And I would have liked to have read it, but I was just a kid

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are there any records or emergent bands from ages ago where you would love to know what the press said about them at the time, but are unable to find out?

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I would love to know how OMD's early eighties Joan of Arc fixation was greeted at the time. Two records about Joan of Arc! Both Top Ten! One in waltz time for heaven's sake! And without appearing to know anything about the subject at all!

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 08:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Radio - played both (the first a lot, the second medium)

Press - not much commentwise.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I was wondering whether there is an archive somewhere of old music papers. Now I am sure there are a few in ppl's cellars and attics but I mean a public archive ;). Even if such a thing existed, I'd imagine the cataloguing of it would be limited and so it would be hard to track down reviews of a particular record without leafing thru all the papers at the time it came out and seeing if they reviewed it.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Anything anything anything related to pop musics of Africa, Brazil, Japan, etc.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see that full-page review that Spin supposedly did for the Slanted & Enchanted demo tape.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd love to see all the underground press that (supposedly) went absolutely bonkers over the Hib-Tone "Radio Free Europe" single, the Chronic Town EP, and Murmur. People, THIS was the start of the indie-rock underground!! Didn't a mainstream mag (Village Voice I think it was) name "Radio Free Europe" the best single of 1981, even though only 1,000 copies of it existed (and, legend has it, Peter Buck was so unhappy with the horrible mixing job on it that he broke a copy of it over his knee. That's the rumor anyway)?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see that full-page review that Spin supposedly did for the Slanted & Enchanted demo tape.

Which magazine was that? I might have that somewhere.

Was Spin the one that named the pre-release bootleg album of the year?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

All I know is that they did a big review of the bootleg or demo, before it even had a label(?). The liner notes of that "deluxe" 2CD set that came out last year mentioned it a few times. (That booklet also reprinted a John Pareles New York Times article talking about Pavement and Unrest - while, frustratingly, blacking out the bits about Unrest.)

Don't know which issue of Spin it was - guess in late '91 sometime. I'd be psyched to see a scan/photocopy of said review, if you do have it! (I wonder who wrote the piece.)

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

(By the way, CMJ's online archive of old reviews is a great source of contemporaneous takes on '80s/'90s indie stuff; their writing has generally been terrific over the years. Since it's a tipsheet, the reviews are dense and enthusiastic - which I like, anyway.)

PAVEMENT: Slay Tracks: 1933-1969
Pavement's first 5-song EP is a deep, intoxicating breath of handmade music from people with tongues in their cheeks and hearts on their sleeves, keeping the song elements simple to better expose their quizzical, compelling ways of twisting pop to suit their needs. With the two band members SM. and Spiral Stairs on guitar and other distorted things (their friend Gary guests on drums), the twin engine feedback and fuzz hits dead center with naive melodic balance, and whether that's in spite of or because of the sloppy, one-take feel is inconsequential. On "You're Killing Me" and "She Believes," they play with the delight and bravado of a kid flying a toy airplane, seeing how many dives and loop-the-loops the toy is able to perform before crashing to bits.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

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