Small is not so beautiful

It's time for spring cleaning in the NCPR music library again, and there is a takeaway table outside the studio door stacked with LPs and CDs. While I don't miss the inconvenience of vinyl, I must say that the LP art drew me to the table from all the way down the hall. Something went out of music appreciation when the foot-square album cover shrank to a few inches on CD, then vanished altogether in the age of downloads.

I turned a lot of hard-earned cash into so-so music just on the strength of cover art back in the '60s and '70s. I can't say that I ever bought a CD just because of the cover. Nor have I ever memorized the lyrics of a song from the CD insert, where the type is as tiny as the fine print on a subprime mortgage.

The best album covers had enough going on to keep you occupied through both the A and B sides--front cover, back cover, overleaf, sleeve, insert, label--all crawling with images and text. The best graphic artists in the world dined out on the copious real estate. Album covers performed the job of fan newsletter and band website. The object was the promotion. I could hardly wait to tear away the plastic wrap, and I can't think of a "shopping experience" that has been so satisfying since. Send me your nominations for the best LP art of all time. Tell us why they rock, and provide an image, if you can. Email to dale@ncpr.org. We'll post the results (with disappointingly tiny thumbnails) next week.