PhotoAlbum 19thCentury 1500

why do we refer to LPs and CDs as “albums”?

I HAVE BEEN BUYING RECORDS for sixty years and collecting them for about the same length of time. As far back as I can remember, I have referred to LPs and EPs and prerecorded tapes as ‘albums.’ Since the Digital Revolution of the ’80s, I have referred to tapes, EPs, LPs, and CDs as albums

During this time, I called a seven-inch, 45 rpm record with one track per side a ‘single’ while calling a seven-inch, 45 rpm record with two or three tracks per side an ‘EP.’ [Continue reading]

Beatles HardDaysNight sealed

was robert cohen the godfather of shrinkwrapped albums?

SHRINK-WRAPPING ALBUMS did not become standard practice for the American record industry until 1963-1964. Prior to that, EP albums and LP albums were shipped to wholesalers and retailers without any protection! Then Robert B. Cohen, a rack jobber in New Jersey, started wrapping records in protective plastic sleeves, making him the “Godfather of Shrinkwrapped Albums.” [Continue reading]

Ventures photo posed 1960 1500 crop

who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?

I HAD TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION: “Who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?” It was on Quora and immediately seized my attention. Why? Because not only had I never thought about it, but I had never heard a record-collecting friend or a professional music writer address it. [Continue reading]

Donovan SunshineSuperman Taiwan record 600

the cheesiest semi-legal records in the world!

I MOVED TO CALIFORNIA from Pennsylvania in June 1978. I naively believed I would find some semblance of “the sixties” hidden away in San Francisco. But in only a few years, most of it had been blotted out. There were still a lot of hand-painted Victorian houses and a few hip coffee shops and bookstores.

[Continue reading]
Apollo fire lacquer machine 1500 crop

where was the “vinyl rapture” before the “vinylgeddon”?

WHILE THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to address the records that were released decades before most of the people who spend the most time on the internet were even born, I can look at a current topic every now and again. I suppose my fascination with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in not establishing some objective standards for eligibility and the equally obstinate Wikipedia in insisting on “sources” but not on hiring editors to fact-check those sources. [Continue reading]