Loosing Half of the Music Experience

[Barkless Dog]

While doing the Ralphe Armstrong interview, I dug out my old Jean Luc Ponty Tour book I purchased at his show in Cleveland around 1978. I had it stored away for 15 years without looking at it.

Forgotten memories came flooding back. Memories of when my friends and I would just get together to listen to music. While listening we would pass around the album covers, booklets or whatever came with the LP.

I remember studying all those covers & notes, that not only brought you closer to the artist, but expanded my listening by reading who played what & where. If you loved the bass work that a player did, next time you come across that name with a band you never heard of I would take a chance and buy it.

Many times we would just buy albums because of the cover art. That alone sold a lot of LP's

What do people do today?

Come over and listen my playlist on my Ipod?

You can't even pass around the I pod to see the art work.

To me a large part of listening to music back then was looking at the album covers. We have totally discarded that part of the experience.

Maybe people could sell music again if they went back to a larger more visual format, even if the music was just on a lousy memory stick.

[MonetBass]

Yeah! I'm with you on this one. iTunes or whoever should allow you to download the album art and liner notes along with the music. Back in the LP days, I would buy albums for who produced it sometimes. I miss the big square cardboard...

[meev992]

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

What do people do today?

I don't know about others, but for me:

- band sits around with acoustic instruments and noodles along with the song

- we still sit and listen to music, talk about it, pass around the CD case.

- if it's a video, we watch it together, talk about it.

[Barkless Dog]

we still sit and listen to music, talk about it, pass around the CD case.

I think you are an exception.
What do you pass around When the CD's are gone?
The printed out booklet you downloaded with the CD?
Your Ipod screen?

I remember Zappa's We're only In It For The Money, they gave you cardboard buttons, king Crimson gave you this huge booklet (still have it somewhere) I tiny Cd case usually lakes who plays what where, or like most people I know toss away the case and stuff it in a CD binder or just download the Cd. You dont even know the songs name (I'm guilty of that)

Around us most the music stores are gone except Borders Books & Wal marts to buy CD's, you get them through Amazon or CD Baby