I defy you to look at the contents of this book without deciding you must be too. Some of his choices are quite baffling. I reckon he needs to change ‘unhip’ for ‘underappreciated’, but even then he’s pushing it.
I must be unhip then!
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Bizarre. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got is one of the most celebrated albums of the 1990s — by anybody with ears.
But is it hip?
Bizarre is right. Since when has Pepper been unhip? Well, this side of 1985, anyhow?
I’m reminded of H2G2.
“You guys are so unhip it’s a wonder your legs don’t fall off.”
vs
“I’m so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis”.
Or, to be more accurate: “You guys are so unhip it’s a wonder your bums don’t fall off”.
Curse my memory!
One for two, though, right?
Very weird. I can get the idea that Sgt Pepper might have fallen out of fashion very slightly between the mid seventies and the mid eighties even if it remained superb, but some of those are really baffling. Pulp were extremely hip at the time for example. As I would say is Jarvis Cocker now.
I have 14 of those. I had more, but some were passed on. There is no way I am getting rid of Argent – “Encore”. A Poundshop ELP is not something to easily discard.
I can’t see the list itself. Where is that?
Nor can I see it.
We must be too hip.
Click on Look Inside on the Amazon page.
If you’re too hip for Nic Jones you’re probably too hip. Or, possibly, a cloth eared idiot.
hastagmeunhiptoo(obviously)
101. Rod Stewart – A Night On The Town.
Probably Rod’s last really great album (often overlooked becuse it came after Atlantic Crossing)
T.Rex – Futuristic Dragon is better than the chart performance and sales figures suggest
And being pedantic, Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack was 1974 – not 1972 as quoted.
That’s reet put me off that book that has.
Did he go into a charity shop, pick up the first 100 albums he saw, and decided to write a book about them?
(probably not, there’s no mention of No Parlez)
Ugh. Getting album years wrong is a pet hate for me! No excuse for it!
I was once given a book of album artwork that looked like it had been compiled from the author’s own collection, with a few added pre-1965 jazz titles that were so odd they must have all been picked up at the same time from either a charity shop or the HMV sale section. There wasn’t a single credit for any designer.
Rod Stewart’s last great album was, of course, Never A Dull Moment.
Wins, Uh Tears Baby is beyond hip. Freaky Triggers is unhip. This guys a dick
Its an odd mix. The author claims “I’m not a music snob” and then lists a hundred or so albums that, for the most part, only a music snob would have in their collection.
ELP, Quo, Vangelis, Bread, Carpenters (hmm OK, definitely of their time and maybe a re-evaluation would be interesting);
Metal Urbain, Root Boy Slim, Bim Sherman (way too obscure to be unhip);
Rasheen Roland Kirk (surely the epitome of hip).
Even “forgotten” or “underappreciated” doesnt seem to fit – Pepper for example is massively over-appreciated IMHO.
That Rashaan Roland Kirk album is dreadful – it’s mostly MOR standards, with two versions of each on the album, interspersed with spoken nonsense and other sillyness.
Yep, some odd choices. Adam’s ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’ – not particularly hip, but very good. Doll By Doll’s ‘Gypsy Blood’ – not particularly good, but very hip.
Some of these albums are brilliant (Blood & Chocolate, Natty Dread, Sheet Music, Sgt Pepper and so on…) but Wild Life is irredeemably sh*t.
I’ve been collecting McCartney’s albums all my life and even as a teenager Wild Life was put on the ‘bland’ pile. I. Just can’t fathom why it’s suddenly been decided it’s a lost masterpiece. Then again, another album I put on the rubbish pile was McCartney II. The singles are decent, but the rest of it is pants, and yet it seems I’m wrong, as this is now one of his classics. Of his earlier stuff I favour Band On The Run (probably my favourite solo Beatle album), McCartney, Ram and about half of Tug Of War. And Give My Regards To Broad Street for No More Lonely Nights Alone. Great song and a great solo from my favourite guitarist (I can feel @Twang cringe at that comment!).
Dave Gilmour is one of the finest!
He’s responsible for most of my favourite guitar solos. In fact, my top two are both in the same song! I think only Gary Moore would stop him having all my top half dozen or so.
I bought No More Lonely Nights when it came out, listened to it loads, loved it, loved the guitar outro, but then, like most records, it sort of fell by the wayside as more new records were bought. I then got into Pink Floyd in a big way shortly after and half a dozen of their albums have remained on my rotating playlist ever since. It was a long, long time later before I played No More Lonely Nights again, as Give My Regards To Broad Street wasn’t on my rotating playlist. When it got to the guitar solo at the end I immediately recognised who was playing it, whereas back in 1984 I wouldn’t have known his name. I’m no guitar expert like you, but Gilmour has a very distinct sound (whether that’s his style or the make of his guitar, I don’t know) that’s easy to spot, a bit like George Harrison.
Yes you can spot him instantly. One of my favourites too.
About half of Wildlife is decent. Songs are too long, but it is better than it’s reputation. Didn’t realise Wilco’s Summerteeth is unhip, some diehards dislike the production, but it is absolutely chock full of brilliant songs. A great album.
As is Edgar Broughton Band and Leo Sayer. God, I had to put up with the cracked voiced midget’s Silverfuckingbird in the 70s. Some thought it was hip then; it isn’t now because it is drek.
Dread Beat an’ Blood was always extremely hip and became even more so once Linton Kwesi Johnson stepped into the foreground, received massive praise for Forces Of Victory and Bass Culture, and those in the know (which I wasn’t part of) could say “Of course I discovered him when he was Poet & The Roots”.
I would also strongly rebut any suggestion that Family’s Fearless was ever unhip.
The guy is someone who had an idea and looked up a list of albums, thinking if he selected some randomly, claimed they were unhip and he argued against it, then he had a book.
I do hope that I’m not hip. Too old for that kind of shit.