{"id":3550,"date":"2017-09-29T19:38:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T19:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/77.104.180.154\/~andrewdo\/blog\/?p=3550"},"modified":"2022-10-28T09:09:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T09:09:52","slug":"the-best-night-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2017\/09\/29\/the-best-night-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"The best night of the month"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last night I hosted Album Club #79<\/a>. That\u2019s 79 months \u2014 almost seven years \u2014 of Album Club evenings, so I thought it was about time I wrote about them.<\/p>\n

Way back at the start of 2011, my friend Bill dropped me an enthusiastic email with a link to a BBC News magazine article<\/a> about Classic Album Sundays<\/em>:<\/p>\n

A growing number of music-lovers unhappy about the way album tracks are enjoyed in a pick-and-mix fashion have decided to take action.<\/p>\n

The rules are strict. No talking. No texting. You must listen to every song on the album.<\/p>\n

Classic Album Sundays treat our best-loved records like great symphonies and are being set up in London, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

Groups of music fans sit in front of a vinyl turntable, with the best speakers they can afford, dim the lights and listen to a classic album all the way through.<\/p>\n

This monthly club in north London is run by Colleen Murphy and for her it is a strike against “‘download culture”, the sense that music has just become an endless compilation of random songs used as background noise.<\/p>\n

\u201dEveryone, stop multi-tasking, sit down, open your ears and do some heavy listening.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bill\u2019s questions to me: Shall we start an album night of our own? Did I know anyone who might be interested? Yes and yes! This was great \u2014 it sounded like a book club without the homework. I was definitely in.<\/p>\n

Five of us gathered on a February evening at Bill\u2019s place. A lot of what happened that night set the tone of all Album Club evenings to come. We arrived, had a few beers and crisps in the kitchen and about 45 minutes in we were ushered through to the lounge. Bill revealed that he was going to play us a vinyl copy of David Bowie\u2019s Hunky Dory<\/em><\/a>. He\u2019d printed the Wikipedia notes for the album and gave a small speech about why he had chosen it. Then the music began.<\/p>\n

We sat there, in complete silence, listening intently. His stereo sounded amazing. I\u2019d never heard the album before and from the opening notes of Changes<\/em><\/a> to the fading sounds of The Bewlay Brothers<\/em><\/a> it was a revelation. On this particular evening, and for the next couple of Album Club nights, the enjoyment of the music was mixed with the self-consciousness of sitting there in silence with everyone. Where do you put your eyes? Is it okay to jiggle my legs as the music takes me? Could I cough? Eye contact was strictly avoided.<\/p>\n

After a few months the format was well-established and we consciously agreed some rules as follows:<\/p>\n