Strange Days (album) - Artwork

Artwork

Unlike all of the band's other studio albums throughout their time with Morrison, the cover is not a group shot of the band, because of Morrison's refusal to appear on the cover. Joel Brodsky decided to photograph a group of street performers in New York. The location of the photograph is at Sniffen Court, a residential alley between Lexington and Third Avenue in Manhattan. The availability of such performers pictured was low, so Brodsky's assistant stood in as a juggler while a random cab driver was paid $5 to pose playing the trumpet. Two twin dwarves were hired, with one appearing on the front cover and one appearing on the back cover, which showed another shot of the alley. However, a group shot of the band does appear on a poster in the background of both shots, bearing captions of the band and album name (the same photograph previously appeared on the back cover of the band's self-titled album). Because of the subtlety of the artist and album title most record stores put stickers across the cover help people identify it more clearly.