Would trade your music collection for every album Robert Christgau declared a "Must To Avoid"?

You could throw some sick parties with these albums.

10CC: The Original Soundtrack
CURTIS MAYFIELD: America Today
THE CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE: Love Will Keep Us Together
WILLIE NELSON: Red Headed Stranger (he changed the grade from a C to a B- eventually, though)
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
ABBA: Arrival
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN: Heaven Up Here
DEPECHE MODE: Speak and Spell
DURAN DURAN: Rio
THE ROLLING STONES: Undercover
DR. BUZZARD'S ORIGINAL SAVANNAH BAND: Calling All Beatniks!
CYNDI LAUPER: True Colors
L.L. COOL J: Bigger and Deffer
DEF LEPPARD: Hysteria
BRYAN FERRY: Bête Noire
DEBBIE GIBSON: Out of the Blue
SLICK RICK: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
SCOTT WALKER: It's Raining Today: The Scott Walker Story (1967-70)

of these, i pretty much adore the scott walker, slick rick, and marvin gaye records. the others i have more mixed feelings about. i agree that the willie nelson album could do without some of the bridging material, but the rest is gold.

sometimes i wish xgau were a little less flippant, and a little more wishy-washy (in the sense of acknowledging uncertainty and respecting other POVs), but then again he wouldn't have the same critical voice if that were the case.

And then there was sound
And then there was guitar
And then there was Bon Scott singing "Dancing Queen"

MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN: Heaven Up Here
WILLIE NELSON: Red Headed Stranger

and I wouldn't dismiss these out of hand:

MAGAZINE: Secondhand Daylight
DEPECHE MODE: Speak and Spell
SCOTT WALKER: It's Raining Today: The Scott Walker Story (1967-70)

Otherwise, hahahaha.

So the answer is NO.

Christgau is, was and ever shall be....an asshole.

George had a terrible voice! And his albums were so indifferent you'd think Krishna would have gotten insulted eventually.

Even though I'll go to bat for "Rio" and "Out of The Blue," most of those albums are fairly dreadful. I suspect posters are being defensive because they haven't read what Xgau actually wrote about them, which is, as usual, tons more entertaining than Spandau Ballet or Echo or Scott Walker.

(That said, I never understood his dislike of Crowded House.)

And what's with this "albums were so indifferent" business? 33 1/3 and the self-titled one and Gone Troppo are all grebt and Somewhere in England would have been better in its original form (not to say that it's bad as is). This from someone who likes Press to Play and stuff! (Which I also like!!!)

I have a bigger problem with Xgau OVERRATING certain artists. Marshall Crenshaw is just ok, I've dutifully listened to several Arto Lindsey records (and like "Mundo Civilisado" fine), and hardly think just about every Sleater Kinney album deserves an A.

As for "OK Computer," he has since admitted to liking several tracks.

That's fine, but I think saying the albums were "indifferent" is presumptuous.

Huh? He is the only person I've ever heard of who doesn't like this album. I can't see how it could offend anyone.

Am I the only person who likes Gano's Godbothering stuff?

Never heard it. Is it really as bad as all that?

i think hallowed ground is the only worthwhile record the femmes ever made.

I totally agree with you, Alfred, but um...don't you love the Go-Betweens!??:)

shock.

Damn you, Eddy, and your Teena Marie love.

Journeys to Glory is an excellent album - have you heard it, or is it your assumption that it sounds like "True" (which I'd also defend, but that's a different point)?

MEAT LOAF: Bat out of Hell
SLICK RICK: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
N.W.A: 100 Miles and Runnin'

...but I already have them in my collection, so to answer the question, no, I wouldn't trade my music collection for the list.

Except for "To Cut A Long Story Short" it's grotesque, pompous synth-pop.

this kind of a point I was trying to make more than "what's xgau's deal?" When you already know your collection really well and have a bunch of fine albums that you enjoy when you put them on but you already know really well, is it possible you'd still be able to go through your day if it all disappeared and was replaced with a musically varied collection of fascinating unheards? Nothing stops you from rebuying old faves or still checking out new albums. You just lose that personal canon you've amassed over time.

we're gonna have to agree to disagree I guess, I think it's completely great

because George Harrison solo made some of the WORST FUCKING MUSIC OF ALL TIME

Also: The Killers are funny. Unrest was not. (Also: blah blah blah Killers blah blah blah. I wouldn't call myself "a Killers fan," OK?)

