Reviews that are better than the album they are reviewing...

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I don't care how good the new Lightning Bolt is (and it is very good), but Melissa Maerz's Voice review bests it:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0310/maerz.php

Other examples?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 16:34 (twenty-three years ago)

As I just said on the Lightning Bolt thread, I disagree with the example. It's a review that starts brilliantly but gets lost in restating its key points in a hundred different ways. Trim it to half its length and you've got a great review with style.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 16:38 (twenty-three years ago)

that review = schlock

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 16:38 (twenty-three years ago)

To move this thread more toward the subject and away from Ned's and J-Dub's ingestion of serious Hatorade at a great piece... Another example that pops up is the piece on Shania Twain's Up! posted here a few months ago. I don't remember who wrote it, however. Yet another example -- Sherburne's DJ Shadow review at Neumu.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I reckon the Up review was Glenn McDonald's.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:15 (twenty-three years ago)

That's the one. I was very impressed.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I mentioned this review the other day in another thread, but it can't be read enough. It's definitely better than the record (although I love the record!)... High on Fire's _Art of Self-Defense_

http://www.timeoutny.com/rock/243/243.music.high.rev.html

― scott m (mcd), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:17 (twenty-three years ago)

a good chunk of sfj's reviews are better than the records he's actually reviewing (he's got good taste tho, so this isn't true across the board)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Simon Frith on the Pet Shop Boys.

― Burr, Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:25 (twenty-three years ago)

The High on Fire review was very good. (dare I say it?) Very Meltzer-esque.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:26 (twenty-three years ago)

An old Elton Joyhn album review that began with the immortal phrase "How do you shag a horse that is so dead it's stopped smelling?"

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:30 (twenty-three years ago)

"a good chunk of sfj's reviews are better than the records he's actually reviewing (he's got good taste tho, so this isn't true across the board)"

True dat.

― scott m (mcd), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 17:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Lester Bangs' reviews of "Chicago Live @ Carnegie Hall", "White Witch", and James Taylor's "One Man Dog" from his 1st anthology.

Too many Richard Meltzer reviews. Same with Chuck Eddy.

― Charles McCain, Tuesday, 4 March 2003 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I heart sfj. His Wire article on US Maple did a great job of untangling the group with fun! rather than a furrowed brow.

― Nathan Webb (Nathan Webb), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 18:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I really did not enjoy that Maerz article. Ultra-referency (something I'm trying to stop myself from being) to the point that it sounded like someone trying to be hip in another language while talking to you, even though they KNOW you only speak english.

That said, I loooooved Jeanne Fury's article (helps that I loooove the Distillers). Fury should definitely write lots!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 23:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Every Lester Bangs articles about Bob Seeger. Sorry Lester, just because he's from Detroit doesn't mean he's good.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 23:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, Seger was great. Way better than the MC5. But never mind. (The only music question I REALLY care about: How come all his early Last Heard/Seger System-era (i.e.: pre Silver Bullet) garage punk classics -- "Looking Back," "Lucifer," "Back in '72," "2 + 2 = ?," "Heavy Music," "Get Out of Denver," "Rosalie," "East Side Story," "Persecution Smith," "U.M.C.," "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Ballad of the Yellow Beret," etc. -- have never been compiled? Not even as a Japanese bootleg or whatever? And with all the obscure old talentless twerps post-punks and indie idiots have embraced over the past quarter century, how come they've never embraced Bob, one of the great punk rock singers and songwriters in history? It makes no fucking sense at all to me.)

― chuck, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 00:28 (twenty-three years ago)

But Bob exists in the collective consciousness for only three reasons these days -- that Tom Cruise mime sequence in Risky Business, the Ford truck ad song and being covered by Metallica. Therefore he is all too easily overlooked.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 00:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I know. But the collective consciousness can be changed; lots of reissues have been about *changing* perceptions. And what's weird is that Seger has a huge, already existing audience for such a reissue. Certainly it'd be more marketable than, I dunno, Os Mutantes or Gary Wilson or Faust or White Witch, right? I assume there are some *legal* reasons the stuff never got reissued on Rhino or wherever, but I still don't see how that would prevent imports or bootlegs -- in fact, given the potential market, you'd think it would *inspire* them! (By the way, his Silver Bullet stuff through 1978 is mostly worth owning, too -- *Night Moves* and *Stranger in Town* are amazing albums. And he even had a couple good tracks in the '80s. But his early stuff is more punk rock than Brian Wilson or Nick Drake or Esquivel or Scott Walker will ever be, and nobody seems to care!)

