Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

There are exceptions of course. How the words "Problems with Remastered Jehovahkill" can fill me with existential despair.

I think it might take a new generation to reevaluate some of the critical opinions that we take for granted almost as received wisdom and that will totally change the concept and content of Unsung.

I agree. I remember being ridiculed in the mid-80s for liking early Hawkwind but towards the end, lo and behold, the likes of Loop and Spacemen 3 came along and made them soicially acceptable again (albeit probably not by design).

This has been going on for as long as I can remember.

1980's: you must be a retarded old hippie if you like Black Sabbath, KISS or Grand Funk Railroad. You probably still wear bellbottoms hahahaha! So uncool.

1990's: Sabbath, KISS and G'Funk are the original masters who taught us how to riff. Grow your hair out, you PVC new wave dork!

etc.

I totally agree that there are many reviews on Unsung which tell us what we already know, although I addressed this issue at the start of my review of The Beach Boys' 'Sunflower', which I admit has pretty much already been given its due in recent years. But sometimes enthusiasm overtakes you and you just have to write your thoughts down and get them out there. Maybe there needs to be a 'Sung' page as well, although such a thing doesn't really fit Julian's philosophy.

As the writer of the recent OMD and PSB reviews, I was shocked to learn that your own efforts had been deleted. I thought that this section was supposed to be totally free of editorial control, and as both these acts receive a 50/50 mix of respect and disdain with in the more rockist circles (I remember the postbag John Peel got when he had the PSBs in for a session), I felt it totally valid to make a case for such artists being a lot more interesting than may be apparent on the surface.

Now that 'Dazzle Ships' has quite rightly been re-evaluated there wouldn't be much point re-posting your review, but I'd be curious to know what your PSB choice was.

A couple more points: I used to enjoy reading U Are A Ghost's reviews when he wrote them in English. Why the recent switch to Spanish?

And I know I'm being a bit anal here, but doesn't it spoil the look of the page when you get a whole load of reviews without cover pictures? Isn't the cover all part of what we love about our favourite records?

I think Unsung is (and should always be) an evolving thing and is prone to all the ambiguities and parameter shifts that entails. And context and relativity counts here too; you could argue that, say, Acid Mothers Temple, mostly unheard of in the mainstream, are hardly unsung/unmentioned/unheard of on HH. But a, say, Kylie album would be pretty much unsung on here and thus perhaps may ripe for bringing to attention to those on here that would never think of listening to it. Personally I regard Unsung as a repositry for reading about music regardless of its commercial impact (or lack of!) in the wider world. And it's about enthusiasm too. So what if an album has been released to wide acclaim and been heavily reviewed? If the person writing about it on here feels passionate about it and wants to share that with other HH folk, then should they not feel that they have the right to post without feeling they are somehow setting off someone else's 'uncool/uncult' detector or transgressing some completely arbitary and utterly unofficial editorial stance as defined in the mind of another, perhaps more regular, reviewer?

Plus, who says what should count and what shouldn't? Who 'polices' Unsung then? Who says what "fits the bill"?