John Darko
Classic Album Sundays. Not Colleen Murphy’s playback sessions but an idea to bring fresher music to hi-fi shows and put in a shot in the arm of (the often sluggish) Sunday attendance. Imagine: every hour, on the hour, for six hours, five different rooms would play a classic album in its entirety. The door would be ‘locked’ once the album playback had begun. Why? To ensure an optimal listening experience for those who showed up on time.
How would this be organised? Exhibitors would choose an album from a set menu of thirty classic albums provided by the show organiser. Once an exhibitor had claimed an album, it would be removed from the menu. First come, first served. Each of the Sunday’s classic album playback sessions would then be listed as a timetable in the show brochure (and on the website): time, room number/name, system details, the album, its cover art and the exhibitor’s chosen format. Attendees would turn up and form an orderly queue before being invited to enter the room and find a seat.
Now comes the twist in the plan’s tail. The show exhibitors would have zero say in the set menu of classic albums. Why not? If highly-predictable past form is anything to go by, we would probably see the following choices:
- The Eagles – Hotel California
- Miles Davis – Sketches of Spain
- Steely Dan – Gaucho
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
- Joni Mitchell – Blue
- Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life
- Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
- Steely Dan – Aja
- Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy
- Jazz At The Pawnshop
- Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
- Carole King – Tapestry
- Santana – Abraxas
- The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm
- Muddy Waters – Folk Singer
- Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
- Massive Attack – Mezzanine
- Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
- Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Sky is Crying
- Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Ella & Louie
- Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon
- Paul Simon – Graceland
- Peter Gabriel – So
- Natalie Merchant – Tigerlily
- Nils Lofgren – Acoustic Live
- Neil Young – Harvest
- Supertramp – Breakfast In America
- AC/DC – Back In Black
I’ll not argue with any of these albums standing as a classic but I would argue that they represent nothing new in the context of a hi-fi show demo. We’ve heard it all before. Instead, the thirty albums landing on the set menu would be selected by yours truly. My idea, my rules. Alternatively, the top 30 could chosen by a show ambassador or high-profile guest.
Before we get to my selections, allow me to set my definition of a classic album: “one whose cultural impact has been felt down the years”. That means, by definition, a classic album must be at least ten years old. Preferably fifteen. Enthusiasm driven by recent-ism need not apply. Big sales numbers don’t hurt but they aren’t a prerequisite.
Last week, I threw classic album nominations out to my Patrons. They came back with a few hundred suggestions that, when mixed with my own, allowed me to form a list of predictable choices (as seen above) plus three lists of thirty classic albums that have a) more of Gen-X lean and b) more real-world bite — they align more closely with the classic album lists posted by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Apple Music. Each list of thirty albums contains a mix of classics that I personally enjoy and a good number that I don’t (but others might). It’s not all about me.
Here is list number one:
- Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children
- Prince – Purple Rain
- Depeche Mode – Violator
- Beck – Sea Change
- Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85 – 92
- Daft Punk – Homework
- The Clash – London Calling
- Talking Heads – Remain in Light
- Air – Moon Safari
- Björk – Vespertine
- Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Welcome to the Pleasuredome
- New Order – Substance
- Radiohead – Kid A
- Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
- Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas
- The Cure – Disintegration
- Gorillaz – Gorillaz
- R.E.M. – Automatic For The People
- Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
- Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
- Faith No More – Angel Dust
- Pixies – Doolittle
- Kraftwerk – Trans Europa Express
- J Dilla – Donuts
- Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
- David Bowie – Low
- Rush – Moving Pictures
- Patti Smith – Horses
- Television – Marquee Moon
Here is list number two:
- Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
- Def Leppard – Hysteria
- Pearl Jam – Ten
- Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
- Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
- Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
- YES – 90125
- Blur – Parklife
- INXS – Kick
- Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space
- De La Soul – 3 Feet High & Rising
- Burial – Untrue
- Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
- Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
- The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
- The Beatles – The White Album
- Oasis – Definitely Maybe
- Elvis Costello – King of America
- Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
- U2 – Achtung Baby
- LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
- Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
- Massive Attack – Blue Lines
- King Crimson – Discipline
- Portishead – Dummy
- Stone Roses – Stone Roses
- A Tribe Called Quest – The Low-End Theory
- DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
- Autechre – Tri Repetae
And here is list number three:
- The Streets – Original Pirate Material
- Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
- David Bowie – Young Americans
- Prince – Sign O The Times
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – The Boatman’s Call
- Moby – Play
- My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
- Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen
- The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
- Nick Drake – Bryter Layter
- Primal Scream – Screamadelica
- Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation
- The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Tears for Fears – The Seeds of Love
- The KLF – White Room
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory
- Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind
- Global Communication – 76:14
- Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast
- Madvillain – Madvillainy
- Fatboy Slim – You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
- Mogwai – Young Team
- Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
- Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
- Underworld – Second Toughest In The Infants
- Radiohead – OK Computer
- Peter Gabriel – Melt
- Nirvana – Nevermind
- The Avalanches – Since I Left You
If these album lists have you clutching your pearls multiple copies of A Love Supreme because they contain no jazz, classical or opera, kindly consider that those genres are already well represented at hi-fi shows (and have been for decades).
Moreover, if the above albums’ sound quality doesn’t meet your minimum requirements, kindly consider that when The Beatles made The White Album, they didn’t set out to make the best-sounding album possible. Instead, they tapped into their collective creative force to fashion an artistic statement. Sound quality would have been a secondary (or tertiary) concern. It would have been the same for Radiohead when recording Kid A and Prince with Sign O’ The Times.
Oasis’s Definitely Maybe was one of the first albums to fall victim to the lead-footed dynamic range compression that would lead mastering engineers and record labels – and we as listeners – into the loudness wars. Definitely Maybe’s low DR score doesn’t make it any less culturally significant. Oasis’s debut ripped a fresh seam through mid-90s Britain and for at least two years, they were talked about as much as Taylor Swift is today.
A classic album has an emotional weight that continues to be felt long after the artist has disbanded or passed away. It has a timeless quality that cannot be found elsewhere. It pulls on our emotions as much as our minds — and we don’t need a behavioural psychologist to tell us that we are motivated as much by our emotions as we are our thoughts. If I ruled the world, Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock would be a hi-fi show staple and I would strongly discourage anything (more) from Dark Side Of The Moon or Gaucho — both classic albums whose magic has been worn down to the nub by the hi-fi world’s determination to put technical performance ahead of high cultural watermarks.
This idea is one way to restore a sense of cultural balance to hi-fi shows and lift attendee numbers on a Sunday. Best of all, it would provide show attendees with a rare opportunity to hear one or more of their favourite albums through hi-fi hardware they may never own.
Let’s call this idea Classic Album Stundays. Because it’s just that: an idea.