― chuck, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 00:48 (twenty-three years ago)

That Uncle Kracker song (the one that rips off "Sweet Jane" and might have made my top 10 if the chorus wasn't blatantly wrong- he's ALREADY thinking about you, so why does he keep saying in a little while?) makes me wanna hear more Bob Seeger. I assume that's where Kracker learned how to say "Something is wrong here/I don't belong here/Sometimes I feel like a stranger in town/and I lost what I found/it'll all turn around...yeah!"

When I was young I assumed "Old Time Rock And Roll" was actually old time rock and roll, and was shocked to discover that it wasn't made in the early 60s). I wanna get Stranger In Town.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

More punk rock than Esquivel? I call bullshit.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 00:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, "Old Time Rock & Roll" is like the exact opposite of everything I believe in (unless it was a brilliant piece of self-effacing old-fogey parody or something; I mean it's not much of a stretch to reinvent that rhythm as a Chic bassline).

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 01:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I would happily trade my Nuggets box for a compilation of early Seger.

My Dad saw Seger play in his school's lunchroom. It must've been '65 or '66. Some dudes were yelling for him to play Bob Dylan, and Seger replied with something like "I don't play Bob Dylan, man -- I play Bob Seger."

(If I owned any Bob Dylan, I would happily trade all of it for a compilation of early Seger.)

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 01:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Again, insert the critical geist of Black Dice here.

― maria b (maria b), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 01:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Lost it (and you wouldn't understand a word anyway), but a Norwegian critic had a marvellous critic on one of those "Smurfs" CDs a few years back.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:04 (twenty-three years ago)

"Old Time Rock and Roll" IS philosophically despicable -- "don't try to take me to a disco, you wouldn't get me out on the floor," etc. Thing is (despite being a fairly catchy song, and way more danceable than anything by, say, Pavement), it's hardly typical, and far from the best song on *Stranger in Town*, which also has "Hollywood Nights," "Still the Same" and "Feel Like a Number," for starters -- all of which are excellent. In fact, as Dave Marsh pointed out once, "Feel Like a Number" could almost BE an early '70s Seger single.

― chuck, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:16 (twenty-three years ago)

My favourite thing about Seger is how a few years after "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll" he put out "Shakedown," which is TOTALLY disco (and pretty damn good, in a Pointer Sisters kind of way).

To answer the original question, I like the Lightning Bolt review but I probably would've liked it a lot more if I never heard Lightning Bolt, who I think are pretty horrible for more than five or six seconds a song (their biggest problem: the drummer...so corny, that shit). Maybe I have "fascist ears" or something.

― s woods, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:26 (twenty-three years ago)

lots of reissues have been about *changing* perceptions

This is actually a good question -- since I'm guessing all those early songs you mention (all of which I very much do want to hear!) are available on mp3 for trade, is the role of the truly life-changing reissue dead? I think there's a case for it to be made as a way to get some nice packaging and a sense of vague import still, true -- say something like the Echo box set, which had stuff that wasn't on CD before and all but was fiercely shared out by the fanbase for years. Though obviously reissues still happen and all. Hmm...

If I owned any Bob Dylan, I would happily trade all of it for a compilation of early Seger.

Hell, I'd trade it for a digital copy of the 12" mix of a-ha's "The Sun Always Shines on TV."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"Hollywood Nights,"

Oh yeah, forgot to praise this one. I'll take this over, say, "Hotel California" any day of the goddamn century (or "Life in the Fast Lane" for that matter).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, I can't hate on Seger THAT much - only as much as Der Klassicrock radio oversaturatin can allow. "Hollywood Nights" is indeed choice - as is "Mainstreet", come to think of it.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:48 (twenty-three years ago)

a friend told me about some Leno skit where they used the song "Like A Rock" for a metamusil ad or something. The song totally makes my "songs about shitting" list now, along with the Beta Band's "Push It Out" and numerous others.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 02:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Frank Kogan owns

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 03:43 (twenty-three years ago)

also Meltzer

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 03:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Growing up in MI Seger was like religion. Most of those '70s hits can give me chills -- he was a good storyteller.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 03:59 (twenty-three years ago)

sorry yancey, i have to disagree: i thought maerz's LB review was total overkill. and yes, i realize that was probably part of the point, given LB's sound. but i think it still lost itself in the chaos; the noise overpowered the signal. the sentences - not to mention the paragraphs - became arbitrary in some sense. granted, i like a structure that tends to push things forward (and not just because i'm a fan of the streets, yuk yuk).

