On the record
Published January 28, 2016
It started like this:
John: Rumours? You ever heard Rumours?
Kayleigh: What?
John: What?! Rumours is one of the best albums in the whole wide world!
Kayleigh: Never even heard of it.
John: Excuse me? You’ve never heard of Rumours? Oh, you’ll love it. I’ll burn you a copy. Tonight. One of my all-time favourite albums.
Kayleigh: Mine’s Now 48.
John: Now 48?!
Kayleigh: They’re all on it, all me faves S-Club 7, Steps, Samantha Mumba, Shaggy! It wasn’t me.
John: No. No, I’m sorry. You can’t have a Now album as your favourite album.
Kayleigh: Why not?
John: Cos you can’t have a compilation.
Kayleigh: I can have what I want, John.
Mr C and I have had conversations like this over and over, although it wasn’t until this recent viewing that I realised my favourite album really and truly is a compilation. I’ve never really been an album type of person. I like an eclectic mix of songs, and tend to either like what I hear or don’t, and then stick with the ones I like. Searching out new music has never really been a key part of my enjoyment of the genre.
It was worse when the barrier to getting an album was somewhere around the £13.99 mark. Back in the day, I had a rule that I had to like at least two or three songs off an album before I’d even consider buying it, and even then I’d invariably opt for a Friends DVD instead. So the album thing, it kinda passed me by.
Now, I do agree with Kayleigh that you can have whatever you want as your favourite. But part of me thinks I have been missing out on something. Mr C is a big fan of the album. He tries to explain to me concept albums, collections of work that tell a story, how much it means to an artist for you to listen to their songs in the right order, etc, etc. I’ve mostly ignored him.
Until now.
I want to make the most of my Apple music subscription, I want to listen to more music, and I want to stop Mr C doing that disappointed shake of the head when we talk about albums. Hence, my new Life List adventure, On the Record.
The goal was conceived as thus: Listen to a new (to me) album every week for a year.
I started listing new albums I wanted to listen to, and Mr C started chiming in with classic albums he thought I should hear.
Very quickly it became clear what the goal was going to become: Listen to two albums a week for a year, one chosen by me (released within the last year or so), and one chosen by Mr C (released any time up to 2010).
Slightly less catchy, but a heck of a lot more interesting. Naturally, I have to record my findings, so look out for some more music based entries coming soon!
Update - 06/02/2016
After the first few weeks, I was totally hooked on this whole concept. Who knew albums could be so brilliant and contagious and how can I listen to more and more please?
I quickly discovered that I needed to listen to each one more than once for it to really sink in and take hold, so I’ve endeavoured to listen to each at least twice.
