Robert Christgau A+ reviews POLL 1967-1990

Al Green - Call Me.

(I have stop voting for Prince eventually)

Can only go with my gut on this one, so I'll pick Another Green World.
Right behind are Moondance, 12 Songs, The Basement Tapes, Wild Gift, Fear and Whiskey and Let It Be.

X - Wild Gift

Tough choice. Both those Firesign records are amazing.

Exile On Main Street

why don't you sit here in the waiting room or wait here in the sitting room

Firesign Theatre: How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere At All [1969, Columbia]

haven't heard this record in 20 years but lines from the nick danger side still roll around in my head

used to have this on vinyl w/ gatefold sleeve, wtf happened to that I wonder

if you don't know firesign theatre they were like an american hippie monty python

DeBarge: In a Special Way [1983, Gordy]

oof I missed that one.

Culture's Two Sevens Clash is from 1977, no? Hence the two sevens.

Jack Johnson

Manfred Mann's Earth Band for me.

Culture's Two Sevens Clash is from 1977, no? Hence the two sevens.

He was reviewing the 1987 Shanachie reissue which may have been the first time the album was available domestically (in the USA). Can anyone confirm?

voted for Eno but the Al Green was a contender.

also,
The Indestructible Beat of Soweto [Shanachie, 1986] <-- overrated
African Connection, Vol. 1: Zaire Choc! [Celluloid, 1988] <-- 2 Used & new from $79.95

canon pickz are boring but I can't get away from this one

The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street [1972, Rolling Stones]

Yeah, I keep coming back to that one and Basement Tapes. But I think they're going to split my vote and I'll wind up voting for Don't Crush That Dwarf in the long run.

Ornette

Probably the best album ever from a Western group that never had a Western CD release?

Man, this would have been hard enough if it was only up to 70, or just the 70s, or just the 80s. Still, went with Jack Johnson as a gut reaction because every time I start to scan over the list again I get too caught up with trying to match greats against greats. I mean, Let It Be, Exile, Riot, Dolls…

Wild Honey ftw

Dolls 1st.

Where's the unreleased Pulnoc live tape?

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/deans89.php

Oh, both New York Dolls' albums got A+?

wow!

Probably the Dolls's debut, though five or six others (Debarge, X, Beasties, Have Moicy!, Fear and Whiskey, Dolls' non-debut, maybe more) are in the running. (Didn't Bob give Graham Parker's Squeezing Out Sparks an A+ at first, though? I guess he lowered the grade on that one later...)

Where's the unreleased Pulnoc live tape?

Yes, who will make me a copy of this? I know it's out there....

Too many of my favorites here, so I'm going with the one that I have played the most often, Sly and The Family Stone - Greatest Hits.

Of Human Feelings (Audio CD - 1998) (IMPORT)
Ornette Coleman

1 new from $145.85 1 used from $50.00

Customer Reviews

By Jacob Bailis (Downers Grove, IL United States)
In music school, I learned about how all music comes from Bach. This music does not come from Bach. This music comes from Ornette Coleman. I prefer it to that Bach stuff. And most other stuff too. Great album cover too.

By weinert "samuel"
this is perhaps the weekest output of coleman. the pieces have a short song format and are polished to easy-listening radio style.* it?s not that the themes are not good, but it?s not prime time?s best afford. listen to "dancing in your head" and "body meta", these are excellent, prime time at its?s best!

* wha???

Nation of Millions

Oh yeah, There's A Riot Goin' On in the running, too, obv. Probably a few others as well.

Wasn't the live Pulnoc CD that came out a few years later the same as that mysterious live tape (which I've never even seen a copy of?) Or maybe not. (Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Xgau gave the CD a slightly lower grade. So probably a different gig.)

oooh, if i can get in on that live Pulnoc that would be sublime! also, since Bob'gau placed One day it will please us to remember even this above Modern Times (A+) on his Deans List, it stands to reason that that NY Dolls is A+, too, no? (the only band with an all A+ catalog).
And somewhere on his website where they talk about mistakes and regrading it mentions that the procol harum was probably intended to be a B+, which i'd agree with.

(the only band with an all A+ catalog)

If you don't count demos and live albums.

