Summary
The very idea will soon be quaint, absurd even. A whole art form has all but gone. Album notes were something you could feast on (sometimes literally, with the album cover making a perfect tray) as you gave your new purchase its first play, an act that involved a good deal of ritual, notably blowing into the inner sleeve to free the vinyl from the paper.
Back in the day, an enthusiastic, informative essay by a music aficionado or critic seemed the perfect accompaniment to the listening experience. Words often informed certain tracks, giving them an added poignancy. In the jazz world, Bill Evans - the piano player on the famous Miles Davis Kind of Blue LP - recorded a celebrated set at the Village Vanguard in New York. The double album (remember those?) is famous for a musical empathy between Evans and his bass player, Scott la Faro. But if it wasn't for the album notes, you wouldn't know that this would be the last time they would play together, that ten days later la Faro would be killed in a car crash and that a musical relationship just beginning to flower would be cut short. Knowing this information makes listening to ballads on the album like My Foolish Heart very moving.See the full content of this document
Extract
In Praise of ... Album Notes.
What pleasure too, to be able t...
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