In January, I began to list every album I play in full during 2019. The format is immaterial, LP, CD or Download, as long as the album in question is played in its entirety. If I skip tracks, cherry pick the odd tune or give up part way through, it doesn't go on the list. My aim, as often as possible, is to treat the album as a body of work, old school stylee.
The results are in. The numbers have been checked, cross-checked and verified. Thanks in part to a combination of reduced shifts at work and a couple of endless train journeys, in February I listened to a grand total of 58 albums in their entirety, an improvement on the 37 I managed in January.
As the year progresses, I've no doubt that repeated plays of particular favourites will start to appear on these lists more and more often - I'm already finding it a struggle not to cave in and listen to the fantastic 'Drift Code' by Rustin Man endlessly. If that LP isn't among my top five of the year come December, we'll have been blessed with some stonkingly great releases over the next nine months.
Here's a list then, in order, of the 58 albums I played in full in February, with a track from one of 'em at the end. This month it's the typically odd, but nevertheless catchy as hell 'Token' by Panda Bear.
Beirut - Gallipoli (2019) DL
Rustin Man - Drift Code (2019) DL
Nucleus - Direct Hits (1976) LP
AMOR - Sinking Into a Miracle (2018) LP
Rustin Man - Drift Code (2019) DL
Robert Wyatt - Ruth is Stranger Than Richard (1975) LP
Alasdair Roberts etc - Au Cube (2018) LP
Bill Nelson's Red Noise - Sound On Sound (1979) LP
Jethro Tull - This Was (1968) DL
Soft Machine - Spaced (1996) DL
The Specials - Encore (2019) DL
Daevid Allen - Banana Moon (1971) DL
Desert Heat - Cat Mask at Huggie Temple (2013) DL
The Clash - London Calling (1979) CD
The Lyman Woodard Organization - Saturday Night Special (2017) CD
McCoy Tyner - Extensions (1972) DL
Panda Bear - Buoys (2019) DL
Francis Bebey - Psychedelic Sanza 1982-84 (2014) DL
The Cosmic Dead - EasterFaust (2014) DL
John McLaughlin - Devotion (1970) DL
Lau - Midnight and Closedown (2019) DL
Sister John - Returned From Sea (2017) DL
The Specials - Encore (2019) DL
Big Blood - Operate Spaceship Earth Properly (2018) DL
Hugh Hopper - Soft Boundaries Vol.7 (2015) DL
Rustin Man - Drift Code (2019) DL
Chick Corea - Return to Forever (1972) DL
Gaz Coombes - World's Strongest Man (2018) DL
The Coke Dares - Fake Lake (2018) DL
VED - Demis Roussos Internal (2019) DL
Meat Puppets - Rat Farm (2013) DL
Kungens Män - CHEF (2019) LP
Beak - >>> (2019) LP
John Cale & Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax (1970) LP
Lay Llamas - Thuban (2018) LP
Karl Blau - Clothes Your I's (2001) CD
Maria McKee - Life is Sweet (1996) CD
Big Blood - Unlikely Mothers (2014) LP
Bob Dylan - Scarlet Town: Unreleased Live Recordings 2018 (2019) DL
Kungens Män - CHEF (2019) LP
Richard Youngs - May (2014) LP
Big Blood - Radio Valkyrie 1905-1917 (2013) LP
Various Artists - Soweto Street Music (1984) LP
Fridge - Ceefax (1997) CD
Sleaford Mods - Eton Alive (2019) LP
Panda Bear - Buoys (2019) DL
Gong - You (1974) CD
John Abercrombie, Dave Holland & Jack DeJohnette - Gateway 2 (1978) LP
Shankar - Vision (1984) LP
Glenn Jones - The Wanting (2011) LP
Albion Country Band - Battle of the Field (1976) LP
The Chieftains - s/t (1964) LP
The Stroppies - s/t (2017) LP
Greenslade - Time and Tide (1975) CD
The Long Ryders - Psychedelic Country Soul (2019) DL
Robert Forster - Inferno (2019) LP
Paisiel - s/t (2019) DL
Julia Jacklin - Crushing (2019) DL
6 comments:
Wow! That's an impressive monthly haul. I can see now why you don't own a television set.
Exactly John. In the choice between listening and watching back in 2004, listening invariably won - so I got rid of the TV and haven't had one since. You'll be pleased to note, however, that I am currently considering getting a Netflix account for occasional use on the laptop!
That's an impressive list, not sure I'd match it.
I listen to a lot of shuffle on the move but have made a concerted effort to do more full albums at home.
The two-a-day pace is very impressive. I probably listen to the same number of songs in a day (assuming an album has about 10 songs), but that's just not the same as giving your attention to whole albums. I may have to give this a try some month.
Good variety of listening! You put my numbers to shame with your total of 58 albums in a month. Of those, I’ve only heard London Calling. Thanks for the tip about Drift Code by Rustin Man
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