Beer & Vinyl

Way back in the annals of time (2013, maybe 2012), three dads sat down in a kitchen, opened up some beer bottles and put some music on the turntable……. There we have the origins of, the never knowingly under drunk, Beer & Vinyl Club.

I was not present at the original meeting, that consisted of Steve M, Tim H and Kimmo the Finn. Two months later B&V did a Genesis in reverse, by going from Then There Were Three to becoming a fully formed five piece, when myself and Elf H accepted the invitation to spend a Thursday night in the Finn’s kitchen, sampling ale and listening to vinyl. What could you not like about that concept!

For eight years, until March 2020 (can’t quite recall what happened around that time🤨), we met almost every month on an agreed Thursday evening. The format always the same, each member brings enough bottles of one selected beer, to cover that evenings participants….we each select a different beer and amazingly in all that time, we have rarely had duplicated beers. However, no matter how important the beer has been, this blog is about the music. Every month we chose a theme and try to bring LP’s that (sometimes with a loose interpretation) fit into the that theme.

The reason I’m giving this potted history is because B&V has been instrumental in first rekindling and then invigorating my passion for music. Most of my recent live music experiences have been initiated by my friends from B&V and for that I eternally thank them.

Therefore, it was entirely appropriate that after only one Club meeting since March 2020, we should be able to take advantage of the good weather and relaxed lockdown rules, to meet in the garden of mein über host. A free theme of ‘albums bought over lockdown’ was chosen and for your “delight and delectation” here they are below.

Some new albums some bought second hand. My selections are Field Music - Flat White Moon and Jaga Jazzist - Pyramid, both bands I’m thrilled to have tickets to see them in the autumn and new year……..Jaga Jazzist in particular, I have been wanting to see for years.

The other albums were; Squid - Bright Green Field > Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs > Lavinia Blackwall - Muggington Lane End >The National - High Velvet Drive-By Truckers - American Band > Rod Stewart - Never a Dull Moment

Scott Fagan - South Atlantic Blues > Public Service Broadcasting - Every Valley…….and this truly represents the eclectic mic of styles and eras that sums up Beer & Vinyl.

A sad postscript to the B&V story was the death of Kimmo in 2018 after a debilitating stroke he neither physically nor emotionally recovered from.