From Langley Park to Memphis (1988) by Prefab Sprout, chosen by Joe; and St Vincent by St Vincent (2013), chosen by Wyn.
Event will be in Wyn and Gavin's, date to be announced. I'll be getting CDs to you over the next few weeks.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
First Album Club of 2015
The choices are in for the first Album Club of the year. They are:
From Langley Park to Memphis (1988) by Prefab Sprout, chosen by Joe; and St Vincent by St Vincent (2013), chosen by Wyn.
Event will be in Wyn and Gavin's, date to be announced. I'll be getting CDs to you over the next few weeks.
From Langley Park to Memphis (1988) by Prefab Sprout, chosen by Joe; and St Vincent by St Vincent (2013), chosen by Wyn.
Event will be in Wyn and Gavin's, date to be announced. I'll be getting CDs to you over the next few weeks.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Next Album Club and Vote
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Monday, 21 April 2014
Next Album Club
Next Album Club is 8.00pm Friday 2 May at Fiona and Tom's house. Choices are Cold Fact (1969) by Rodriguez, and Seven (1992) by James.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Message from Tom on his 'Diamond Dogs' choice
I
did a summary of my thoughts on Diamond
Dogs but left it at work, so here goes again - a potted version: I was a
wee nipper of 10 when I prised my first Bowie album off my brothers - Ziggy Stardust. It was my first ‘serious’
album, my only other possessions to that point being Billion Dollar Babies (Alice Cooper) and I think some Slade and
Sweet. Suddenly, as Bowie’s albums came out thick and fast in the early 70s I
had a discography by an exceedingly cool dude. Unfortunately it meant I had to
keep restyling my hair to keep up with things. All of the albums at this time
were played to the point that the vinyl virtually wore out: Space Oddity, Hunky Dory, The Man who Sold
the World, Ziggy and Aladdin Sane could all have made it as
my Bowie album. But then in 1974 along came Diamond
Dogs a full 10 years before 1984 and Brezhnev and the US doing their usual
sabre rattling. Here was an album which may have been an accurate reflection of
the future with half men/half dogs wandering the streets, assaulting the glass
fronts of Love Me Avenue and the concept and the glam rock along with Bowie’s
vocal range made it one of the best ... Ladies and Gentleman, I commend to you Diamond Dogs .... lots of thumbs up
please.
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Choices for next Album Club
Titles are in for next Album Club. They are: Roy Harper, Folkjokeopus (1969) - chosen by Jim; and David Bowie, Diamond Dogs (1974) - chosen by Tom. Date and venue to follow.
Sunday, 8 December 2013
1
2
4
5
7
8
10
11
13
14
15
16
Rota:
Date: 11 September
2010
Album: Elvis Costello
and the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom
(Gerry)
Chosen By: Gerry
Hosted By: Gerry
Present: Gavin, Gerry, Jim,
Jo, Joe, Mick, Tom, Wyn
Date: December 2010
Albums: Sixteen Horsepower, Folklore
Sparklehorse, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Chosen
By: Mick
Hosted
By: Mick and Lisa
Present:
Jim, Jo, Lisa, Mick, Richard,
Robbie
3
Date:
1 April 2011
Album:
Kate Bush, Never For Ever
Chosen
By: Joe Moran
Hosted
By: Gerry
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian, Jim,
Jo, Joe, Mick, Richard, Tom, Wyn
Date:
20 May 2011
Albums:
Roy Bailey, Never Leave a
Story Unsung
Whipping Boy, Heartworm
Chosen
By: Jim and Wyn
Hosted
By: Wyn and Gavin
Present:
Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian, Jim, Jo,
Joe, Tom, Wyn
Date:
16 July 2011
Albums:
Muse, The Resistance
Carole King, The Colour of Your Dreams
Chosen
By: Ian and Corina
Hosted
By: Corina and Ian
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jim, Jo, Joe, Tom, Wyn (Stacey)
6
Date:
14 October 2011
Albums:
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Rattlesnakes
Alabama 3, Exile on
Coldharbor Lane
Chosen
By: Gavin and Tom
Hosted
By: Gavin & Wyn
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jim, Jo, Joe, Tom, Wyn (Stacey)
Date:
25 November 2011
Albums:
Primal Scream, Screamadelica
Antony and the Johnsons, Now I Am a Bird
Chosen
By: Fiona and Jo
Hosted
By: Fiona and Tom
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jim, Jo, Joe, Tom, Wyn (Stacey)
Date:
16 October 2011
Albums:
Guillemots, Through the
Windowpane
R.L. Burnside, Come On In
Chosen By: Gerry
and Kate
Hosted
By: Gerry
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gerry, Ian, Jim,
Jo, Joe, Kate, Tom
9
Date:
20 April 2012
Albums:
Frank Sinatra, In the Wee
Small Hours
The Hoodoo Gurus, Stoneage
Romeos
Chosen
By: Joe and Wyn
Hosted
By: Wyn and Gavin
Present:
Corina, Dave, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jim, Jo, Joe, Kate, Tom, Wyn
Date:
13 July 2012
Albums:
Ron Sexsmith, Cobblestone Runway
Slade, Slayed?
