I can still remember the first record I ever bought. It was Christmas of 1969 and I had received a toy racing car that hadn't worked as a present so I went downtown to exchange it for something else either on Boxing Day or the day after. I can't remember how it came about that I decided I didn't want another racing car, but wanted a record instead, but I ended up buying a copy of The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
I can still remember the feel of that album in my hands, and looking down at the four of them dressed in their band uniforms on the front cover and the lyrics written out on the back. It was still in the days of the Beatles being on Capitol Records so the label at the centre of the disc was an ugly orange with the Capitol dome in Washington sketched on it. In those days records were solid chunks of vinyl, not the flimsy pieces of shit they became by the end of the 1980s when they were being phased out by the record companies. So it didn't wobble or shake when you touched it, but just sat there big and sturdy. It made you feel like the music could last forever.
I held onto that album even when others were lost and destroyed over the years, and it wasn't until in the last few years that I actually finally got rid of it. It probably hadn't been playable for the last five years I owned it, but it was the first record I ever bought. It became especially important to me when they started getting rid of LPs and only selling recordings on tapes and CDs. The quality of records went down the tubes to the point where you could probably only play them once before they would start skipping so my old friend was a memento of how things used to be better when it came to LPs.
The worse thing about getting rid of LPs was how purchasing a CD or a tape diminished the experience of buying music. Instead of picking up a package that measured about a foot by a foot, all of a sudden you're looking at something that's maybe five inches by five inches. Bands that had looked larger than life in their cover art were now reduced to inconsequential figures surrounded by information you needed an electron microscope to read. Yet if I had thought those were dark days, if was only because I hadn't yet experienced the horror to come: downloading.
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Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Richard, I too mourn the loss of album art. I have thankfully saved many albums, but that does nothing for the future. Too bad even if an album is downloaded that there is not a corresponding cover art that could be purchased full size or printed from the computer. It is an infinite sadness.
2 - Cindal Lee Heart
Richard, I completely agree with you. Although I have not been reviewing music very long, I have been just as saddened if not irritated by the "please download the album from the link below" response to our 'request for review' submissions. It is almost belittling to writers. The death f album art is an era of great sorrow. Although I do appreciate Mp3's and the ipod age, the convenience of playing songs anywhere I am has been a great advantage. But missing that solid attatchment of holding the music in my hands is one of great devistation. We no longer feel as if the "music will last forever" Thank you for this Blog.
Sincerely.