- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Orion (9 Nov 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752868314
- ISBN-13: 978-0752868318
- Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 18.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 343,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'A thrilling call to go thumbing through your old CDs and vinyl... enthralling. *****' (Caspar Llewellyn Smith - Observer Music Monthly OBSERVER )
'An infectious enthusiasm that will leave you listening afresh to those Mojo-approved apres-Punk staples... and a long overdue privileging of pop that is black, gay or female.' (TIME OUT )
'Full of short, excitable essays about the records Mulholland still dribbles over... this book's full of wide-eyed love, as a fan's testimonies should be.' (THE WORD )
'The brilliantly written work of an enthusiastic and savvy music fan. It's sexy to look at too. And chunky enough to chuck in those heated arguments about music.' (TIME OUT - Christmas Presents )
'Crisp, witty and insightful reviews... the choices are thought-provoking throughout in a fascinating book and an ideal companion to its predecessor.' (EVENING HERALD )
'Brilliant dip-in/dip-out material, it offers fresh reviews of the elpees that Mulholland would trample over his wife and kids to rescue from a burning house.' (HOT PRESS )
'An infectious enthusiasm that will leave you listening afresh to those Mojo-approved apres-Punk staples... and a long overdue privileging of pop that is black, gay or female.' (TIME OUT )
'Full of short, excitable essays about the records Mulholland still dribbles over... this book's full of wide-eyed love, as a fan's testimonies should be.' (THE WORD )
'The brilliantly written work of an enthusiastic and savvy music fan. It's sexy to look at too. And chunky enough to chuck in those heated arguments about music.' (TIME OUT - Christmas Presents )
'Crisp, witty and insightful reviews... the choices are thought-provoking throughout in a fascinating book and an ideal companion to its predecessor.' (EVENING HERALD )
'Brilliant dip-in/dip-out material, it offers fresh reviews of the elpees that Mulholland would trample over his wife and kids to rescue from a burning house.' (HOT PRESS )
TIME OUT
'An infectious enthusiasm that will leave you listening afresh to those Mojo-approved apres-Punk staples... and a long overdue privileging of pop that is black, gay or female.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'm generally pretty scathing of these books that "list" the albums/books/artworks/films/clothes that you must hear/read/see/wear etc etc, but this little book has two things in its favour: first, the style of writing is of the "pitchforkmedia" variety- it's very passionate, "poetic" criticism which tells you lots about the formative nature of each record in terms of the writer's tormented adolescence, but very little about what the music actually sounds like. Whether you think that's a good or a bad thing is up to you- but at the very least it marks the collection out as different from similar anthologies.
Secondly, this is a post-punk anthology- that means no Beatles, no Dylan, no Led Zep, no Pink Floyd and no Van Morrison, and thank God for that! There's no need to recommend albums like Dark Side of the Moon, because there isn't a single person left on the face of the earth who isn't aware of its canonical status. Instead, the likes of Talking Heads, Public Enemy, Echo & the Bunnymen, De La Soul, and New Order are well-represented here (the latter are generally not considered an "albums" band, a view which this collection shows to be nonsense).
Of course, eventually we will groan at the canonical status of these albums in the same way that we now feel about Dylan et al, but at least this book offers temporary respite- the author deserves credit for highlighting some new "classics" to breath life into the hoary old canon of 60s rock. So, (to paraphrase Frank Black) we should all sing (one-two-three) "Ole, Ole, Ole for Mulholland"!!!
Secondly, this is a post-punk anthology- that means no Beatles, no Dylan, no Led Zep, no Pink Floyd and no Van Morrison, and thank God for that! There's no need to recommend albums like Dark Side of the Moon, because there isn't a single person left on the face of the earth who isn't aware of its canonical status. Instead, the likes of Talking Heads, Public Enemy, Echo & the Bunnymen, De La Soul, and New Order are well-represented here (the latter are generally not considered an "albums" band, a view which this collection shows to be nonsense).
Of course, eventually we will groan at the canonical status of these albums in the same way that we now feel about Dylan et al, but at least this book offers temporary respite- the author deserves credit for highlighting some new "classics" to breath life into the hoary old canon of 60s rock. So, (to paraphrase Frank Black) we should all sing (one-two-three) "Ole, Ole, Ole for Mulholland"!!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A semi-sequel to 'This Is Uncool', Mulholland's rather ace list of the greatest singles since punk and disco, `Fear of Music' is not quite as good as its predecessor but still an entertaining read.
