Read all volumes to The Pier’s Album & Cover Art History:Īfter taking off in the early ’90’s as the new age Alternative-Rock band, 311 released Transistor in 1997, their longest album to date. It pulls the curtain back with how the aligning art plays an integral part to the overall meaning of the album.Įnjoy the read below & let us know in the comments which Album & Cover Art you’d like us to explore in the future! If you find you’re not familiar with or don’t own any of these albums, then we encourage you to read this feature as a recommendation of what to add to your music collection! There are great stories to these covers & the albums. They’re cultural statements bringing the visual aesthetics to the music further branding the band. In this feature, you’ll read how the album’s art has more depth to its meaning than just cool visuals thrown together. Each volume will include 5 separate album covers discussing their concept & back-story. We say Volume 1 because this will be the first of 10 total volumes released over the next several months. Welcome to The Pier’s Album & Cover Art History – Volume 1. Key track: "Waiting," a rancid glop of island sunshine so half-baked it'll give you a new appreciation for 311's shants-rap days.The Pier: Album & Cover Art History Vol.
#311 TRANSISTOR VINYL OR PLUS#
On the plus side, this is probably the exact moment when 311 realized that pivoting into a career as a literal cruise-ship band wouldn't be the worst idea. Having seen returns diminish, creatively and commercially, on Evolver, the band upped the reggae quotient for its eighth album and grasped at another "Amber," with middling results. The chorus is absolutely terrible, but I would have no qualms bouncing along to this in a pogo pit with a $15 cup of Leinenkugel in hand. Key track: "Weightless," a serotonin-powered anthem that rides one of the most memorably buoyant licks guitarist Tim Mahoney has written to date. Half the tracks feel like they were written during a wake-and-bake session right in the studio, which adds to a slapdash feel that bolsters the record's energy in a surprising way. T he album art would make a great unisex sarong to wear at What the Festival, too. With only eight tracks, 311's first record for Dave Matthews' imprint ATO Records feels more like a stopgap rushed to market to justify staying on the road for another year. All of 311's muscles are flexed across Transistor's 21 tracks, from the tenacious punk-funk energy of "What Was I Thinking" and "Electricity" to the ambling psych reggae of "Inner Light Spectrum" and "Running." Even the haters can't deny that "Stealing Happy Hours" is a sleeper hit, now regarded as one of the band's best, thanks to heavy rotation toward the end of 311's marathon live sets. Aside from lead single "Beautiful Disaster," which adequately satisfied the thirst of alt-rock radio programmers, the rest of the record is basically one stellar deep cut after the next. So, in honor of 311 Day, we decided to dive into their discography, to figure out what's worth revisiting and what you should feel justified in avoiding.Ĭritics and new fans alike initially hated Transistor for its noodly ambition and failure to keep the party going after "Down" lit up the radio, but this sprawling, 64-minute epic has revealed itself over time to be 311's OK Computer.
But any artist with that much staying power shouldn't be shrugged off so easily. Music snobs long ago dismissed 311 as a silly frat phenomenon.
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