Hmmm...Pulnoc all A-'s, according to his site:

http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=pulnoc

Right but the tape in question is #1 on his 1989 Pazz.

http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
I want ya'll to play this at funerals in the hood.
Til all this black on black crime stop.
Some say the blind lead the blind.
But in the ghetto you never know,
When it's gon be yo time.
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons of Funk, Mo B. Dick, O'dell]
Sittin at the ghetto thinkin bout
All my homies passed away (uuunnnggghhh!)
Candy painted cadillacs and triple gold
That's how me and my boys rolled
How could it be?
Somebody took my boy from me
My best friend's gone
And I'm so all alone
I really miss my homies
Even though they gone away
I know you in a better place
And I hope to see ya soon someday
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Master P]
I used to hang with my boy even slang with my boy
Used to bang with my boy, goddam I miss my boy
We started out youngstas in the park throwin birds
In your hearse, damn it's sad to see my nigga in the dirt
The game got me workin, got me perkin, never jerkin
Still blowin dolja fo ya cause I know you up there workin
Ya little baby's cool and ya baby's mama straight
But today's a sad day to see the t-shirt with ya face
From the cradle to the grave, from the streets we used to fall
In the park you liked to ball, put yo name upon the wall
In the projects you's a legend on the street you was a star
But it's sad to see my homeboy ridin in that black car
A lotta soldiers done died, a lotta mothers done cried
You done took yo piece of the pie but you was too young to retire
Why soldiers ride for yo name leave it vain
Some Gs never change, damn they killed you for some change
Smile for my homie Kevin Miller my boy Randall
The ghetto persons that lost they loved ones to these ghetto scandals
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
Take a minute to smile for the dead (uuunnnggghhh!)
Smile for the dead (RIP 2Pac, Makaveli)
All my homies who done made it to the crossroads
(Biggie Smalls)
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons, Mo B. O'dell]
How could it be?
Somebody took my boy from me
(It's like I can't believe you gone)
My best friend's gone
(Sometimes I feel like I can't go on)
And I'm so all alone
(Everytime I see something you done left
I really miss my homies
(It just remind me, more and more of you, dawg)
Even though they gone away
(I just keep reminiscin)
I know you in a better place
(Cause I know you alright)
And I hope to see ya soon someday
(And I keep smilin, knowin I'm a see you in the crossroads]
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Pimp C]
We used to grip on the grain and flip them candy toys
But I'd give up all that bullshit if I could get back my boy
Off in the club smokin weed til 3, hollerin at the hoes
Spendin $4000 on me on gators and clothes
When I turned to rap, he had to chase the game
Nigga told me, "C, leave that dope, cause rappin is yo thang"
I ain't gone even lie, some nights I ride and cry
Wonderin why the real niggas always the ones to die
So I just smoke my weed and try to clear my mind
I wish that I had the power to turn back the hands of time
I wonder if there's a heaven up there for real Gs
For all the niggas in the game that be sellin keys
I keep my memories, try to keep my head stromg
But baby it's hard to be strong, when yo main homie gone
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons, Mo B. O'dell]
Even though you gone away
(Even though you gone, you ain't never gon be forgotten)
I know you in a better place
(Cause as long as I'm here
You gon live through me and other TRU playas)
I really miss my homies
Even though they gone away
I know you in a better place
And I hope to see ya soon someday
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Silkk]
I'm just sittin here dazed thinkin bout all the times we had
Thinkin the past, some was good and some was bad
Remember Dante?
It was a group of us, just a group of five
Now three dead, one in jail, it seem right now I'm the only one alive
To all my soldiers before me, may ya'll rest in peace
When He took three, took my soul, just the bodies
He at the crossroads guide us out to the rest of me
Wishin I could rewind time like demos
Me and you gettin girls, writin down numbers like memos
Makin million dollar bets, makin all our money stretch like limos
Even though I smile, it's sad, but they say gangstas can't cry
But if I close my eyes and visualize me together
Then I suddenly wanna smile
To see you laid down when it's yo time, when your time was up
You never seen your child, but he's here to remind us
Even though you was wrong, I never could belive that that was true
You was with me forever, you could check my rest in peace tattoos
See me and C and P forever gon be ridin and thuggin
Rest in peace to all the ones that didn't make it
And rest in peace to my brother
We gon miss you
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
(I love these fools)
I know you in a better place
(Every time I get on my knees)
And I hope to see ya soon someday
(I pray for you, I'm glad you in a better place
I hope I see ya soon, ain't no more killin
Ain't no more fights, and ain't no more tears)

xpost

Actually, I'm pretty sure someone who posts here now and then has a copy of that Pulnoc tape. Hope s/he sees this thread.....

of human feelings as it's the only one i own!

chose pretzel logic narrowly over let it be

chose pretzel logic narrowly over let it be

xgau has such weird taste. went with another green world, cause I probably listen to that one the most.

i'm voting for Live/Dead

I'll throw a vote to Double Dee and Steinski. Not the best, but easily one of my favorites here.

i'm voting for Live/Dead

2nd Firesign Theatre for me.

also would like to get in on the hot Pulnoc action (assuming anyone's got it, that is).

Oh someone's got it...

