Joe Strummer and Thom Jurek is an arse.

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I know we've had a similar thread before, but hasn't Thom Jurek from AMG just gone a little...no a large amount out of it lately giving albums strange genre specifications and ratings no less then 4.5 stars and several albums having 5 stars?

Here are some basic examples

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Streetcore 5 stars (!)

Train - My Private Nation 4 1/2 Stars

Teenage Fanclub - Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty Seconds: A Short Cut To Teenage Fanclub 4 1/2 Stars

String Cheese Incident - Untying the Not recently this was 5, but not a "mere" 4 and 1/2

someone at AMG re-write these now! There are worse offenders too, but i'm off to work.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

(and for anyone who needs a reminder, Strummer's former band, the Clash, played reggae in the late '70s and early '80s better than a lot of that genre's artists)

n.....nn....gng.......g.........(!!!!!)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

holy fuck, did he really write that?

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I am Thom Jurek.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

O 'orace, you pieces of ...!

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Following a hit is a tough thing for any band, and for Train, a cult band that literally came out of nowhere

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought I detected the presence of a Black Hole with them, but I thought it was just cuz they suck on a cosmic level!

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

That TFC review is by Matt Collar, not this Jurek bloke, and is an Ok review.

― scottjames23 (worrysome-man), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Jurek is the Earl Dittman of rock critics.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

The TFC discog is incomplete btw.

― mrjackhandey (mrjackhandey), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The Strummer album is indeed good, but certainly not worth 5 stars. Too many critics overpraise either posthumous albums or those made by bands on the verge of a breakup.
Ex: Robert Christgau gave Lennon's "Double Fantasy" an "A" after the murder, and Rolling Stone gave The Who's "It's Hard" 5 stars in 1982.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Some more...

Voivod - Voivod
Voivod has simply become one of the best hard rock bands on the planet. They write songs with complex melodies and bone-splintering riffs, yet they stick to the roots of their trademark sound. In many ways they feel more like some crazy combination of the 1977-era Saints and Queens of the Stone Age with better lyrics and no stoner quotient

Spring Heel Jack - Live 4 1/2 stars

Van Morrison - What's Wrong With This Picture? Not sure about this one, although he goes overboard with Genre's again.

Katatonia - Viva Emptiness - 4 1/2 stars.

Katatonia are Acid rock?

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

PROVERBIAL and other tip offs to poor writing

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey let's have Ned fire this guy!!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a feeling such a move on my part would be looked upon poorly.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

thom jurek always won best music writer in metro times polls in detroit.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

at least he's very passionate, and isn't that what music writing is all about?

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

in theory.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I bet I could write a very empassioned piece about how the last Nargaroth MCD was the best hip hop album of the year. Of course, it would make no sense and be of use to no one.

-
Alan

― Alan Conceicao, Wednesday, 29 October 2003 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

hey ned or andy....do the reviewers assign the "star" ratings? i thought i remembered reading that they didn't.

― william (william), Friday, 31 October 2003 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

that viva emptiness review ain't so bad. but i am biased cuz they are my favorite band and he loved it. and it's making my top ten fer sure.

― scott seward, Friday, 31 October 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

The eight million dollar question (sum answer -- we do suggest them in our reviews, it sometimes takes a very long time for that to filter through).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 31 October 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

most of the time Thom
Jurek's taste is OTM,
I'll forgive him Train

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Friday, 31 October 2003 03:57 (twenty-two years ago)

In-house writers assign ratings to their own reviews.

Ratings suggested by freelance writers are taken into consideration.

Some writers understand our ratings system better than others.

― Andy K (Andy K), Friday, 31 October 2003 04:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Notice how music writers never tell you anything about the music? They only tell you how cool you'd be if you agreed with the writer.

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Friday, 31 October 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

By referring to and comparing to other (most likely) obscure bands, the writer says, "If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are so tragically un-hip that you buy (or not buy) this music on my say so alone. ne the Fanclub reveiw.

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Friday, 31 October 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, now that I've read all of the linked reviews, I'll say ne all the reviews in this thread. I mean, look at the links inserted in each of them. Reviews should be written the same way you tell a friend about a new CD. Example:
I just got this killing new Cd by the Electric Six. It's super dance music played on GUITARS! There's this song called "Gay Bar" that's got this echoey reverb guitar riff like the Munsters and the lyrics are about taking a girl to a gay bar and getting fucked up and having sex in the men's room. You know, like WE used to. Then there's a really disco thing with this guest star singer singing "Danger! High Voltage!" The lyrics are kinda dumb but you're probably not supposed to pay attention to them anyway. Just dance and shout along...
Sure, you can go further in depth, tell more of the background and stuff, but FUCK OFF WITH THE OBSCURITIES! Get to the fucking point.

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Friday, 31 October 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

the thing about the clash playing better reggae than some reggae artists is a howler. i like the clash, but musical youth played much better reggae than they ever did.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 31 October 2003 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

hobey echlin is better than thom. maybe cause he was in a lame shoegazer band.

― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 31 October 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

i saw musical youth perform the day after their seminal performance on saturday nite live. they did pass the dutchie twice. oh wait, this isn't the seminal music thread.

― scott seward, Friday, 31 October 2003 23:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i wonder if anyone nods their head at a show and intones, to no one in particular, "yeah, seminal..."

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 1 November 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

His It Still Moves review is godawful. That record sounds nothing like fucking Brian Wilson. The dude needs to stop writing.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

did they play 'pass the dutchie' the same both times?

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 2 November 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

Here's a Bulwer-Lytton-quality snippet from his In the Jungle Groove review:

"Here the focus is on rhythm and hpynosis, that state where the hips and backbone move imperceptibly at first before coming out of their collective shell and making nasty on the dancefloor."

Wow.

― southern lights (southern lights), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

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