In praise of Marcello Carlin

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Surely his blog is one of the best on the block? He manages to combine incision with passion far better than Morley to my eyes. Why isn't this man writing books etc.

― L.H.O.O.Q, Friday, 5 November 2004 11:17 (twenty-one years ago)

For the uninitiated:

http://hemingwoid.blogspot.com/

― L.H.O.O.Q., Friday, 5 November 2004 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

haven't we had a thread like this already??

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't find the original thread now.. but it's similar to this one

ken chu - human sex beast or mythical love god type figure

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Have we? Sorry, I didn't realise.

― L.H.O.O.Q., Friday, 5 November 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

There was an "MC: Man Or Myth?" thread but that got a bit out of hand and was deleted at my request.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 5 November 2004 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, it is a great blog.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I've just read it for the first time - hey it is good! The title alone made me koons! sure to be going back often.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i like marcello despite our occasional angry exchanges

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i like him, too, even though I don't really know him

― caitlin (caitlin), Friday, 5 November 2004 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know much about his writing. But he once defended me when I was attacked on line, and I thought that was generous and good of him.

― the bellefox, Friday, 5 November 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

As one who has crossed swords with Marcello on ILM, I'll pile on: his blog is tops, one of the most necessary on the web.

― briania (briania), Friday, 5 November 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

does Marcello have an active blog?

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 27 March 2006 00:59 (twenty years ago)

the church is a functioning parish again, by the look of it.

― haitch (haitch), Monday, 27 March 2006 01:30 (twenty years ago)

anyone got links to his reviews that have been printed? id like to read those. if anyone has them, please post them. thanks.

― alias, Monday, 27 March 2006 09:29 (twenty years ago)

If you mean the Wire/Uncut/Time Out stuff, I don't think any of it's ever been published online, except in modified/extended form on one or other of my blogs, and then only in some cases. Some of it's on CoM, other on Naked Maja (which is still up) and even more of it on Koons (which latter I'm sort of re-publishing very very slowly, piece by piece).

I don't generally encourage revisiting my printed reviews since IMO the blogs are where my "real" writing takes place.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 27 March 2006 09:49 (twenty years ago)

come come now, writing is writing, just cos you get subbed and have to stick to word counts in mags doesnt mean its not real... well, do you have 'directors cuts' of your reviews on the blog(s)? i specifically would like to read your dizzee rascal and some of the post-punk artists you reviewed in uncut? (i know this is prob a weird request, sorry, hope this isnt creeping you out, but there was this one review of yours i read in uncut but i cant remember who on earth the artists were)

― alias, Monday, 27 March 2006 10:11 (twenty years ago)

Dizzee Rascal I did for Time Out (Showtime). Director's cut is in the Koons archive - I'll republish that if people want to read it. Can't really help you with the post-punk stuff without going through the back issues.

I know for a fact that the long Fleetwood Mac piece I did for Uncut is up on one of the FM message boards (The Ledge, I think) because there was some quite interesting discussion arising from it IIRC.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 27 March 2006 10:20 (twenty years ago)

I remember reading a great piece on Scott Walker's Tilt on Church of Me.

I'm curious to know what Marcello looks like. Any photos out there on the interweb of you, Marcello?

― eclectic_glamazon, Monday, 27 March 2006 10:34 (twenty years ago)

He looks like Noddy Holder.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:11 (twenty years ago)

He certainly dresses like him

― Dadaismus sinks his soul in Mother Nature's bower (Dada), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:11 (twenty years ago)

any chance of reading that rufus wainwright piece you did for time out?

― alias, Monday, 27 March 2006 11:12 (twenty years ago)

Hey, great 'Mac review Marcello. In fact, I'm off right now to detox my jetlag with the second Tusk CD. (Review's

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:16 (twenty years ago)

(...Review's

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:16 (twenty years ago)

**He certainly dresses like him**

Yes, who else but Marcello and Noddy wear mirror hats?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:17 (twenty years ago)

marcello carlin made me want to start a band

― latebloomer: My name *COCKS SHOTGUN* is Horace! (latebloomer), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:21 (twenty years ago)

...and let's not forget:

My mother's incredibly stupid ex-husband

― ratty, Monday, 27 March 2006 11:27 (twenty years ago)

Marcello is your stepfather?

