Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Florestan]

Ultimate silence???  I have some strong doubts!

On the cover they're under water, not above it. 

[pjme]

smart ass 

[DavidW]

Silence on 4 CDs for those requiring more than 80 minutes of peace .

That would be a great cover for Cage's 4'33!

[Iota]

Yeah, that cover art is fine imho. It's the concept of "ultimate silence" that is weird.

Allied with the description above it on the cover, I think they're referring to silence of the spirit, which people often find easier to achieve with the right kinds of 'noises' accompanying it in the physical world.

Dolphins do seem such friendly, matey things, but I agree with pjme about leaving them to lead their own lives rather than being adjuncts to ours. (Though .. .. I did once swim with dolphins in Florida, and it was amazing, but that was a very long time ago and it was in a small lake, not a pool - and they wouldn't go near the girl I was with, she was devastated - but I wouldn't want to do it now.)

[71 dB]

I did once swim with dolphins in Florida, and it was amazing, but that was a very long time ago and it was in a small lake, not a pool...

Cool. I actually learned to swim in Florida myself back in 1982. Pool + Gulf of Mexico (Belleair Beach). My family was visiting my uncle's family. My uncle worked for Nokia and had a secondment there for a few years. I saw dolphins perform at Sea World Orlando, but I didn't swim with them (or manatees). The waters in Finland are a bit chilly for me, but the Gulf of Mexico was warm enough. 

[Iota]

Cool. I actually learned to swim in Florida myself back in 1982. Pool + Gulf of Mexico (Belleair Beach). My family was visiting my uncle's family. My uncle worked for Nokia and had a secondment there for a few years. I saw dolphins perform at Sea World Orlando, but I didn't swim with them (or manatees). The waters in Finland are a bit chilly for me, but the Gulf of Mexico was warm enough.

What a great place to learn to swim! 

We were there two or three years later than you, in our early twenties, started with a couple of days in Tampa then hired a car and drove all the way down through the Florida Keys, via Miami and the Everglades (where we swam with the dolphins), a memorable trip!

[Madiel]

That would be a great cover for Cage's 4'33!

Only if it was released as a single.

[steve ridgway]

Only if it was released as a single.

On Discogs...

[Madiel]

On Discogs...

I want sales data.

[steve ridgway]

I want sales data.

[Madiel]

Oh God. Demand outstrips supply...

Kids today.

[Madiel]

Addendum: now I'm scared that somewhere on some forum (maybe even this one) there's a thread discussing the best recordings of 4'33'' and people arguing for their favourite.

[steve ridgway]

Addendum: now I'm scared that somewhere on some forum (maybe even this one) there's a thread discussing the best recordings of 4'33'' and people arguing for their favourite.

I had to look, and found This which appears to be a site for AI to do one's homework (kids today )...

[71 dB]

I'm sure I have many 4'33" long tracks on many CDs. If I play them my amplifier turned off or the volume turned completely down, is it listening to Cage's 4'33"?

[Madiel]

I'm sure I have many 4'33" long tracks on many CDs. If I play them my amplifier turned off or the volume turned completely down, is it listening to Cage's 4'33"?

An interesting question. I would say no.

[SimonNZ]

I'm sure I have many 4'33" long tracks on many CDs. If I play them my amplifier turned off or the volume turned completely down, is it listening to Cage's 4'33"?

Sort of yes, if you've become super mindful of the room ambiance and low or distant noises outside the room, which is something other than silence.

-

I once joked when I was on TC that the definitive recording of 4'33" is obviously - obviously - the one with Maria Callas in the audience.

But we don't have here the rabid Callas fanatics they had then, so that joke won't translate. If she recorded something it was therefor "obviously" the best recording.

[AnotherSpin]

I'm sure I have many 4'33" long tracks on many CDs. If I play them my amplifier turned off or the volume turned completely down, is it listening to Cage's 4'33"?

Cage merely pointed out, quite wittily and quite convincingly, that whatever we listen to, we listen to ourselves.

[Peter Power Pop]

and...

[steve ridgway]

^ How old was the phone they downloaded those with?

[Peter Power Pop]

and...

They remind me of the ghastly Decca (London) Ovation series of albums from the mid-1980s. Sample cover: