(Could a young un please translate to the reflect current technology? I have no idea what they’re called these days.)
I’m talking about the booklet that comes with a music CD, which might have lyrics, or a bio of the artist, or the artist’s self-important musings, or who knows what – I know not what, because I almost never look at them. I’ll occasionally check for the names of band members, in order to search for other bands said person might have appeared in – but me, generally, no.
So who does read them, and why? Or are trees dying in vain to print booklets that absolutely no one reads?
I’ll check them out if the booklet has cool artwork/photos (recent case in point: Bjork’s Volta), or if there’s some kind of essay or manifesto or something. If it’s just lyrics and production info, I can find that info online just as easy.
Yep, all the time! Usually I like to see who has writing credits on the songs, who’s playing on them (assuming it’s someone other than members of the band), and I like some of the quirky things that get written occasionally. One of my favorite is the Traveling Wilburys, Vol 1. A very entertaining read.
I’ll look at the lyrics and who’s playing what. I don’t usually read the notes per se, but actual liner notes stopped being relevant back in the 60s (Did you know there is still a Grammy Award for liner notes? And that Johnny Cash won two of them?).
The original idea was to give a sales pitch for the album. Now, they generally only appear on CDs of historical interest (i.e., those that are reissues of classic albums or collections of a classic musician).
I used to back in my vinyl days. The new ones are too small for me to navigate leisurely. I still save them for reference, but it’s just not the same as it was back in the day.
I read them all the time; in fact I get a little pissed-off when the “booklet” just gives the tracks; I’d like full notes when/where/who recorded plus lyrics.
I don’t buy the “lyrics are online” concept; first off that’s not always true; and secondly, unless you’re willing to download them, they may not always be online for you to access.
Likewise, I’m ticked off when I buy a DVD and it doesn’t have an insert with chapter list. Since the keeper-cases take up too much shelf real estate, I prefer putting the DVDs in albums, but one needs the insert to identify it. I can’t begin to tell you how many inserts I’ve had to make myself by scanning the covers and getting the chapter lists either online or extracting it off the DVD itself (visually), and overwriting the info on the scan. Then print it out on brochure paper!
How much money are they saving by doing this? Charge me a freakin’ extra 50 cents if you have to.
Yeah, exactly – ain’t presbyopia a bitch? (That, plus I’m a whole hell of a lot less likely to be really stoned – um, to be nothing else but listening to music – when I’m listening to music.)
I’d be curious to know what kind of lyrics can’t be found online through a simple Google search. I listen to some semi-obscure stuff and I’ve never had trouble. Do you remember any examples?
Agree. Old days with albums, listen to album as you read the notes. Now they’re too small to bother with, and I don’t think anybody does true liner notes anymore anyway, except for Rhino reissues and the like. I especially liked the type where some wag would wax rhapsodic for an entire back cover about how great whatever 60’s chantuese on the front was.
I always read the liner notes. They ought to have at least a song list and who wrote what. Lyrics are next on my list, then who played on which songs. Instead, a lot of bands give us a random collection of snapshots taken with a Kodak throwaway.
Absolutely I read them. I want to know songwriting credits, playing credits, producing credits. I want artist photos. I like having the lyrics available, though I’ve learned not to read them before familiarizing myself with the song. Sometimes there’s other good stuff in there too: little bits of humor, a note from the artist, etc.
Maybe later, if I’m feeling bored enough, I’ll look through the liner notes/booklets of my CDs and see if I can find any examples of Good Stuff to share.
I’m another big fan of liner notes. True, you can get most lyrics online, but isn’t it a lot easier to have them with the CD rather than bother going to the computer every time a lyric question arises? (It’s especially important if you buy a lot of local CD’s like I do.) I’ve found they’re downright vital if I buy CD’s in jazz or classical. I come from a rock backround, and knowing the structure and intention of a song in these genres helps greatly in enjoying the music.
I always read them, although nowadays, I have to use a magnifying glass. I collect old music on reissues and in box sets, and I read the booklets cover-to-cover. I like to know all that stuff about the groups and artists. Where and when the songs were recorded, by whom, and all the details about their history. Andrew Sandoval writes great liner notes.
I think it’s weird how, as the likely demographic for buying a box-set of a 60s or 70s group gets older and more likely to need glasses or contacts, the packagers seem determined to use smaller and smaller print to fit more text in!
I’d rather get less info, but bigger print so I can read it more easily… Sometimes now, I think, well, I wouldn’t mind reading up on this stuff, but it’s just not worth my time peering at the minute text. So I don’t, and rely on my probably faulty memories of whoever’s playing!
One that comes right to mind are the lyrics to the German band Lederknacken, the song called Amok. Once I was able to find it, but it’s not there anymore.
Another is an Irish band called “The Adventures”; their debut album. No luck.
They’re have been times where I looked for a particular lyric and all the hits would be wrong; as if one guy posted an incorrect lyric and everyone else cloned them
I alway read the liner notes. I especially like anything written by the artists themselves. When a song intrigues me for any reason, getting some kind of insight–what the song meant to the person who created it–is a huge bonus.
It’s been a long time since I purchased music, but I’ve always been disappointed if the album just had a sleeve, the tape didn’t have 12 fold-out pages, or the CD had one piece of paper instead of a booklet.