As superficial as it may sound, the vinyl record sleeve design contributes significantly to my decision to buy new vinyl albums. This mostly applies to new albums, not old titles, where the original mastering are mostly superior to digital remastering. The vinyl record medium’s audio quality is undeniably inferior to the digital format, so consumers are buying new modern digitally-recorded album titles in vinyl format mainly for three reasons:
- They are fans of the recording artists.
- The album package looks beautiful.
- They want to spin the album on turntable to look good.
My opinions here are mostly related to new titles recorded on digital platforms, not old titles recorded before the 1980s with analogue tape masters. For myself, I seek old titles because their audio mastering and cutting is more authentic and original. You can read my opinions on collecting old titles here.
It’s a different story for new titles, especially in the era of digitally-recorded music. Time and again, I find that new recordings sound better on high-resolution digital files than on vinyl records. To make things worse, most vinyl record pressing plants have poor quality control and the records have relatively high noise and crackles.
If digital format sounds better and priced cheaper, then why should I pay more for vinyl records? My answer therefore is that the vinyl format must offer better value than the audio recording itself. And to me, the value comes from the cardboard sleeves and the printed booklets.
So it irks me to see new albums in uninspiring designs, while many do not even include additional liner notes. Here are examples of vinyl albums that I decided not to buy because of the cover design.
Midnight Sun – Moon Haewon with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto (buy LP from CDJapan)
I listened to the album and loved the recording, but the cover design is poor and the photo pose is dull. So I will just listen to their album on digital platforms.
Mariya Takeuchi – RCA Years (Official Website)
Mariya is one of my favourite Japan city-pop artists and I already owned three of the albums in the “RCA YEARS Vinyl Box Collection”. But if the box set comes with nice design and extras, I would probably buy it. When I saw this design, it is a hard pass. In comparison, the 9LP RCA box set of her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita, features an artwork similar to FOR YOU.
So what are the recent new albums I bought because of the cover design?
Tiffany Poon – Diaries (Official Website)
The vinyl album is a triple-fold design with high-res images of her. It also comes with a 12-inch booklet with additional exclusive images that look fabulous on large prints. The album runtime is less than 60 minutes and they split into 2 LP 4 sides, and the pressing is good and generally quiet where the occasional random clicks do not affect the listening experience of an entirely piano-solo recording.
Secret Garden – Songs from a Secret Garden 30th Anniversary (Order link)
They are one of my favourite New Age artists, and I have been looking for their original press LP. But now they have released a 30th anniversary remaster version, and the album cover looks classy gorgeous. It comes with a printed inner sleeve and in matching white vinyl. I have pre-ordered it in April and waiting eagerly for the item to arrive from UK, hopefully in good condition.
Would you still buy new album titles when the vinyl audio quality is nowhere better than the original digital copies?
