Experience The Beatles Were Underrated: And Other Bedtime Stories For Rock Fans Expressed By David Hepworth Exhibited In Leaflet

is one of those writers who ruins lesser writers for you, Having read this one immediately after I read a book about rock music in the sixties and seventies by one such writer, it was like going from canned tuna to lobster or for you vegans, like going from a fistful of bean sprouts to a veggie burger.


Among the author's insights are about how teenage boys and teenage girls used to differ on how they evaluated new music, something that I found to be so accurate it was spooky.
He does all this while being engaging and entertaining,

The book is a collection of his essays about pop and rock music, and if songs have meant a lot to you during your life, and you grew up in the sixties or seventies, you're going to love this.
If you're younger Well, then it depends on how much enthusiasm you have for the musical culture of your parents.
Hepworth consistently falls short, just when you think he might take off, He has interesting perceptions, but doesn't follow through, loses his own thread or goes for a usually not brilliant joke instead of trying a bit harder and making himself and his reader think.
He's compulsively downtoearth. He loves pop music but is apparently a bit uncomfortable admitting it, so he emphasises its limitations, He should follow his heart and his head more, and stop worrying what people think of him,

I have to express my resentment, too, that his title makes such cheap use of the resonant phrase from Strawberry Fields Forever.
This book is really nothing: just a compilation of bits and pieces of mostly hacky journalism, repetitive, heterogeneous yet narrow, anything but transcendent.
He should have called it WarmedOver Meat and Potatoes,

It's not bad it could be much better, Must try harder but won't,
David Hepworth's observations are original and give wonderful insights into the business of pop, Whereas pop music tends to trigger your emotional side, Hepworth's writing leads you to take a step back from the subject matter in order to draw a more rational and sober picture of what is going on

there.
Recommended reading! Incisive and wittily informative as always, just too short! No idea how this only has a,rating. For articles and essays, I enjoy these as much as I do Didion, He does the little hook line at the end of each piece but only a few are saccharine and most are meant to be.

Hepworth has the nack for voicing observations that you completely agree with and have never solidified into thought yourself and does so with a light candid touch while writing about one of the most polorising subjects you can throw into a conversation.
Loved every page of it, Considering that Frank Zappa opined that writing about music is like tapdancing about architecture David Hepworth is possibly the Lionel Blair of Bauhaus not the band immensely readable, funny and knowledgeable about all things vinyl.

His cover statement that The Beatles were underrated stands up to scrutiny and I entirely agree with his thesis.
Especially that their early work was the best stuff, My favourite albums are still A Hard Days Night and Help, The theory that the greatest pop careers can only be sustained for a maximum of three years neatly splits the mop tops six years of unsurpassed pop genius into two incredible threeyear outpourings.
And they went from Love Me Do to A Day In The Life within four of those years!
This series of essays and articles from a journalist who experienced the pop revolution in real time is a great comfort to those of us who feel slightly embarrassed about loving what we thought at the time was a completely disposable fad.
Will the current generation growing up with unlimited free digital downloads ever feel the ache and excitement of choosing which single on which to spend ones six and eightpence LPs were only for Christmas As for the Bside.
Theres a whole chapter on these,
For anyone who remembers vinyl albums and TotP, David Hepworth is an enjoyable read, Onetime music mag editor and TV presenter he was a host on Whistle Test and's Live Aid, he is knowledgeable, anecdotal and opinionated without being bombastic.
The essays are enjoyable, occasionally nostalgic and interesting, my own fave being one about his journey into the origins of the blues, called Tap Dancing about Architecture.


I've given thissimply because it's a nice collection of previously published pieces, That's not to say they are not fun and stimulating to read, This collection of pieces about pop music is an enjoyable read, written by someone who can be considered an expert on the subject having spent his career working in and writing about the music industry He was one of the copresenters of Live Aid, who was on air trying to give the viewers information on how to donate during Bob Geldof's infamous expletive outburst on live tv.
The book made me want to pick up my guitar again which has been gathering dust for a few years and get the band back together, and also left me feeling frustrated that I being born in the earlys wasnt around for thes amps where this book spends a lot of time and where my musical taste most aligns to and slightly jealous of the author for all his stories of hanging out with rock and seeing some of the best bands in their heyday.
Very entertaining. Onlystar rather thanbecause several filler chapters are just song lists eg songs to play at wedding and felt like padding.
After readingrecently, this was the perfect antidote, Nothing is Real is the FOURTH volume about music Ive read from David Hepworth, a veteran UK music journalist and brilliantly funny raconteur.


Nothing is Real one is more a collection of already published essays than the previous themed collectionsabout the greatest year in music, Uncommon People about what makes rock tick and A Fabulous Creation about the now bygone era of the album but it has the same very dry and worldweary yet fond observations about rock and pop music from a man who grew up with it.


Hepworth is about nine years older than me he was going to concerts in the earlys but so many of his observations had me nodding my head in firm agreement.
The subtitle of the book is The Beatles were Underrated, What he means is the early Beatles, The Please Please Me to Help era Beatles and I agree, The chapters on A Hard Days Night still my favourite Beatles album and Ringos hugely overlooked talent as a drummer are full of rich insights.


But theres humour aplenty as well, particularly in his observations about the longevity of the baby boomer rock icons.
Hepworth loves pop music but doesnt take it too seriously, I know it was a great music book because I kept stopping during his rhapsodising about Ringos drumming on Ticket to Ride or John Lennons genius middle eight on No Reply to open up Spotify and listen to the original tracks.


My favourite music writer by far,

An interesting collection of articles written over the years by one of the best writers amp observers of popular music.
A book up to his usual standards,
It's a few years old now, so things have moved on even further than when this was written, But these pieces are still as relevant,
I've read all of David Hepworth's books about music, but had resisted this one for some reason, Finding it cheap in an HMV store, rather ironically read the book to realise why, convinced me to eventually buy it.
I'm pleased I did. Enjoyable if slight collection of previously published articles by Hepworth,

I've enjoyed Hepworth's recent books, and find myself empathising strongly with many of the articles here, Although I suspect our favourites may differ, it seems our worldview of music and the role it has played and plays in our lives are in concert sic.
My favourite line is The drum solo is the auditory equivalent of being unable to find the exit from a multistorey car park I received this book as a surprise present, and its perfect for anyone like me whos a fullyfledged music nerd/junkie!
Seriously though, its always a pleasure to read Davids books, and this one is no different.

Its an entertaining and rewarding compilation of various articles over the years that hes put together into this one handy volume.


What comes across is his sense of passion, wonder and nostalgia for the music thats coloured and lit up his life over the decades, and most readers like me will find themselves nodding along in approval, and bathing in the past glories of our favourite artistes.


Theres lots to reflect on along the way, and Davids welltravelled knowledge, experience and analysis of the world of music that he inhabits is a real joy to behold.
A collection of short opinion pieces, well explained and thought through, and consistent with David Hepworth's worldview, with The Beatles as the greatest thing ever, which he argues cogently.
If you are going to be annoyed by a piece titles "The Beatles were Underrated", this is not the book for you.
But you don't have to agree with all of his loss to enjoy the thought and craft that has gone into them.
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