The Album Cover

Invincible Album cover

*UPDATE:Since we have never seen the original image of Michael painted in gold...i tried to recreate his vision. Its not perfect but you can see where im coming from
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Can anyone please give me the story on the invincible album cover? Ive heard so many different stories & why is his hair longer in the booklet than the cover
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Re: Invincible Album cover

Originally the story begins in 1999 with Arno Bani and MJ meeting and doing the photoshoot in New York. Sony refused to use any images taken by Arno for the Invincible album so the cover picture we know of now was taken. The cover was originally gold as Michael was painted gold for the picture (hence the little boy painted in gold; that photo was the inspiration) but Sony also refused to print the cover with the gold version (allegedly because Michael looked too feminine in the gold coloring) so instead they digitally colored the images to the five colors that ended up being released (red,green,blue,orange and silver). The original gold image has never surfaced,but there are some decent fan edits of what it could have looked like.
 
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I'm so glad they went with the version they did. Those Arno Bani photos are not my cup of tea at all. And they don't show Michael in a favorable light at all, in my humble opinion. It's moments like these that make me appreciate the studio or the producer's input into the creative process. Although, I acknowledge that most of the time it's not for the best. Another example would be Quincy recommending that the Bad album stick to the standard number of tracks rather than being a 30 track double album. As ambitious as that was, it wouldn't have been nearly as successful, even if the music was good.
 
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I'm so glad they went with the version they did. Those Arno Bani photos are not my cup of tea at all. And they don't show Michael in a favorable light at all, in my humble opinion. It's moments like these that make me appreciate the studio or the producer's input into the creative process. Although, I acknowledge that most of the time it's not for the best. Another example would be Quincy recommending that the Bad album stick to the standard number of tracks rather than being a 30 track double album. As ambitious as that was, it wouldn't have been nearly as successful, even if the music was good.
I think the picture of Michael with the blue glitter eye is absolutely breathtaking. But different strokes for different folks I suppose. :scratch:
 
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I'd like to see the original with him painted gold.. Just wonder what it looks like!
 
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I think the picture of Michael with the blue glitter eye is absolutely breathtaking. But different strokes for different folks I suppose. :scratch:

I mean it's visually interesting but I feel like it made Michael look too inhuman/unrelatable. I guess it works as an avant garde piece of art; but as an album cover, it would've looked too out of place for a Michael Jackson album. I mean, I appreciate the photoshoot from an artistic standpoint, but i guess my biggest issue is that it sort've adds fuel to the fire as far as Michael's looks are concerned. I wouldn't have wanted a cover that made him look even more "different" than he already did at that point in time.

P.S. I just realized that my last sentence sounds like it has a hint of intolerance, but that's not the intention at all. I just don't like photos of Michael that make him look like he went too far with the makeup or surgery. Because I know that most of the time it's due to bad lighting or angles. So I guess I just appreciate photos that make him look more like his natural self.
 
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Before the Albert Watson photo, there were initial reports of MJ scrolling through thousands of images (mainly in an artistic studio in France) in order to get a first idea/inspiration for the cover of his upcoming album.

At one point, a golden jacket (with diamonds on it & the words ‘King Of Pop’ written on top with no MJ appearing at all) was suggested as an initial idea for that cover.

As for the official cover of the ‘Invincible’ album, I was unpleasantly surprised back then. With so much money being invested on that album, I would have expected a more impressive & elaborate cover.

I have also issues with the official back cover of the album. There ia huge empty area while the titles of the songs are so squeezed & printed in such a miniscule way at the bottom.

Also, the fact that the record company released that album in the form of five different colors (in order to increase its sales) showed to me that they did not have faith in the quality of the songs on that album.

I believe it would have been fairer to include that one bonus track on the vinyl version of the ‘Invincible’ album (as it was reported in June 2001), rather than resorting to that move of the different colors.

I too hope the original cover with him painted gold (inspired by Albert Watson photo) will come to light one day so as to see what vision MJ had with that album’s cover.
 
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The Invincible art is terrible. Such a downgrade from imo the two best in music history, Dangerous and HIStory. The whole album was a mess even if some of the music was fantastic.
 
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I've heard stories that the drawing by uri geller, that appears in the inlay, was supposed to be the cover.

I think the gold concept would have matched the title of the album. Michael was an artist who was larger than life. he often used his appearance as a way to express himself creatively. I don't think he was always concerned with looking 'relatable'. it was one of the aspects that made him unique in the first place.

one thing I did like about the official cover was that part of his face was digitised. to me, this represents the futuristic production style on some of the album. the rest is stripped down and bare with the ballads.
 
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Can anyone please give me the story on the invincible album cover? Ive heard so many different stories & why is his hair longer in the booklet than the cover
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I might be wrong, but looking at it, I just can't help but still think that this full hair version is not real.
The boy photo was obviously the inspiration, but I think to photoshop a ~1996 foto of Michael.
His face just doesn't look 1999 here. Way too full. At that time he had lost a lot weight from the exhaustng HIStory tour. (Just compare to the other photos that Bani actually shot.

