WHAT’S THIS? A book about a load of music that I’ve never heard of? Let’s just say that I’ve come across this kind of reaction once or twice with this book, and the previous one.
If you ever find that you have 12 months free, or need to take your mind off something, I would wholeheartedly recommend writing a book. I’m being completely serious here; it will take over nearly every aspect of your life, and keep your thoughts from wandering in just about any other direction!
The idea behind the first Buried Treasure book was to highlight many great albums that you simply don’t hear about that much anymore, and those that managed to slip past the wider audience that would have greatly appreciated them. Vol. 2 was much the same, although I knew that I had to change things slightly, so I decided to include some longer feature/interviews with artists such as The B-52s, the phenomenally talented Justin Adams, Mansun, God Is An Astronaut, and a profile on the much-loved record label Setanta Records.
There is a common misconception that people who are passionately into music think that they know everything about it. There are those types, but largely you’ll find that anybody who is fanatical about any topic realises that they only know a fraction of what there is to know. Putting the two books together was equal parts fascinating and humbling. Speaking to individuals such as Neil Hannon, Candi Staton, Guy Garvey, and Dave Sitek (of TV On The Radio) about music that means something to them was a real education in itself.
A friend of mine made the astute observation that you might watch a film that you love ten times in your lifetime. You may read your favourite book twice or three times, but you could quite easily listen to an album that you love hundreds of times.
You could say that this is an unfair comparison, but it’s worth considering the profound effect that music can have on you.
From a personal point of view, the fact that albums such as Melody’s Echo Chamber‘s 2012 self-titled debut, ‘Slow Dynamo’ by Valerie Francis, and The Sultans of Ping’s ‘Teenage Drug’, never got more recognition, bothered me somewhat. It seems very trivial, but it’s true; these are excellent pieces of work that truly deserve louder applause.
Doing a radio show like The Alternative on 2FM is a real thrill, even after the years that have passed.
Getting your first and second book published is something very special too. It’s a similar kind of conversation about music but it reaches people in a very different way.
Putting the two books together was really about giving praise to music that isn’t covered as much as it should be. Some received much acclaim and success when they were released, while others stayed on the extremities.
It’s idealistic, but meant in the most genuine way, but I hope people that get to read the book find some music that they grow to love, and even obsess over.
- Buried Treasures –
TheJournal.ie asked me to choose a few extracts from the new book for this piece – so here they are…
The story of how and why certain albums came to be can be fascinating. Melody’s Echo Chamber’s self-titled 2012 album is a perfect example of this. How did these self-assured songs come together to form an album such as this one?
There have been numerous albums made that prompt you to visualise hazy psychedelic imagery, but there is something quite different about this album. You may point to Serge Gainsbourg’s iconic ‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’ as an obvious influence on Melody, but there are numerous others that you could also focus on. There is more to this album than simply reference points: the feeling of freedom and artistic adventure never venture far from your thoughts when you are engaged with it.
That is exactly the point: Melody’s Echo Chamber engages you for its duration. The instrumentation, vocals and lyrics, and the production (by Kevin Parker of Tame Impala) are exquisite. Sometimes you are drawn closest to the tracks ‘Endless Shore’ and ‘Mount Hopeless’, while on other occasions you may be focused on ‘Be Proud of Your Kids’, ‘I Follow’ or ‘Bisou Magique’. In fact, this album and Tame Impala’s debut, Inner Speaker, do share a similar sense of playfulness and adventure.
Prochet’s previous project, My Bee’s Garden, came up with something of note with the 2010 album Hunt the Sleeper. If you were to compare and contrast this with the Melody’s album that followed two years later, you would find it hard not to notice that her hunger for experimentation had drastically increased. You can almost smells the burnt cinders
of convention when you listen to Melody’s Echo Chamber; rules seemed to be treated like obstacles, and they were avoided in very many instances!
Unless you do everything yourself, every album is a collaborative effort between the artist and whoever they work with. On the evidence that is provided by Melody’s Echo Chamber, let us hope that Melody and Kevin Parker reprise their collaboration many times in the future. Perhaps it was the time, or the location, or maybe that fearlessness that youth can bring, but whatever it was, all the critical factors aligned themselves perfectly to make this album turn out the way it did.
