JSngry

Thing is, though, I don't think they were "marketing" them towards anybody. No ads, only occasional reviews, nothing even semi-resembling marketing going on. I just pulled a random selection out to check the credits, and although the photography cedits varied, the art direction credit was consistent - Bill Burks. Anybody know him or about him? Just as Reid Miles created a consistent & identifiable style out of the necessity of economy, so did, under what I'm sure was a totally different dynamic, Bill Burks, albeit in a significantly more limited time. And it looks like he was already working with BN before the LTs: http://www.discogs.c...t/Bill+Burks+(2) With an entirely different look, for an entirely different BN product. If the look and feel - the what I find to be an unmistakable mood - of the LT covers was an "accident" it was a very fortunate one. But I bet there's some kind of story there....

Pierce doesn't really too that much for me, but oh well about that. A good, loose George Coleman is always a thing of joy, and we get that here. And Joe, Joe is always loose, Joe = Loose, but he's got zones of his own, and this is one of the better ones, I think. Good side!

And as a bonus....

Check out the Vintage Vanguard site and look at all the 10" covers. There's some truth there waiting to be unearthed, believe me!

While w3're at it, let's not forget the Prestige 10" covers...they were a bit of a revelation for me.... Was that an average price for a new LP back in 1980? That and $8.98. I don't think that list hit $9.98 until a year or two later. Chuck would know for sure better than I. Of course, that was list. Only chumps paid list.

Yeah, Ernie Henry runs deep.

They say it's your birthday. Is this true?

It's always cheaper to tell the truth. Remember - after the last LT came out, Blue Note was basically left for dead. The LT covers don't try to convince us that it would be otherwise. Remember the LTs!

Looks like the team of Namath is back!

That's a good one too!

Honk Mosley. I will be introduced on a gig as Honk Mosely before I die.

Jim Cornelison, he usually does the anthem for Blackhawks games. That our flag was still THERE, he said, jabbing his fingers in the air...I am just not used to that type of thing... Shaping up to be Bears/Packers, old school vs old school, oh yeah, bring it ON!

The internet is your friend. So do not despair. But think about all the music you'll never hear because it never was or never will be recorded, or because it was made at a time and/or in a place you'll neveer go to, or maybe will never even know exists. It's a big world, ya' know?

Yeah, well, we all decide where our walls are, I suppose.

That was without a doubt the most.....bizarre presentation of the National Anthem I have ever seen. Who was that guy?

I hear ya'. Think about it though - much of the music you mention was stuff that frequently worked outside the norms of "pop" conventions musically (Bacharach was just plain weird sometimes!) yet ended up became a part of it. A determined and focused defying of the rules ended up being rewarded rather than stifled. I love it when that happens.

And the neat thing about it is that if you can listen to that music today with fresh ears, just jettison all the childhood images of what you thought the music was "about" (or at least send them off to another room for a few minutes), it turns out that there's some really nifty stuff going on - a fusion of two countries "pop sensibilities" that leaves a lot of room for musical elements that are not at all typical of "pop music". It's all done so intellegently & subtly that it's not really obvious, it's just there along with everything else. Quite organic, in it's own commercially conscious way. Not just anybody can do that, ya' know? That's been my experience anyway, and only relatively recently, like within the last few years. A very pleasant surprise!

LT covers tell the truth of what really happened to the label and its music. Those photos and that layout are not comforting. The other stuff is just feelgood make-believe, visual revisionist hisrtory to make it all good. In their world, Lion did release everything in its time, everybody always loved Blue Note, and you the consumer doesn't need to know anything other then The Blue Note Look & The Blue Note Legend & The Blue Note Mystique. One more lie to get you to buy the past instead of evaluate it. Remember the LTs!

Crystal Illusions is the one that really knocks me out. And yeah, the really good stuff is not the hits, although when you really listen to the hits, it's pretty nifty how much stuff is in there that by any normal standard should have never made it to the Top 40, 29, and especially 10. It all seemed like "cocktail party" music to me once upon a time, and I guess maybe that image will never be lost, but at some point I think you gotta ask yourself whether it was designed to be that or whether it just ended up being that. I've pretty much reached the conclusion that it's the latter. No matter. The records play anywhere, not just at cocktail parties.

I don't lnow about the premise of this thread, there's a fundamental difference between somebody building a house for themself and somebody else decorating it after they buy it, but those prime Brazil 66 albums have some real gems on them, especially once Dave Grusin gets involved. "Lightness" and "pop" and all that stuff does not preclude creativity, ya' know?

But they weren't.

Those LT covers are so much more honest than the pretend-vintage looks of what they do now. "Hey, let's make it look like a Reid Miles cover because Reid Miles covers were SO cool and besides, that's the way a Blue Note cover SHOULD look, even though it never did" just doesn't do it for me. That's just another attempt to institutionalize. Screw the Alamo - Remember The LTs!