Are there any more infos on the second (colored) photo?
If that's a "back-engineered" colored version by a fan, it's very well done in some details. The edits on the corners of the mouth are undone. The neck is restored.
I like to think that that's the original foto before the photoshop hairdo massacare. :D
 
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Hmm you would think an image would surface. Hell they just released a botdf photo & only 1. you would think by now with the technology we have & everything else that leaks that it would be some where unless the story we've been told was a lie. Him painted in gold? & they released that cover. Mind blown. & where did the blue eye photo session come from & what was it for?
 
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Hmm you would think an image would surface. Hell they just released a botdf photo & only 1. you would think by now with the technology we have & everything else that leaks that it would be some where unless the story we've been told was a lie. Him painted in gold? & they released that cover. Mind blown. & where did the blue eye photo session come from & what was it for?
Those were the pictures taken by Arno Bani for the new album era impending during the recording sessions of what would become Invincible in 1999. They were supposed to be used to promote the album as a whole (album cover,promotional images,posters,billboards,etc.) They were never released until the images were auctioned off back in 2010 because Sony refused to use any of the images he took for the Invincible era because they allegedly thought that Michael didn't look right in any of the pictures used and he looked too feminine.
 
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Those were the pictures taken by Arno Bani for the new album era impending during the recording sessions of what would become Invincible in 1999. They were supposed to be used to promote the album as a whole (album cover,promotional images,posters,billboards,etc.) They were never released until the images were auctioned off back in 2010 because Sony refused to use any of the images he took for the Invincible era because they allegedly thought that Michael didn't look right in any of the pictures used and he looked too feminine.
Wow....i never knew about this. I've always questioned those pics & how they just surfaced
 
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Wow....i never knew about this. I've always questioned those pics & how they just surfaced

Yeah I read this from the auction book that I recently bought on eBay lol. I found a super cheap copy of it and read the descriptions of everything.
 
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Worst cover for an MJ album.

Both Michael and Xscape covers a way better - especially the Michael cover is great. - Sad it had to be on an album with 3 fake songs and an album so many fans don't like because of all the controversy... - The should change the album to just the 7 real MJ songs - maybe then add 3 demos of some songs from the album.
Dangerous is by faar the best cover art ever made - for any album in the world. Fit's the album perfectly.

Invincible cover looks cheap, MJ looks bad, the cover does not catch attention - very bad cover..
 
Electro;4217992 said:
The boy photo was obviously the inspiration, but I think to photoshop a ~1996 foto of Michael.
His face just doesn't look 1999 here. Way too full. At that time he had lost a lot weight from the exhaustng HIStory tour.

Are there any more infos on the second (colored) photo?
If that's a "back-engineered" colored version by a fan, it's very well done in some details.

They did not photoshop a 1996 photo of him.

MJ’s original photo of him painted gold was taken after the HIStory Tour (in late 90s).

Then Sony made some changes on that original photo & the final result appeared on the official ‘Invincible’ cover.

The second, colored photo is clearly a fan-made one.

Hess;4218049 said:
Both Michael and Xscape covers a way better - especially the Michael cover is great.

The official cover of the ‘Michael’ album never appealed to me.

Also, I consider it a totally unsuccessful attempt on their part to try to recreate the magic of the ‘Dangerous’ album cover.
 
mj_frenzy;4218067 said:
They did not photoshop a 1996 photo of him.

MJ’s original photo of him painted gold was taken after the HIStory Tour (in late 90s).

Then Sony made some changes on that original photo & the final result appeared on the official ‘Invincible’ cover.

The second, colored photo is clearly a fan-made one.



The official cover of the ‘Michael’ album never appealed to me.

Also, I consider it a totally unsuccessful attempt on their part to try to recreate the magic of the ‘Dangerous’ album cover.

Completely agree. Xscape was a much much better effort. Michael was just a bit odd. The artist wasn't that great.
 
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Can anyone please give me the story on the invincible album cover? Ive heard so many different stories & why is his hair longer in the booklet than the cover.

The original concept was inspired by a photo of a young "golden boy" that Michael had seen in an art book, or at an exhibition - a photo by Albert Watson.

The long, thick curly hair Michael wore is a hair-piece, according to Karen Faye, which is why it's longer in the booklet than on the cover. The cover photo is also cropped, to take out much of the hair.

Here's a video of Albert Watson, talking about his art work.




Originally the story begins in 1999 with Arno Bani and MJ meeting and doing the photoshoot in New York. . The cover was originally gold as Michael was painted gold for the picture (hence the little boy painted in gold; that photo was the inspiration) but Sony also refused to print the cover with the gold version (allegedly because Michael looked too feminine in the gold coloring) so instead they digitally colored the images to the five colors that ended up being released (red,green,blue,orange and silver).

I agree with Sony, on this. The Arno Bani photos were not good at all....they were far too "out there" for an album cover, in my view and I think Michael does look too feminine with the high, curly hair, in the uncropped image.

I actually bought the single, YRMW, before the Invincible album and the cover for that is amazing, with just Michael's eye in close-up and a few strands of hair.