Certain songs hit you on an emotional level the minute you first hear them. ‘Punches’, which was the lead single from Valerie Francis’ 2009 album Slow Dynamo, is one of those special songs. Throw a stunning video into the equation, and you have something that people will remember for years to come. You could say, case in point, as it is being
referred to right here.
The title of this album really does encapsulate how these tracks gradually become songs of real value to you. Like an hourglass, Slow Dynamo glides rather than grinds its way from start to finish. So often the temptation is to flip it back to the start, and begin the journey again.
The aforementioned single ‘Punches’ and its accompanying video won many people’s affection. One of these was Kanye West, who showered it with praise on Twitter, after watching the video. This is coverage that you simply can’t buy, particularly for an emerging artist: kudos like this can elongate your career considerably.
There are certain producers who don’t follow trends, and have the vision to shape music in a fashion that enhances the songs, rather than carve away their character. Jimmy Eadie did a wonderful job working with Francis; his influence is felt on the songs, but it adds an extra sparkle. This may sound a little hippy-dippy to some, but if you are familiar with the album, it certainly makes sense. If you are not, then the next step is obvious: seek it out.
It is human nature that we form images and ideas of how books are written, and how and where music is made. Slow Dynamo gives you a feeling of space, a wide expanse, far away from the fast-paced pulse of any city. If you read Valerie’s thoughts on the album, the opposite was the case: it was created at producer Jimmy Eadie’s studio, which is as centrally located as you can possibly get in Dublin city. In that case, the much-used description of music bringing you somewhere else really does apply here.
There has been much debate over what the differences between good and great albums are. The measure of quality in music is essentially personal taste. There are classic songs that are world renowned, but everything else comes down to preference. The warm glow that songs like ‘At Most’, ‘Trees’ and ‘Cannonball’ bring is not to be overlooked. Slow Dynamo is an album that can be compared with the best of what artists such as Beth Orton and Smoke Fairies have brought us.
What happens when your debut album contains songs that really connect people? After you’ve pondered that for a few seconds, imagine that the chorus to one of your singles is adopted as a catchphrase of sorts. This is exactly what happened to The Sultans of Ping FC in the early 1990s. If you were to have said the word ‘Jumper’ to someone, the most likely response would have been ‘Where’s Me Jumper? Where’s Me Jumper?’, these being the immortal lines from the Cork band’s debut single.
Casual Sex in the Cineplex brought The Sultans national and international acclaim when it was released in 1993. The band didn’t hang around basking in the glory, but set about recording the follow-up. They delivered Teenage Punk in early 1994. If you listened to it then, or now, you would notice that it is a much more balanced album than the band’s free-spirited debut. That was the problem: you had to hear it, and not enough people did. Their third album suffered a similar fate (1996’s Good Year for Trouble), but that’s an injustice that needs to be discussed in another book, perhaps.
As rock albums go, you would have to listen far and wide to discover one with more frantic energy than Teenage Drug. If you were to try and sum it up with reference points, you might say that it has more in common with The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks . . . than New Order’s Republic, while its raucous energy has similar DNA to acts such as New York Dolls and MC5.
Niall O’Flaherty’s presence as a flamboyant vocalist cannot be overlooked. When The Sultans played live, he was like a hybrid of Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop, and on record, his vocals and lyrics have a real offbeat charm: ‘From Holborn to Holloway, Holloway to Heathrow, Heathrow to Tokyo, Michiko, I love you’ (from the single ‘Michiko’).
In retrospect, most of the media did not know what to think of The Sultans. Many journalists and DJs just treated them as a novelty band, and seemed unable to comprehend that they had the ability to write wacky pop songs, and seriously potent rock tunes. The idea that someone could excel at both seemed ridiculous.
There is a reason why some bands still command a strong following decades after their heyday. The Sultans are held in such high regard because they connected with people in a way that few others did at the time. ‘Wake Up & Scratch Me’, ‘Teenrage Rock & Roll Girl’ and ‘Michiko’ form the spine of Teenage Drug. It is one of those albums that is always worth revisiting: the only requirement is a suitable degree of volume.
Dan Hegarty’s Buried Treasure Volume 2, published by Liberties Press, is out now. You can buy it here, if you’re so inclined.
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