JAR OF FLIES
Two jars with identical amount of flies inside, the flies on one jar are fed more than the other, the effect is they reproduce faster, and eventually they die from overpopulation. The other jar receives less food and flies live much longer. This school experiment caused an impact on Jerry´s childhood. This is where the album title comes from, JAR OF FLIES .
The graphic concept that surrounds this great album was born also from this experiment. We are going to start now.
As for the booklet, the main cover is fulfilled with strong orange and black, the only two colors that dominate this side. I would like to point out something that I find very interesting; the orange is a color that acts as a stimulant , symbolizes enthusiasm and exaltation , has an active , radiant and expressive force , of a stimulating and energetic character and dynamic quality .
Mixed with black suggests deception , conspiracy and intolerance and when it is very dark, suggests oppression.
This, contrasts deeply with the image of the main photograph, in which we can see a picture of a sad boy looking through the jar of flies, which shows an inverted logo of the band. The child has a disgruntled expression , denotes indifference , lethargy, disinterest. Even sadness.
By joining the image of the child with the predominant color, the graphics of the album shows a duality of feelings, and the viewer can read it according its judgement. Mine here is hopelessness, which is in tune with the musical content of the album.
I guess the artist wanted to reflect a young Jerry watching the world through his special way of seeing things. The photo taken in the foreground is handled with very saturated and very bright colors, to give a more dramatic touch . The photographer who took this picture is Rocky Schenck .
Then we see a photograph of the band, very typical shot of the 90´s, taken from a higher angle and the 4 musicians looking up, and on the background,the child's eyes of the main cover with an image with stained glass filter .It seems that the band is inside of a fly, looking at the child.
This photograph was made by Pete Cronin.
Sunglasses of Jerry and Layne are very related to the fly topic
Finally we have a macro photograph of a fly, which was post-produced and leaving it in orange as predominant color.
This image shows us the fly as main and only character, neglects the child and the emotional charge is emphasized and the attention on the character is total. The image makes us think the fly has feelings, does it?
Macro Photography Alicia Thompson
The back of the booklet is made on black and white, basically a graphic summary of what the artist wanted to show on the main cover . In addition the booklet brings us the lyrics and thank you´s of the band. The flies here are shown in negative (white),and invade everything with a feeling of sadness that dominates the album .
The overall feel of this album , in my view, in terms of music is despair, and is fully reflected in the main cover, what contrasts strongly with what happened on January of 94 when it was released and in just two weeks reached No. 1 in sales. The album which is full of melancholy and hopelessness towards human life, with a cover with the gaze of an indifferent child who sees how his life passes, attracts the younger crowds of the 90´s, who see themselves reflected in all of these concepts.
Do not forget that the music also comes through the eyes . And Alice in Chains with this album remind us that not only are a rock band , they are artists who give their art through all senses, This allbum sounds and looks like the Gods.
There is no doubt that the band was at its best.
JAR OF FLIES PROMOTIONAL POSTER
This poster was also designed by repeating the existing graph, but I find it interesting from a marketing point of view, because it creates the distressing & warm feeling that evokes the album. The environment Jar of Flies generates is duplicated.
Then I want to review different graphic pieces attached to the album, to get a more complete picture of what was the release as well as in record stores as advertising in general.
I STAY AWAY SINGLE
The design of this single, is based on the main concept of the album. Graphically it is not a great contribution in my opinion because the same resource of the jar full of flies is used with the a photograph of the band on the inside, with a poor effect finish,because the faces cannot be well distinguished . Typography of the band is used vertically, and dominate the colors of the album cover.I do not think it´s a contribution, but rather was used in bad shape what already existed.
PROMOTIONAL T-SHIRT WHALE & WASP
I´d like to point out something here, after reviewing the previous items I can say my attention was hit deeply by the work made on this t-shirt because a complete individual work for this song was made even it wasn´t released as a single.It has a graphite pencil type illustration of a whale - wasp mutant, different fonts from the album are used, for the name of the band and album title. On the back there is an illustration of a fly , which makes the link to the album, and there is also the phrase "Get the fly before I gets you . You dont need To Have flies in the house . May You think you do but you dont . "This phrase is almost a warning referring to you may think that the flies are harmless but are actually very harmful .... Irony and metaphor with the central theme of the album .This design has no elements related to the album concept but he concept “ Fly " is present , and in some ways follows the same line .Being completely different has certain features that include it. It seems to me a great design in terms of illustration , layout and innovation.
NO EXCUSES SINGLE
What more can we say? The pattern is repeated in this single,it is very weird because No Excuses appears to be a song with a more positive and "enthusiastic" sound. Apparently a distinction is not made in this regard so as not to divert the main concept of the album.
Article by: Chainer.
Translated by: Schulz.
