Music Album Covers With Hands On Them – Part 2

A mosaic of 16 music album covers that feature hands.

This post is part of a series on music album covers with hands on them: part 1, part 2 (this post), part 3, and part 4.

Each of the 16 albums shown in this post features hands on the album cover. In part 1 of this series, the hands were real or realistic looking. In this part of the series, the hands depicted are less realistic but still clearly recognizable as hands.

What the hand represents on each cover is as varied as the musical styles in these 16 albums. Hands can represent strength, mysticism, power, anguish, celebration, and unity to name just a few things. However, one thing is for sure: exploring music by a cover artwork theme like "hands" lets you  discover new music.

The album release dates range from 1970 to 2018.


Hamsa - Hand of Fatima

• Punjabi MC – "The Album" (2003)
• Jah Wobble and the Temple of Sound – "Shout at the Devil" (2002)

Futurism, surrealism

• Bad Finger – "Magic Christian Music" (1970) – looking a bit DeChirico-like.
• The Chemical Brothers – "We are the Night" (2007) – The original cover featured parts based on the photomontage "Lonely Metropolitan" (1932) by the Bauhaus artist and designer Herbert Bayer.
• The Art of Noise – "In Visible Silence" (1986) – The name of the group comes from the essay "The Art of Noises" by futurist Luigi Russolo.

Travelmarx recommendations:

• We never tire of listening to: Michael Andrews "Spilling a Rainbow" (2012)
• A new favorite: Crumb "Locket" (2017)

Row 1:

1970 – Bad Finger – "Magic Christian Music"
2018 – Capital Cities – "Solarize"
2017 – Crumb – "Locket"
1997 – Geezer Butler – "Black Science"

Row 2:

1986 – Genesis – "Invisible Touch"
1973 – George Harrison – "Living in the Material World"
2000 – Godspeed You Black Emperor – "Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven"
2002 – Jah Wobble – "Shout at the Devil"

Row 3:

1979 – Kitaro – "Oasis"
2012 – Michael Andrews – "Spilling a Rainbow"
2007 – Okervil River – "The Stage Names"
1973 – Passport – "Hand Made"

Row 4:

2003 – Punjabi MC – "The Album"
2009 – The Antlers – "Hospice"
1986 – The Art of Noise – "In Visible Silence"
2007 – The Chemical Brothers – "We are the Night"

Music Album Covers With Hands On Them – Part 1

A mosaic of 16 music album covers that feature hands.

This post is part of a series on music album covers with hands on them: part 1 (this post), part 2, part 3, and part 4.

The 16 albums shown in this post feature hands on the album cover. What the hand represents on each cover is as varied as the musical styles represented.  Hands can represent strength, power, despair, defiance, celebration, and unity to name just a few possibilities. The use of the hand may or may not even connect with the themes expressed in the music. However, one thing is for sure: exploring music by a cover artwork theme like "hands" lets you discover new music.

The album release dates range from 1976 to 2018.  

Recognizable gestures:

• The Loverboy "Get Lucky" (1981) album cover features crossed fingers for good luck, tying in with the title.
• The Simple Minds' "Black and White 050505" (2005) album cover features two hands making a heart.

Political themes:

• System of a Down's eponymous album (1998) features cover artwork from a 1928 anti-fascist poster designed by visual artist John Heartfield for the Communist Party of Germany.
• Majek Fashek "Prisoner of Conscience" (1988) features hands behind what looks like a wire fence.

Illusion:

• The Bobby Womack "The Greatest Man in the Universe" (2012) features a very flexible thumb.
• The Soundtrack of Our Lives' "Gimme five!" (2000) features a hand with six fingers.

Travelmarx recommendations:

• Guilty pleasure listening: Cerrone "Love in C Minor" (1976) – deep disco from another time
• Never tire of listening to: Dead Can Dance "Into the Labyrinth" (1993) – atmospheric, neoclassical dark wave

Row 1:

2004 – Clinic – "Winchester Cathedral"
2014 – Chet Faker – "Built on Glass"
2017 – Cults – "Offering"
2018 – Son Lux – "Brighter Wounds"

Row 2:

1992 – The Sundays – "Goodbye"
2005 – Simple Minds – "Black and White"
1998 – System of a Down – "System of a Down"
1988 – Majek Fashek – "Prisoner of Conscious"

Row 3:

2003 – Janis Ian – "Billie's Bones"
1976 – Cerrone – "Love in C Minor"
1992 – Bon Jovi – "Keep the Faith"
2000 – The Soundtrack of Our Lives – "Gimme five!"

Row 4:

2012 – Bobby Womack – "The Greatest Man in the Universe"
1981 – Loverboy – "Get Lucky"
1993 – Dead Can Dance – "Into the Labyrinth"
2001 – Jeff Beck – "You Had it Coming"

Il Sentiero delle Orobie – Tito Terzi Exhibit

Left: Flyer for Tito Terzi Exhibit. Center and right: Friends of Terzi photographed with backdrop of Orobie. Friends in high places?

It's been three years since we did our Sentiero delle Orobie (Path of the Orobie) hike, documented in the posts:

• Seven Days on the Sentiero delle Orobie – A Journey Through the Bergamo Alps
• Seven Days on the Sentiero delle Orobie - Up Close with Flowers of the Bergamo Alps

So it was a little bit nostalgic for us to walk in and see the exhibit by Tito Terzi titled "Montagna da vivere – Le orobie negli scatti di Tito Terzi" at the Museo della fotografia Sestini, Convento di San Francesco in Bergamo's Città Alta. The exhibit is not only about the Sentiero delle Orobie, but it figures large in the photos shown in the exhibit. For each stop on the Sentiero delle Orobie, the exhibit includes an overview and several photos taken on that segment of the hike, including one of the rifugio. The overview and rifugio photos are shown below.