Stones, PE or Teh Clash

KJB, IM me!

Marquee Moon for me. It's the one I've listened to the most, I think. Either that or the Neil Young albums. Or the Basement Tapes.

I will NEVER understand the appeal of Firesign Theatre. And what the heck is Robert Cray doing on here???

gotta hear that franco/rochereau album ... is it truly an A+???

kinda curious about G-Man, though no one repped for it. Is it great?

Still wonder what the Crenshaw-influenced-artist equivalent of KJB's Debarge-influenced-artist list might be. Is he considered, say, a major inspiration for alt-country? Certain emo bands? Spoon? Who?

And G-Man is definitely real good, yeah.

Crenshaw's done some songwriting with/for some of AAA '90s bands--I think he cowrote the Gin Blossoms' "Found Out About You," for example. So probably that stuff if anything. But I don't care if he influenced anyone or not, I still love Field Day to pieces.

i was the ONLY hurley/unholy modals vote???

I kind of regret not voting Have Moicy! instead of the Dolls' debut, actually.

good grief, what a turnout! one question: where'd all the Fear and Whiskey votes come from? it's def in my top five of the above listed.

oh, and, Chuck: do i remember correctly that you once gave G-man a C+? (i'd like to think that it was payback for Christgau giving AC/DC's Blow Up Your Video a C+ back then. but i'm likely just imagining tales of rock-crit-beef-past again, right?)

Ha ha, I think I rock-a-rama'd G-Man in Creem (probably expressing mixed feelings), but don't think there was a letter grade involved.

Crenshaw's done some songwriting with/for some of AAA '90s bands--I think he cowrote the Gin Blossoms' "Found Out About You," for example.

"Til I Hear It From You," methinks.

hmm, it could be. i honestly thought it was something you wrote for the Voice, tho.

xp

Nah -- Pretty sure the only jazz I ever reviewed for the Voice was Ronald Shannon Jackson once. (And I've never done a graded consumer guide anywhere.) So maybe it was somebody else?

doubt it. i don't think it was a CG kinda thing, more like a Xgau loves Sonny and hates AC/DC sorta thing. so, in retaliation, you do a quick CG-type review of G-Man and proclaim it as being no better than a C+). probably was in Creem, tho--i forgot that i was buying that rag right up to the bitter end--now that i think of it. (is any of that Rock-a-Rama stuff online? shit was pretty funny.)

So someone out there does have the Pulnoc unreleased tape in digital form? ... any information on it is much appreciated ... holy grail for Christgau fans (and Pulnoc fans, too, I'm sure!) -- many thanks!

Of Human Feelings needs a nice reissue, similar to what was done for Song X.

Thelonious Monk's Mysterioso is Christgau's A++++.

was Freedy Johnston's Can You Fly? ever an A+ album? I read somewhere that Xgau called it "perfect"...

Yup

yeah, it's his fave for '92.

xp

^...which is another album i feel would be better served minus the +, fwiw.

btw, if anyone wants/needs a copy of Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned, give me a shout.

So someone out there does have the Pulnoc unreleased tape in digital form? ... any information on it is much appreciated ... holy grail for Christgau fans (and Pulnoc fans, too, I'm sure!) -- many thanks!

not yet, but working on it.

I love how the Television voters (like myself) were a silent majority. Won the poll, barely mentioned on the thread.

Marquee Moon is pretty unfuckwithable -- out of all those records, it seems like the most "perfect" to me. it's interesting to me that it got that A+ Christgau review, the rave from Nick Kent, but (as far as I know) didn't really make much of a commercial breakthrough ... I guess it was more popular in Europe?

How much of a dent did Television make in Europe? (In the U.S., neither album even charted in the Top 200, which doesn't strike me as particularly surprising. Verlaine's Dreamtime did reach #177 in 1981, however.)

Not that it's definitive, but via Wikipedia: "Television's first album Marquee Moon was received positively by music critics and audiences, despite failing to go near the Billboard Top 200 - though it sold well in Europe and reached the Top 30 in many countries there."

28 Television Marquee Moon Album Mar 1977
30 Television Marquee Moon Single Apr 1977
25 Television Prove It Single Jul 1977
36 Television Foxhole Single Apr 1978
7 Television Adventure Album Apr 1978

The UK. "Glory", the single, did not chart. Mind you, if they'd issued a 12" version, it might well have been their biggest hit.

might've gone Fear & Whiskey over Sign o' the Times

yeah, Television was real popular in England. I almost voted for G-Man, too. but I dunno, it's great, Rollins is fantastic. but I notice that Christgau also gave A plus to another jazz record in the '90s, David Murray's Shakill's Warrior. which is a very fine record indeed. probably, his point on both is that these are records that are "jazz" but which would appeal to "rock and rollers" or whoever. interesting.

as for Field Day, I make no claims for the universality of power-pop, actually, but this is in my power-pop-nerd opinion one of the three or four definitive examples of same. Christgau's point here was that production values can expand the music in ways that aren't always perfect, predictable. in this case, that happens; aesthetically, it's kind of a weird record because it sounds hollowed-out in a way, but the songs are really immediate. but def a bringdown to some, after the perfection of Crenshaw's first record.

