A little reflection following the previous post…

 The box set "The Cure, 40 Live"

To compete with oldest vintage vinyl, and to try to increase the percentage of sales of the former medium and to follow up on the current popularity of the LP, a product that was not widespread in the past, the box set, luxurious object that can pay homage to a record that has marked the history of popular music (augmented by various and unknown versions), or simply the complete discography of a group or an artist, has multiplied considerably. The vinyl box set has a different – I mean glamorous- look than the CD set. And then, it sometimes makes it possible to find these 12 inches, that we sold for almost nothing to the benefit of CD’s, in the early 80s, convinced that the technical evolution was irreversible. It was to forget that man is not always in search of the latest innovation, but that there can be an affective bond of another kind, imbued in us. 

 Twins sofas, by Philippe Starck, in the 80's

An example comes to mind, even if it removes us from the musical world. In Europe, around 1985, there was a wave of very techno apartment design and decoration, the “Philippe Starck” way (famous swiss designer). The decoration was rather minimalist, dominated by the black and white which furniture with little sensual forms, with a cold aspect, marked or sharp corners. The walls  of the flat gave way to abstract paintings, most of the time. A dehumanization, from which your humble journalist succumbed, out of taste, but quickly feeling a kind of lack, and limits. 

 A flat as we saw a lot in the european  cities, around 1985

 A few years later, in a world where human warmth was also experiencing continuous climatic cooling, we witnessed a revival of rustic wooden furniture, sometimes decorated with false patinas created at the time. And the light and the colour returned to the top. We also need objects to give us comfort, because after all, we live in these settings, and life is not a film that takes place in 3025. This minimalism and coldness, synonymous with "branchitude" and the taste to show “I’m in!” (the main reason), touched fashion and other domains as well. Having worked in the gallery at this time, conceptualism, minimalism, and other cerebral arts were the works to possess. But around 1989, the great world art auction rooms witnessed the collector’s return to traditional painting, impressionism, fauvism, expressionism, giving back to the human, a place he had only wanted to leave during an experience. 

In this way, to go back to the previous post, it was almost by chance, in reenacting the 12 albums of Siouxsie and the Banshees, that I realized that each album was adorned with a cover sleeve full of life, with a careful design, often of bright colors, almost a paradox for a dark music, often tonal, which would have combined with covers as gloomy as that of another great Gothic group, Bauhaus. Siouxsie and the Banshees had succeeded in uniting the frigid atmosphere with the warmth of its beautiful covers, without anyone commenting on this paradox. Finally, still compared to the previous post, the superb cover of «Claypool Lennon Delirium», on double pink vinyl, does not make it a superior disc by its beautiful iconographic design. Even if unconsciously, packaging influences us whether we like it or not. 

 "The Sky's gone out", Bauhaus

 The tribal design of "Juju", masterpiece of Siouxsie

Let us not deceive ourselves, the music will always have the last word. And who says that the ritual that surrounds the vinyl, will not run out of breath. I don’t think he’ll disappear, but to think that MP3 will give him his place is a sweet illusion. Digital will still far surpass it for economic reasons, even if the sale of music decreases as a whole. As for the CD, it is not said that it disappears, even if its sale collapses. There is no reason why it should not have its place, and each tribute its own. And who knows, we are far from imagining the landscape of musical listening within 5 years.