Nick Bollinger’s “100 Essential New Zealand Albums”
Naturally, Bollinger was always going to make the call of including what we already deem classic New Zealand albums when writing 100 Essential New Zealand Albums (I’m talking albums from Crowded House, Th’ Dudes, Hello Sailor, Split Enz, etc etc) but it’s his choices of more recent albums that are the most interesting. Fur Patrol, Goldenhorse, Che-Fu, King Kapisi and Salmonella Dub are all included in the albums chosen for the first couple of years of the oughts. But there are also some interesting choices that Bollinger has the smarts to include such as Wai’s 100%, David Kilgour’s A Feather In The Engine, and Voom’s Hello, Are You There?
Another interesting choice that doesn’t get talked about too much these days is Mareko’s White Sunday and Bollinger’s mentioning of the track City Line (a song which describes something so mundane in such a fascinating fashion, such as catching the 471 bus into the city) neatly sums up exactly what an artist like Mareko is all about. When discussing Scribe’s 2003 record The Crusader, Bollinger smartly notes and points out P-Money’s huge involvement in Scribe’s career stating “But verbal gymnast and heartwarming raconteur though Scribe is, his rhymes alone would never have been hits.”
In his introduction, Bollinger also talks about the problems with including recently released albums. “The last few years proved the most challenging. Time helps sort the innovators from the imitators, the essential from the ephemeral, but to predict which new discs will retain their magic for future generations requires a soothsayer.” Therefore we get recent albums from Liam Finn, Dudley Benson, The Mint Chicks, Pie Warmer and Smashproof. I’m sure Smashproof’s inclusion would’ve been a hard choice to make since it’s so new but it’s a nice point of reference since there isn’t too much else like it included in the book.
Overall, Bollinger’s chosen albums are a good selection of what makes our small local music scene so interesting and each album write-up remains clearly independent of each other rather than adhering to what was going on in a certain scene or time. Each album listed here is a slab of New Zealand music history all of it’s own and Bollinger emphasises that. Yes, there are a few people that could’ve done the same thing but let’s be glad it was him, because his varied choice of records to make the cut here make it all the more interesting.
Is that the cover above? Cos it’s absolutely terrible. Looks more like something that NZ on Air would distribute to radio stations in the late 90′s when they were still trying to convince them to play any, just any NZ music.
agreed 100%, the book is terribly designed, inside is just as bad. complaining about it later.
though it’s a pretty likeable book writing-wise.
As the publishers who sweated blood to get the best possible cover and design for Nick Bollinger’s terrific book and are extremely proud of the result , we’d love to see what you, Ed and Yah, come up with. It’s so easy to be knockers. Why not support the New Zealand award-winning creative industry instead? Or put your own ideas out there? Yours, Awa Press
Incidentally, this is not the final cover. Buy the book and see what is.
@Ed Muzik – The cover here is slightly different from the one in shops. The only difference is the choice of album covers in the background but the layout is precisely the same.
@ Mary – I never faulted the books design in this review (or anything about the book really) so why are you calling me out on it? Plus, I don’t think the comments above are against supporting the creative industry. To me it’s just an opinion on the design of the book.
Mary, I’m sure you’re passionate about this project, and it hurts to read criticism of something in you’re emotionally invested. But please pause and reflect before you make any more comments like the one above.
People are allowed to have opinions about the published and publicly-available creative works of others, whether it’s albums or books or poster design. That’s the beauty of creative endeavours – they evoke a response and a reaction in others. Sometimes it’s awe, sometimes revulsion, sometimes disappointed. It’s not your – or anyone’s – place to say we can’t have or voice an opinion.
Your comments remind me of the time I gave a local band a less-than-glowing review of a less-than-thrilling performance. Their singer told me that as a ‘non-musician’ (bass guitar doesn’t count), my opinion was worthless and unless I was prepared to get up on stage and do better, then I had no right to comment on his performance. Now, if we all took that attitude then talented critics like Mr Bollinger would be out of a job (bass guitar doesn’t count). Just as one doesn’t need to be a vintner to appreciate wine, it’s possible to have an informed opinion about art and design without being a graphic designer.
That record player really does look like ’90s public-domain clip-art, by the way.
* in which
* disappointment
Just checked out the AWA website and the 100 series all have the same design so I can see why the cover looks like it does. Does it make it a great design, well, no, will it make it stand out on a book shelf, I’d say yes but hey, that’s just me. I think Petra said all that needs saying to address the rather odd comment from Mary, we love our little creations but responsive comments on blogs dont usually go down well, mkay.
Sounds like an interesting read, will check it out. Getting the balance right for such a project is nigh on impossible, but it sounds like Nick has managed it, from your review. And Mary Varnham – people express opinions – so pointing the finger at them and saying “stop knocking it, i’d like to see you do better” just comes off as overly defensive. Some people will like the cover, some people won’t. Can’t please all the people all of the time…. and supporting something just cos its form New Zealand is so 90s. We go out and support good New Zealand, music, not the crap stuff! Will buy a copy and see what I think.
Again, I’d stress that it’s well worth a read from what I’ve seen. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but I do really appreciate nice layout in what I read, personally.
I’ve just changed the picture above to the correct cover art of the book. It’s a bit smaller but you still get the idea.