Mulholland's selection (an arbitrary 261 albums) are interesting - a mix of the canon and the off-beat - as is his writing; even when he's discussing music you don't know or don't particularly care about, he can make it exciting. He says with passion exactly WHY he loves these albums. The chronological format once again works in Mulholland's favour: he catalogues the shifts of genre and subject matter across the decades with ease but with enthusiasm. However, it is where Mulholland attempts to describe the albums' responses to the changing societies and cultures they were made within that the book falls somewhat flat.
Mulholland's strategy in 'This Is Uncool' was to have a couple of pages at the start of each year detailing the events that had gone on - politics, economics, personal change - and in broad strokes paint how they effected the singles made and they way he listened to them. All very interesting; it coloured your reading of that year's songs, making Mulholland's discussion of his favourite singles more mutli-faceted and prfound.
However, Mulholland does away with this format in 'Fear of Music', instead choosing to flag up each album's politics within its own, small passage. The way music responds to society and politics can be highly interesting, but 'Fear of Music' is not academic or detailed enough to achieve this level. Instead, Mulholland seems to use any excuse he can to flag up his own personal problems with Western culture; racism, homophobia, sexism. You can't fault his ideals, but Mulholland isn't a political writer, and, even if he was, the list-making, sound-bite, pop-light format he has chosen isn't the right place to be repeatedly talking about his personal politics. Over the course of the book it becomes grating. In 'Fear Of Music' Mulholland his shifted the focus, in part, from the music to himself - he's not giving us his personal response to these albums, some of the time. He's just giving us him. 'Fear of Music' indeed.
It doesn't have 'This Is Uncool's' lovely, full page pictures, either... But enough comparison with its predecessor. 'Fear of Music' has its faults, but it is still full of enthusiastic, enlightening prose about a bunch of fantastic albums. It also has, in spades, the two best things about any list-making book; it makes you dig out records, rediscovering things you'd forgotten, discovering albums for the first time, and it's highly interactive. 'I've got that, you know,' says Dad. And you say, 'he picked "Hallowed Ground", over "Violent Femmes"?! Preposterous!'
Mulholland's selection (an arbitrary 261 albums) are interesting - a mix of the canon and the off-beat - as is his writing; even when he's discussing music you don't know or don't particularly care about, he can make it exciting. He says with passion exactly WHY he loves these albums. The chronological format once again works in Mulholland's favour: he catalogues the shifts of genre and subject matter across the decades with ease but with enthusiasm. However, it is where Mulholland attempts to describe the albums' responses to the changing societies and cultures they were made within that the book falls somewhat flat.
Mulholland's strategy in 'This Is Uncool' was to have a couple of pages at the start of each year detailing the events that had gone on - politics, economics, personal change - and in broad strokes paint how they effected the singles made and they way he listened to them. All very interesting; it coloured your reading of that year's songs, making Mulholland's discussion of his favourite singles more mutli-faceted and prfound.
However, Mulholland does away with this format in 'Fear of Music', instead choosing to flag up each album's politics within its own, small passage. The way music responds to society and politics can be highly interesting, but 'Fear of Music' is not academic or detailed enough to achieve this level. Instead, Mulholland seems to use any excuse he can to flag up his own personal problems with Western culture; racism, homophobia, sexism. You can't fault his ideals, but Mulholland isn't a political writer, and, even if he was, the list-making, sound-bite, pop-light format he has chosen isn't the right place to be repeatedly talking about his personal politics. Over the course of the book it becomes grating. In 'Fear Of Music' Mulholland his shifted the focus, in part, from the music to himself - he's not giving us his personal response to these albums, some of the time. He's just giving us him. 'Fear of Music' indeed.
It doesn't have 'This Is Uncool's' lovely, full page pictures, either... But enough comparison with its predecessor. 'Fear of Music' has its faults, but it is still full of enthusiastic, enlightening prose about a bunch of fantastic albums. It also has, in spades, the two best things about any list-making book; it makes you dig out records, rediscovering things you'd forgotten, discovering albums for the first time, and it's highly interactive. 'I've got that, you know,' says Dad. And you say, 'he picked "Hallowed Ground", over "Violent Femmes"?! Preposterous!'
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The quest being to find the definitive book that compiles ALL the greatest albums. This of course is impossible. We would have to write our own individual books. Just a quick flick though Garry Mulholland's book reveals glaring omissions. No "Leftism", no "Nevermind" or "In Utero". Only one Sonics album included but room for 3 Pet Sop Boys albums. I'm thinking this could be a list of 1261 great albums and I would still be left unsatisfied. That said this book is well written and just like other "Best Albums Ever" books I have discovered new music in my never ending quest to build a fabulous cd collection. Worth a read.
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Listmania!
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