Most of what I’m listening to on Youtube concerning Jam albums involves all the rarities and bonus tracks. I didn’t think much of “All Around The World” either way, I’d say I’m neutral on that one.

I gathered here that nobody cares for Style Council or solo Weller? Wasn’t that album Wild Wood supposed to be pretty notable? Peaking before you’re 24 must be weird.

Never heard of that book or its author but the funniest story about an undeserving literary award that I know of is this, concerning Jerzy Kosinski’s 1968 book Steps:

“Despite its commercial failure, especially when compared to The Painted Bird, Steps met with generally positive critics’ reviews[4] and eventually won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1969.[5] Canadian critic Hugh Kenner in his review of Steps in The New York Times compared it to the works by Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Franz Kafka.[6]

In 1975, a freelance writer Chuck Ross, in order to prove his theory that unknown authors always find their books rejected, sent out excerpts from Steps to four different publishers, using the pseudonym Erik Demos. All four did not accept the sample. In 1977, Ross sent out the entire book to ten publishers, including Random House, which had originally published the book,[7] and thirteen literary agents. Again, the book was rejected, also by Random House, having not been recognized, despite being an award-winning work.[8]”

Kosinski had a pretty fucked up life, too. Ever read up about him or his work? He’s best known for Being There (which you can read in about as much time as it takes to watch the movie) but the TIME 100 list went with The Painted Bird.