Chosen
By: Dave and Jim
Hosted
By: Jim and Jo
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gerry, Ian, Jim,
Jo, Joe, Tom
11
Date:
21 September 2012
Albums:
Garth Brooks, No Fences
Pink Floyd, The Dark
Side of the Moon
Chosen
By: Tom and Ian
Hosted
By: Tom and Fiona
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jo, Joe, Kate, Tom, Wyn
12
Date:
16 November 2012
Albums:
J.C. Bach, St Matthew
Passion
Soft Cell, Non-Stop
Erotic Cabaret
Chosen
By: Corina and Gavin
Hosted
By: Corina and Ian
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jo, Kate, Tom, Wyn
Date:
3 March 2013
Albums:
Jackson Browne, Late for the
Sky
Patty Smith, Horses
Chosen
By: Jo and Michael
Hosted
By: Jo and Jim
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jo, Joe, Jim, Kate, Michael, Tom, Wyn
Date:
3 May 2013
Albums:
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig,
Lazarus, Dig!!!
Tom Petty, Wildflowers
(1994)
Chosen
By: Kath and Fiona
Hosted
By: Kath
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Jo, Joe, Jim, Kate, Michael, Tom, Wyn
Date:
12 July 2013
Albums:
The Streets, A Grand Don’t
Come for Free (2004)
The Smiths, The Queen
is Dead (1986)
Chosen
By: Gerry and Joe
Hosted
By: Gerry
Present:
Corina, Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Joe, Jim, Lucinda, Michael, Tom, Wyn
Guests:
Clare, Stacey
Date:
27 September 2013
Albums:
Adam Ant, The Blueblack
Hussar (2012)
The Style Council, Café
Bleu (1984)
Chosen
By: Ian and Wyn
Hosted
By: Corina and Ian
Present:
Alison, Corina, Gavin, Gerry, Ian,
Joe, Jo, Kath, Lucinda, Michael, Wyn
17
Date:
7 December 2013
Albums:
Duke Special, Songs from the
Deep Forest (2006)
Apple of My Eye, Devils (2012)
Chosen
By: Lucinda and Gavin
Hosted
By: Gavin and Wyn
Present:
Fiona, Gavin, Gerry, Ian, Jim, Jo,
Kath, Lucinda, Michael, Tom, Wyn
Gerry x 3
Joe
x 3
Wyn
x 3
Ian
x 3
Gavin
x 3
Lucinda x 1
Jim x 2
Tom x 2
Corina
x 2
Fiona
x 2
Jo x
2
Kath
x 2
Michael
x 1
Friday, 15 November 2013
Monday, 2 September 2013
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Greetings Album Clubbers and Followers!
Next meeting provisionally planned for Gerry's house in Cable Road on Friday 12 July at 8.00. Please let me know if you can't make it.
Back to Blighty with a vengeance, with The Streets, A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004) and The Smiths, The Queen is Dead (1986).
Next meeting provisionally planned for Gerry's house in Cable Road on Friday 12 July at 8.00. Please let me know if you can't make it.
Back to Blighty with a vengeance, with The Streets, A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004) and The Smiths, The Queen is Dead (1986).
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Next Meeting
Greetings Hoylake Album Clubbers!
Next session is set for Jo's house at 8.00 pm on Friday 22 February. Choices are:
Jackson Browne, Late for the Sky (1974)
Patti Smith, Horses (1975)
Next session is set for Jo's house at 8.00 pm on Friday 22 February. Choices are:
Jackson Browne, Late for the Sky (1974)
Patti Smith, Horses (1975)
Sunday, 2 December 2012
I thought it would be worthwhile to continue the debate relating to the identity
of the texts that constitute the focus of Album Club. The following is of
course not intended to be prescriptive in any way, and I welcome contributions
to the debate.
