1

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

 

 

2

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

 

 

4

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

 

 

 5

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)

 

 

7

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)

 

 

8

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

 

 

10       

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

 

 13

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

 

 

14

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

 

 

15

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

 

 

 16

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

 

 

 

Rota:

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

 

Next meeting is at Gavin and Win's house at 8.00pm on Saturday 8th December.

Choices are:

Songs from the Deep Forest (2006) by Duke Special, chosen by Lucinda.





Devils (2013) by Apple of My Eye, chosen by Gavin.

Our first meeting after the Summer break features two interesting - and very different - offerings: a recent (2012) album by Adam Ant, and the iconic Café Bleu from The Style Council, which is - OMG! - nearly thirty years old now! Date is Friday 27 September, venue is Ian and Corina's house.

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 Album Club Meeting somewhere in Elm Grove, with a provisional date of Friday 3rd May.

Exciting news will be shared on the evening!

Albums are 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!' (2008) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and 'Wildflowers' (1994) by Tom Petty.

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)

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:

* 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’.