Mark Arminio
Between The Liner Notes: 6 Things You Can Learn By Obsessing Over Album Artwork
by Mark Arminio - June 26, 2009 - 10:29 AM

There’s something exciting about unwrapping a new CD. The sense of anticipation, the smell of the packaging, the struggle with the sticky, impossible-to-open white anti-theft strip. But as music becomes increasingly electronic (in the downloadable sense of the word), gone the way of the liner notes. Sure, you can still pull up the cover art and a track listing, but booklets filled with lyrics and stories and artwork with hidden meanings have become more and more rare, leaving music junkies with just a little less to talk and discuss and argue over. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here’s a quick look into a few hidden gems plucked from the liner notes:

OK Computer

1. Radiohead Did NOT Create a Concept Album (Or Did They?)

1997′s OK Computer by Radiohead still holds up as one of their most brilliant works. While the members of the group insist OK Computer is not a ‘concept album’, there are recurring themes of consumerism and human apathy among the lyrics and highlighted by the album art. The liner notes also hold a variety of hidden gems left open for interpretation. The lyrics themselves have erratic spacing, leaving some to suggest that they represent images. For instance, the gaps in the lyrics for “Lucky” reveal a man getting out of a lake or a superhero, two lines found in the song itself. Also hidden in the liner notes? The band thanks Michael, Bill, Peter and Mike…the members of R.E.M.

2. John Coltrane Sings Poetry

In the liner notes of arguably Coltrane’s best album, A Love Supreme, there is a devotional poem written by the artist representing a conversation between Coltrane and God. The album is broken down into four movements, with part four being called “Psalm”. In this movement, Coltrane performs what he calls “musical narration,” playing the words of his poem without actually singing any lyrics. The poem ends with the cry “Thank you God. ELATION – ELEGANCE – EXALTATION – All from God. Thank you God. Amen.”

3. Pearl Jam Wants You To Read One Book

While recording Yield, Pearl Jam was heavily influenced by a book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. The title itself comes from one of the primary concepts of the book: yielding to nature. Inside the liner notes you will find a yield sign hidden in every picture. This album actually received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Recording Packaging, which I had no idea existed (although they were beaten out by Madonna’s Ray of Light).

4. R.E.M. Included the Puddles of their Brainstorming

As you may know, R.E.M. pulled it’s band name at random from the dictionary (at one point the band serious considering calling themselves Cans of Piss). Seeming to enjoy this method of selective christening, band members typically tape up a huge sheet of paper up on the studio wall and write any name that comes to their head as a method of brainstorming album names. The liner notes of Monster include some of the alternate titles they were considering. Also written in the notes are two words: For River. River Phoenix, a good friend of frontman Michael Stipe, died the year that R.E.M. was recording Monster.

5. Weezer Just Says “No”

After the huge commercial flop that was Weezer’s Pinkerton, Rivers Cuomo shut down Weezer for three years. However, following this hiatus, the band reunited to put out a second self-titled effort (while recording this album, Weezer toured under the pseudonym Goat Punishment). Nicknamed “The Green Album” (to differentiate it from the Blue Album and, later, the Red Album), the liner notes contain an Italian phrase from a Verdi opera: “Torniamo all’antico e sarà un progresso.” The definition? Let us return to old times and that will be progress. Additionally, if you pry open the CD tray from this album, written on the edge is the word “No”. Online groups have suggested this is an answer to another hidden gem from Radiohead’s OK Computer. Written in the liner notes: I like you. I like you. You are a wonderful person. I’m full of enthusiasm. I’m going places. I’ll be happy to help you. I am an important person, would you like to come home with me? Weezer apparently declined the invitation.

sublime_cover

6. Sublime Wants You To Learn the Language 

Sublime’s third and final release (the album actually came out after Brad Nowell’s death by heroin overdose), contains a song called “Caress Me Down”. In this single, Nowell alternates between english and spanish while singing. While the other songs on the album have lyrics that appear in the liner notes, under “Caress Me Down” it has the first few lines followed simply by “Learn Spanish”. Also found inside this CD’s liner notes are pictures of Brad singing to his new born son and Lou Dog, Nowell’s Dalmatian named for his grandfather Louie.

Of course, this is just a brief sample of the hidden wonders of liner notes. I deliberately left off some of the most famous examples (e.g. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heartsclub Band) but if you’d like to read more on that album, try this article. Does anyone else miss the joys and wonders of reading and speculating over liner notes? Got any favorite examples? Drop them in the comments when you get a sec. 

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Comments (21)

  1. No mention of Dave Matthews Band latest album “Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King”? Dave Matthews drew the cover art and very detailed lithographs for each song on the album. The lithographs not only contain the lyrics for each song, but also show a scene that sets the mood for each track or gives a peak into Dave’s unique view of the world. And the album cover is a terrific mash of the individual drawings.

    Plus the entire album is awesome!!!! Love DMB!!!!!

    posted by Brad on 6-26-2009 at 10:45 am

  2. Check out Tool’s CDs. Pull the disc rest out of the Undertow CD. Watch California disappear in Aenima, among other things. See the body stripped away in Undertow.

    posted by Paul on 6-26-2009 at 10:51 am

  3. And by see the body stripped away in Undertow, I mean Lateralus.

    posted by Paul on 6-26-2009 at 11:01 am

  4. I’m way ahead of you. I’ve already lamented the miniaturization of goodies when the CD killed the LP.
    LP’s certainly got very elaborate in the late ’60s – early ’70s.
    Live at Leeds, Three Dog Night’s Seven Separate Fools, John Lennon’s Sometime in New York City, are just a few albums that had a bunch of neat things tucked inside.
    They also had liner notes that could be read without a magnifying glass.
    I really don’t want to see music go completely digital. In lieu of the presence of the band itself I need something visual/tactile.

    posted by BassMan on 6-26-2009 at 11:32 am

  5. Another Radiohead album, Kid A, had pretty great booklet underneath the CD tray with all sorts of interesting pictures and drawings.

