Art, Craft & Good Work

I have some trouble talking about this sort of thing because the word I reach for, craftsmanship, is too gendered and sexist, as if woman was incapable of crafting the finest things. Ugh. Rather than speaking of craftsmen I tend to use the term artisan though it doesn't work quite as well to talk about craft and good work. Still, it's something with which to begin and allows me to talk about record labels.

One of the best things about records is their physicality. There is heft and weight to them and they are pieces of art to be held in and manipulated by the hands. They are also wrapped in art and record sleeves are wonders to behold, but there is art pasted directly to the vinyl as well, circular labels. Well, at least they are often art, crafted and designed to be as pleasing to the eye as the music is to the ear. That's why a particularly bad label stands out. Consider three Genesis albums that occur one after another in their catalog.

The first is from A Trick Of The Tail.

Charisma was a label from back in the day and they went in deeply for a look. "The Famous Charisma Label" really was famous with me and the people I knew and respected. There was a beauty to it and a depth that was pleasing to my eye every single time I drew out one of those albums to play. I didn't put it on my wall, but I didn't rush right into spinning it either. There was a momentary and pleasant pause to take in the artwork, the craft of it and that momend still adds to the experience of listening.

It sure beats the hell out of the Atco label on Wind & Wuthering.

That, my friends, is an ugly label. Even the typography is bad and the iconography is worse. I suppose it could be called workmanlike but that's an insult to working people of either gender. How did this get onto a record from a big name company like Atlantic? Was it designed by someone executive's nephew? Did someone lose a bet? I kind of want to know the story of this, but bet it was designed by a committee of middle managers. That's always the best way to develop art.

I'd say more about this but Mom said if I didn't have anything nice to say...

And finally there's this gorgeousness from Seconds Out:

I sometimes put this on the turntable but don't spin it for a few moments imagining that I could go back to 1977 and catch one of these shows. It's another Charisma, but this label also appeared on the Atlantic versions. Thank God it wasn't on Atco.

Good work, artistry, craft, these are things that require care from beginning to end, top to bottom, and right down to the label. I've been wondering why I waited so long to buy Wind & Wuthering when it's a gorgeous album. Could it be the Atco label? It's probably not that simple, but then again, such a blemish is difficult to dismiss on even the best works of art and craft.

Genesis, Wind & Wuthering

Why have I been reluctant to add this to my collection? It's an album I had as a kid, a part of the Genesis collection (Trespass through Three Sides Live) I would expect to own, and it includes one of my favorite of their songs "Blood On The Rooftops." Yet I've passed up a bunch of chances to buy it. This time, the price and moment being right, I picked it up.

At this point Genesis had recovered from the loss of Peter Gabriel and continued as a quartet with the gorgeous A Trick Of The Tail. Wind & Wuthering was the quartet's sophomore album and turned out to be their swan song as Steve Hackett left and the next album was aptly titled And Then There Were Three. Wind & Wuthering has always felt to me like a sophomore album through and through. Maybe that's why I've taken so long to buy it.

The first side has three very good songs and schmaltzy enough it was a kind of hit. Side two begins with a pretty bad lyric but good instrumenta, moves into the gorgeous "Blood On The Rooftops," and follows with a good two-part instrumental before ending with "Afterglow" a song that everyone loves but I think is just meh.

The front and back covers are perhaps the best in their catalog (though I love Seconds Out). It's gorgeous packaging for an album that may be a little too pretty. Still I'm not sure what I've been waiting for in buying it.

Time to give it a spin.

True Innovation

David Sax's "End The Innovation Obsession" in The New York Times is about what I expect from a man who wrote the book The Revenge Of Analog. But here's the thing: Getting the usual from David Sax is awfully damn good.

Sax isn't a Luddite (though that term maligns and misrepresents the true Luddites) but believes innovation does not always have to involve electricity, printed circuits, or the internet. The Revenge Of Analog describes how people are learning that tactile, analog, human tools are often superior to ideas we've been sold by businesses. At the very least, the true revenge of analog is its coexistence with digital.

"End The Innovation Obsession" gets at this idea that new and old, analog and digital, traditional and newly invented tools can and should coexist. We should doubt that newer is always better:

"We are told that innovation is the most important force in our economy, the one thing we must get right or be left behind. But that fear of missing out has led us to foolishly embrace the false trappings of innovation over truly innovative ideas that may be simpler and ultimately more effective."

Not everything that glitters is gold and we shouldn't be magpies attracted to every shiny thing. (Thought it turns out magpies aren't interested in shiny things.)

We are better served by testing new things against tradition. There was a time when Robert Moses' new and whiz-bang ideas about traffic seemed the one true way. Sixty years later I live in a city divided and scarred by Interstate 81.

"It took more than 50 years evidence, accidents and political courage to realize what a colossal mistake the Moses approach was and to begin to undo that with proven ideas in people-centric urban planning that aim to bring cities back to those who live in them."

Still, it's not about rejecting new ideas. I'm typing this on a Chromebook rather than my old manual typewriter or fountain pen to more efficiently get it online. I have however been listening to records on the turntable while composing this. I'm combining the old and new and choosing tools based on the task I've set for myself. I'm practicing what Sax describes as "reflective innovation" rather than rejecting technology as the term Luddite now implies.

"This type of reflective innovation requires courage, because it calls into question the assumption that new is necessarily better" (emphasis mine).

Sax argues for a "human-centric future that reflects where we've been, what we've learned and how we actually want to live." Living this way requires rejecting some technologies because they fail to serve and embracing traditional tools and ways of living that work well. Sometimes that kind of living gets leads to some name-calling and derision.

Me, I'm a proud Luddite even as I finish typing this on my Chromebook and prepare to post it on the internet. I'm not after any kind of revenge and I'm past the innovation obsession. It's all about what works well and feels good. It's about living as human-centric life. Innovation isn't just waiting out there in the future. More and more I'm finding it in the careful sifting of the past.

FOMO's Nothing Terrible IRL

Maybe I'm just hearing from people who agree with me, but folks seem to be leaving Twitter in droves and some are even quitting Facebook. Most everyone leaves Twitter for the same reason I left: it's making me so damn mean. And everyone gives the usual excuse for not leaving Facebook: all my friends are there.

I get that, but here's the thing: Twitter and Facebook are cancer. Staying with them promotes that cancer.

I'm being obnoxious. I have friends who remain on Facebook for many reasons. They're good people and aren't too lazy to do the right thing. Leaving bad relationships is difficult and having opted out of Facebook I miss out on things. I didn't know about an acquaintance's cancer, my favorite record store's Christmas social, or a bunch of other things until someone told me. I was behind the times and there are things I miss. Heavens to Murgatroyd!

My FOMO (that's the Fear Of Missing Out, Mom) lasted about three weeks and was then gone. Your mileage may vary.

Another thing about opting out is that I keep working on ways to stay in touch without social media companies. I admit, it's damn inconvenient but friendship should require some effort. Otherwise it's as meaningless as a social media feed.

Let me know when you quit Twitter and Facebook. I won't say I told you so and we'll find ways to stay in touch. We could even go out for coffee IRL. (That's In Real Life, Mom. Speaking of which, let's go out for coffee. I'll drive if you buy. Call me.)