diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f6fbb57..c06d621 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -395,6 +395,10 @@ Then put it behind your existing reverse proxy like everything else
 - [x] Linked whatever's playing (video or music) to the OS's own media
       controls (Windows' SMTC, macOS' Now Playing, ...) — title/artwork,
       play/pause/seek/next — see docs/architecture.md
+- [x] Fixed a track started directly (not via its album/artist) never
+      falling back to its album's artwork — see docs/architecture.md
+      (probably not the whole "images are hard to find" story — flagged
+      there)
 - [ ] Try a full party end-to-end with two real accounts (still the main gap)
 - [ ] Try casting to a real Chromecast (only the SDK's own bootstrap is
       confirmed here — no real device/session)
diff --git a/docs/architecture.md b/docs/architecture.md
index e491416..693e0e3 100644
--- a/docs/architecture.md
+++ b/docs/architecture.md
@@ -4415,6 +4415,45 @@ call sites already gives), and the actual OS-level popup itself - the
 whole point - isn't something this sandbox can display or click
 regardless. Worth a real Windows/Chrome check once deployed.
 
+## A track started directly never fell back to its album's artwork
+
+Reported directly: the app struggles to find artist/album/track images.
+Traced one concrete, confirmed cause: `imageUrlFor`'s own
+`Audio -> AlbumId` fallback (added earlier specifically because a track
+essentially never has its own Primary image, only its album usually
+does) was silently never triggering for a track played directly - not
+via its album or artist - because the raw item that decision runs
+against, `CatalogService.getRawItem`, never requested `AlbumId` from
+Emby in the first place. Emby's default field set for a single-item GET
+omits it entirely, so `item.AlbumId` read `undefined` there regardless
+of whether the track's actual album genuinely had one - `imageUrlFor`
+fell through to the track's own id every time, for every party started
+this way.
+
+Every OTHER path that resolves a track's image already asks for it
+correctly - `getAlbumTracks`/`getPlaylistItemsRaw` both already include
+`AlbumId` in their own `Fields`, which is why launching a whole album/
+artist/playlist, or a queue built from one, was never affected. Fixed
+the one gap instead of guessing at a broader rewrite: `getRawItem` now
+requests `Fields=AlbumId` too. Harmless for every non-Audio item it also
+fetches (Movie/Series/Episode/...) - Emby just omits a field that
+genuinely doesn't apply to them.
+
+Not the whole story, most likely - a real Emby library can also
+legitimately have no Primary image at all for a given artist or album
+(nothing for this app to fall back to, no bug to fix), and this fix
+only ever covers the one specific path (a track started directly) that
+was provably missing a field it needed. Flagged directly rather than
+overclaiming "images are fixed" - worth another, more specific report
+(which item exactly, from where) if artist/album art still struggles
+after this.
+
+Verified: full `typecheck`/`test`/`build` (server only - `CatalogService.ts`
+is server-side). New test confirms `getRawItem`'s actual outgoing
+request includes `Fields=AlbumId` (a mocked `EmbyClient.fetch` capturing
+the real path/query it was called with, not just asserting on the
+already-separately-tested `imageUrlFor` logic downstream of it).
+
 ## Known limitations
 
 - Playback always goes through `hls.js` against whatever Emby's
diff --git a/server/src/services/CatalogService.ts b/server/src/services/CatalogService.ts
index ff739a7..613ab24 100644
--- a/server/src/services/CatalogService.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/CatalogService.ts
@@ -125,9 +125,23 @@ class CatalogServiceClass {
    *  mediaType from the clicked item's real Emby Type (see index.ts).
    *  Unlike every other method here, this preserves Emby's own status
    *  (typically a real 404) rather than a blanket 502 - "titre introuvable"
-   *  is a not-found, not an upstream failure. */
+   *  is a not-found, not an upstream failure.
+   *
+   *  `Fields=AlbumId` - without it, Emby's default field set for a single
+   *  item omits it, so a track started directly (not via its album/
+   *  artist - the one path that reaches imageUrlFor through *this*
+   *  method, in index.ts's POST /api/parties) always missed imageUrlFor's
+   *  own Audio -> AlbumId fallback and fell through to the track's own
+   *  id instead - which, confirmed directly against a real server (see
+   *  imageUrlFor's own comment), essentially never has a Primary image
+   *  of its own. Reported directly as "the app really struggles to find
+   *  artist/album/track images" - this is the one concrete, fixable
+   *  piece of that: a party started this way now gets the same album
+   *  art every other path already resolves correctly. Harmless for
+   *  every non-Audio item this also fetches (Movie/Series/Episode/...) -
+   *  they have no AlbumId to begin with, so Emby just omits the field. */
   async getRawItem(session: EmbySession, itemId: string): Promise<EmbyItem> {
-    return this.fetchJson<EmbyItem>(`/Users/${session.userId}/Items/${itemId}`, session, 'Titre introuvable.', { preserveEmbyStatus: true });
+    return this.fetchJson<EmbyItem>(`/Users/${session.userId}/Items/${itemId}?Fields=AlbumId`, session, 'Titre introuvable.', { preserveEmbyStatus: true });
   }
 
   async getItem(session: EmbySession, itemId: string): Promise<ItemDto> {
diff --git a/server/test/catalogService.test.ts b/server/test/catalogService.test.ts
index cba3c2b..b3b8e18 100644
--- a/server/test/catalogService.test.ts
+++ b/server/test/catalogService.test.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,18 @@ describe('CatalogService', () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it('getRawItem requests Fields=AlbumId - without it, a track started directly (not via its album) always missed imageUrlFor\'s own fallback', async (t) => {
+    let requestedPath = '';
+    t.mock.method(EmbyClient, 'fetch', async (pathAndQuery: string) => {
+      requestedPath = pathAndQuery;
+      return jsonResponse({ Id: 't1', Name: 'Track', Type: 'Audio', AlbumId: 'al1' });
+    });
+
+    await CatalogService.getRawItem(session, 't1');
+
+    assert.ok(requestedPath.includes('Fields=AlbumId'), requestedPath);
+  });
+
   it('getPlaybackOptions flags an image/bitmap subtitle (PGS) as not text-based, real text subtitles as fine', async (t) => {
     t.mock.method(EmbyClient, 'fetch', async () => jsonResponse({
       MediaSources: [{