Obscure Cover Art-palooza 2020

I don't know about you guys, but there's something about building a new PC that makes me want everything on it to be tidy and clean and fresh: something that's had me side-eyeing the disaster area that was my music collection on several occasions, wondering if this was the time I finally tackled it: tidied everything up, fixed all the broken tags, and, most crucially, got hold of decent cover art for everything.

Well, having starting right after I built my current PC in 2018, only now have I finally finished doing exactly that. The stumbling block that made the whole process take so long: unsurprisingly the lack of good cover art for a large chunk of the VA compilations I've ripped over the years. With the only art available in many cases being some dark, crooked 200x200px photo someone took of the album in 2005, my only option was to scan, clean up and color correct everything myself. Yikes!

While I'm really happy with the end result, with over 90 compilations to take care of, this was definitely no small task. So, in the hopes of maybe saving some other obsessive, oddball music fans some time, I went ahead and uploaded the fruits of my labors. Let's take a look.

So, these are all imgur galleries that you can click into and download the art from in JPEG form, but for all my PNG aficionados out there, I've also put up a zip file with all of this cover art in PNG format. (Well, I say all of it. There were a small number I forgot to save as PNGs that are in there as JPEGs, so, you know, exercise caution.) You can download that here:

high-res cover scans.zip (403 MB)

Okay, to the galleries!

Hits Series High-res Scans

So, first up we have 23 entries in the Hits series - a longtime rival to the UK's Now That's What I Call Music that, despite numerous confusing relaunches, never quite managed to surpass it. Seriously, deciphering the chronology of this series makes the Wonder Boy lineage look like a walk in the park.

(For the purposes of Google searchability) The cover art here includes (and this is, I think, in chronological order): The Hits Album 7, The Hits Album 10, Snap it Up: Monster Hits 2, Hits 96, New Hits 96, Fresh Hits 96, Huge Hits 1996, Hits 97, New Hits 1997, Fresh Hits 1997, Huge Hits 1997, Big Hits, New Hits 98, Fresh Hits 98, Big Hits 98, Huge Hits 1998, Hits 99, New Hits 99, Fresh Hits 99, Big Hits 99, Huge Hits 99, Huge Hits 2000 and Christmas Hits (2007).

Shine Series High-Res Cover Art

Blissfully more straightforward is Telstar TV's Shine series which ran from 1995 to 1998, featuring the best, and, oh boy, the rest of the Britpop era, as well as branching into some alternative US stuff here and there. Not a bad little set of CDs, and always useful to be reminded that for every Pulp or Elastica there were at least two or three Menswears.

The cover art here includes Shine (1995), Shine Too (1995), Shine 3 (1995), Shine Four (1996), Shine 5 (1996), Shine 6 (1996), Shine 7 (1996), Shine 8 (1997), Shine 9 (1997), Shine: The Best of 97 and Shine 10 (1998)

The Album (Virgin)

The Album - a follow-up series of sorts to Virgin's The Best Album in the World ...Ever! series, which was their Shine equivalent as far as I can tell, this ran from 2001 to 2005. I think these albums encapsulate that start-of-the-00's post-Britpop era in UK rock music quite well: lots of downer-ey, middle-of-the-road dad rock from some real second-rate bands, with only the very occasional exception.

But they do also have the little rays of light that made listening to the radio at the time slightly more bearable (And boy, did I do a lot of that back then: this was prime homework-doing time for me.) from a resurgent Ash; to a revival in garage rock in the US and Europe; to innovative, interesting electronic music; even a little hip hop here and there.

Even so, listening to rock radio was still mostly a test of endurance back then: one, I guess, I do have some nostalgia for though. I don't know what's wrong with me. :D

After four volumes this series went missing in action from 2003 to 2004, only to reappear for two final volumes the following year. Though with similar artwork, and a similar selection of mostly contemporary tracks, I'm counting Virgin's The Best Bands ...Ever! 2004 as the unofficial fifth installment of the series.

The cover art here includes: The Album (VTDCD 394, 2001), The Album (VTDCD 441, 2002), The Album (VTDCD 481, 2002), The Album (VTDCD 707, 2005), The Album (VTDCD 755, 2005) and The Best Bands ...Ever! 2004.

Yep, they literally called all of them just "The Album". Some labels just want to watch the world burn.

Euphoria High-res Scans

Dad rock wasn't the only thing I was listening to in the early 00's though. I was also a budding trance fan, but with - goodness knows - nowhere to experience it, and with dance music only on the one "cool" radio station over the weekends, it was hard to come by. I always wanted to check out the Euphoria compilations, but I wouldn't have even known where to start with them at the time, even if I could afford them. But hey, what's your adult life for if not filling the vacuous hole within you with the stuff you couldn't have as a kid? :D

The cover art here includes Euphoria: For the Mind, Body and Soul, Euphoria II: Deeper, Euphoria Level 3: A Higher State of..., Euphoria Level 4: Pure, Transcendental Euphoria, True Euphoria, Total Euphoria, Old Skool Euphoria, Deeper Shades of Euphoria, The Very Best of Euphoria, 3CD Limited Edition Euphoria, Classic Euphoria and Classic Euphoria Level 2.