"Beautiful Girl"
"This Song"
"It's What You Value"
"Crackerbox Palace"
"Love Comes to Everyone"
"Blow Away"
"Your Love Is Forever"
"Soft Touch"
"If You Believe"
"All Those Years Ago"
"Writing's on the Wall"
"That's the Way It Goes"
"I Really Love You"
"Mystical One"
"Dream Away"

Addressing the subtext of this thread:
George Harrison may not have been the most naturally talented of the Beatles and there are plenty of dud moments in his solo career, but during the Beatles career he just seemed to get better and better as a songwriter and guitar player, and the high points of his solo career, the big singles, the Wilburys, maybe the posthumous stuff and of course All Things Must Pass, plus his good humor (saying of one of his several assailants, "he wasn't auditioning for the Traveling WIlburys") and sense of perspective (involvement with the Rutles) , his embodiment of contradiction (being at various points both the most materialistic and most spiritual of the Beatles) , make him, IMHO, the best torchbearer of whatever it is that we love about the Beatles. (Stay away, Geir).

Overall Grade of my own post:B-

I hope this answers your question.

xpost

But the only albums here I truly love are Rio and Imperial f.f.r.r.... And they kinda sound alike!

Oh and Matos, Paul McCartney has nothing to do with anything except that I seize on every opportunity, no matter how slight, to bitch about his awful solo career.

my fave is probably the bow wow wow and that didn't faze me a bit. i don't expect xgau to like bow wow wow. he hates lotsa stuff like that that i love. i wouldn't have it any other way. he's really got it in for the god-like alan parsons project though. he's MAD to diss I Robot!

--Yr thinking of "The Visitors". People like "Arrival" cos it was the breakthrough one, sold everywhere etc.

booo

I love Imperial f.f.r.r., but I can see, over time, how this would be a love or hate album. I'm always going to treasure this album, but there's no point to me defending it.. you either feel comfortable in Mark Robinson's world, or you think nothing of it.. there's nothing I can do about that, as far as persuading people.

Given Mark's really weird sense of humor over the entirety of Unrest's career and after, I think he would kinda like being called corny.. I mean, "Ben's Chili Bowl"? "Eyeball From The Socket Of Davis"? This is the same guy who was the first to release The Tube Bar and The Screamer. He's very forward about this OCD with Factory records. I'm all for Robinson's specific brand of corniness.

Of course, some are not. And I can perfectly understand that.

As Ned pointed out above, every music geek/fan has his/her own weird positions and dispositions on things. So, I don't get all the Xgau hate. I'd surely get soopa-hate if a list of albums I tagged as "Must Avoid" were posted, too. As would Anthony or anybody else here.

SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND soundtrack

Dear fucking noxious lord of shitola! You can't imagine that a failed attempt by the Bee Gees to do a tribute to "the greatest rock album ever" in 1978, as movie and soundtrack, could be devoid of anything that isn't half-laughworthy, even in an ironic sense. But it is. Not even Alice Cooper, Steve Martin, nor George Burns can save this album from complete 100% attrition of anything worth grabbing one's attention. I bought it for a buck hoping for at least two or three oddly "What Were They Thinking?" moments that could be ironically played during a DJ Set or be sampled or something. Instead, I now have a couple o' slabs o' wax that is one of the lowest points of musical history.. and one that seems to range in the Top 5 Most Seen Used Vinyl Releases In 99 Cent Bins Of All Time, deservedly.

THE BEACH BOYS: M.I.U. Album

Sad to say, in RETROSPECT, this isn't the Beach Boys' worst album.. it would take a break into the 80s before the TRUE shitstorms hit.. (and I'm not even talking about "Kokomo", a highlight.. yes, I said that.. a HIGHLIGHT for the Beach Boys in the 80s.) But at the time, how could anyone who even fought to defend the Beach Boys during the 70s, finally getting to some sort of weird acclaim with Love You, be happy with THIS album being the followup? The best thing I can say about this album is that it is about as pleasant as eating a bowl of moistened cornstarch, with the occasional bit of sugar... which isn't necessarily nauseous.. just.. there.. doing absolutely nothing to move your world. This album is the musical equivalent of damning your fans with faint music.

GUNS N' ROSES: G N' R Lies

Surely, this "album" was a contractual obligation.. and it's painfully obvious. It is, right?

Because, while "Patience" was a great single, the rest of the 1988 era material on this album is shit. I'm not even going to mention THAT song.. the ones immigrants and homosexuals all wuv. The only "good" stuff was the 1986 Hanoi Rocks wannabe stuff. GNR should have released "Patience" as a single, and then re-released their first EP.. instead of making this really cheap concoction of thrown together barf an "album" which was just an easy way to get some more money from the hype and maelstrom that Appetite generated.

