by Larry Richman
September 6, 2006 6:41 PM

Bob Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle. "Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."

I think I know what he means.

"Back in the day," when vinyl albums were the rule, you would go to a record store. There would be these huge bins filled with 12" records. They are similar to the ones used today for CDs, but obviously much larger in size. You needed two hands to pick one up and hold it, and the cover art was often literally "art." Famous artists of the day would create covers, and some artists who did cover art became famous simply because they were good at it. They were sought after by other musicians. Who designed the cover was almost as important as the music inside, for some people. Covers themselves were framed and hung on walls.


There was also a back side to these albums. They were so large that all sorts of pictures and information could be put on them. Then there were "foldout" covers. Some bands were known for putting out albums that opened up into 3 or even 4 parts. Often there were posters inside that you could hang on your walls.

The packaging itself was something you looked forward to seeing. Many of us who grew up in that era can attest to sitting for hours and poring over every part of the cover. We would stare at the front, looking for clues to what the artist intended. Some covers were embossed in 3-D or had cutouts that had other things hidden under them. The backs often contained thousands of words that you could sit and read, and you didn't need a magnifying glass. And if it was a tri-fold cover or more, you could sit and look at the pictures inside, read the notes, etc. I can remember sitting and looking at a cover for the entire 45 minutes or so that it took to play both sides of the record.

Everyone tried to take good care of them, of course, but there was also something about you if your cover became worn that said "this guy really loves this music." Sort of like how a book you read over and over becomes worn. That doesn't happen with plastic CD cases. People could often tell what your favorite bands were by how worn the album covers were.

Then there is the record itelf. 12" in size. A foot. It was big, and you had to be careful not to scratch it. CDs can be scratched, of course, but a record is much more delicate than a CD, and if you let them sit in the heat they became warped and ruined very easily. It didn't take much to have one get warped.

The more you played it the more people knew it. You tried to take good care of it, of course, but invariably it developed little clicks and pops over time. It was almost like a badge of honor, like having a scar from a barfight. You couldn't just toss them around like CDs. And you couldn't make one at home. You couldn't duplicate it. If you wanted another one, or your friend did, you'd have to go buy one. There was no such thing as a "blank," and the only way to get one was to get the whole package, cover and all. That made it much more valuable, in a way, because each one was one-of-a-kind.

I think that's what Dylan meant when he said that CDs have no "stature."