Very good point about the impression the art gave the music, or vice versa. You can imagine, with different artwork, certain albums would "feel" completely different. Imagine Adore with an white or pastel color scheme. It could work, but changes the whole impression of the thing.

I had the same conundrum. My solution was to part with the jewel cases and put everything (booklet, disc, and back tray insert) in space saving sleeves, inside tubs from the Container Store. Sure, it still takes up space, but only about 1/3 what it used to. I'm fine with that for another 10 years, when I inevitably…

This is largely why I stopped using streaming services. I like SOME limitation and investment in what I'm listening to. Otherwise, it just becomes the radio, and nothing much really sticks with me.

Mostly, yeah. But I still swear by albums. My iPod is loaded with them, instead of, say, individual tracks, and I play them almost exclusively, except if I need music for a long drive or something, which I just shuffle the whole thing.

iTunes sucks for stuff like that. I think I've finally gotten it set so they won't meddle with my collection, but I'll be damned if I ever go to Apple Music. As soon as I do, all of my carefully-curated artwork downloads and album restructuring will go out the window.

My car still has a CD player (it's 10 years old, I think), which serves as justification, for now, to keep my CDs. When I finally have a car that doesn't have a CD player, I'll need to find some new justification.

I know. Even though all of my music is imported to iTunes, and I just went through tossing the jewel cases, I have a bizarre refusal to actually trash even the most embarrassing CDs that I will never actually listen to. (How about that CD single by Enigma, Sadeness Part 1?)

Another good one: U2's "Passengers" project in the 90's. The liner notes included mostly made-up films that supposedly featured the tracks on the album, and the credits were all anagrams of personnel involved. Ben O'Rian, we hardly knew ye.

Related to the Kid A comment above, as I was trashing my jewel cases (and keeping all the art and discs, of course, in space-saving sleeves), I was delighted to notice the little message on the inside of the spine on OK Computer. I'm sure I'd probably noticed it back in 1997, but had long since forgotten about it:

I'll admit, it felt a little weird when I recently trashed all of my jewel cases, and the green Ryko ones signified a good chunk of my David Bowie collection. I still kept all the art, but that took a moment to accept. Then, into the pile they went.

Me too. In addition, I always liked the individual track credits. Other than researching online, I wonder how people will know that, as an example, Stewart Copland played high hat on Red Rain, or what specific samples were used in some track from the 90's.

I suppose Enter Sandman is a lock for the soundtrack, like Black Sabbath's Iron Man was for Iron Man?

Great interview. I didn't move to Chicago until my late 20's, and discovered Metro shortly thereafter, but it's always a treat when someone I want to see is playing there. I'm seeing the Sons of the Silent Age show there tonight, so this was a good read to get me ready for the show.

Sure. New album within four years.

I'll admit, I don't remember that much of that. But man, I went into a full-on thing with the Bioshock series for a few weeks, and gambled on the book. I dug it…maybe not quite literature, but it was great to live in that world a bit. I'm impressed someone else read and enjoyed it!

I think I momentarily forgot he was in the headline. I just saw the picture, and went "woo!"

Aw, man—I saw the pic, and briefly got excited they would be making a BioShock Infinite movie. I can't imagine it actually working, but damn, I loved those games. Even the Rapture novel was pretty good.

I think the (It's a Shakespeare Reference) should be part of the title.

Definitely one of the highlights of when I had the MU subscription. It was completely random for me, too, and a delightful surprise.

I won't have time this weekend, but I think I'm about to FINALLY just take on the final dungeon and defeat Ganon in Wind Waker HD. I'm missing a handful of heart pieces—I have no idea where I missed them—but I've uncovered every other item in the game. The only other thing I have to do—and I think I'll actually do…