Listening to an album, from beginning to end, appears to be an extravagant experience in our modern age. For some years now I've heard the phrase "the lost art of album listening" bandied about and, whilst I'll admit that MP3s and music streaming have changed the way we listen to and experience a collection of music, I feel it's to easy a trope to point the finger of blame solely in that direction.
People have, in my experience, always taken their music in different ways. There were mix-tapes before MP3s and they didn't kill album listening. Hitting shuffle on my old Pioneer 6 CD player left me ignorant of song titles for most of the albums I listened to in the 90s, the same goes for the large number of albums I've enjoyed on my iPod despite my listening to them from beginning to end. Maybe it's more the pace of life that has affected the savouring of an album; do we have the time to pore over the sleeve art and liner notes whilst taking in something either new or reassuringly familiar? Probably not as much as we did. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and listen once in a while, you could miss something good.
Thankfully there are like-minded folks who still want to enjoy the album experience, and it's through their efforts that Classic Album Sundays was born (apparently over a good meal with friends which, yes, adds to its charm). If you've not encountered it before the concept is beautifully simple, you listen to a classic album from beginning to end, on vinyl, pausing only to flip from A to B.
My one and only experience of an official Classic Album Sunday was several years ago, at Bestival, where whilst suffering the hangover of the previous evening's festival excesses I found myself in a wooden hut, atop a mound at Robin Hill Country Park. There are few better ways to prepare yourself for a day's festival-going than sitting in a darkened room, surrounded by strangers, and letting the blissful sounds of The KLF's Chill Out album wash over you.
After enjoying that experience I was pained to discover that, despite similar happenings popping up across the globe, there wasn't a regular event near me (which, now I think of it, does make me wonder why I didn't try and start up my own event, but I digress). Thankfully that's all about to change with the announcement that the very lovely Pie & Vinyl are to start hosting a regular Classic Album Sunday event.
The inaugural Classic Album Sunday at Pie & Vinyl takes place on Sunday 14th October with the featured vinyl being Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation. The event is both a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the band's fifth album and part of National Album Day. Jon Callender & Jim Shaw (of Cranes) and Adi Vines (of Swervedriver) will be present to discuss the album and their personal experiences of Sonic Youth.
Limited tickets are available now, priced at £10 (plus £1 booking) that, obviously, includes a Sonic Youth themed pie (meat or vegan). Further information, including details of the shiny hardware AudioT are supplying for the event, is available on the CAS website and P&V's events page.
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