This is my understanding: an ‘album’ is a discrete collection of songs by an artist (single or collective). Such collections retain their coherence, and constitute an identifiable category, by dint of a recognizable musical, sonic or lyrical signature. At the same time, they are constrained (to a greater or lesser extent) by the technological limitations which were instituted by the invention of vinyl in the 1940s - which is to say: approximately 30 – 50 minutes of music, organized into ‘songs’, dispersed over two sides of a 12-inch, 33-rpm record.
I think it’s possible to regard most CDs since their invention in the early 1980s as operating along the same continuum as vinyl albums, because they adhere more or less to this model - i.e. an artist releases a collection of new songs with which they are identifiably associated.
To my mind, such a model allows for a multitude of texts - 'albums' - but is clearly set against other texts, models and practices, including:
* random compilations of the Now That’s What I Call Music variety;
* random compilations organized in terms of genre (e.g. folk or jazz), style (e.g. punk or Britpop), scene (e.g. Northern Soul or Seattle), era (e.g. 1960s), or any other arbitrary category;
* recordings of works conceived under the auspices of alternative musical dispensations – e.g. symphonies, lieder, opera; this would also bar recordings of event-oriented dance music (e.g. trance or house) unless intentionally released by an artist as a coherent collection;
* alternative formats generated as a result of digital technology (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc.).
The key issue, so far as I can see, is that between the ‘album’ and the ‘record’, which in itself mirrors the difference between the ‘novel’ and the ‘book’. There are some great ‘books’ (poetry, drama, cookery, travel, history, etc.) that would be out of place in a club dedicated to discussing ‘novels’; just so, from my perspective there are some great ‘records’ that are out of place in a club dedicated to discussing ‘albums’.
This is my understanding: an ‘album’ is a discrete collection of songs by an artist (single or collective). Such collections retain their coherence, and constitute an identifiable category, by dint of a recognizable musical, sonic or lyrical signature. At the same time, they are constrained (to a greater or lesser extent) by the technological limitations which were instituted by the invention of vinyl in the 1940s - which is to say: approximately 30 – 50 minutes of music, organized into ‘songs’, dispersed over two sides of a 12-inch, 33-rpm record.
I think it’s possible to regard most CDs since their invention in the early 1980s as operating along the same continuum as vinyl albums, because they adhere more or less to this model - i.e. an artist releases a collection of new songs with which they are identifiably associated.
To my mind, such a model allows for a multitude of texts - 'albums' - but is clearly set against other texts, models and practices, including:
* Best
of
… and Greatest Hits collections;
* random compilations of the Now That’s What I Call Music variety;
* random compilations organized in terms of genre (e.g. folk or jazz), style (e.g. punk or Britpop), scene (e.g. Northern Soul or Seattle), era (e.g. 1960s), or any other arbitrary category;
* recordings of works conceived under the auspices of alternative musical dispensations – e.g. symphonies, lieder, opera; this would also bar recordings of event-oriented dance music (e.g. trance or house) unless intentionally released by an artist as a coherent collection;
* alternative formats generated as a result of digital technology (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc.).
The key issue, so far as I can see, is that between the ‘album’ and the ‘record’, which in itself mirrors the difference between the ‘novel’ and the ‘book’. There are some great ‘books’ (poetry, drama, cookery, travel, history, etc.) that would be out of place in a club dedicated to discussing ‘novels’; just so, from my perspective there are some great ‘records’ that are out of place in a club dedicated to discussing ‘albums’.
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Sunday, 23 September 2012
On Friday 21 September we enjoyed Album Club hospitality at Fiona and Tom's house, discussing No Fences (1990) by Garth Brooks and The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd - controversial choices both. Generally 'thumbs-down' for the former, and 'thumbs-up' for the latter.
Next meeting is in Corina and Ian's before Xmas, with Corina and Gavin calling the shots - what will they choose?? Ooh, the excitement!
Next meeting is in Corina and Ian's before Xmas, with Corina and Gavin calling the shots - what will they choose?? Ooh, the excitement!
Friday, 20 July 2012
Position after 7 votes!!
Antony and the Johnsons, Now I Am a Bird 88
Guillemots, Through the Windowpane 77
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Rattlesnakes 73
Muse, The Resistance 67
Alabama 3, Exile on Coldharbor Lane 65
Kate Bush, Never For Ever 63
Whipping Boy, Heartworm 63
Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom 56
R.L. Burnside, Come On In 55
Sparklehorse, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot 50
The Hoodoo Gurus, Stoneage Romeos 46
Roy Bailey, Never Leave a Story Unsung 39
Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours 37
Primal Scream, Screamadelica 37
Carole King, The Colour of Your Dreams 24
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