Record Without a Cover
Record Without a Cover is an album by artist Christian Marclay. It was released in 1985 by Recycled Records. An improvised sound collage, the album was sold as an LP record with no cover or protective packaging, such that the damage from shipping, storing, and playing the record becomes a part of the work. Background and composition Marclay recorded Record Without a Cover in New York City with a four-track machine. The album has only one untitled track, which opens with a ten-minute section of silence. During this period, the record contains audio artifacts from multiple vinyl records being played, a sound that gradually grows louder. Marclay then introduces drums and bells, which leads into samples including classical music, a tango, various sound effects, and "Caravan" by Duke Ellington. Toward the end of the record, the clicks and pops from the introduction interrupt the samples for two minutes. Record Without a Cover was sold without any packaging, such that the wear and tear on it gradually transformed the sound of each copy. The record's reverse side is printed with instructions not to "store in a protective package", which gradually becomes less legible as the record is played repeatedly. The record's