Songlist Help Flash V: Road Photos

Road design isn't an easy profession. But neither is designing good album covers, and you generally have a smaller budget and less time to create them. Perhaps for that reason, there are certain elements that are repeated over time. While in our previous list we talked about a great classic: videos with cars, now we're going to talk about another one that's no slouch: covers with road photos.

OUR TOP 10 ROAD PHOTOGRAPHY COVERS

Since we repeat them in every list, you're probably already familiar with the general rules for Help Flash Songlists (https://help-flash.com/songlist-san-valentin-on-the-road/). So, we'll just cover the specific rules for this top: the cover must also be available in physical format and must belong to what we traditionally called an album or LP. And why? Why did we leave out singles, maxi-singles, or exclusively digital formats? Well, because we felt like it, there's no other reason. Let's get to the top.

10. YIELD, PEARL JAM (1998)

Last September, there was a lot of talk about the thirtieth anniversary of Nirvana's "Nevermind." Although many thought at the time that Pearl Jam had simply jumped on the grunge bandwagon, they actually predated the boom: they had debuted a month earlier, with "Ten." An album that sold and continues to sell a lot: more than 9 million copies in the United States alone. Almost seven years later came "Yield," a return to the band's traditional sound, following the more innovative "No Code." That classicism is also reflected in the sober, 100% rock cover: a lonely road and a typical traffic sign. The lyrics, however, broadened the range of their influences, drawing inspiration from works by Bulgakov, Daniel Quinn, and Bukowski. By the way, if reading this has made you want to listen to Pearl Jam again, know that they are still very, very active.

9. F ♯ A ♯ ∞, GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR (1998)

No interviews, no merchandising, no band photos: just a couple of out-of-focus images. A name taken from an obscure Japanese documentary about a biker gang. Three albums with barely any additional information (sometimes not even the song titles) between 1997 and 2002. GY!BE didn't like to play by the rules. This album can be considered the band's official debut, the introduction to the "general public" of their expressionist, intense, organic, unforgettable live instrumentals. Without respite from the first minute: " The car's on fire / And there's no driver at the wheel ." Twenty years later, things have changed: they still release albums, but now they do give interviews. By email .

8. CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD, LUCINDA WILLIAMS (1998)

Always pay attention to the secondary roads. And the unpaved ones. It sounds like advice from the DGT (and a very accurate one, too), but it also applies to life. And to music. As Jenn Pelly explains in Pitchfork , Lucinda was too rock for Nashville and too country for Los Angeles: she didn't belong anywhere. So at 18, she left home, and after two decades playing in small clubs, she received definitive recognition with this " raw and exquisite diary of her travels through her South, from Jackson to Vicksburg, from West Memphis to Slidell, from the Louisiana Highway to Lake Pontchartrain." Memories that become tattoos, tears that mix with road dust, and a talent that could move an entire continent (or several).

7. THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY CASH (2005)

How could we talk about records and roads without mentioning (stand up) Johnny Cash? Let's remember his version of "I've Been Everywhere" , in which he mentions almost 100 different places. And when Johnny says " Listen, I've traveled every road in this here land" , you know he's not exaggerating. This album compiles songs from his American Recordings , the albums that made Johnny an indie star, with the classics he recorded for Sun and Columbia, when he was touring with people like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis . The release of " The Legend of Johnny Cash " may have been a commercial decision, taking advantage of the release that same year of the film about him starring Joaquin Phoenix , but, as it could not be otherwise, the album is magnificent. From " Folsom Prison Blues " to that " Hurt ", which surpasses the Nine Inch Nails original, a journey through all the faces of the eternal Man in Black.

6. ARE WE THERE, SHARON VAN ETTEN (2014)

Already somewhat exhausted by so much dialogue, The Walking Dead fans recovered lost emotions with episode 4 of season 4: something still seemed false, Rick, but the episode ended with Sharon Van Etten's " Serpents ," and that song resists any apocalypse. Two years later, " Are We There " arrived, Sharon's first great and flawless work. An album of greater musical richness, with more sides, the same number of edges and even more distilled lyrics: " Help me deserve you / sing me praise / You love me, but you'll change" she sings in "I love you, but I'm lost ." The best thing, without a doubt, is to start listening to it as soon as possible, but if you want to read more about the album, we recommend this review by Jenesaispop . If the cover image seems very cinematic to you, you've got it right: the woman driving is none other than Agnès Varda, photographed by Martine Franck, a Magnum photographer for over 30 years .

