Guitarist, singer and (retro) producer T Bone Burnett, 74, is a smart guy. In showcasing his new analog audio format, he’s marketing super-exclusive vinyl records called “Iconic Originals”. He calls them “highlights of the recorded sound”.
The first exemplary format for this (supposed) progress is Bob Dylan’s new recording of his folk song “Blowin’ In The Wind”. Burnett recorded the Dylan track again.
After audio sessions for potential buyers in Los Angeles, New York and London, the luxury disc was auctioned off at Christie’s in London on Thursday (July 7th). According to a press release, it was sold for the equivalent of 1,733,940 euros. It was not announced who made the highest bid.
In a statement released ahead of the auction, Burnett offers insight into his thinking and production process:
“Marshall McLuhan said that when a medium supersedes a previous medium, the former (standard) medium will transform into an art form. Just as film has done with novels, television with film, the Internet with television, and digital with analogue. We have now entered the fine arts market with Bob Dylan’s new version of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, our first analogue disc to be archived using the ‘Ionic Original’ process.
We want to contribute to developing a space for music. I trust and hope that whoever buys them at Christie’s Exceptional Sale today will mean as much as all of us who made them. May he regard and cherish it like a painting or some other unique work of art.”
After this Burnett Vademecum published on the US music platform “Stereogum”, there were mocking to cynical malicious comments from the users.
“I, too, am a fan of audio formats that can only be owned and heard by the richest and most powerful among us,” wrote a user named Chris. “I bought it, converted it to MP3 and am listening to it on my iPod Classic. Sounds great over 128 kilobytes of capacity…” jokes cariboucarl.
Most of the letters agree in their view of the analog cult for millionaires: “but this is silly…”.
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