Neil Young: CD vs. LP

Ever since Neil yanked his music from Spotify a few months ago, I've been spinning my Neil vinyl more than ever (realizing that in recent years I've relied too much on streaming out of laziness/convenience). Not only do the LPs sound fantastic, but as a result I've really come to appreciate the high quality of the packaging of his 70s records on Reprise, especially on Time Fades Away through Zuma. Large foldout inserts/lyric sheets; custom printed inner sleeves; and luxe outer sleeves, e.g. Tonight's The Night's heavy blotter paper gatefold, Zuma's thick matte cardboard, Time Fades Away's black interior and unusual vertical orientation; and On The Beach's interior printed with the floral pattern from the umbrella on the cover.

It's basically the Same Situation with Joni Mitchell's mid-70s records on Reprise (embossed gatefold covers on Court and Spark, Hissing..., and Hejira, primo art direction by hers truly).

So I'm wondering: Was this high-end packaging standard practice for Reprise at the time, or was it reserved for its high-profile Canadian singer/songwriters?

The seemed to be a common feature of popular Laurel Canyon artists at the time. I can't pinpoint it to one label, though many of them became WEA labels (Atlantic, Asylum, etc.)

Check out the faux-leather cardboard of CSN&Y's Déjà Vu or the Eagles' embossed Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and I think some of Jackson Browne's albums. Even the ink colors can be impressive. All nice to look at even if I wasn't a fan of some of them.

Before the vinyl revival, DCC Compact Classics was especially good at re-creating the sleeve art, even for their gold CD releases, going out of their way to get good paper stock, the right inks, the original photo negatives where applicable, and even the embossing. I remember getting Court & Spark on their gold CD and thinking "whoah, is this how the sleeve is supposed to be?"

fear of music is another high profile one, on another WEA-related label.

its such a cool and and evocative thing that seems to be largely gone. in my head, tonights the night is totally inseparable from the feel of that jacket & paper.

That reminds me, Stevie Wonder used to have braille in his liner notes. (IIRC Rhino's beautifully designed Ray Charles box set Genius & Soul - The 50th Anniversary Collection also had braille in its liner notes.)

With a few exceptions I think the CD era killed so much of that with standardized packaging. Once in a while you got something like Prince's hologram cover or Pet Shop Boys' Very (or the patchouli in Madonna's Like a Prayer), but otherwise I get the impression that universal utilitarian features like a jewel case and a booklet that can easily fit into the tabs made it trickier to do anything with packaging materials.