― Dadaismus sinks his soul in Mother Nature's bower (Dada), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:28 (twenty years ago)

This is all very strange.

Director's cut of Rufus W is on Koons and has been republished; it's linked on my CoM end-of-year listings.

There are pictures of me elsewhere on ILx, but similarly I do not encourage seeking them out.

The Noddy Holder comparisons are a downright lie. Here's a far more apposite comparison:

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/upload/180305nrebus.jpg

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:49 (twenty years ago)

You do look like someone but I can't quite put my finger on who it is

― Dadaismus sinks his soul in Mother Nature's bower (Dada), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:58 (twenty years ago)

Marcello Carlin, yesterday:

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/sydbarrett/sydslife/bikebarrett2001.jpg

― tried and tested, Monday, 27 March 2006 12:02 (twenty years ago)

That looks more like me!

― Dadaismus sinks his soul in Mother Nature's bower (Dada), Monday, 27 March 2006 12:04 (twenty years ago)

"THE CAMBRIDGE DIET WORKS!" quips Pink Floyd star David Gilmour!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 27 March 2006 12:06 (twenty years ago)

The Cambridge Diet = humongous amounts of LSD washed down with mushroom tea

― Dadaismus sinks his soul in Mother Nature's bower (Dada), Monday, 27 March 2006 12:07 (twenty years ago)

That's the Cambridge Massachusetts diet.

― C J (C J), Monday, 27 March 2006 12:41 (twenty years ago)

God, that Broken Social Scene piece is bloody marvellous.

― Surfer_Stone_Rosalita (Surfer_Stone_Rosalita), Monday, 27 March 2006 20:58 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

"There are pictures of me elsewhere on ILx, but similarly I do not encourage seeking them out."

I did and I can't find any - now I'm intrigued...

― Geosprite (Geosprite), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:16 (twenty years ago)

OK then, one clue: "Morans"

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:20 (twenty years ago)

Marcello is one of probably three music writers left on the planet I actually *enjoy* reading.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:21 (twenty years ago)

The other two being me and Dan, I trust.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 April 2006 23:16 (twenty years ago)

Excuse #1 = "I Am Pissed"

Derefore = "Marcello is ~~one of~~ the finest music writer(s) I have ever read.

― Every Time I Open Up My Mouth All Bullets Spit Out: Bang! (noodle vague), Thursday, 27 April 2006 23:21 (twenty years ago)

http://www.dbass.org/images/noddy.jpg

― They're Dairylea Mad, Them Kids (Dada), Friday, 28 April 2006 09:49 (twenty years ago)

what am i, fuckin' noddy?

― 25 yr old undercover cop (Enrique), Friday, 28 April 2006 09:51 (twenty years ago)

I was just about to ask that question!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 28 April 2006 09:52 (twenty years ago)

Marcello Carlin is one of nature's true gentlemen. I would gladly lube up and spread my cheeks for Marcello.

― sway therapist, Friday, 28 April 2006 10:06 (twenty years ago)

Is that a euphemism?

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:13 (twenty years ago)

It's been a long time since Tom Jones got offers of that kind.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:17 (twenty years ago)

But he did sing "Help yourself"

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:20 (twenty years ago)

Not to mention "I'll Dress You In Mourning, To Be A Matador, Dance With Death" (B-side of "Boy From Nowhere").

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 28 April 2006 10:23 (twenty years ago)

Any attractive woman with an ounce of soul would have her feet behind her ears in a hearbeat when faced with the battered majesty that is Marcello Carlin.

― jolson&jones, Friday, 28 April 2006 10:30 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 35 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

DG picked up on it too.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:24 (eighteen years ago)

I think that 'Dandelion and Burdock' would be an ace name for a detective series. Maybe starring Trevor Eve and that fat lass from 'Birds of a Feather'.

