Emergency on Planet Earth
Jamiroquai, debut album artwork: Emergency on Planet Earth, Sony Music, 1993.
Words by visual artist James Marsh
This was commissioned as a wrap-around vinyl cover initially, though it was later relegated to the inside gatefold.
I was sent various photos of the band as reference, all to be included in the final painting of a panoramic rainforest scene. This was the basic brief I was given to work with. The landscape image I settled on was intended to fold in half, effectively leaving Jay’s portrait as the front cover image, with the rest of the verdant scene continuing over onto the back panel.
I hadn’t heard any tracks at the time.
Unfortunately, 26 years on, the urgent title remains just as relevant today, if not more so.
Despite the design agency rethink on the cover itself, on seeing the final artwork Jay Kay was delighted enough to requested a hand-painted mural version for his recording studio - something I declined at the time, mainly because I didn’t want to repeat myself work-wise.
2013 saw a re-released double CD Digipack, incorporating many cut-out crops from the original painting, all set in a 24 page lyrics booklet. I worked closely with the agency art director on this release, supplying numerous cut-outs, crops and graded backgrounds.
The original was painted in acrylic on stretched canvas.
