Ruth and Martin's Album Club

The concept behind the Ruth and Martin's Album Club blog is simple: Make people listen to a classic album they've never heard before. Make them listen to it two more times. Get them to explain why they never bothered with it before. Then ask them to review it.

What began as a simple whim quickly grew in popularity, and now Ruth and Martin's Album Club has featured some remarkable guests: Ian Rankin on Madonna's Madonna. Chris Addison on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Brian Koppelman on The Smiths' Meat is Murder. JK Rowling on the Violent Femmes' Violent Femmes. Bonnie Greer on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Martin Carr on Paul McCartney's Ram. Brian Bilston on Neil Young's Harvest. Anita Rani on The Strokes' Is This It. Richard Osman on Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure. And many, many more.

Each entry features an introduction to each album by blog creator Martin Fitzgerald. What follows are delightful, humorous and insightful contributions from each guest as they have an album forced upon them and - for better or worse - they discover some of the world's favourite music.

Ruth and Martin's Album Club is a compilation of some of the blog's greatest hits as well as some exclusive material that has never appeared anywhere before. Throughout, we get an insight into why some people opt out of some music, and what happens when you force them to opt in.

Vorwort

J. K. Rowling, Ian Rankin, Bonnie Greer and others review classic albums they've listened to for the very first time

Autorentext

Martin Fitzgerald has spent most of his life daydreaming about music and has drawn the following conclusions:

. Nico's pronunciation of the word 'Clown' is the worst thing to have happened in the 1960s
. Bryan Ferry's dad seems like a lovely man
. The only good songs about cars were written by The Beach Boys
. The plot of 'Down in a Tube Station at Midnight' by The Jam makes no sense at all
. There'll never be a musician with a better name than Fab Moretti

Martin Fitzgerald was born in London and currently lives in a convent in Nottingham.

Zusammenfassung

The concept behind Ruth and Martin's Album Club is simple: make people listen to a classic album they've never heard, then ask them to review it.

Compiled here are the blog's greatest hits, as well as some new and exclusive material, each entry boasting a comprehensive introduction by all-round music geek Martin Fitzgerald:

Ian Rankin on Madonna's Madonna. J. K. Rowling on the Violent Femmes' Violent Femmes. Chris Addison on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Bonnie Greer on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Brian Koppelman on The Smiths' Meat Is Murder. Anita Rani on The Strokes' Is This It. Richard Osman on Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure. And many, many more.