Say what you will about vinyl's good and bad points but it's hard to deny the joy of holding a 12" album cover while you're playing the treasures inside.
Album art and liner notes on the back cover are perfect in this format, something CDs and digital of any kind really lack. The closest we might get is on the iPad when we're streaming through a well-designed music management app.
Still, the visceral feel of that album cover…the big front cover…the often well-written prose on the back. More than the special sound quality unique to vinyl, album art imparts a connection to the music we just don't seem to get with digital.
My readers will know I prefer the dynamics, life, and sound quality of proper digital on a system specific to the medium.
But I don't want to ignore the look, feel, and magical connection afforded by the album cover and its art.
Some things are just so right they cannot be improved upon.
Album art qualifies in spades.