I guess it isn't that universal--a boy and his guitar and his record collection, dreaming of looking up some skirts in Manhattan--but if there ever was an A plus record, Field Day is it. probably he did influence some alt-country folks--students of "classic songwriting"--but Crenshaw as a writer and as guitarist is in a class of his own, in my opinion. and I would say that most people who are fans of Crenshaw like Freedy Johnston, too, and while I think my choice (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) is suitably semipopular in a discussion of Christgau, the best record on that list is probably Jack Johnson. no words to fuck anybody up, except at the very end.

yeah, damn poll suffered from an embarrassment of riches; Culture et al gettin' the goose egg.

so who's staring the '90s poll?

I voted for Field Day and stand by it.

Some people bow before Jesus Christ. I bow before Thus Sang Freud.

preach it, brutha!!!

Yours is coming soon. Big delay cuz none of the tracks have titles. Will rectify soon.

what u mean, Kevin? i got mine today! (am planning to upload sometime tomorrow, hopefully.)

no, the thing I promised YOU

hah--just realized that's what you meant. that's awesome, dude! no worries on my end--whenever you get a chance; i'm not in a hurry.

Sundar: i'll try uploading Egon Bondy's tomorrow as well.

I'm blushing, here.

here's a link for EBHHCB, for anyone that wants it:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=UmNLb3BBNDRVVGxFQlE9PQ

Pulnoc pt 1:

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=UmNLb3BHcWZWRDlFQlE9PQ

and pt 2:

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=UmNLb3BESEJEa1d4dnc9PQ

here's the full track list:

Disc 1

Intro
Podivna Je Podivna
Nikde Nikdo
Konorek
Dopis
Je To Nebezpecny
Pisen Pro Nico

Disc 2

Tygr
Pulnoc
All Tomorrow's Parties
Magicke Noci
New York City
Huchu Zlalej
Kniha Noci (partial)

X'gau was right about this Pulnoc! and You guys dRULE! the only pulnoc i'd heard before was city of hysteria and it's good, but a little "slick" sounding. this is powerful stuff

yeah, i agree (about Hysteria vs. Live, that is. although, yes, it is also true that i do drule on occasion.) ;^)

"marquee moon" #1? but that is the dullest guitar noodling around, in the guitar wank department it is worse than the worst jazz-rock. and "london calling" at #3 is the most average punk album imaginable. two records for the bin.

I'll take them if you don't want them

Good idea. Is that the official live Pulnoc, or the xgau tape (which I've got, but with no titles)?

Xgau tape.

Arrggh! For some reason, I dl'ed the first part of the Pulnoc Live at P.S. 122 tape but not the second part. When I went to link above o get the second part, it had expired. Is there any way that anyone at all could re-up the 2nd part? Please, please, please!

Hysteria vs. Live

Hysteria [Mercury, 1987]
You know about the music, and if you don't think you'll like it you won't: impeccable pop metal of no discernible content, it will inspire active interest only in AOR programmers and the several million addicts of the genre. In short, it's product--but as product, significant, because it's product for the CD age. Stuck with over an hour of material after four years (after all, could twelve songs be any shorter?), they elected to put it all on one disc because as technocrats they instinctively conceive for formats that can accommodate an hour of music: cassettes, which now outsell vinyl discs, and CDs, which outdollar them. The cassette sound is a little too dim, as commercial cassette sound usually is, and though I sometimes find myself preferring the depth of the vinyl once I've turned my amp up to six or seven, the clarity of the CD gets more and more decisive as the needle approaches the outgroove. I mean, I have trouble perceiving these guys as human beings under ideal circumstances. Not docked a notch because at least they didn't pad it into a double. C

Throwing Copper [Radioactive, 1994]
On stage, this intently mediocre young band is U2 without a guitar sound. On record, it's R.E.M. without songs. Fittingly, it generates the "idealistic" arena-rock U2 is no longer hungry enough to bother with and R.E.M never had the stomach to work up. Only with the old guys I wouldn't put the saving word in quotes. C+

are we doing 1991-present?

would vote

here ya go KMS:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/s2g9c4

haha--Chuck otm.

Thank you, Ioannis. To quote Michael Scott: you sir are a gentleman and a scholar...