    I bought it the day it came out and the next day I saw a man listening to it on the el. As i was getting off the train, I tapped him on the shoulder and said “You should look under the tray. There’s a surprise!”

    He glanced down at it and the biggest grin came across his face. He said “Thanks! That’s awesome!” I like to think I made his whole day!

    posted by JHop on 6-26-2009 at 11:55 am

  6. After working for awhile at a record store i learned some tricks on how to unwrap and open a cd case. First, to get the platic wrap off find a sharp edged counter and run the bottom (ridged side) of the case down it. This makes a fun noise and shreds the plastic on the edge to get off the wrap quickly. To get the security sticker off the top, pop out the bottom tab of the case and flip the top of the case up so that the top and bottom of the case are held together only by the sticker. It makes it where you can peel away the sticker very easily, then you just put the top of the case back on and you’re good to go. Cheers!

    posted by grant on 6-26-2009 at 12:24 pm

  7. Pearl Jam was onto something… perhaps everyone should heed their advice.

    posted by the pupil on 6-26-2009 at 12:39 pm

  8. If you have a chance to read Ishmael, I also highly recommend it. It is an amazing read. Thanks for the great article!

    posted by bkizzl on 6-26-2009 at 12:50 pm

  9. As a former obsessed Weezer fan, I remember reading this on the weezer.com FAQ section, maintained by longtime band friend/manager Karl Koch:

    “Q: What does “no” mean on Pinkerton?
    A: No means no.”

    posted by almost on 6-26-2009 at 2:23 pm

  10. Showing my age, I actually remeber vinyl albums. The Eagles would scratch messages into the final rings of the album (next to the label.)

    On One of These Nights, the message was “Don’t worry…” [Side A] “…nothing will be okay.” [Side B]

    On Hotel California, The message was “V.O.L” [Side A] “is 5 piece live.” [Side B] meaning the track Victim of Love was recorded live in the studio (but given the fastiduousness of that band, I doubt that.)

    posted by Zane on 6-26-2009 at 2:56 pm

  11. Nine Inch Nails has almost always had creative packaging, with the unusual foldout of Broken, the hidden words in The Downward Spiral, and of course Year Zero. YZ is filled with hidden messages in the songs and packaging, leading to websites and phone numbers, and the disc itself changes colors according to heat, with a message written in binary code. I still buy CDs because nothing replaces the tangible excitement of owning them, and when artists like the Beatles, Radiohead, and Trent Reznor get creative it’s truly rewarding for the fans.

    posted by Christina W. on 6-26-2009 at 3:02 pm

  12. KISS Alive II came with a sheet of temporary tattoos. I was 9 years old when I got that record and loved the tattoos. Guess KISS knew their audience well.

    R.E.M.’s album Green had barely perceptible transparent shiny number 4′s everywhere the letter R appeared on the packaging. Supposedly this was an inside joke referring to a typo on one of their earlier albums, but still, it was something very mysterious to ponder while listening to Green in my college dorm room.

    posted by dagnabbit on 6-26-2009 at 4:50 pm

  13. Kiss’ Double Platinum came with a cardboard Platinum record award inside. As a twelve year old, that was pretty cool…

    posted by Azrael on 6-26-2009 at 5:12 pm

  14. Does anyone remember the Cheech & Chong vinyl comedy album that came with a gigantic rolling paper?

    posted by Justin on 6-26-2009 at 6:13 pm

  15. My favorite notes has to be in Weird Al’s Running with Scissors. On Albuquerque (that maybe 12-minute story song) the notes start the lyrics and then say something about how he can’t be bothered to write all those lyrics out.

    Recaptcha: nuggets sales

    posted by Amauriel on 6-26-2009 at 10:11 pm

  16. I can’t find it, but I would swear there’s a Ryan Adams CD where he thanks Jay Z and mentions something about true greatness never fading to black.

    posted by Ed on 6-26-2009 at 10:55 pm

  17. @Justin

    That was Big Bambu! It was big enough to roll a whole lid …

    posted by alice on 6-26-2009 at 11:32 pm

  18. Friends of mine had a band whose album cover was oh so cleverly a magnified image of the surface of a pot leaf. Original eh? Perhaps I should mention it was a BC band and almost every album was mistakenly believed to have a scratch & sniff feature.

    posted by J.Mo on 6-27-2009 at 6:40 am

  19. holy cow! i’ve had tool’s undertow for 15 years and never looked under the disk rest. what a hilarious surprise.

    posted by kat on 6-28-2009 at 1:02 pm

  20. I can’t remember any of the actual notes inside, but I think my favorite album cover of all time is Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I don’t even think I’ve heard the album, but when I was a kid I used to spend hours staring at that cover. There were so many strange things to see! It was beautiful. I really miss the creative things they did with vinyl record albums. Like the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers that had the real zipper. I used to love looking through my Dad’s records. I guess now we have flash on websites.

    posted by Jessi on 6-29-2009 at 3:39 am

  21. I always admired Led Zepplin’s “In Throught The Out Door”. Six different covers twelve pictures/points of view of the various people in the setting. These were wrapped in brown paper so you never knew which cover you were getting.

    posted by Robert Holdridge on 9-6-2009 at 12:25 pm

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