|
|
 |
| |
Swinging Lover: Frank Sinatra |
Fifty years of pop hits at the British Library
From Disco Nites to Old Blue Eyes, a new exhibition showcases every number one album since 1956, writes Dan Carrier
IT is a record collection that any music buff would love to own. Imagine having every album to hit number one since the chart was first set back in 1956 at your fingertips.
Now, you can. And instead of trawling through the dusty shelves of rundown record shops, a new exhibition at the British Library celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first UK album chart allows visitors access to every tune on every album that has hit the top spot via a computer programme and a set of headphones.
But it is much more than just a music-lovers dream. The exhibition traces trends in popular tastes, stretching from Elvis to Eminem, and curator Andy Lineham says it is a barometer of what was the zeitgeist at any given time.
“Nothing on this list is going to be very radical,” he says.
“None of the albums that reached number one are going to be difficult to listen to. This is a study of mainstream tastes.”
Andy Lineham has spent the past 20 years working in the library’s recorded music archive. In the same way the library takes a copy of every book published in the UK, they also aim to keep a record of every piece of music published.
It is a massive task and Andy and his colleagues not only rely on music companies to send them copies, but scour record shops for rare pieces that may have been missed.
The archive has been compiled for around 40 years, and is available to anyone who wants to listen to music released in the UK over that time.
As with the reading library, you can make an appointment with one of the archivists and they will do their best to find the recording you are looking for it, no matter how rare it is.
However, there are still gaps – and the advent of online music publishing has made their task even harder. Andy hunts through the music press to make sure he hasn’t missed any of new bands who may have a small cult following and therefore are not well known or likely to send in copies of their music to the library for archiving.
Andy said: “We source music from places like music companies and musicians, but we also rely on going to places like Camden Town and looking out for bands that are playing, and see what is in the record shops.
“I scour the second-hand shops in Camden looking for music for the library. I recently had to despatch a colleague to a second-hand record shop in Notting Hill to buy a copy of a Boney M album we were missing. I admit, I was too embarrassed to go and get it myself.”
There are 797 albums and 11,500 tracks featured, with the Beatles having the most number ones.
But there are also rarities. “Only confirmed ’50s rhythm and blues fans will remember the one-hit wonder that was the explosive Freddy Cannon,” says Andy.
“Mr Cannon was top of the hit parade in 1960, so he’s made it into the exhibition.”
And it also reflects other trends in British society. The only spoken word album was number one in July, 1981, an album made by the BBC, it is the official recording of the marriage between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
It knocked compilation album Disco Daze, Disco Nites off the number one spot.
Other pointers to shared cultural experiences include the addition of an Essential Pavarotti compilation LP, which mysteriously made the top spot in June 1990.
The only opera to make the collection and the only Italian singer to have made it, the answer to why it was so popular lies with that other national obsession, football.
The BBC’s theme tune to the 1990 World Cup coverage featured the Luciano Pavarotti version of Nessun Dorma, and with Gazza crying into his England shirt, the tune became that summer’s anthem.
And the exhibition also tells the story behind albums.
Decca launched the extended LP in 1950. Previously, records were the preserve of 78s, and they only lasted a maximum of three minutes.
“This meant if you were buying a piece of classical music, you would be presented with a series of records, bound together in a photographic style album – hence the name,” says Andy.
“And when they invented a way of putting more than one tune on a disc, the name stuck.”
The first sales chart was put together by the New Musical Express. When the magazine changed from being simply the Musical Express to the NME in 1952, editors were looking for a gimmick to entice new readers.
They sent out a team of junior writers to a small number of West End record shops to ask what singles were selling. The idea stuck and when, in 1956, the Record Mirror wanted a similar gimmick, they turned to albums.
When the chart first started, it was not unusual for records to stay at the top of the hit parade for many months – something which is unheard of now.
Andy added: “Take That have been number one now for five weeks – and that is very, very unusual. They last a week or two at the most. The turn over at the top is bigger, but not because better albums keep being released. It is down to aggressive marketing. Customers are always being told this or that is the next big thing to sell albums.”
It is another sign of how times have changed from when the Record Mirror informed it’s readers that in June, 1956, their inaugural album chart, Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swinging Lovers was the most popular LP of the moment. |
 |
|
|
|
