Pet Sounds: What is an Album? / History of Recorded Sound / History of Polyvinyl Chloride / Vinyl Records: LPs and 45s / Album Conventions / Health and Environmental Issues / Downfall of Vinyl Records
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In 1965 the Beatles record Rubber Soul
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In 1966, inspired by this Brian Wilson writes Pet Sounds, considered by many to be the greatist album ever made.
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The Beatles respond in 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band which included album art work, liner notes, and a hidden track.
Some Definitions
- A record is the physical disc on which sound is stored. It is usually vinyl or shellac but can be made of many other plastics.
- A Compact Disc is a modern data storage device invented in the 1980s. It has largely replaced the vinyl record as the dominate medium.
- An album is a collection of songs connected by theme, mood, or sound intended to be together. It can exsist in physical form on CD or vinyl or in electronic form.
- Albums range in length anywhere from a half an hour to eighty minutes.
- Albums have cover art, (even today on itunes) linear notes, or other inserts.
- Albums have consistent track listings.
- A Live Album is one recorded of live material. It typically does not have the thematic unity of a studio album
- A Studio album is an recording of individual tracks that are typically previously unreleased on other albums. These are the types of Albums that my paper focuses on.
- Collections of previously released songs by one band are Compilation Albums. Tribute albums are made of covers of other bands. These too are unimportant to PVC’s effects on history.