candle originally number in long boxes with amazing art . Word went around that they ’d go aside , since hippies — like Sting — were pissed off about killing tree diagram , but I was sorry . Music packaging say a lot about music .
Album art used to be a serious pursuit , as if it was equally authoritative to fascinate both the eyes and the ears of the medicine shopper . Perhaps , we do n’t need the temptingness of record album art anymore , since we can instantly gratify our need to hear the medicine we want to buy or steal . But when I was turn up , it was critical .
vinyl radical album – The mammy pajama of album art came from the composition board , report and sometimes weave roll around and within 33rpm records . A ducky of mine was Prince ’s Purple Rain , because the lyrics were printed on the outside for easy sing - along memory access . ( “ Ai n’t gon na let the lift break us down , oh no , let ’s go ! ” ) More often , lyric poem would be found on that well torn intimate sleeve . The good record album covers were the 1 that opened , with a leaflet of picture and lyrics inside . That was the jackpot .
45s , which I actually bought quite a few of in the early to mid 1980s ( cuz they were meretricious and I was a Kyd ) , they usually came in almost no protection at all , just a thin theme negligee with a hole in the middle to see what was what . The way you could tell the proficient 45s was , a full - coloring material photograph compensate the whole lustrous envelope — and there was no hole .
Memorable record :
• Queen – Flash Gordon Original Soundtrack
• Weird Al Yankovic – In 3-D
• Pat Benatar “ Love Is a Battlefield ” 45
cassette – This was a sullen clip for album art and music packaging . cassette were frickin ’ ugly , especially those standardised one publish by Columbia Records , with the crimson block lettering on the side , and like zero data within . Sealed tight with cellophane , we were first introduce to the construct of needing tool to open up our own medicine . ( Though the really cool record collectors slice heart-to-heart the easy torn plastic wrapper , to protect the art within , I always think of that as the equivalent of Granny cover her couch with charge plate . )
As cassettes dominated vinyl group , label put more information into the inner circle , so that you ’d get a piece of theme fold 97 times , out into this long affair . That was it for tape phylogenesis , though — a frickin ’ long long art object of composition with tiny photos and even tinier lyric . Folding it back in charter origami ninja skill that I did n’t have .
I enjoyed cassette singles ( or “ cassingles ” ) because they were flash , and only had the songs I care about . Still , they come in a sleeve that was opened at both end , so the blasted taping would always fall out .
Memorable cassette :
• Steve Winwood – Roll With It
• Hall and Oates – H2O
• Prince – “ Alphabet Street ” cassette single
CDs – They actually started shipping in long rectangular boxful , so they ’d take up precisely 50 % of the rack space of a vinyl album . I think this was on design , so record stores did n’t have to revise their shelving . The top side was circle of surface country for cover artistic creation , and the other day of the CD were like a retort of record album art . These long skinny box had huge binge of Jim Morrison , vast print of the noted Zeppelin explosion that launched a band into stardom . The boxes were also wrap up in easy - to - rent credit card , so contract into your CD , though it took a few steps , was somewhat easy .
But then the fleeceable freak get their mode , and the cardboard boxes were give up . Jewel corner — and their never - too - popular “ eco pac ” crony — just have thick and thick booklets , and more and more digital features . regretful , they came increasingly operose to open , to the point where disc storehouse literally started sell specialized dick to open up CDs . That ’s just wrong , but nothing is more wrong than the mercifully short - lived “ dogbone ” security wrapper , that scarred your jewel loge for lifespan .
Memorable CDs :
• Don Dorsey – Beethoven or Bust
• Paul Simon – Graceland
• Dire Straits – Communique
Digital downloads – And so we reach nothing . Not totally nothing , as it seems like every album still requires a 6 - inch square illustration to validate its being . But there ’s no series of photos , long list of instrumentalist and legal instrument and words and writing credits . We ’re doing with less and less in the way of local information about our recordings — those booklets that separate us who played sax on tracks 2 , 3 and 7 , they ’re go away . We can use the web to amass specifics when really necessary , but recording label - controlled creative person internet site really do n’t aid . Some band put out those digital booklets , but not many . And as far as track metadata , the details are short . And the satisfaction is so quick , I almost yearn for the day when I needed a extra knife to contract into my fresh CD .
Memorable downloads :
• Jack Johnson – On and On ( first time I skipped the CD )
• David Gray – Life in Slow Motion ( first “ digital booklet ” )
I come across this excellent site , theAlbum Art Exchange , when suppose about this bailiwick . If you want to get a sense of the story and the elaborate nature of album art date stamp back to the sixties , I suggest youhop on over .
Listening trial : It’smusic technical school week at Gizmodo .
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