What a simple brief, design the artwork based on the album title.
That's a 'cool' and 'thought provoking' title, but from the point of view of album art creation, what the... Apart from UFO's 'A Conspiracy Of Stars', this was to be my biggest challenge yet.
After thinking on it for a few months (yes months!!), Sir Isaac Newton sprung to mind - Having studied 'A' level physics back in the day, Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726) was an English physicist and mathematician (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution.
Newton's third law of motion immediately came to mind. Formally stated, Newton's third law is:
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
Ideas started to gel:
Metallic balls swinging from a structure (Newtons cradle) - Demolition/Wrecking ball - Moon sun planets but nothing materialised, so back to the 'drawing board'. Dave was busy laying down guitar tracks and recording other instrument parts, so the pressure of deadlines were looming.
Taking a simpler view, I looked up the word 'consequence':
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission from acting) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence. In an extreme form, the idea of consequentialism is commonly encapsulated in the English saying, "the ends justify the means", meaning that if a goal is morally important enough, any method of achieving it is acceptable.
Hmmmm, I knew I had to break the album title down into thoughts and ideas. That's it!!! Breaking down - Glass comes under the 'Principle of Consequence' - we all know what happens when you exert pressure on glass, it breaks and shatters. Wouldn't it be great to get glass to break, leaving a hole BUT in a 'shape' - what better shape than Dave's iconic Gibson Fying V!! How the hell can I do that? Luckily I have my tools, not a hammer and chisel but my MacBook Pro and Adobe software.
After a week of working up the artwork, I was really very pleased with the outcome. It was important to get the glass looking natural and the hole created, authentic. It took some working up and a lot of patience, but was well worth the time and effort.
The music isn't too shoddy either. This is my 12th Dave Burn album release (15 if you include the two single and Paul Raymond album, Rewind 50) and it's also one of my proudest collaborations to be associated with such a talented artist and human being. Dave Burn R-O-C-K-S. Big time! Here's to the next 12.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSEQUENCE - 2016
01. Louis Schmidt 05:22
02. All Of My Life 04:03
03. 13 04:44
04. Never Give Up 04:00
05. Sassattack 04:48
06. 4-1 06:31
07. Gambling Man 04:32
08. When All Is Lost 05:16
09. Instantanious 06:12
10. Dragons Tail 05:00
11. Open Your Heart 05:39
Total: 56:02
Guitars/Bass/Keyboards/Drums:
Dave Burn
Produced: Dave Burn
Engineered: Dave Burn
Artwork: Tristan Greatrex
All tracks recorded at Home Studios - Newcastle Upon Tyne - England
March 2015 to February 2016
90% of the guitars on this album were recorded using a CSI Les Paul copy, bought by my parents when I was 11, my first guitar. The other 10% was on my Std USA Strat. All recorded through MY Marshall JVM 100w head or Marshall 6100LM 100w head thru a 1960av ca or DI.
The Brief was simply the title, The Principle Of Consequence. I say ‘simply’, the brief was so very vague in reality. The ‘principle’ is the way in which you act will determine how you are ultimately viewed. The subtext would be cause and effect. I’m forever being told I’m too principled and I look at the consequences of my actions too much, then I stumbled on the above theory so this title means quite a lot to me.
Tristan, undeterred by my vagueness, created exactly the style I was looking for and in such a way I never expected, delivering an image to match the title perfectly, once again his stunning imagery and ability more than achieved any expectation!.