The Very Best of Euphoric ... Breakdown High-res Scans

Kind of a sister series to Euphoria, again by Telstar TV, I didn't see much point to collecting these too, until I noticed there was a disco one. Grabbed that last summer, and *mwah*, is it excellent: an absolute total recommend. The house one: eh, it's okay. Also picked up the original installment, which is... fine, but nothing I didn't have already, and the mixing is pretty weak on it from what I remember.

Cover art scans here include: The Very Best of Euphoric Dance Breakdown, The Very Best of Euphoric Disco Breakdown and The Very Best of Euphoric House Breakdown.

The Annual (MoS) High-Res Scans

The Annual: Ministry of Sound's end-of-year / eventually, whenever-they-felt-like-it dance music wrap-up compilations. These, as much as I like their presentation with the little booklet and stuff, I've never really given a fair shake to. Well, aside from the 1999 one I guess, which was pretty trance-filled tbf. I guess I like what I like. :D

Cover art scans here include: The Annual (1995), The Annual III (1997) and The Ibiza Annual (1998).

Greatest Hits of ... The Story of the Year (Telstar) High-res Scans

The Story of the Year - another Telstar series. This was another end-of-year wrap-up type thing, but this time pop music. I've only got three of these so far, but they seem to be a reliable source for some really weird, obscure, garbage tracks, which neither the Nows nor the Hits have throw up. I'm talking I'll be Back by Arnee And The Terminators, Thunderbirds Are Go! by F.A.B., The 1990 Brits Dance Medley. Mmm, that's some glorious trash. Think I'll be seeking out a few more of these in the not-too-distant future.

Cover art scans here include: The Greatest Hits of 1990: The Story of the Year, The Greatest Hits of 91 Volume One: The Story of the Year and Greatest Hits 92: The Story of the Year.

The Best ... Album in the World... Ever! Hi-res Scans

The Best [blank] Album in the World... Ever! - for a brand that seemed so omnipresent when I was a kid in the mid 90's, it's taken a surprisingly long time for any of them to enter my collection. These two I've only acquired within the last year. How is that even possible when the cover art for that dance album is so incredible?!

Cover art scans here include: The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Part 3 and The Best Disco Album in the World... Ever! 2.

Kerrang! The Album High-res Scans

At what point does my ironic love for turn-of-the-century nu-metal and punk pop become a genuine love for turn-of-the-century nu-metal and punk pop? It's hard to say.

Cover art scans here include: Kerrang! The Album, Kerrang! The Album 2 and Kerrang! The Album 3.

Now 10th Anniversary High-Res Scans

Finally! Some Now compilations, which I guess were the vector through which this sickness first manifested in me. Not through these ones though. The first set of compilations I started collecting was the main numbered series. These installments were issued to mark the 10th anniversary of the series in the UK in 1993, but seem to have continued with new installments in 1994, and again in 1995.

Cover art scans here include: Now That's What I Call Music! 1983, 1984, 1985, 1993, 1994 and 1995.

The No. 1 .. Album (Decadance) High-Res Scans

Don't know a whole lot about these compilations, but I've picked up a few of the old skool and rave ones in the past, and at the end of 2018, after randomly getting really into happy hardcore, I picked up a couple of those too. These seem to have been released by a company called Decadance. 4 CDs in each set, and usually pretty solid track lists. Getting them second hand, they're pretty incredible bargains, even if their cover art is absolute doo-doo.

Cover art scans here include: The No. 1 Hardcore Classics Album **, The No. 1 Old Skool Album and The No. 1 Rave Album.

** Had to fix a couple of big tears in the upper right corner on this one, so it's not an *exact* reproduction of the original art, but I think I did a passable job. :)

Other - High-Res Cover Art Scans

And finally, all the other odds and ends, from the first installment in an extremely early dance comp. series, masterfully titled Deep Heat; to (hang it up, everyone) The No. 1 Rap Album; to two of the most mind-boggling terrible dance albums I've ever experienced: Irish Clubland I & II, bay-bee!

Cover art scans here include: Deep Heat, Electric: The Very Best of Electronic, New Wave & Synth, This is... Big Beat, The Hacienda Classics, The No. 1 Rap Album, The Sno-Core Compilation, Supercharged, The Best Bands... Ever! 2004, Human Traffic OST, Irish Clubland, Irish Clubland II, Pure Irish, Pride & Passion, Live Earth, Greatest Hits of the 80's (8 CD Box Set), Smash Hits: The 80's (2008) and 100 Hits: 80's Pop.

Well, that's it for now, but I guess if my musical tastes somehow seem appealing to you, you can follow me on Last.fm and/or Spotify for more incredible recommendations.

https://www.last.fm/user/JiliK1

https://open.spotify.com/user/jilik1?si=UaS8Y3WyRW6KL2aDMOXD4w