Family and other Albums

With so many fifty year anniversaries tumbling in on us at the moment, it's good to remember one of the longest chart-topping albums, now half a century old: 'Please, Please Me' was number one for 30 weeks, only knocked from the top by the second Beatles' album, 'With the Beatles'. Recorded in only 12 hours at the Abbey Road studio, this event has been 'recreated' by a selection of artists recording the tracks on 11 February (broadcast on BBC4). My personal favourites were The Stereophonics' 'I saw her standing there' and Joss Stone's 'Taste of Honey'.

Adele's 21 has recently become not only the longest UK chart-topping album for a solo artist, but the longest at the UK top for forty years since Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. Other Long Sellers were 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts, Hard Days Night, Presley's 'GI Blues', and music from Saturday Night Fever, Sound of Music and South Pacific(115 weeks!!)

People such as Guy Garvey maintain that the album with its specific order of play is still a crucial part of today's music, of the best I would often say it has an entity of its own with its own particular atmosphere, though not many artists go as far as Bowie in changing his persona for different albums. His latest offering, 'The Next Day',coming out in March after a ten year gap, recalls his years living in Berlin.  

Led Zeppelin

As a teenager I loved browsing through racks of album covers, large enough to be works of art, and becoming increasingly flamboyant as the single covers developed into doubles, with more ornate almost 3D designs, especially those of Led Zeppelin, Curved Air, and later Family. Minute tape boxes offered little opportunity for creativity, small cds seemed limited at first but were gradually developed into minature works of art particularly by the likes of Radiohead - 'Amnesiac' had some editions disguised as a library book (don't forget to take your library books back??). And there have been many other gimmicks, secret bonus tracks at the end and even occasionally preceding the start of cds, and the like. 

Vinyl is enjoyed a vintage-fuelled comeback, and hopefully the album will be with us for some time yet, alongside downloads, so that bands don't have to rely on T-shirt sales and other concert paraphernalia to make a living.