Whipped cream and other delights...

Saturday we took our niece and nephews (5 of them) bowling. As I was watching them break the record for whose ball would take the longest to reach the pins (damn bumpers!) I was glancing at some screens playing current music videos... An expensive looking video came on - a cute girl (think of an anorexic Bjork) and her backing band looking cool wearing all white. The song was awful, some instantly forgettable emo dross but the video looked cool and definately cost a lot. At the end of the song (which seemed to go on for about 20 minutes) the title came up - the band was Leaf-something but I was shocked that the label was A&M...

A&M shouldn't be releasing Emo dross - they should be releasing easy-listening LP's in gatefold sleeves by exotic artists such as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass or Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66:





I spent years in charity shops looking for these fantastic LP's and they were treasured not only for their music but also their fantastic artwork. Labels such as Studio 2 Stereo, Elecktra and A&M were legendary and exciting. So when did labels like A&M stop being pervayors of taste and style and become a business? The answer is of course when they had to... So next time you coldly download an mp3 straight onto your iPod, think of a beautiful gatefold LP and I guarantee (if your old enough) you'll be smiling...