Shifts in the popularity of various recording formats are important in explaining the historical evolution of popular music. Each new recording format has offered fresh recording and marketing opportunities, helping to shape the music industry, the constitution of musical genres and the nature of consumption. This study makes an important contribution to the now extensive body of work dealing with the development of recorded sound and its cultural implications, providing a detailed historical study of the evolution of the vinyl record and its relationship with music as ‘both the carrier of artworks and an assembly-line product’ (p. 4).
Osborne's starting point is the current vinyl revival in the digital age, along with the manner in which the format receives attention out of all proportion to its market importance. As he notes, many of the characteristics associated with vinyl were in existence before it was developed, and earlier formats and industry practices are accordingly included in the discussion. The emphasis is on genres such as rock, punk, indie and dance music – all conscious of the possibilities and meanings of recording formats’ (p. 4) – rather than more broadcast-related pop and performance-focused classical repertoire, although these are not neglected. There is also a concentration on examples from major artists, notably Sinatra, Presley, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Observing that the balance of historical accounts of sound recording have concentrated on the American industry, Osborne concentrates principally on the British market, explaining why it was frequently markedly different. He is not so concerned about the issue of sound quality, although there is some consideration of the limits the format has set in terms of duration, sound quality, volume and tonal range. The focus is rather on the historical, visual and tactile properties of vinyl; as he puts it, ‘the vinyl record only grows more interesting when you realise that much of its appeal lies elsewhere’ (p. 5). A wealth of detail is included, with many informative asides and extended footnotes, all in the service of a frequently insightful general account.
Chapter 1 is on the groove itself, covering the prototypes of later vinyl discs, especially: the pioneering efforts of Edison and Berliner; the question of any literal ability on the part of the observer to ‘read’ the grooves on the recording; and the experiments with the speed of recordings. Chapter 2, on the disc, includes the birth of the music industry along with the initial development of different formats. Perhaps as the discussion here largely covers well-known ground, I found it less engaging than the later chapters.
The label, placed in the central space on records, is the focus of Chapter 3, situating its use as essentially a conveyer of information into the broader context of its role in formalising generic musical categories (and their associated record buyers), a practice consolidated by the categories used in sales charts. Helping to define a product, the term ‘label’ became a synonym for ‘record company’. Labels subsequently became a way to distinguish various genres, especially for the output of smaller, specialist companies, beginning with those primarily producing ‘race’ and ‘hillbilly’ recordings in the 1930s. The label also became a significant part of the marketing of celebrity artists, as with the Gramophone Company's Red Seal series, introduced in 1930. There was an emerging hierarchy of label colours and prices, along with series for musical genres, notably ‘race’ records. An important consequence of such practices was that the audiences for classical and popular music became increasingly divided, a situation reinforced by the development of separate sales charts.
Chapter 4 is on vinyl itself: black plastic as a general recording material. The first vinyl discs were produced in the early 1930s, but their use was greatly facilitated with the limited availability of shellac in WWII, with the Japanese military occupation of the major production sites. In hindsight, it is interesting to note the ‘relative lack of attention that was paid to vinyl at the moment of its wider introduction … only later on that it was invested with special qualities’ (p. 69).
Chapter 5 considers the LP. The term ‘album’ was initially used for several records in an album, as with photographs, while LP was used for individual recordings. Its development was a function of the search for longer average playing time, with Colombia's Microgroove vinyl LP (1948) representing a historical breakthrough for the format, although its adoption in the UK lagged several years behind the American market. In the 1950s, the British LP was initially launched as a format for classical music: ‘The longer and superior playing surface expanded the repertoire in breadth as well as in length’ (p. 95). Further, classical recordings were in stereo, while their pop counterparts were generally mono. What to include on an LP was an issue, with cost a serious concern here as pop fans often did not want to simply repurchase the 45 singles they already had.
Chapter 6 traces the origins and evolution of the 45 in the US and then the British market. The introduction of the virtually unbreakable vinyl single in the early 1950s was an important factor in the proliferation of smaller independent record labels, who were significant in popularising rock'n’roll. The vinyl single overtook its shellac 78 counterpart as the dominant music industry marketing vehicle, as singles became the major selling format, the basis for radio and television programming and chart listings.
As ‘the clearest examples of music being determined by the disc’ (p. 128), the ‘B’ side and the 12-inch single are accorded their own chapter (7). Although 1904 saw the first two-sided disc, it took until 1924 for the coupling of discs to become standard. One factor for this slow development was that it was not immediately obvious what should be put on the second side, and there is an instructive discussion here of how it was used differently by particular musical genres, notably pop, rock and dance music. While some artists, such as the Beatles, produced great coupled singles (with both sides charting), it was more common through the 1960s for B-sides to highlight exclusive or obscure material, usually non-album tracks, enhancing their appeal to completist record collectors. The 12-inch single, with its wider vinyl grooves, represents ‘the one development of the analogue record that was introduced by the artists rather than by the record industry’ (p. 155). Arising out of Tom Moulton's dance music B-sides, it was the perfect partner for disco, and the popularity of dance music in the late 1980s and early 1990 made it essential to the survival of vinyl following the CD's rise to market domination.
Chapter 8 traces the artistic evolution of the record sleeve, showing each advance played its part: printing and photography (especially in the 1950s and 1960s); record company policy; retail, distribution and marketing; consumer demand; and the ideas and concerns of musicians. The introduction of the LP represented a major boost to record sleeve design, which enjoyed a golden age from the early 1960s through the 1970s. Although essentially a marketing tool, ‘sleeve art helped to change people's ideas about the mass-produced disc and the music it contained’ (p. 167), helping elevate particular releases to the status of art. Leading designers became associated with particular genres and record labels, such as Reid Miles’ sleeves for jazz label Blue Note. Yet again, a range of instructive examples support the general narrative, including studies of the covers of the early Beatles and Rolling Stones albums. Commonly considered superior to the sleeves of CDs, the appeal of the vinyl LP sleeve has been a factor in the continued support for vinyl and the steady rise in sales since 2008. In the digital age, the packaging of such a physical material product has, for many, maintained a romantic attraction.
This study of vinyl as both a recording format and a material artefact is informative, entertaining and thought provoking, showing the complexities which lie behind what are often taken for granted in musical practices and products.
