National Album Day 2019 has now been announced, taking place on Saturday, October 12.
The initiative launched in 2018 to champion the album format and was celebrated through a series of special events, including artist album playbacks and Q&As and an artwork exhibition in key train stations across the UK.
This year’s National Album Day is themed around the idea of ‘don’t skip’ to encourage music lovers to discover albums and listen to them as a complete body of work, as well as highlighting the mental health benefits of album listening as a form of musical mindfulness.
Lewis Capaldi, Mark Ronson, Elbow and Mahalia have been announced as ‘album champions’ for this year’s big day and the album is proving resilient in the ever-shifting music landscape. 143 million albums or their equivalent were either streamed, purchased or downloaded in the UK in 2018 – worth approximately £1.3 billion and representing a near 6% rise on the year before.
4.2 million of that figure were vinyl purchases a 2000% rise since their low point in 2007.
This year Cherry Red have been choosing their Top 5 Cherry Red albums alongside their Top 5 from outside the Cherry Red canon. This time it’s the turn of the label managers.
How do our choices match up with yours?
Mark Powell – Esoteric Recordings
Top 5 Cherry Red / Esoteric:
1. Procol Harum – Shine On Brightly
2. Barclay James Harvest – Everyone is Everybody Else
3. Hawkwind – Quark Strangeness and Charm
4. Be Bop Deluxe – Sunburst Finish
5. Van Der Graaf Generator – Do Not Disturb
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. Genesis – A Trick of the Tail
2. Pink Floyd – Meddle
3. Aphrodite’s Child – 666
4. The Who – Who’s Next
5. Crosby, Stills & Nash – Crosby, Stills & Nash
Vicky Powell – Esoteric Recordings
Top 5 Cherry Red / Esoteric:
1. Bill Fay- Bill Fay
2. Jack Bruce- Silver Rails
3. Be Bop Deluxe- Futurama
4. Chris Squire and Steve Hackett- Squackett
5. Rosalie Cunningham- Rosalie Cunningham
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. Fleetwood MAC- Rumours
2. Beatles— Revolver
3. Pink Floyd— DSOTM
4. Crosby stills and Nash — s/t
5. Caravan— s/t
Barney Ashton – SFE
Top 5 Cherry Red / SFE:
1. Marc Almond – Varieté
2. Jimmy Somerville – Homage
3. Wolfgang Flür – Eloquence
4. Brücken / Froese – Beginn
5. Andy Bell is Torsten – Queereteria
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. Redskins – Neither Washington Nor Moscow
2. Frank Tovey – The Fad Gadget Singles
3. Mick Karn – Dreams Of Reason Produce Monsters
4. Morten Harket – Wild Seed
5. David Sylvian – Gone To Earth
Danny Keene – Project Manager
Top 5 Cherry Red:
1. Various Artists – Pillows and Prayers (I bought the original as a teenager and played it to death!)
2. Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
3. Tracey Thorn – A Distant Shore
4. Everything But The Girl – Night And Day (I know this was a 12” single but it was the first single that I bought on Cherry Red Records)
5. Various Artists – Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur (Great compilation with excellent track selection, sequencing and sleevenotes..! )
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. The Jam – All Mod Cons
2. The Beatles – Revolver
3. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
4. Oasis – What’s The Story Morning Glory
5. Joy Division – Closer
Tim Madgwick – Cherry Pop
Top 5 Cherry Red:
1. Good Old Arsenal – Various Artists
2. Fresh Fruit ….The Dead Kennedy’s
3. The Nightingales E.P.
4. A Distant Shore – Tracy Thorn
5. Fin – The Monochrome Set
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. My Cassette Pet – Bow Wow Wow
2. Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys
3. Abbey Road – The Beatles
4. I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You – Aretha
5. All Mod Cons – The Jam
Hugh Gilmour – HNE Recordings
Top 5 Cherry Red / HNE:
1. Pig Irön “Pig Irön IV”
2. Black State Highway – Black State Highway
3. James Rays Gangwar – Destination Assassination – The Merciful Release Recordings 1989-1992
4. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow – Stranger In Us All
5. Alcatrazz – Live Sentence / No Parole From Rock ‘n’ Roll
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. Motorhead – No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith
2. Iron Maiden – Killers
3. Toto – Toto IV
4. Celtic Frost – Into The Pandemonium
5. Mark Lanegan – The Winding Sheet
Dave Timperley
Top 5 Cherry Red:
1. Attila The Stockbroker: Ranting At The Nation
2. Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
3. The Charlottes: Things Come Apart
4. King Of The Slums: Blowzy Weirdos
5. Honor Blackman: Everything I’ve Got
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. The Clash – London Calling (Cbs)
2. Crass – Feeding Of The 5000 (Small Wonder)
3. The Chameleons -Script Of The Bridge (Statik)
4. The Slits – Cut (Island)
5. Kitchens Of Distinction – Strange Free World (One Little Indian)
Laurence Cane-Honeysett – Doctor Bird
Top 5 Cherry Red:
1. James & Bobby Purify ‘I’m Your Puppet’
2. Various ‘Put On Your Best Dress’
3. The Mills Brothers ‘Cab Driver’
4. Lee Dorsey ‘Ride Your Pony’
5. Dave Edmunds ‘Subtle As A Flying Mallet’
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red:
1. The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’
2. The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival ‘Cosmo’s Factory’
4. Bob Andy ‘Song Book’
5. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles ‘Tears Of A Clown’
Mike Alway – El Records
Top 5 Cherry Red Albums:
1 The Complete Works of Edgard Varese – Box set (el)
2 Felt – Crumbling the Anteceptic Beauty (Cherry Red)
3 Harmony Grass (RPM)
4 Annie Ross : Loguerhythyms – Songs from the Establishment (El)
5 A Sudden Sway – 76 Kids Forever (Cherry Red)
Top 5 Non-Cherry Red Albums:
1 Quarteto Em Cy – Antologia Do Samba Cancao (volumes 1 & 2)
2 Beecham Conducts Delius
3 Scott Walker – Scott 3
4 The Anita Kerr Singers Reflect on the Hits of Bacharach & David
5 Julia Bream – Villa-Lobos’ Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra
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