N.W.A: 100 Miles and Runnin'

This is almost analogous to G 'N R Lies! .. well, except there wasn't any early 1986-era N.W.A. And The Posse stuff tagged on to extend this.. and I don't think N.W.A. talked shit about immigrants on this EP... ok, fine, some MINOR musical differences. But that one song where they simulate the band members getting a BJ.. Niggaz, please. If you can create a damn fine rap about getting your dick sucked so many times (and there's nothing wrong with that), do you really need to provide it literally? Thankfully, EFIL4ZAGGIN included "100 Miles And Runnin'" on it, so it was pretty easy to sell that EP back.

I wish GNR did the same with "Patience".. instead, three years later, we got.. well, "My World" and "Get In The Ring", and a whole bunch of other filler padded by a few of GNR's best moments in their career.

Well ok, just one. Hallowed Ground is a C+. I'm not sure I understand this list.

Ouch! It placed pretty high in pazz & jop that year. Maybe someone in the next cubicle kept playing it over and over.

I enjoy this album (may help that first bought it used back when the SPIN alternative record guide was my Bible) but ow goddamn we're not worthy we're not worthy.

what you talking about? dean ween is a fine guitarist!

as for this list, here's what i'd take:

THE O'JAYS: Family Reunion
ABBA: Arrival
MEAT LOAF: Bat out of Hell
FRANK ZAPPA: Sheik Yerbouti (why DOES this one get so little love, even among zappa fans?!?)
FUNKADELIC: Connections and Disconnections
PASSAGE (dick witts's band, i presume?)
OINGO BOINGO: Only a Lad
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN: Heaven Up Here
THE KINKS: Give the People What They Want (not their greatest, but deserving better than to be slogged off)
DEPECHE MODE: Speak and Spell (as with zappa's sheik yerbouti, why does this one get so little love even among the band's fans?!?)
ULTRAVOX: Quartet
BOW WOW WOW: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
DURAN DURAN: Rio
THE FIXX: Reach the Beach
THE ROLLING STONES: Undercover
VANITY: Wild Animal
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD: Welcome to the Pleasure Dome
RICK JAMES: Glow
HOWARD JONES: Dream Into Action (though 1/2 IS unlistenable crap)
A-HA: Hunting High and Low (a sizeable portion of ILM would lynch him for this one ALONE)
L.L. COOL J: Bigger and Deffer
DEF LEPPARD: Hysteria
BRYAN FERRY: Bête Noire
SLICK RICK: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (!!!!)
COCTEAU TWINS: Blue Bell Knoll

10CC: The Original Soundtrack
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
KANSAS: Leftoverture
ABBA: Arrival
THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: I Robot
FOTOMAKER: Fotomaker
THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: Eve
DEPECHE MODE: Speak and Spell
ULTRAVOX: Quartet
DURAN DURAN: Rio
HOWARD JONES: Dream Into Action
A-HA: Hunting High and Low
DEF LEPPARD: Hysteria

It must be added, though, that most of the rest are clearly not.

That's precisely Donut's point.

No it didn't, 100 Miles and Sa Prize Part 2 are the reasons that the EP is fuckin' essential! Real Niggaz did get lifted for the album, but surely no-one gives much of a shit.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

as opposed to your 82, yes

Yeah, no offense, bro. I thought maybe you hadn't heard them in a long time and might like some of those tunes more now or something.

actually those two are what makes Efil4zaggin completely inessential...
-- kit brash (kitbras...), June 6th, 2005.

You're right about "100 Miles" not being on the album -- although i swore it was on it.. maybe I was confusing it with the greatest hits for some weird reason. "Real Niggaz", however, is a great track.

none taken! sorry I was snappish.

he's awesome! like the scary uncle you have to keep locked in the attic. lemme know if he starts writing rekkerd reviews like that.

and if people are genuinely flabbergasted why albums were picked to the point of comment they should probably click the link upthread and look up what he actually SAID about them.

http://www.rocklist.co.uk/images/rxtgau.jpg

Unfortunately for him, Mr Matos is currently the Paul Quinichette to my Lester Young.

http://www.explodingdog.com/dumbpict51/angryboy.gif

http://img86.exs.cx/img86/6374/zelkill.jpg

anyway, christgau is an insult.

