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:: Getting Used To The Family of God ::

:: Between The Cross And Heaven ::

:: Jesus, We Just Want To Thank You ::

I know you can't see it or feel it, but the cover of this record is textured. It's got little pits all over it, and it gives it an identity all it's own. Textured LP art was common in the 70s, but that was the only time in which it was really common. Some records had raised lettering (embossing), some had some kind of overall texture, such as "Deja Vu" or "Jesus, We Just Want To Thank You". You still might find some kind of textured artwork in today's LP and CD packages, but in the 70s it was common. This album came out in 1975 which was a good year for leisure suits. You can feel the texture.

In the 60s, you never saw textured album art. That's why when you started to see that trend in the early '70s, it was like "Jesus Christ!". It got me pretty fuckin' excited, I'll tell you that. Of course, shit like that tended to jack up the price of records after a while. That and the fact that every album had to include a poster. Very soon the artwork overshadowed the music. The evil record industry started cutting back on the extras by the mid to late '70s, reverting to non-gatefold, "English style" covers, with occasional texture of some kind, but rarely.

Peoples expectations were lowered, paving the way for the CD. I like digipaks as far as the way they look. Texture is possible with a digipak. They don't wear as well as a jewel case, but all ya gotta do is put it in a sleeve and it'll stay good as new forever.

But nothin' beats a 12" album cover with an interesting design and maybe some texture if appropriate. The most important thing is, the record inside should *sound* good. This one sounds good and funny.


Mike

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 6:41 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.