Allow me to harp on this wrong opinion from the Spin Alternative Record Guide...

I think it's you. Sorry, dude, but we can talk about this...

Proof of how many times I've read the book:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/TheManthony/booksiveabused.jpg

Anthony swears by the Spin guide? No wonder you're so wrong about so many things.

dude, get literate. I disagree with a lot (especially anything by Weisbard or Powers) but it introduced me to a lot of albums (a good portion of its top 100 would make mine). And Sheffield hasn't done much I've enjoyed at Rolling Stone but his Record Guide entries are hilarious, insightful and honest.

And I would've heard Sonny Sharrock a lot later without the Spin guide.

'Spin' Guide' vs all time classic 'RS red guide' -

"AC/DC are an Australian hard-rock band whose apparent purpose is to offend everyone in sight or earshot. They succeed on both counts.
High Voltage (0 stars)
Let There Be Rock (O stars)
Powerage (0 Stars)"

High Voltage = 4
Dirty Deeds = 6
Let There Be Rock = 5
Powerage = 3
If You Want Blood = 5
Highway = 7
Back In Black = 8
For Those = 6
Flick = 3
74 Jailbreak = 6
Fly On The Wall = 3
Who Made Who = 6
Blow Up = 3
Razors = 5
Live = 6

I'm pleased to see, however, that Anthony also has the entirely superior Trouser Press guide (though its binding suggests that it hasn't been cracked as many times as the Spin guide).

I've often said many a deservedly harsh thing about Rob Sheffield, but I've met the man a couple of times, and he's a damn nice guy (which makes me feel like a heel for saying he should be bludgeoned with objects made of cement).

You're right, those scores should be much lower than that.

Ive only seen him on Vh1 and he seemed to me like if the entire band Belle and Sebastian were one person, and American, you would have him.

it's still pretty damn cracked though! pages falling out and all

Hahahaha! I gotta look for more of his.

JDC gives robyn hitchcock's Jewels For Sophia 4 and a half stars in the new R.S. guide. I've never even heard of that album. And 4 stars to Robyn Sings. Which I've also never heard of. But only 2 and a half stars to I Often Dream Of Trains and 3 and a half stars to Black Snake Diamond Role. Two albums that I always liked. Who knows, maybe those later albums are great.

I guess because Shostakovich's 8th has a reputation as arguably the finest string quartet written in the 20th century, and the Crumb piece, while interesting, doesn't carry the same rep, and is in a totally different style. Which still isn't necessarily a great reason to say that, but whatever, people say crazy things.

I will give props to this record guide for recognizing the greatness of Can's Soon Over Babaluma.

Teddy Bear, and Bo Bo the clown
little soldiers waiting at arms
for the day which cannot be found
Gone back to the sun,
music box that spun,
lost all it's songs

Musty dusty, tattered and torn
all of the toys I played with
Out of tune my little tin horn
all of my memories shattered and gone

Save your tears, my lost little friends
from the years when all of us meet
they saw no beginnings no ends
All the maple trees, butterflies and leaves vanished again

Musty dusty, tattered and torn
all of the toys I played with
Out of tune my little tin horn

Alex will be happy to know that my Trouser Press cracked into pieces long ago, though, while my Spin Guide remains quite intact (and largely worthless, but there are a few noteworthy exceptions, the Fahey one being the main one I can think of now).

also, Alex, you sure bust on a lot of people for someone who gets their paycheck from a magazine that named GWB Man of the Year. don't you ever feel really slimy for still beingn there (asked more from a curious perspective, as I worked there for 10 years until 1998, and know Alex fairly well)?

no, it's actually much worse than that.

Also, thanks to those of you who've at least TRIED to address the Kronos Quartet.

hmm, i don't remember, was that one a neil young cop? the solo in "the rhythm of love" is most definitely a transcription of neil's "powderfinger" solo, though the rest of that song is pretty much a cover of the strangeloves' "the rhythm of love." "who loves you" owes its chorus to the four seasons song of the same title. "the wild one, forever" isn't quite as close to tom petty's "the wild one, forever" as it wants to be, but it's a good try. i love this album.