a much better example of the same idea could probably be found in mark sinker's voice review of xenakis review of a few months back (http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0245/sinker.php). its only overlap may be the way it grappled with the intelligibility and purpose of noise, but in that i thought it more successful.

in fact, sinker's piece was a great candidate for this thread, because it answered the question of why to listen to xenakis, when the act itself - especially for someone unschooled in the process behind it - is overwhelming.

maerz's piece yielded one sentence i loved: "Every time a high hat rings, an angel gets its wings torn off." that was brilliant, made me laugh out loud and shudder at the same time. but her piece suffered from something maureen dowd's writing does (apologies for forgetting who first pointed this out): it felt like a collection of first sentences, many very striking, but ultimately not all compatible. excessive.

i'm also distancing myself from that shadow review, yancey. i agree with other ILMers that it fell apart in the conclusion. and in fact while the punctum idea was very clear to me at the time, it also feels a bit arbitrary in a sense - could've been applied to any number of records (though shadow's idea of the private press did validate it in some way), which troubles me a bit in hindsight. that's the problem with writing online - not enough time spent re-reading and re-composing before publication.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 06:59 (twenty-three years ago)

that SF-J review is absolutely priceless. his Rooty review nailed so much of what I was feeling at the time (and still do now) it's a little overwhelming to read at times, and his Crown Royal review in Spin (written, natch, in Olde Englishe) is sidesplitting. I do think Philip's "too many first sentences" is a pretty good assessment of the Maerz piece's weaknesses, which is odd considering that Melissa doesn't do that sort of thing very often, but I enjoy it plenty nevertheless.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 07:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually on the strength of sinker and other xenakis hoohah I bought his works for chamber and was impressed but somewhat underwhelmed. Maybe because it was just chamber works with lots of solo items and so more subdued and less confusing, or maybe just because... but there was far less foriegn than I had expected. Maybe the liner notes, which are quite good, also helped. But it really provided a sort of "here are some experiements with composition and sound which can be quite pretty at times and disturbing at others" laid-back way to approach and explore the music. [The closing of Kottos is spectacular, but in a strikingly near-baroque way]

So I still haven't heard the Xenakis piece in question but it does fit that "reviews that are better" criterion in that it could probably equally well get thrown against a number of avant-gardists with certain changes but similar effects -- ways to explore the relationship of artist and listener, attempts to assert the incommensurability of music, notions of "influence" (so called) & c.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 08:53 (twenty-three years ago)

No-one's mentioned Dave Tompkins so I will.

― Nathan Webb (Nathan Webb), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 09:28 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree, Philip, that your Shadow piece does lose the tone with that last graf ("let's make this a review again," it almost seems to say), and I actually told you that when we talked about it ages ago. I just choose to ignore that when I reread it. And yeah, the punctum idea could be applied to any number of albums, but I thought it worked perfectly when considering Shadow, someone who tries to recontextualize sound (and largely fails).

As for Melissa's piece, "too many first sentences" is right, but I still found it funny and (God I hate this word) exhilerating. It's a very physical piece in its tone, writing and the subject itself. It made me laugh so hard at times that maybe I missed how long it is, but I'm still in love with it.

(as for the Seger love, I'm no Bobhead, but gimme Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" over anything he wrote...)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Best review ever - Charles Shaar Murray in the New Musical Express reviewing Lee Hazlewood's "Poet, Fool or Bum" LP, circa 1974:

"Bum"

Bit hard on old Lee I thought

― Dadaismus, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:48 (twenty-three years ago)

best Seger review ever was said by my dad: "When Bob Seger talks about Hollywood nights, he knows what he's talking about--I've had a few of them myself!" then he goes into the whole story about how he dated Jane Fonda a couple of times and I start to doze off again

so Dadrock really is the new punk: wow. I'll tell my pops.

(I'm just playing, I'm old enuf to have sung along to "Fire Lake" and "Night Moves" on the radio, and still wear that crown proudly)

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Norton's "Friday at the Hideout: Boss Detroit Garage 1964-1967" reveals Bob Seger to be Jack White's daddy, thus taking one small step towards rehabilitating Seger's rep with the yoof of today.

The cover even has a photo of Bob sitting in a dingy little Ann Arbor apartment staring at a pile of seven inch singles. How indy is that?!?

― EC, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:12 (twenty-three years ago)

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