Welcome to the Rainforest
I don't always share popular opinion but hear me out: Paul Hardcastle's "Rainforest" has the most powerful cover art of the 80s. There – I said it and am ready to battle the naysayers.
It took bravery to be a synth music fan in small town USA circa 1985. Braver still to be seen buying an album with a sleeve like "Rainforest." (Bravest of all would be cosplaying as Paul Hardcastle but I never went there...yet.) At a high point in history for style over substance, your social standing in school hallways was judged based on material choices including music and its packaging.
Consider the album artwork my headbanger classmates plastered on their walls and airbrushed onto jean jackets. Scantily-clad babes. Sleek chrome fembots. Scary demons and monsters. Hellfire galore. Sure, their metal gods were dressed and made up like women, but they had great style.
Not so much Mr. Hardcastle. Try not to chuckle at his spherical white-guy 'fro, aqua-blue tracksuit, and "I Dream of Jeannie" power-blink pose. He looms in the horizon among the stars over a neon green grid and parallel keyboards stretching into infinity. It's clear there are no cool guitar licks to be found on this planet, no hot drum solos in this cold corner of space.
The compositional effect is of a pathway to an unknown land with Hardcastle as the gatekeeper you must appease to pass. It reminds me of the Sphinx statues in The NeverEnding Story challenging travelers with trials before allowing them to reach the wisdom of the Southern Oracle. Hardcastle's stance and expression are rather Sphinx-like, and the glowing grid suggests lasers ready to eradicate anyone who stumbles in their journey. I imagine deadly bolts shooting from Hardcastle's eyes like the film's guardians of the gates.
Let's pause this cover study to reflect on the awesomeness of the album contained within. "Rainforest" is an exotic blend of Electro, Jazz and R&B. Crisp Kraftwerkian rhythms frame gorgeous pads and burbling synth bass with the occasional syrupy sax solo. It's fluid and funky, appealing to both body-rocking breakdancers and lovers of smooth jazz. Equally engaging as exciting ear candy and easy listening background music. It set the course for countless instrumental Techno and House acts to follow, not to mention plenty of artists in the Synthwave revival.
Paul Hardcastle was barely a blip on the radar of my pop radio obsessed peers. They knew his smash single "19" with its stuttering sampled refrain incessantly replayed on MTV, but this album? N-N-Never heard of it. "Rainforest" was a secret electronic Eden you had to earn to enjoy. To gain entry required abandoning one's self-conscious concerns at the garden wall. A world of wonder awaited those with the courage to carry on at the risk of appearing uncool.
And therein lies the power of this cover. While not a high aesthetic achievement it challenges potential listeners to loosen their hold on the superficial trappings of music consumption. A kid in the 80s didn't win any dates buying this at the mall record store, but I think the trade-off of defining and developing one’s authentic tastes was worth it. Unlike the curse associated with the namesake of album cut “King Tut,” this album rewards those who sacrifice their surface cool with a taste-expanding treasure.
Cat’s Corner is a collection of commentary by Mike Langlie of Cat Temper about his early synth-fluences.
