Engineers? Probably only a few anoraks cared. But people were definitely paying attention to who produced the album. After all, that is why Nirvana wanted to work with Steve Albini, who had produced the Pixies. It is why music fora often feature debates on whether a particular producer improved a particular album, or ruined it.

Similarly, if an album had string arrangements, or extra horns or percussion, and the performers were listed in the album art, ordinary listeners did follow up on that and seek out those performers’ own recordings.