I am overjoyed to say that I got a chance to sit down with Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy who was kind enough to give me an hour or so of her time for the podcast. For those that don’t know, Colleen is a DJ, producer, broadcaster, journalist, label-owner, audiophile and the driving force behind Classic Album Sundays which offers a space to listen to classic albums on vinyl on a world-class soundsystem that, I can attest first-hand, offers a depth of audio fidelity I have never experienced before. Classic Album Sundays has grown since its relatively humble beginnings in London in 2010 into a global listening party operating on multiple continents. The scope of guests and experts that have contributed to the Classic Album Sunday project is staggering with the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Gilles Peterson, The Orb, Paloma Faith, Nick Mason and dozens more all taking part. Head to classicalbumsundays.com for more info, archives of previous events and listings for upcoming projects.
I spoke to Colleen back in September 2018 at her East London home, sitting amongst her thousands of vinyl records and sipping coffee kindly made by her husband Adam who himself is a DJ with Trojan Sound System. It was a real honour to be able to talk to someone who I had such respect for beforehand and even more so after when you hear just how entrenched in music she has been for pretty much her entire life. She was as open, engaging and forthcoming a guest as I could possibly have hoped for and this chat is littered with wonderful stories, musings and beautiful sentiments.
She says she sees her role as ‘a curator and an educator’, so prepare for school.
Cheers,
R
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Tracklisting w/ links to purchase, if I can find them (these are directly related to the artists where possible but not always). Also, I take no responsibility for the links. Just trying to help…
David Essex – Rock On taken from Rock On (1973) https://www.7digital.com/artist/david-essex/release/best-of-david-essex-5274026?h=02&f=20%2C19%2C12%2C16%2C17%2C9%2C2
Kate Bush – Symphony In Blue taken from Lionheart (1978) https://www.7digital.com/artist/kate-bush/release/lionheart-1165
Silver Convention – Fly Robin Fly taken from Silver Convention (1975) https://www.7digital.com/artist/silver-convention/release/silver-convention-fly-robin-fly?h=1&d=1
Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman taken from Wichita Lineman (1968) https://www.7digital.com/yourmusic/artist/glen-campbell/release/wichita-lineman-remastered-26096/26096
Sade – Paradise taken from Stronger Than Pride (1988) https://www.7digital.com/artist/sade/release/stronger-than-pride-278699
Miles Davis & John Coltrane – All Blues (Live from Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen) taken from The Final Tour: Bootleg Series, vol. 6 (2018) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Tour-Bootleg-Vol/dp/B077ZCTV18/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1542225809&sr=1-1&keywords=the+final+tour+the+bootleg+series%2C+vol.+6
Daniel Caesar – Paradise (feat. Badbadnotgood & Sean Leon) taken from Pilgrim’s Paradise (2015) https://soundcloud.com/danielcaesar/sets/pilgrims-paradise
The B-52s – Planet Claire taken from The B-52s (1979) https://www.7digital.com/yourmusic/artist/the-b-52s/release/b-52s-4414166/4414166
Strawberry Alarm Clock – Incense And Peppermints taken from Incense And Peppermints (1967) https://www.7digital.com/artist/strawberry-alarm-clock-(1)/release/incense-and-peppermints-7800995
Nirvana – In Bloom taken from Nevermind (1991) http://www.nirvana.com/album/nevermind-deluxe-edition/
Dexter Wansel – Life On Mars taken from Life On Mars (1976) https://www.junodownload.com/products/dexter-wansel-life-on-mars/1435827-02/
Manuel Gottsching – E2-E4 (1984) https://www.ashra.com/pages/shop.htm
Bonus E2-E4 reading: http://classicalbumsundays.com/album-of-the-month-manuel-gottsching-e2-e4/
Boards Of Canada – Open The Light taken from Music Has The Right To Children (1998) https://bleep.com/release/7819
The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds (Cumulo Nimbus Mix by Pal Joey) (1991) https://www.junodownload.com/products/the-orbs-adventures-beyond-the-ultraworld-deluxe/1792258-02/
Charles Mingus - Group Dancers (Soul Fusion) Freewoman And Oh, This Freedom's Slave Cries) taken from The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (1963) https://www.7digital.com/yourmusic/artist/charles-mingus/release/the-black-saint-and-the-sinner-lady-hd-remastered-edition-doxy-collection-8486909/8486909
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Expansions taken from Expansions (1975) https://www.7digital.com/artist/lonnie-liston-smith-and-the-cosmic-echoes-2/release/expansions
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Cosmo’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ColleenCosmoMurphy/
Cosmo’s Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/colleen-murphy2/
Classic Album Sundays: http://classicalbumsundays.com/
Spotify episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/rosscale/playlist/1WfCth9owGm6BkL2blBGWo?si=S6j1lIDUQwK7igUOqI60dA
Threadwork is presented by Ross Cale.
Huge thanks to Bod for production support.
Huge thanks to Bettina Langlois for the Threadwork soft sculptures. Check out some of her other work here: https://www.instagram.com/bettenoire93/
https://www.instagram.com/rosscale_threadwork/
Twitter: @rosscale
https://www.acast.com/threadwork
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/threadwork/id1365731024?mt=2
https://open.spotify.com/show/1EohT1bTEcHMbtvxu9G6yj?si=slasCkMqSFm-2hFgBGYGZQ