The Treasure Principle: Dan Hegarty on his new book

We all have at least one. That album we’re ready to get evangelical about at any opportunity. The record we’re certain should have been a global smash, but cherish all the more for the fact that it has remained, criminally, under the radar. Supplying his listeners with golden sounds on RTÉ 2fm for over a decade, Dan Hegarty has been showcasing these kinds of albums as part of his show’s ‘Buried Treasure’ feature for some time, but he felt the idea deserved more.

“I had the idea for a book over two years ago and my youngest daughter was born so I had to shelf it,” Hegarty recalls today. “It was the least I could do for her! But I came back to it around a year ago. I wasn’t going to self-publish – not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I didn’t want to go that route. Liberties had done Tony Clayton-Lea’s 101 Irish Records To Hear Before You Die and I love that book. All their books look really well. So I thought I’d start with them. I rang and explained what it was that I wanted to do, not thinking they’d ring me back. Then Seán [O’Keeffe], the head guy, rang me back 20 minutes later. I hadn’t even finished my cup of coffee! It was just like ‘ooh shit, I’m going to have to actually do this now’!”
The result, Buried Treasure: Overlooked, Forgotten And Uncrowned Classic Albums, has just hit shelves, full of not only Hegarty’s recommendations but personal selections from a plethora of stars including Aidan Gillen, Robbie Henshaw, Imelda May and Cillian Murphy, with Larry Mullen Jr. penning the foreword.
The approach means it is refreshingly free of the usual “cult” albums that pop up on regularly on Greatest Records You’ve Never Heard lists and doesn’t feel like an attempt to flaunt superior taste and knowledge. What Buried Treasure is not is a tome for music snobs. What it is is full of great and intriguing choices.
“I didn’t set out to make anything that was really muso. I didn’t want to exclude anyone. I wanted it to be a book that pretty much anyone who had a passing interest in music could come along and pick up.”
Most music lovers can instantly think of a specific album they’re passionate about. Hegarty, likeable guy that he is, has definite pulling power so nearly everyone he approached was eager to get involved, even if logistically it took some working out (“people like Cillian Murphy and Aidan Gillen were up for it straight away, but very busy so you just have to wait around and be patient”). There was give and take, of course, when the selections were being made.
“A lot of people went for classic, classic albums so I had to step in and say it wasn’t quite like that. Then Marty Moore, the Leinster and Ireland rugby player, came back to me and asked me if he could do Philip Lynott’s Solo In Soho. Initially I thought ‘I don’t know if that fits.’ Then I realised a lot of younger people might not know it. Marty’s in his early twenties and he was saying ‘well I never knew this existed. I love Thin Lizzy and classic rock and I only discovered it recently in my grandparents’ house.’ So it is a buried treasure. It’s not Live & Dangerous. It’s a brilliant album but it’s not really well-known. I had to almost revise how strict I was being.”
The process proved to be an educational one for Hegarty, who found plenty of new favourites.
“Chuck D selected an album by [Queens hardcore outfit] Sick Of It All called Blood, Sweat & No Tears,” he says by way of example. “I don’t know how I missed it before but I did and now I love it.”
Which of his own picks are top of the ‘stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to it now’ list?
“The first album I wrote about was Gavin Friday’s Shag Tobacco. I actually really don’t think Gavin knows how good it is. I’ve tried to tell him a number of times and I think he thinks I’m just being nice! It came out in 1995 in the middle of the whole Britpop thing. It was so unusual and it’s still unusual now.
“Another would be Radiodread by Easy Star All-Stars,” Hegarty enthuses. “It’s a remake of OK Computer in reggae-dub style and is very, very well done. I interviewed Philip Selway a few years ago and he was saying he knows it and Radiohead are really big fans of it. One that often gets overlooked is by a guy I’ve so much admiration, Jacknife Lee. The Future Is Medium, by his former band Compulsion, is just a remarkable album. It’s just a big snarling monster. Anyone’s who is into stuff like Wolf Alice or Royal Blood would just listen to that and go ‘woah, this is outstanding!’”
A pause and a laugh.
“That’s pretty enthusiastic, isn’t it?!”
Indeed it is. And we wouldn’t have him any other way.