This is going to be a very visual program, which may be a bit of a challenge because you’re either listening to this as a radio show or podcast…so i need to work with me on this…

 Vinyl is back in a way that no one could have ever predicted…in countries like Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and beyond, vinyl is once again outselling CDs…and a surprising number of people are buying vinyl even if they don’t have a turntable… 

What’s the point of that? ...simple…vinyl is a tangible and physical manifestation and representation of the music…it is something you own, something that resides with you, and no matter what happens, it is yours… 

Many fans stream the music while holding the vinyl in their hands…that’s the best of both worlds…the vinyl never gets damaged, but you get to hear the music just the same…

And the attraction is the same as it ever was…liner notes, lyric sheets—and the artwork…

For a while, we were in real danger of seeing the glories of album artwork disappear…first, it was shrunk down to cd-sized…then with sometime like iTunes, you got a little postage-same image…and with streaming, you get almost nothing when it comes to something that visually embodies all the blood, sweat, tears, talent, and inspiration that went into making that album… 

So here on the radio (or the podcast), I’m going to ask you to conjure up images of these album covers in your mind…then you can go back to your vinyl library and take a look…

We’re revisiting album artwork on this episode of “The Ongoing History of New Music” with a look at the stories behind some iconic covers…and after this, you may not look at some of your albums the same way again…

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