Okay, now I heard the "who loves you" thing and I heard the 7 note Powderfinger riff (which made me laugh), but you're telling me there's a Powderfinger solo in there, too? Of the Strangeloves and that Tom Petty song I'm woefully ignorant. But doesn't that kickass solo in "I'm In You" sound exactly like Neil Young? Maybe they just got his guitar tone.

So, that Black Angels by George Crumb--screechy, huh?

i dunno what Spin guide had to say about the Silos, but if you got Cuba you should give it another, er, spin, cuz it's a phenomenal album. In descending order: Cuba, About Her Steps, self-titled, Susan Across the Ocean, everything else...

you should have seen me at 19, dude.

A few things, Jon my droog....

1. I bust on those who deserve busting on, but it is rarely -- if ever-- intended as mean-spirited. No apologies.
2. Since you did work at "that magazine" for a decade (much like myself), then you really should know that "Person of the Year" (it's no longer "man" of the year, you know) is NOT an accolade nor an award. Hitler, Stalin and Khomeni -- all "Men of the Year". It merely signifies the individual who -- for better or worse -- had the most sway over global events over the 365 days in question. But, of course, you knew that, being the dutiful employee you were.
3. It's "slimey" by the way.
4. I HATE still being there, and I'm doing my hardest to extricate myself with all speed. Interviewing here and there. I had a review in Entertainment Weekly last week. Believe me, man, it's a soul-crushing experience still being at the News Desk.

see, this is what I'm talking about, the slow brainwashing that you undergo as a TWInc.ie. as I said above, picking him is one thing, a long, lingering collective fellating quite another.

anyway, glad to hear that you're trying to get out, I know it ain't easy, especially with a kid. I'm good, got married in December, e-mail me sometime...

As someone born on Feb 29, I'd like to point out last year had 366 days.

dr. phil I have nothing to say on the Kronos album aside from the fact that Kronos was formed after its leader heard "Black Angels" on the radio, and it is the title track, so it should be the centerpiece, regardless of the Shostakovich, and there's room for both. And there's nothing "spooky" aboot the Charles Ives piece on the album, other than it sounds like Kronos is playing in the same room as a dead man.

In re the Silos, other Josh in Chicago, yes indeed it was Cuba (plus S/T, but I haven't played that one yet), so I suppose I'll listen again at your urging. I liked the violin parts and several of the melodies were nice, but on the whole it was unengaging. Bits and pieces stuck out, so it wasn't a total dog; we'll see what happens when I hear it again.

I think on the whole this is Eric Weisbard's definition of the perfect album

Who does Scott Seward review in the new Rolling Stone Guide?

And in fact, even "person" is insufficient sometimes, as in 1982 and '88:
http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1989/1101890102_400.jpg http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1983/1101830103_400.jpg

But what's most interesting is how it appears at exactly the moment (post-Nirvana) in which the pop splintering began to accelerate furiously, ushering in a half-decade during which retrochic was all the rage. Now, so much of the stuff that seemed important seems...irrelevant. As one friend said, would Kronos even be in an updated version of this book today?

I think on the whole this is Eric Weisbard's definition of the perfect album

-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), January 20th, 2005.

rofl

I have been CONTINUALLY tempted to start a thread about "bands who'd be axed in a second edition of the Spin Alternative Guide." (First answer: Blake Babies/Juliana Hatfield) Thing is, I'm not sure the educative aspect of such a book -- the idea that there are wide swathes of the music world a Spin reader might want some advice on -- is compatible with Spin's current editorial voice and readership.

I tried to start a thread that asked that and other questions a couple of years ago:

SPIN and the "Alternative" Canon

Beck and PJ Harvey = Dead On.

Freedy Johnson and Barbara Manning = Oops

Cynthia's wonderful "Change on Me" and "Love Me Tonight" followed in the next year, in this style. These songs could be prayers, the way she sings them, questioning, pleading. "Why did you have to change on me?" "Please make this an endless night."

Problem is that the second song isn't "Love Me Tonight," it's "Endless Nights," which I'd correctly identified in the text I submitted but was changed by a fact checker. They called me to check but I wasn't home, and when I called back a few hours later apparently it was too late (Spin being such a professional organization that they were checking their facts two hours before they went to press). When Eric finally got back to me he told me that they he instructed them to keep the title as I'd had it. But obviously they didn't.