General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why do some people buy and listen to vinyl records? [View all]klook
(12,154 posts)The average Spotify listener generally has no idea who the band members are on the tracks they're listening to. I learned a lot about music and musicians' work by reading liner notes and personnel listings on LP covers, particular in the jazz realm.
I'd see the list of band members and think, "Oh, Ben Riley! He played with Monk -- this might be good." Or "Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder? I'm in!" Or I'd read an essay by Nat Hentoff or Ralph Gleason or Orrin Keepnews and learn something about the artists or the music -- often standing in a record store, where this new knowledge would send me to a different bin in search of new treasures to take home.
Same for rock music. And some helpful artists would even include lyrics for those of us unable to decipher words mumbled in a fake (or sometimes authentic) Southern accent.
And then, of course, there's the issue of rolling joints -- without the LP cover of Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die or Coltrane's A Love Supreme, who can craft a tight, seedless doobie anymore?
And the artwork! LPs allowed a fantastic flourishing of album cover art that is hard to match in a cramped CD booklet (or Spotify / Pandora interface).