I've just realised how much I miss the old album covers! Back when I was buying my first records one of the biggest pleasures was to study the cover while the disc was spinning. More often than not, it was the first time you'd seen what the artist/band actually looked like (which somehow was never how you expected them to look) and, if you were lucky, all the words to all the songs would be there too!
I suppose that the music industry was more about the music then.I remember hearing songs by Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, Diana Ross and the Supremes, on my little one-wave-band radio and having no idea who these people were or what they looked like but I knew what they sounded like and that was what mattered. Seeing their faces on the album cover was a bonus and occassionally the photos gave a clue as to "who" the artist was but you had to like the music first to have bought the album.
I'm sure the first test for todays music stars is more likely to come in the photographers studio than the recording studio and if you can pass the first part then you're 75% there.
I think I might have a rummage round the attic and dig out my old album collection.
Now.......where did I put that old turntable..................