Tito Terzi loved nature and the mountains he grew up in, and by extension the Sentiero delle Orobie, an enchanting hiking path through those very mountains. The Sentiero delle Orobie was mapped out by the CAI Section of Bergamo between 1950 to 1970. Orobie is a term that means the Bergamasque Alps. Some references:

• CAI Bergamo description
• Wikipedia page for the path – in Italian
• Visit Bergamo - overview

What we show here are a few photos of the exhibit – the path of the Sentiero delle Orobie (Orientale). Enjoy.

Overview of the route.


Leg 1 – Rifugio Alpe Corte


Leg 2 – Rifugio dei Laghi Gemelli


Leg 3 – Rifugio Fratelli Calvi


Leg 4 – Rifugio Antonio Baroni al Brunone


Leg 5 – Rifugio Mario Merelli al Coca


Leg 6 – Rifugio Antonio Curò


Leg 7 – Rifugio Luigi Albani


Leg 8

Street Sign Language Lesson XXXVI – Porto Venere Edition

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In this installment of Street Sign Language Lesson, we are in Porto Venere, a beautiful seaside town in Liguria. As we promenaded up and down the lungomare, we saw a number of interesting words and language lessons. We'll learn about aperifritto, testaroli, and the mysterious acronym RNM. For more information and photos from a week in Porto Venere, see the post A week Porto Venere, Liguria – Life along the lungomare.

Aperifritto
Small appetizers of fried things that, together, could be eaten instead of a full meal

Aperifritto is a portmanteau (in Italian referred to a parola macedonia), that is a blend of two words, in this case aperitivo and fritto. The Accademia della Crusca has an article about apericena and related words like aperifritto. In Liguria, fried fish are a common item on menus and as fast food.




Area interdetta alla balneazione
Area closed to bathing. Or, no-bathing area

It's just us, but the word balneazione (and related ones like balneare, balneabile) is weird looking. We realized it's from Latin balneum – bath, bathing place, bathroom. Maybe we should have studied Latin and it wouldn't be so strange.



Stabilimento balneare
Beach resource or beach club


In an area like Porto Venere, you quickly learn which beaches are free and which are private. The private beaches are usually marked as shown in this sign. Lido is more or less a synonym of stabilimento balneare. In this beach club, you rent a lettino (a lounge chair) for 14 euros and an ombrellone (beach umbrella with lounge chair) for 18 for the entire day. That may seem like a lot but there are usually other services that come with that price like use of the pool, lifeguard, and free WIFI.




Bagnino

Lifeguard

This sign was see at the Sporting Beach along the lungomare of Porto Venere. It's also in German, bademeister. If you like to have a lifeguard around when you or your family swim, then a stabilimento balneare is for you.

Domande ricorrenti
Frequently asked questions


We saw this sign in a shop in Porto Venere selling pesto called La Bottega del Pesto. The questions are "LO FATE VOI?" – "Do you make it?"; "C'È L'AGLIO?" – "It there garlic?"; "CE L'AVETE ANCHE SENZ'AGLIO?" – "Do you have it without garlic?"; "QUANTO DURA?" – "How long does it last"; "PUÒ STARE FUORI DAL FRIGO?" – "Can it stay outside the refrigerator?" The answer to these questions are yes, yes, yes, 3 months, and 3 days. (Why in the world would you get this without garlic!? 😉)


Note the use of Lo Stampatello in the sign.




Il testarolo di Pontremoli
Testarolo of Pontremoli


Testaroli are a pasta – almost like pieces of crepe – based on flour, salt, and water. Testaroli are cooked on a flat terra cotta or cast iron cooking surface called a testo. The cooked pasta is sliced into triangular shapes and served with a sauce, like pesto. It is said that testaroli is an ancient pasta originating from the Etruscan civilization of Italy.


Testaroli are common in the Lunigiana region, an historical territory of Italy, that today is centered around Pontremoli, and included parts of the Province of Massa Carrara (Tuscany) and the Province of La Spezia (Liguria). Porto Venere is in the Province of La Spezia.




Le insalatone
Mixed salads


I saw this and immediately thought "ah ha" it should be le insalatoni with an I. In Italian, the augmentative (called the accrescitivo) of feminine nouns is such that they usually become masculine in gender when adding -one. Examples for nouns include: porta => portone, donna => donnone, barca => barcone, testa => testone, scatola => scatolone, scarpa => scarpone, maglia => maglione, etc.


But, there are some examples of feminine nouns not changing gender, including sudicia => sudiciona and insalata => insalatona. And, insalatona is more than just a big salad, it's an abundant mixed salad.


But there's more. In some cases, some claim there are shades of meaning whether the augmentative is masculine or feminine. For example, you could say donnone – a very large woman conjuring something monstrous and without grace, or donnona – a very large woman, but still with grace and femininity. See this thread.




RNM – resti non mineralizzati
The remains of the body are not fully decomposed to just bones.


We saw this designation on recently burial mounds in the ground. (Yeah, we spend time in cemeteries.) See the post A Week in Porto Venere: RNM for more of explanation, but essentially, space must be managed in cemeteries with limited amounts of it. One way to do that is to exhume the remains of a burial concession (think niche, crypt) that have had lapsed payment. If no one steps up to pay, the remains are consigned to a communal ossuary. However, if the remains aren't finished decomposing, they will be put in the ground for some time to help that process. RNM means the grave contains remains exhumed that weren't finished turning to bone.