5. CALIFORNIA, AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB (1988)

Tradition dictates: an album with a black and white photograph of a road (or monochrome variations) must be melancholic, introspective, beautiful. If we raise each of these adjectives a few notches, we'll be close to " California ," American Music Club's masterpiece (or one of them), an album as respectful of tradition as it is a pioneer of multiple new styles: post-rock, slowcore, Americana... It's not an album designed to brighten your days on the road, but it is one that rewards every minute you dedicate to it. Special mention to the magnificent photography by Bobby Neel Adams , whose images are a perfect gateway to the atmospheres of American Music Club, from the band's debut, " The Restless Stranger ." We warn you before clicking: this last cover is, let's say, hard to look at.

4. EXIT PLANET DUSK, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS (1995)

Going from the litanies of Mark Eitzel to the Chemical Brothers' debut is quite a change of direction. But it's also true that " Exit Planet Dusk " is a much more punk album than it seemed; in fact, the Chemical Brothers would end up headlining every festival in the '90s. It seems logical now, but 30 years ago it wasn't so easy to find bridges between alternative rock and mainstream electronica. Undisputed stars of the big beat scene, along with Prodigy and Fatboy Slim, this album, from that initial " Leave Home, " is the harbinger of the eternal party that followed: " Hey Girls, Hey Boys, Superstar DJs, here we go!"

3. CINEMA, LUDOVICO EINAUDI (2021)

If you’ve been to the movies at all in the last few years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard a Ludovico Einaudi soundtrack (and seen Timothée Chalamet perform, but that’s another story). The grandson of the second president of the Italian Republic, educated at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, Ludovico is not only a leading figure in contemporary minimalist classicism, but also a true rock star . And he’s been doing so for years. For example, he performed at the first Apple Music Festival in 2007. He did it again six years later, with Lady Gaga, Elton John, the Pixies, Katy Perry, and Justin Timberlake as his fellow performers. “ Cinema ” compiles 28 pieces, featured in films as diverse and prestigious as “ Nomadland ,” “ The Father ,” and “ Insidious .” He’s very clear about it: “ I always find it interesting to hear my music combined with images; It's like rediscovering it, with a different interpretation ." Judging by the figures (one in 10 classical music streams in the UK is of one of his works), there are millions of people who agree with his point of view.

2. AUTOBAHN, KRAFTWERK (1974)

If we're going to talk about revolutionary albums, let's get serious. Everything that came after—and when we say everything, we mean everything—was changed by “ Autobahn ,” the first Kraftwerk album that sounds like Kraftwerk. The sound would be evolved again and again, mutated in the lab, perfected, but the genesis is here. They saw something that didn't exist. Or as they put it, much more accurately, in The New York Times: “ Who knew robots were so funky? ” Forty years later, The Guardian is crystal clear: Kraftwerk remains the most influential group in the world . Only they could be invited to perform eight nights in a row at the temple of contemporary art, London's Tate Modern , and at the same time be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . If you're a fan of the Düsseldorf band, you'll remember that “ Autobahn ” has a different cover, without a photo, but that it could also have made this list .

1. NEBRASKA, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1982)

When Prefab Sprout wrote their hit “ Cars and Girls ,” everyone saw it as an attack on the Springsteen way of life : the open road, the girl in the passenger seat, freedom reduced to a matter of miles. It was, of course, a gratuitous attack: no one knew how to see the other side of the American dream better than Bruce. Perhaps with the exception of David Michael Kennedy , the author of the iconic cover photo. “ Nebraská ” is an anomaly in Springsteen’s work and, at the same time, its perfect quintessence. Perhaps that’s why the attempt to record his songs with the superlative talent of the E Street Band didn’t work ( although it might, and how, live ). The Boss preferred to stick with the material he recorded solo, mostly in a single session, on a cold (we assume) January 3, 1982. Yes, it's funny, but among all the stories told on " Nebraska "—those gamblers left with only one option, those sentenced to 99 years and 1 day, or those fugitives begging for no one to try to stop them—a reason seems to emerge. To believe. Dark humor or hope, two sides of the same coin. Everyone likes to show off their travel photos, so check out your record collection, or your favorite streaming app profile, and show us which covers we've missed. We'll change, modify, or expand the list as much as necessary.