Album Art

Up in the reading room (or library) in our new house, we weren't quite sure what to do with the walls there. In other rooms, we've gone with themes: Scotland, Volcanoes in Hawaii, that sort of thing. GA had a brilliant idea, so we went with it. We're hanging our record albums.


Album art from Cheap Thrills, Tea for the Tillerman, Those Were the Days,
On the Border, Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, and Bookends. (Photo by wm)

Each of the albums - and there are others that aren't shown in the photo - has a memory for one or both of us. And, in each case, the album art is interesting, and the music is great to listen to. The vinyl, in case you're wondering, is still in the jacket, and we have the digital version of the contents. Most we've re-bought as CD's, but some were ripped from the vinyl.

Cheap Thrills (Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin) - I first heard this thrilling album during my first semester at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. The library had an audio system where you could bring the album to the librarian, and he/she would play it for you and issue you a set of headphones. It was intended for classical music, but here was this rock album in the pile, so I gave it a listen, and loved it. At the time, and in that city, rock music was considered to be of the devil, so you couldn't hear it on the radio. I loved it. It sure beat Boston Pops.

Tea for the Tillerman (Cat Stevens) - I bought this one for $2.94 at K-mart. It wasn't a dead dog close out, but it was on sale, and most people who bought it were interested in the top 40 track, Wild World (Oh, baby baby, it's a wild world...) but I wanted it for Father and Son, which I thought was brilliant, and which I had heard on the newly started rock station KNTO. It's still my favorite track on the album, and I will tell you that this was the absolute best Cat Stevens album ever to appear - even better than the greatest hits compilation. That song reminds me of the time I first heard it, on the way to work at the steel company where I helped form girders for mobile homes.

Those Were the Days (Mary Hopkin) - Not only is this a beautiful album cover, with Ms. Hopkin's lovely blond hair contrasted with the dark blue background, you have to admit that she has one of the finest voices to be heard in the late 60's. I'm not dissing Karen Carpenter or anything, but even her silk voice cannot beat Mary Hopkin. The entire album is gold, but my favorite track is The Fields of St. Etienne. When vacationing in Scotland, I bought the British release of the CD, which has more tracks, all of them good, though not quite as good as what appeared on the original. Had I been in Wales, her home, I would have looked for it there instead, but you get as close as you can and go on with life.

On the Border (Eagles) - This is the second best album ever done by the Eagles (you can't beat Hotel California), and it's actually a favorite of GA's. I wasn't even aware of it, it being an early album, released before I appreciated the brilliance of the Eagles. Her copy, the one hanging on the wall, was so worn out it was barely worth playing, so I bought her a CD of it as a surprise, when CD's were just starting to get popular, and we had just bought a real CD player. Old '55 is my favorite track, because for some reason it reminds me of driving at sun up on those cave trips, eight hours from Wichita Falls, with the Guadalupe mountains just coming into view.

Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir (Michael Murphy) - This is also a GA favorite, worn out by repeated playing when she was in college. Good luck finding this album - it was issued before Michael Murphy became Michael Martin Murphy and switched to strictly cowboy music. In fact, you cannot buy this album in America. It was never re-issued in CD format here. But I did some research, and found out that it was released in Australia, so I ordered it special. I had ripped the vinyl, but there is no software in the world that would clean up all those crackles and pops that GA put on it. It sounds great on CD.

Bookends (Simon and Garfunkel) - Oh, the memories. I was aware of the top 40 hits from these guys - Sounds of Silence and all that - but I had not been exposed to their more sophisticated non-commercial music until I went to a small party while in high school (Iowa Park HS, go mighty hawks) given by miss Carol Smith for some close friends. When I heard this album, I was amazed, and while I could not yet afford to go out and buy albums (I only bought singles until I got a job), I stored the memory of this great music until I could. Save the Life of My Child, Bookends, At the Zoo, Mrs. Robinson, Hazy Shade of Winter - but my favorite moment is on America. When I heard the line "and the moon rose over an open field," I felt like I was hearing beautifully crafted poetry, in an age where we were used to moon june and spoon in our music. Later, in an interview with Paul Simon I learned that he was most proud of that line, as far as lyrics go. Maybe you have to have the soul of a writer to understand this, but those words not only have a beautiful sound, but they paint a vivid picture as you listen to the music. I wonder what happened to Carol Smith. Oh, sure, we also played Inna-Gadda-da-Vida, but that isn't going on my wall anytime soon.

On an adjacent wall is hanging the Sgt Pepper album, which has obvious significance, but you can only fit so much in a photo. It has memories, too. Ah, the Beatles. Ah, the clues about Paul's death. Ah, the irony that he's the only one still alive with any talent.