Love this rabbit hole, Paul, and so appreciative that you did so much detective work on it! Looking forward to combing through my vinyl collection tonight to see if I have any interesting designs to stare at. :-)
Somewhat related, I assume you've seen it because of your converging interests in music and design, but the documentary "Squaring the Circle" is excellent. It's the story of 60s/70s album art design studio Hipgnosis.
I used to love to watch the rainbow logo on Capital records go around when I played Beach Boys records. I've also imagined it to help myself go to sleep or relax.
I definitely noted the Sire effect because one of the things that led to my lifelong fascination with music was that I was obsessed with watching LPs and 45s spin as a small child. (Questlove mentions in his memoir Mo Meta Blues that he had a similar obsession.)
Speaking of memoirs, Seymour said in his book Siren Song that the label name came from scrambling the first two letters in SEymour and RIchard, and that he liked it because it reminded him of Syd Nathan's King Records, the first label he worked at.
It doesn't have any particular effect when it spins, but I have always loved the post-punk-era Virgin Records labels (approximately 1978-1984, I think), where side one was green with a thin red stripe and side two was red with a thin green stripe.
Cool to see that you reviewed the Eljin Marbles record -- my friend Paula put that out!
Some LP designers are taking this effect to the next level. Here's one that comes from an unexpected place. The super popular children's show Bluey has released several albums of its (quite excellent) music from the show. In 2023, they had an album called "Dance Mode", and they did a special Record Store Day vinyl that had a full on zoetrope effect on its platter. As the album spins on your turntable, the images of the characters printed on the vinyl itself dance. It's a very cool effect to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhsAeDLwelI
“But I think the bigger takeaway is that our pursuit of the inconspicuous can sometimes lead us in surprising directions, and bring us into contact with fascinating people”
I feel like most readers are already aware of this, but it really is great life advice. Just the other day in an airport Chili’s I had a fascinating conversation with a woman about ginseng. Apparently American ginseng is superior to Chinese ginseng, so they prefer to import from us, but it only grows in northern Wisconsin, so there’s this giant ginseng growing industry in the middle of nowhere. And also because so much of her online activity is about substances that provide energy, all her algorithms think she’s really into cocaine now. People are really interesting if you let them talk.
Actually American ginseng grows from the Midwest to Maine. I remember seeing people harvesting it (illegally) in the Shenandoah National Park in the Fall. https://bit.ly/3XE66Jj
As a 35 year fan of Black Sabbath, I've always been a fan of the Vertigo album effect. Although I am in the US and their US record label was actually Warner Brothers, I collect a lot of their imports from the UK and Japan. It's also interesting to note that Vertigo CDs have the same logo... The entire CD is the album label basically. So the CDs have the same effect while being played, although you can't see it!
I'll be honest — I was well aware of the Vertigo logo's visually dynamic aspects, but (despite having Sire records in my collection for well over 40 years) never noticed how the Sire logo spins until today. Thanks for this; glad I was able to help put you in touch with Richard.
Really fun post, Paul. Like you I had many vinyls but have unloaded most. Dont think I had any Sire records or if I did I never noticed the spinning logo. Those Capital labels were a fixture in my 45s hoard. Brings back lots of memories of spinning Beatles music with my friends on my prized portable record player. And yes, I’ve kept all my Beatles records
Love this rabbit hole, Paul, and so appreciative that you did so much detective work on it! Looking forward to combing through my vinyl collection tonight to see if I have any interesting designs to stare at. :-)
Somewhat related, I assume you've seen it because of your converging interests in music and design, but the documentary "Squaring the Circle" is excellent. It's the story of 60s/70s album art design studio Hipgnosis.
Jimmy Kimmel segment is hilarious on so many levels…
I used to love to watch the rainbow logo on Capital records go around when I played Beach Boys records. I've also imagined it to help myself go to sleep or relax.
I definitely noted the Sire effect because one of the things that led to my lifelong fascination with music was that I was obsessed with watching LPs and 45s spin as a small child. (Questlove mentions in his memoir Mo Meta Blues that he had a similar obsession.)
Speaking of memoirs, Seymour said in his book Siren Song that the label name came from scrambling the first two letters in SEymour and RIchard, and that he liked it because it reminded him of Syd Nathan's King Records, the first label he worked at.
It doesn't have any particular effect when it spins, but I have always loved the post-punk-era Virgin Records labels (approximately 1978-1984, I think), where side one was green with a thin red stripe and side two was red with a thin green stripe.
Cool to see that you reviewed the Eljin Marbles record -- my friend Paula put that out!
Some LP designers are taking this effect to the next level. Here's one that comes from an unexpected place. The super popular children's show Bluey has released several albums of its (quite excellent) music from the show. In 2023, they had an album called "Dance Mode", and they did a special Record Store Day vinyl that had a full on zoetrope effect on its platter. As the album spins on your turntable, the images of the characters printed on the vinyl itself dance. It's a very cool effect to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhsAeDLwelI
“But I think the bigger takeaway is that our pursuit of the inconspicuous can sometimes lead us in surprising directions, and bring us into contact with fascinating people”
I feel like most readers are already aware of this, but it really is great life advice. Just the other day in an airport Chili’s I had a fascinating conversation with a woman about ginseng. Apparently American ginseng is superior to Chinese ginseng, so they prefer to import from us, but it only grows in northern Wisconsin, so there’s this giant ginseng growing industry in the middle of nowhere. And also because so much of her online activity is about substances that provide energy, all her algorithms think she’s really into cocaine now. People are really interesting if you let them talk.
Actually American ginseng grows from the Midwest to Maine. I remember seeing people harvesting it (illegally) in the Shenandoah National Park in the Fall. https://bit.ly/3XE66Jj
As a 35 year fan of Black Sabbath, I've always been a fan of the Vertigo album effect. Although I am in the US and their US record label was actually Warner Brothers, I collect a lot of their imports from the UK and Japan. It's also interesting to note that Vertigo CDs have the same logo... The entire CD is the album label basically. So the CDs have the same effect while being played, although you can't see it!
On the Jack White album Lazeretto, there are so many Easter eggs.
Side 1 is played backwards, there's a 3D angel, there are 2 hidden songs (literally hidden under the side 1 and side 2 labels).
It's truly a engineering feat!
I'll be honest — I was well aware of the Vertigo logo's visually dynamic aspects, but (despite having Sire records in my collection for well over 40 years) never noticed how the Sire logo spins until today. Thanks for this; glad I was able to help put you in touch with Richard.
Really fun post, Paul. Like you I had many vinyls but have unloaded most. Dont think I had any Sire records or if I did I never noticed the spinning logo. Those Capital labels were a fixture in my 45s hoard. Brings back lots of memories of spinning Beatles music with my friends on my prized portable record player. And yes, I’ve kept all my Beatles records