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So......when I finally saw the album cover, it was just like a zoom-out and it didn't faze me, at all. I liked the idea of the five colours for the album, too......not all colours were available in all countries. Silver/white was the only colour available in Australia, for example and then much later on, red. So I had to work really hard to find the other colours and buy them from overseas. I only managed to acquire the blue one (my final for the set of five) as recently as 2011, in fact.
 
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There's a slightly different take on the YRMW single cover and the Invincible album cover, which can be found in a rare and unusual place.

I have the "Ghosts" Limited Edition Box Set, which contains the VHS video tape of "Ghosts", a photo booklet, a BOTDF CD and a Limited Edition Minimax CD which has three songs on it - On the Line, Ghosts and Is It Scary.

The cover for the minimax CD looks like this. Note the half-face (similar to the cover of Michael's book, "Moonwalk") and note the EYE (which is gold, by the way). Incidentally, the photo of Michael for the "Ghosts" Box Set shows him with half of his face in light and half of it in dark shadow - half of his face. It's no accident....it's a recurring theme.

Limited Edition Minimax CD

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Ghosts Deluxe Limited Edition Box Set

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Note also this image - the face is half flesh and half skeletal and see....there is the GOLD EYE.

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I think the picture of Michael with the blue glitter eye is absolutely breathtaking. But different strokes for different folks I suppose. :scratch:

I don't like any of the Arno Bani photos, but in particular, the blue eye photo.

T They were never released until the images were auctioned off back in 2010 because Sony refused to use any of the images he took for the Invincible era because they allegedly thought that Michael didn't look right in any of the pictures used and he looked too feminine.

It wasn't only Sony that didn't like the photos. Michael didn't like them either. He was very upset when he saw them and insisted that they be destroyed, including the negatives. Of course, that didn't happen, because technically photoshoot photos are the property of the photographer - Arno Bani obviously did not honour Michael's wishes..... they surfaced after Michael's death and were subsequently auctioned off. There was quite a lot of anger within the fandom, as I remember at the time, because Arno Bani should not have been selling off photos that Michael didn't want made public.
 
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Invincible cover looks cheap, MJ looks bad, the cover does not catch attention - very bad cover..

I don't agree that Michael looks bad on the Invincible cover. It's Michael. It's his face. What could possibly look bad about his face?
It's real, it's personal, it's close-up....it's a window into his soul, through his eye. That's how I see it, at least.

They should change the album to just the 7 real MJ songs - maybe then add 3 demos of some songs from the album.
Dangerous is by far the best cover art ever made - for any album in the world. Fits the album perfectly.

Your idea for changes to the content on the Michael album is a good one. I like the cover art for it, just as you do. It's definitely an attempt to recreate the award-winning, best ever album cover in the world, for "Dangerous" and I think it's a reasonable effort....a lot of careful thought and planning went into it.
 
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For anyone curious about the Arno Bani photos, here are some of them. I think Michael looks deathly ill....or like a china doll and soul-less. Whoever thought this was a good idea (probably Arno Bani) was freaking crazy!! These are circa 1999.

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This Invincible album photoshoot (and the photos) for the booklet, were much, much, much better than any of that Arno Bani rubbish!!

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Photography is art, each photograph has his own vision, maybe some appeal to us, maybe some don't, that is quite normal with art.
 
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I'm not mad at the invincible album and get the concept of releasing in different colors.. get collectors to buy multiple copies..

I do think they could habe put more overall effort in the album, there hasn't been less effort since off the wall album lol..
 
mj_frenzy;4218067 said:
They did not photoshop a 1996 photo of him.

MJ’s original photo of him painted gold was taken after the HIStory Tour (in late 90s).


Are there any sources besides fan experts for that?

Someone mentioned Karen Faye talking about the hair piece.
Are there any direct quotes from her that confirm that this shooting (the image that ended up on the cover) actually took place?
 
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This Invincible album photoshoot (and the photos) for the booklet, were much, much, much better than any of that Arno Bani rubbish!!

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Just a pity that they released them all side-switched. (Due to the way it was photographed off mirrors.) Always makes his nose look extra disadvantageous.
 
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Also, the fact that the record company released that album in the form of five different colors (in order to increase its sales) showed to me that they did not have faith in the quality of the songs on that album.

So you think if Sony actually had believed in the album, there would have been no different color versions?
There have always been limited collectors editions of albums to boost sales. Big record companies don't operate on faith. ;)
 
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For anyone curious about the Arno Bani photos, here are some of them. I think Michael looks deathly ill....or like a china doll....soul-less. Whoever thought this was a good idea (probably Arno Bani) was freaking crazy!! These are circa 1999.

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I like the middle one especially! It's artistic expression. difficult to tell whether it was a CGI image or a real life photo. an illusion! great use of colour. he looks regal. my only complaint is that there's a little too much skin being shown..

the top picture with the blue patch is decent.. don't like the bottom one though, or the short hair in both.

I think he looks a lot like LaToya in the official shots that made the inlay.
 
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