MAGAZINE: Secondhand Daylight
BOB DYLAN: Infidels
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD: Welcome to the Pleasure Dome (wtf? is he insane?)
DEF LEPPARD: Hysteria
GUNS N' ROSES: G N' R Lies

http://www.robertchristgau.com/

Search and read his reviews if these bug you. Or not, and continue feigning shock or being snivelly. I agree and don't agree with them. There. oh the horror.

No offense, miccio, as you ironically are the one who gave the cogent advice for everyone to read the reviews of the albums in question, but you had to expect this from just posting only a list above.

MARCELLO CARLIN ON FIRE!!

I can beat him any fucking day of the week! What is he, 98 or something? Fuck off with your P&J lectures about I'm not gonna let you meddling kids destroy WHAT I BELIEVE IN we've done your gaff over and I'm the daddy now so don't try it grandad, go off and listen to your Melachrino wax cylinders! Cunting cunt!
-- Marcello Carlin (nostudium)

MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You
MARVIN GAYE: I Want You

Christ Child (hilarious punk-rock cash-in on Buddah that is probably a bunch of session musicians trying to bullshit the public).

Yeah, that record rules. And so does the Tubes one!

THE DODGERS: Love on the Rebound

Pick Hit that month was by a band called the Yankees -- One of my fave CG jokes ever (and this reminds me I still want to hear the Yankees album).

The Yankees
High 'n' Inside [Big Sound, 1978] A-
Consumer Guide Reviews:
High 'n' Inside [Big Sound, 1978]
These New Yorkers play it fast and loose enough to dismay pop technicians and even offend people a little. Indeed, I was already hooked on their boisterous Strangeloves/Standells tribute when it struck me that maybe Jon Tiven's wandering pitch, which I find cute, meant the record was warped. It's more likely, though, that his voice has begun to change in his mid-twenties, inspiring him to cover "Bad Boy" (well) and write (a good) one called "Take It Like a Man." A hit that proves once again that rock and roll is about having the spirit, knowing the tricks, and taking the risks. Ivan Julian is DH. A-

Well. I said what there is to say upthread. I have an impression that Cristgau isn't too impressed by most of the 50 albums I have recently listed in my blog as deserving of a rehabilitation though. :)

Also great:

FOREIGNER: Double Vision

And suddenly I'm curious about Fotomaker...

there is a geirblog?

http://kaitoujeanne3.tripod.com/pix/henshin6.jpg

Well. I said what there is to say upthread. I have an impression that Cristgau isn't too impressed by most of the 50 albums I have recently listed in my blog as deserving of a rehabilitation though. :)

Geir where is yr blog

not a blog, but Geir content

http://www.oli.tudelft.nl/jc84/

am i nuts or is there almost a beardo vibe to that xgau list?? not that i know what i'm talking about.

geirology.blogspot.com

Geirology = new favorite blog. :)

"hey"
"hey"
"nice to meet you"
"nice to meet you too"
"what are you majoring in?"
"GEIROLOGY"

bloggarkiv

▼ 2008 (1)
▼ januar (1)

I'm not sure I agree that a) rock critics really use innovation as a chief criterion and b) that the absence of innovation is what critics have disliked about albums like Satanic Majesties and Topographic Oceans. But there's some good music on your list. I'm glad you made it.

That Johnny Hates Jazz album isn't that good though.

Geir: keep posting on Geirology, i'm reading

"Christ Child (hilarious punk-rock cash-in on Buddah that is probably a bunch of session musicians trying to bullshit the public)."

"Yeah, that record rules."

I'd genuinely like to know who did this record...sleazy, but as good as any "legit" punk record that came out in '77.

I'm not sure I agree that a) rock critics really use innovation as a chief criterion and b) that the absence of innovation is what critics have disliked about albums like Satanic Majesties and Topographic Oceans.

It's usually either that or the "bad is good" argument (which was sort of there even before punk). Your two examples are a case of the latter rather than the former. My piece on "Satanic Majesties" comes soon, and I will write a bit more about that there.

COCTEAU TWINS: Blue Bell Knoll

Christgau talks so much shit, he needs a mouth diaper.

GEIR, UPDATE YOUR BLOG.

STAPLE SINGERS: Let's Do It Again

I would just like to say this sdtk is fucking great for the most part. Prime Curtis Mayfield!

title track is basically the best song (i mean out of all the songs that have been recorded)

That blog... Oh, I guess that list became a bit too much of an obstacle for me. Maybe I should just go on and write a piece about something else instead.

I vote you write summat about SatMaj.

more geirology, dammit!!!

ya gotta write about Tales of Topographic Oceans, dude!

from, even.

fuck christgau

don't try it grandad