Be square
There's a discussion on David Hepworth's blog about the parlous state of record sleeve design. It reminds me to tell those of you in London that the University of the Arts London - the great big behemoth that swallowed up all the London art schools, including my old one, Chelsea School of Art - has an exhibition on at the moment of classic record sleeve art from the good old days, when records were records and sleeves were 12 inches square. It's called Spin. Plus, on 24 September, there's a discussion, which I'm chairing, called Can Record Design Survive The Digital Age?, with Peter Saville on the panel, among others. It's free, as is the exhibition. Should be interesting. I'm going to have to confess that I sold all my vinyl albums, aren't I?
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:43 PM
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14 Comments:
Andrew,
Slightly (i.e very) off-topic but how come you only ever get about 15 minutes tops when you cover for Mark Kermode on his Friday Film Review slot with Simon Mayo?
I do enjoy MK's reviews but sometimes he does go on rather too long about films that really are not that significant. I enjoy the more balanced (in more ways that one sometimes) approach to film reviews.
Perhaps you and he could both be on together?
I'll send an email to Mayo and ask.
P
I've just been really unlucky with news stories. One week while I was covering for him in August, two High Court rulings came in at about 3pm, just before I went on. Then, the next week, it was the Olympic opening ceremony and the invasion of South Ossetia. And last time, there was some cricket, and Sarah Palin was announced! In some ways, I prefer the rigour of racing through six or seven films.
I would love to be there for the discussion except that I'm in Ireland, and will be working! Any chance you could record it??!! I also sold a lot of vinyl, this would have been around 1996 when I got my first cd player, and I still regret doing so!
On a different topic, I'm a latecomer to the podcasts and have been listening to all of them in an effort to catch up! I usually listen in the gym, but I now think that the other members think I'm mad because I'm laughing so much! So, thanks to yourself and Richard for such a funny show!
An exhibition and debate I'd like to attend but sadly can't.
I really miss the connection a big old cover gave you with the album. Also, before I was earning, the cost of an album was such that new albums were relatively infrequent so all of them, even the ones where I'd taken a punt on a band I didn't know, were listened to many times and reading the "sleeve notes" was all part of the event.
Led Zep was always a source of fascination - Physical Graffiti's New York brownstone with cut out windows but, intriguingly for a double album, not a gatefold sleeve. And the UK version of Electric Ladyland with its "naked ladies" cover had to be inserted into the collection spine first, lest stray parents catch a glimpse. (In my defence I was relatively young).
But no 14 year-old's collection was complete without that distinctly 80s trend - coloured vinyl and picture discs. My first album, ELO Out of the Blue was in blue vinyl. Later I had a picture disc of Rush's Hemispheres which featured prominently a naked man. Needless to say that was kept out of parental sight in case alarm bells started ringing.
Later of course it was all Smiths and Cocteau Twins and such novelties were so yesterday.
Anyway - happy days - thanks for the excuse to reminisce.
David, your mention of the cost of albums takes me right back! I remember doing a sponsored walk for school when I was 12, and the person who got the most money won a record voucher. I won, and I agonised for weeks over what to buy! I knew that I wouldn't be getting another album any time soon, so my purchase had to be spot on! I ended up with the first Duran Duran album, which in my school was considered a 'weird' album! I wore the thing out, and can still remember every lyric to this day! I can also remember having to put a two pence piece on the needle arm to weigh it down so that it wouldn't skip!
I still buy a fair bit on new vinyl and find that it is often best of both worlds. The latest REM n B-52's gave you a CD copy slipped inside and the Beck and Costello offered HQ MP3 download links.
Yes they take up a lot of room but boy they can sound good
Oh and i'm a Kermodian but Andrew is my favourite number 2. When that fool James King stands in thats when i reach for my revolver
First Duran Duran album? Tel Aviv!
12 inch record sleeves are actually just over 12 and a quarter inches square.
I am able to share this with you because I have not sold any of my 'vinyl', and, yes, I have had to check the size.
Such is the tragedy hidden within the behaviour of the autodidact collector-hoarder.
Proper sleeve notes are what I miss the most, along with (ahem) the smell of new vinyl.
Faris Rotter? Were The Chuckle Brothers too busy? Jodie Marsh having her hair done?
I still have all my vinyl, and a record deck to play them on. But, alas, I never seem to have the time.
I will do my best to attend, as a fan of Peter Saville's work as well as a good debate!
StephenC
Tel Aviv! Excellent song, very Bowie! Just looked at the album cover, and that look, or my version of it!, got me into so much trouble in my small home town! I think I spent most of my time in the city centre trying to dodge the local metal fans who didn't appreciate my dress sense!
Of course, album art has never recovered from the demise of the vinyl album. Cassette tapes covers were tiny things which it was impossible to see anything, the CDs covers aren't much better. Also is it just me or do CD containers always seem to crack after a while?
It's a funny old world - when I was a teenager I used to buy an album every week or two, but now (I'm 37) I buy at best one or two alnums a year. No wonder the music industry's up the creek!
Like Anonymous David Jockney, I also had and indeed still have the blue vinyl edition of ELO's Out Of The Blue and it also contained something that's lacking with CDs these days, something barmy like the press-out self-assembly card model of the ELO 'spaceship'!
It's a funny old world - when I was a teenager I used to buy an album every week or two, but now (I'm 37) I buy at best one or two alnums a year. No wonder the music industry's up the creek!
spoken like a true middle-aging person. ;)
I remember when I was a Teenager buying records every week and that my father (who was a bit younger than 37) might have bought one maybe two albums a year apart from all the 'best of...' compilations that he got from family at Christmas. Normally of all the stuff he used to listen to as a kid.
I had someone tell me that as a general rule, you end up listening to/preferring the music you were listening to in your late teens early twenties for teh rest of your life. A bit of a generality, but I think there is some truth in that, no matter how 'down with the kids' you want to be.
I re-discovered vinyl recently being a bebop Jazz fan and frustrated about the paucity of CD releases vs what was available on Vinyl.
I bought myself a brand new turntable (yes they do exist) for about 100 quid, and orderd my vinyl from an online specialist.
There is something definitely reassuring about having to lift a needle onto a platter and the 'quaintness' of having to turn an LP over to play the other side. However, I didn't miss the pops and crackles and when I had the occasional 'skip', you can't believe how foreign that sounded to my ears.
However, to get back to the thread, I really do enjoy the Vinyl Sleeve artwork and design. I think we have lost 'something' reverting to a smaller media. I personally would be more than happy to have CDs packaged in 12inch sleeves just for the artwork.
It's one thing having to put the needle onto the record, it's quite another having to take the platter off, shift the belt to a different, er, gear thingy, put the platter back, and change the stylus, just to play a 78. Oh for the days of the 3- (or 4-)speed BSR decks with a flip-over stylus. Plus you could damage up to seven singles at once by stacking them to play consecutively (with the wrong stylus for maximum effect). And you couldn't take them on the bus.
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