo - #lovejo

Fresh from being released from that strangling contract with Blackground (Thank the lawd! Now bring us that new album hunty) - Jo released a gift to her fans on Valentine's day '#LOVEJO'. The artwork is a lil' like a clothes advert, but she's looking divine, so it's fine ;)

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : kelis - jerk ribs

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : shakira - empire

NEW SINGLE & REMIX SINGLE ARTWORK : miley cyrus - adore you & adore you (cedric gervais remix)

'Adore You' has to be my favourite song off the 'Bangerz' album (maybe favourite ballad, favourite banger is probably 'Do My Thang' :P #simonsezfact) - and it makes my heart soar that they used my favourite promo image from this era for the cover art. The wilting pink roses, the baby doll lips, the art canvassy texture layered on top - GORGEOUS!

And with the single picking up pace, a remixed version (by the great Cedric Gervais) has been unleashed - featuring it's own Elvira "Mistress of the Dark"-esque cover:

 

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : the saturdays - not giving up

Goodness, the girls have performed a Girls Aloud exorcism and ressurected the soul of the 'Tangled Up' era - am I right? Only gripe is the awful editing on the usually perfect logo - Great single choice though! 

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : iggy azalea - fancy (ft. charli xcx)

OOFT - two of my favourites on one song <3 Loving the sketchbook doodle vibe of this:

Though I'm thinking this may just be a promo cover art, as a teaser Youtube video for the song finishes with this image:

Which uses Iggy's usual logo and has that vibe of official cover about it...stay tuned...

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : mariah carey - you're mine (eternal)

MC brings the 'Candy Bling' for her new single cover - sugary sweet indeed, what do you think?

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : pixie lott - nasty

NEW ALBUM & SINGLE ARTWORK : shakira - shakira & can't remember to forget you (ft. rihanna)

Hmm.. pretty bland affair from Shak's latest release. Hoping the music props this one on - a flash of bra is not enough sass for me unfortunately.

And the artwork for the Rihanna featured single:

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : little mix - little me

! update ! NEW ALBUM ARTWORK : ashanti - braveheart

Also while I've been away, Ashanti has updated her album cover...twice! Below is the latest (and supposedly final) version of the cover. I just get the feeling she's keeping the 'Braveheart' title as it's been spoken of for so long, but this image doesn't really scream out that name. Just kind of comes across as a pretty magazine cover :/

(And just for reference, here's the second version - this feels more of a personification of 'Braveheart'. It definitely works more than the blue-lipped, Xena warrior princess look at least... Maybe they scrapped this as the use of the rose evoked too much of 'Shany's last album 'Concrete Rose'.)

NEW ALBUM ARTWORK : kelis - food

Here's a chilling fact - the whole time I've run this blog (getting on for 4 years), I have not once been able to post anything Kelis-related. That makes me ill.

Thankfully she has a new album coming out and we can get that Kelis tag up and about ;) It's called 'Food' and I have every faith it'll be iconic and trend setting, as every release of hers is. The cover is some Motown, Stevie Wonder inspired loveliness. Very excited for this one!

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : lily allen - air balloon & hard out here

So while I was on my lil hiatus, Lily Allen decided to be a pop star again and shut shit down with the help of a bear, a hare and some bitches. Well, now she's onto the next single 'Air Balloon' and it's all kinds of Cher Lloyd doing an M.I.A. homage...basically, it's brilliant.

Here's the 'Hard Out Here' cover too...yes, I know i'm late...

NEW SINGLE & REMIX SINGLE ARTWORK : katy perry - dark horse (ft. juicy j) & dark horse (remix) (ft. pitbull)

Now let's start on a positive, shall we? I love this artwork. I love the depth, I love the colour palette, I love that it's illustration and takes notes from Mucha's iconic image. This type of image could evoke a whole host of associated visuals for a whole era... So why has Katy had such scattered visuals so far with everything associated with 'Prism'? 

From those dark teasers professing the 'Teenage Dream' era was dead to the campy, Tarzan rip off that was the 'Roar' video to the hippy, "flowers and peace" 'Prism' artwork etc etc. It just all feels so disjointed and sloppy. Granted the 'Unconditionally' video/single cover were flawless pieces...but they were quickly brushed over and it was onto the next. Which is this:

BUT then a 'remix' single cover has also appeared - for the Pitbull (eek) version of the song. It, quite heavy handedly, features a dark horse and then all the confidence the original artwork gives me drains out my soul... So fingers crossed the video is half decent and doesn't feature Pitbull next to a swimming pool.

NEW ALBUM, LIMITED EDITION & SINGLE ARTWORK : kylie - kiss me once (album & limited edition vinyl boxset) & into the blue

Now, as loyal followers of this blog may know - simonsez is an avid fan of some Kylie artwork. Like really REALLY. So when a new Kylie era begins, you know I have some high standards for her to meet ;) So dive in below to Ms. Minogue's eleventh release...

It is titled 'Kiss Me Once' and the artwork is giving me hints of Christina's 'Bionic', with all it's red-lipstick-sex-in-the-shower realness. I'm liking it a lot!

AND you know I'm always sold on a special, limited edition release of an album :D:D and this one will not disappoint! The limited edition run will include:

- 12" vinyl and CD version of the album

- 5 x 12" art prints - featuring an exclusive image from the album photoshoot and a lifesize Kylie lip print (EEEE!)

- 12" sticker sheet of lip prints

- (What I'm most excited for!) A 'faux window' featuring waterdrops and the album title, so you can recreate the album cover...get that rep lipstick ready!

- Also, 100 will randomly be selected and signed by the 5ft diva herself!

UPDATE!

- Due to major demand the run will now be 3,500 and each one will have a hand numbered print included (probably the image that is exclusive to the boxset)

Praise be!

Not done yet on this Kylie extravanganza - there's the single artwork to go at yet! Below is 'Into The Blue', the first offering from the new era and it is euphoric bliss from start to finish. It has elements of a mermaid (almost like when Ariel first gets her legs and fashions a garment out of an old ships sail... but better!).

Also we get a glimpse of a new logo from this album, still keeping elements of the pillar effect that the 'Aphrodite' album used - love it! Check out a higher quality version below:

Gorgeous.

UPDATE:

Kylie sent out an image on her Instagram account of her holding the single's promo CD and the artwork appears to be altered, focusing more on the handwritten type...I hope they haven't let go of the new 'Kylie' logo :(