In praise of smart packaging, and in condemnation of shitty stuff, too.

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What's good:

1 - A clearly readable spine, especially when you can identify the issuing label at a glance (the Black Saint/Soul Note rainbow, Impulse! orange black and white, American Records' red stripe with a white star)

2 - Songs with titles, numbers and runtimes on the outside of the box, again, clearly readable.

3 - Musical and other credits, including lyrics sheets (a whole seperate topic of debate) that are easy to find and read, most especially meaning use a decent sized font.

4 - Digipaks

What's bad, essentially the opposite of the above:

1 - A spine with no information, or info that's so stylized as to be unreadable.

2 - Song titles missing, or unnumbered, or listed without runtimes, or only printed on the interior of the booklet or only on the disc itself. Also - fuck hidden tracks. I want the music where I can get to it easy. This isn't a goddamn scavenger hunt.

3 - Dark fonts with dark backgrounds, light fonts with light backgrounds, long lists of thank you's for people not on the record with no mention of who is, 'cute' typography choices like printing things in a spiral or in many different directions, cursive fonts in general.

4 - Jewel cases.

― Austin (Austin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 6 March 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

no Led Zepplin nor No Neck Blues Band for you, my dear.

― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Sunday, 6 March 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Well, I'll put up with this stuff if the music is good, but that doesn't mean I'll like it.

I think I'm spoiled by jazz packaging.

― Austin (Austin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

I like really slim cases bcz I'm always struggling with space, a life without them has been acquired by sorting through my row of CDRs. I'm all for info but I like it to be brief if possible, and no blurbs unless its entertaining so I usually detest most of what's on classical avant garde and much of the jazz CDs I have as they're usually of the 'this is good you'll like it' variety.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 March 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

1. Music packaging is Art and Utilitarian considerations should have no place.

2. Lyric sheets are always a bad idea. Since the Internet, doubly so.

3. Depending on the type of music, I might want to know what instruments were played. I certainly don't care who manufactured those instruments.

4. Mystery is a wonderful thing.

5. All these rules defer to Rule 1.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

I have a massive jewel-case-over-digipack bias, jewel cases can be replaced but if digipacks get torn or battered it is heartbreaking. I keep mine in little slipcases that aren't quite big enough and panic if people walk too close to them.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

i dont really care about the casing. i detest cds that come in sleeves, however. too easy to lose!

as for aesthetic concerns, whatever works for the record.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Mr. Husky, it is my contention that music is the art with which we should be concerned in the case of CD packaging, therefore the package is not so much the art itself as merely a frame (at best.) The CD package designer is therefore more akin to the curator, and as such has it as his responsibility to increase our access, knowledge, and enjoyment of the art.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

― Austin (Austin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

The lookalike spines can get to be a bit much if you have too many from one label. The orange and black Impulse spines look a bit ridiculous on my shelf and I've had someone ask before why I had so many of the same CD.

I agree that a tracklisting on the outside of the CD is crucial but I don't really see the point of running times. Maybe it's necessary if you're a DJ?

And I agree with Alex in Doncaster about the Digipacks. Sure they look nice and remind us of mini LPs but they wear even worse than LP sleeves. If you listen to a digipack-ed album frequently and take it with you in the car, to work, etc. it inevitably gets destroyed. I think jewel cases are great.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

the brian eno reissues are annoying in a couple of ways. digipaks with a difficult-to-remove plastic slipcase and totally unreadable spines, especially compared to the old versions. aesthetic adavantage: none. the spines are illegible AND ugly.

i just stick the CDs in jewel cases with a black-and-white label that has all the info i want in nice, large courier 14pt. the digipaks go in the drawer.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

I don't care whether a CD comes in a jewel case or a digipak, with one exception: I hate those double-disc sets that come in the huge cases. Double discs should be in slimline cases that are the same size as a single disc. If you've got three or four discs (like the John Coltrane Live In Japan 4-CD set) you've earned the right to take up extra space in my tower. But otherwise, slim it down.

And I agree with Austin that jazz CDs, in particular, should always have a list of personnel on the back, in large type and prominently placed, because that's the way I (and lots of other folks too, I'd bet) do half my jazz shopping. "Oh? He's playing bass? All right, I'll check that out." I don't care if rock bands have the personnel listed because who the hell knows who's in a rock band?

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

I like books with coherent spines though. The various Penguin editions are a classic example. CDs I'm not so sure because I'd question the coherence of most labels' output. The Atlantic Jazz reissues are nice though.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, yes this stuff is much more relevant for Jazz and Classical. With a lot of pop I like to know as little as possible, really. The facts frequently end up being banal.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

hey now, i avoided morrissey's viva hate for years until i found out that vini reilly played guitar on it.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

"who the hell knows who's in a rock band?"

This seems at odds with some of Thrash Gordon's writing.

― Austin (Austin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Great packaging: Blur - Parklife
Everything (including guitar chords and lyrics) to every song, info on who played what and nice photos etc.

Crap packaging: Sigur Ros - Aegatis Byrjun
The CD got ruined just about the moment I bought it due to rubbish cardboard cover.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

i don't know half the song titles on tortoise's 'standards' ... they're all buried in this random text and it's just not worth the effort.

― rajeev, Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

But Tortoise are a classic example where knowing the titles wouldn't be very enlightening. Also, surely you can find this out online?

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

true, but yeah tortoise are a band it's not really worth bothering.

i always wished 'pills n thrills...' had the titles printed on the back.

― rajeev, Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

I like my packaging as art, especially if I know the artist/s contributed themselves to the artwork or concept.. ie - Adam Jones: Tool, Jeff Ament: Pearl Jam, Rob Zombie, etc. For me personally, it adds to the experience of the music, and in some cases, compliments it.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 7 March 2005 01:23 (twenty years ago)

My copies of Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers are both those limited collector's editions which are packaged like a record (i.e. cardboard gatefold case, CD comes in a sleeve slipped inside, etc). On the one hand, I just think the cases are incredibly cool; they're very well-put-together and they really pay attention to details (i.e. functional zipper on SF, mini-postcard set w/ Exile, and the cover to Some Girls is punched out). But on the other, both CDs are scratched to fuck from the wear of the packaging.

Like most people, I just put CDs in this kind of packaging in their own jewel cases now.

― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Monday, 7 March 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

worst packaging ever?

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 7 March 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

On Tool's undertow album, if you take apart the packaging, behind the CD holder is a picture of a cow licking its arse.

any other cd packaging easter eggs.

― danny boy, Monday, 7 March 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

This is true - I bought Another Green World and promptly lost it in a pile and didn't listen to it for months. I couldn't find it cuz the spine was so poorly labeled. And should I keep that plastic slipcover? I like that it protects the digi but it's a pain in the ass to take on and off.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

Fave packaging - the vinyl version of June of '44's The Anatomy of Sharks EP which is a giant matchbook. And Oneida's Each One Teach One. All the best packaging is for vinyl, CDs are too small.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

see you, auntie

― latebloomer: my cats are wobderful (latebloomer), Monday, 7 March 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

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