― NickB, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, yes and let's all knock one out for MC etc.

― NickB, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:27 (eighteen years ago)

pixplz

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:27 (eighteen years ago)

wtf does any of this have to do with marcello? i r confused, wise owls of the "lol britpop crew"

― DG, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:32 (eighteen years ago)

We're just kicking back and paying tribute to his memory. Like you would at a memorial garden.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:32 (eighteen years ago)

has he died?

― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:33 (eighteen years ago)

^ ban

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:34 (eighteen years ago)

I'll take that as a 'no' then.

― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

I want to huggelz, congrats and highfive him for his upcoming wedding! HURRAH! I did read that right, didn't I, Marcello????

― nathalie, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:39 (eighteen years ago)

five months pass...

What do you think Carmody drinks? Dandelion and Burdock?

-- Dom Passantino, Monday, 17 September 2007 13:22 (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 15 March 2008 00:36 (eighteen years ago)

four years pass...

if dude wants to stop his blog that's obviously cool. i have enjoyed it, particularly the parts i wasn't expecting to. i hope that he and/or his wife carry on elsewhere, and get paid

claiming that one can't possibly carry on writing about 30-year-old music because the charts are unfair is lame tho

― mookieproof, Saturday, 12 January 2013 05:47 (thirteen years ago)

yes but he is the unjustly thwarted bowie of rockcrit, do u seeeeee

― r|t|c, Saturday, 12 January 2013 09:46 (thirteen years ago)

That rule's been changed now and it will be in the charts

― im (if), Saturday, 12 January 2013 10:09 (thirteen years ago)

And the blog has resumed

― Mark G, Saturday, 12 January 2013 10:35 (thirteen years ago)

praise be

― buzza, Saturday, 12 January 2013 10:40 (thirteen years ago)

I think it might be more a case of "oh shit, we've got this many albums to write about? I'm gonna blame the kids of today instead."

tbf it is great writing and I'm looking forward to C. Marlin's take on certain 80s albums

― You Just Haven't Formed It Yet, Babby (King Boy Pato), Saturday, 12 January 2013 11:52 (thirteen years ago)

And the blog has resumed

He's made more comebacks than Sinatra that boy

― Designated Striver (Tom D.), Saturday, 12 January 2013 12:18 (thirteen years ago)

I kind of understand why he might have wanted to stop the blog. If you're writing about an album that was number 1 on the album chart in a particular week, but you suspect that there might have been another album that sold more copies, but was excluded from the chart for some bogus reason, then it brings up the question 'why write about that official #1 album?'. Even if that album is one that would still be writing about in other circumstances (The Pretenders' debut being a recent example).

― pure dressed up like a white ninja (snoball), Saturday, 12 January 2013 12:26 (thirteen years ago)

would still be worth writing about

― pure dressed up like a white ninja (snoball), Saturday, 12 January 2013 12:35 (thirteen years ago)

The charts have always been prone to distortions and really haven't been an unified thing since the mid-80s surely! And for so much of its life it has had a fairly unreal existence at times (you take the whole thing as a partial reflection of the listening/buying habits).

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 12 January 2013 17:05 (thirteen years ago)

ten months pass...

not sure if this is the right forum for this question or now, but seems like a decent place to start.

any idea what happened to Then Play Long? tons of the posts are suddenly deleted, leaving only the entries written by Lena.

― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:03 (twelve years ago)

no he's still going: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:11 (twelve years ago)

Never mind: I just read his tweets.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:14 (twelve years ago)

oh, guess i have to read those.

― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:15 (twelve years ago)

I want him to keep going. He's one of those guys whose blog I check every few days hoping he updates as often as I want him to.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:16 (twelve years ago)

Yep. I try to ignore the drama, but his posts on TPL are fascinating. Especially for an American removed from the context of some of that stuff, his Lexicon of Love one was fantastic and finally convinced me to buy it.

― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:17 (twelve years ago)

yeah at first i was hoping technical glitch or he was compiling it for a book (and knowing neither was the likely reason) but reading his tweets i can't entirely blame him.

― balls, Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:19 (twelve years ago)

Yeah, but I'm not sure taking down all the good work you've already done is the best course of action. If you wanna quit, fair play, but don't take it all down with you.

― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:21 (twelve years ago)

I love him and don't understand him.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:22 (twelve years ago)

i mean i definitely regret he's doing this, then play long has been ridiculously great

― balls, Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:24 (twelve years ago)

i enjoy his stuff, apart from the 'if you didn't hear this reference to _____ then you weren't really listening' but good lord what a diva

― mookieproof, Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:28 (twelve years ago)

I'd been waiting for his Duran Duran and Culture Club posts.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:29 (twelve years ago)

what really hurts is that it's happening at the same time bowiesongs is plowing thru hours...

― balls, Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:31 (twelve years ago)

bowieesongs is about to roll up its sleeves re that album

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:36 (twelve years ago)

loved the piece on raiders of the pop charts, one of the few albums in my house when growing up so it got a lot of play.

― fit and working again, Saturday, 16 November 2013 03:41 (twelve years ago)

but good lord what a diva

lol. big fan of many of the ilx old guard but always found MC unbearable

― NI, Saturday, 16 November 2013 04:30 (twelve years ago)

His decision makes sense to me. Only terrible people are unbothered by the discovery that their long-time playground, in any sphere, is built on a bedrock of massive-scale exploitation and unimaginable cruelty, and the revelations just keep piling up here.

I don't feel it as keenly as MC does, because the world of pop that it represents was largely gone, or seen as hugely old-hat, by the time I really started listening. That world isn't mine, what it represents isn't woven through the fabric of my understanding of pop, but I totally understand and respect the decision.

― Matt DC, Saturday, 16 November 2013 12:36 (twelve years ago)

Marcello if (when) you read this i agree with what you say about "when it stops being fun". it might start feeling like fun again at some time going forward. tbh, i've always found the extremity of your anger when something riles you to be just another part of the engine that makes your best writing such a joy - it's not my place to judge, but i can happily live with the former when it's part of the latter. i hope at some point you put back what you've taken down but whatever you do is absolutely your right.

― a strident purist when it comes to band-related shirts (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 16 November 2013 13:00 (twelve years ago)

knew I should have archived that shit

― comic sbans soref (wins), Saturday, 16 November 2013 13:01 (twelve years ago)

huh so this guy is still alive. sorry for that universe.

― I have a friend who works at Kroger (Matt P), Saturday, 16 November 2013 13:02 (twelve years ago)

...and the posts are back up. hoping he's changed his mind.

― JACK SQUAT about these Charlie Nobodies (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 22 November 2013 21:08 (twelve years ago)

geez I hope so too. I have so many weeks of reading pleasure left in TPL, I mean I have only scratched the surface.

― Pressgang Wolf (Jon Lewis), Friday, 22 November 2013 21:45 (twelve years ago)

What's this now?

― Geoffrey Schweppes (jaymc), Friday, 22 November 2013 21:55 (twelve years ago)

Special pleading.

― mohel hell (Bob Six), Friday, 22 November 2013 22:01 (twelve years ago)

yeah I don't get what revelation Marcello had about the mechanics of pop music industry either

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 November 2013 22:03 (twelve years ago)

that everybody in the '70s was a child molester. I think it was Roy Harper being charged that sparked it?

― Merdeyeux, Friday, 22 November 2013 22:09 (twelve years ago)

lol

― 30 ch'lopping days left to umas (darraghmac), Friday, 22 November 2013 22:12 (twelve years ago)

I assumed that was it, though maybe not Harper specifically

― Pressgang Wolf (Jon Lewis), Friday, 22 November 2013 22:15 (twelve years ago)

also he is on the verge of getting to Thriller in TPL

― Pressgang Wolf (Jon Lewis), Friday, 22 November 2013 22:15 (twelve years ago)

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