Robert Christgau A+ reviews POLL 1967-1990

I take issue with a couple of Geir's points

^^can this be the new ILM tagline please

loll ya

four acts...in four decades! not the most convincing argument

Not an argument at all, in fact. Just saying there have been exceptions -- And Bob seems to be more open to hip-hop ones (there have been others too, which Bob's taken to labeling "purloined datadiscs" in consumer guides and dean's lists) than he used to be for rock ones. So, in a sense, his old aversion to bootlegs may have somewhat fallen by the wayside as distinctions have become murkier over the years.

But they're not bootlegs! Bootlegs = unauthorized. Hip-hop mixtapes are authorized.

You're splitting hairs, I think. Grateful Dead (to name one obvious example) have certainly authorized live boots over the years, and there have been hip-hop collections (say, Eminem's Fucking Yzarc) that don't seem to be put together with the artist's specific approval. But yeah, "unofficial" hip-hop releases do seem to be more authorized, in general, than rock ones used to be. (Which is why I said "murkier." Though promo-only "releases" like, say, that early Blue Oyster Cult live EP, or Elvis Costello's Live At El Mocambo -- the latter once widely available in record stores -- suggest the murk has maybe been around longer than folks realize. I'm no kind of bootleg fan myself, though -- not a obsessive mixtape fan, either -- so I expect somebody else could speak to this better than I can.)

Fwiw, also fairly sure Xgau has consumer-guided a few Sublime Frequencies sets, which don't seem much more legit than rock boots have historically been.

Yeah he reviewed Group Inerane in January. He also reviewed Postwar Jazz: An Arbitrary Roadmap which is definitely a bootleg if "bootleg" does indeed mean "unauthorized." Also The Best Bootlegs in the World Ever. Check here for the rest of the No Label releases.

More puzzling than including comps and excluding bootlegs was his longtime policy of not including imports among the regular releases. (Might've made a kind of sense back in the '70s when imports were less readily available to the average consumer who didn't live near one of the big urban centres.)

not to derail the thread, but does anyone know how I can get a copy of that Postwar Jazz: An Arbitrary Roadmap thing?

Yes, message me.

Or email me via ilx.

xp Also, to derail even more -- I've been under the impression that, in the course of hip-hop history, legit/authorized mixtapes are actually a fairly recent development. Always figured that the first CD mixes (attributed to DJs more than rappers) never bothered to obtain permissions for the songs they used. And I totally understand that they were considered excellent promotion items so the artists (current ones at least) didn't generally tend to object. But even then, I'm fairly certain they weren't always "authorized," and certainly not when defunct artists were included (I have one from a few years ago that's entirely late '80s/early '90s hip-house for instance.) And of course some of the very first rap album releases (early '80s) were live-show bootlegs (those Disco-O-Wax Cut Creators ones for instance.) And live tapes (on actual cassettes) appeared before any rap was even on vinyl.

But right, Xgau seems to have become more interested in grading them as they've become authorized. Still think the mixtape/boot distinction is way less black and white than Michaelangelo is suggesting.

longtime policy of not including imports among the regular releases

??? Not sure what this means. He's consumer-guided and Dean's-listed plenty of imports over the years. (Can see how it may have been his "policy" in the '70s, but haven't noticed it being one since.)

(Well, Myonga did say "was" -- past tense. But the post seems to imply the policy lasted past the '70s, which I really don't think it did, more than a year or two.)

(Pretty sure import LPs became Pazz & Jop eligible in 1980, when Joy Division and Young Marble Giants made the P&J Top 40; singles a year before that.)

LIVE AT THE OAKLAND COLISEUM
Dagger/Experience Hendrix, 1998

This competent unauthorized mono recording of an April 1969 concert has now been certified by Experience Hendrix's majordomo, Jimi's step-sister Janie Hendrix, whom he barely knew. It's a bootleg, it sounds like one and it's expressly "not intended for the casual fan." Big deals: 18-minute workout on "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and, heart be still, a guest shot by Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady.

Kevin: check yr email.

wow i'm sort of surprised by all the prince votes, that record seems like a stretch for even top 10 on this list.

hmm, he did upgrade it from the original A grade, true.

Also there's that collection based on Jonathan Lethem's book. Has anyone tracked that one down?

(Pretty sure import LPs became Pazz & Jop eligible in 1980, when Joy Division and Young Marble Giants made the P&J Top 40; singles a year before that.)

That may be about right - he reviewed Second Edition rather than Metal Box, as well as the '79 American version of The Clash rather than the original.

Also, he didn't overlook imports entirely - just tended to segregate 'em in "Additional Consumer News" rather than assigning a letter grade. Which was kinda odd in itself.

also of interest (to freaks like me, obv) are the albums he initially graded A+ only to downgrade them at a latter point in time.

off the top of my head:

Who's Next -> A
The Joy of Cooking -> "
Plastic Ono Band -> "
The Blue Mask -> "
Juju Music -> A-

Or the records that are A's or A+'s by inference, like the infamous "one with the orange cover":

The Message [Sunny Alade, 1981]
All I know about Adé is that he's the (or a) king of Nigerian juju. His voice is gentle, his rhythm insinuating and very poly, his guitar graceful and faintly Hawaiian. Also, he comes up with good hooks--"Ma J'Aiye Oni" was on my interior jukebox for weeks. I play this a lot, and even at that don't think it matches the one with the orange cover that I lost at Charing Cross six weeks ago. When I went back to buy a second copy at Stern's, 126 Tottenham Court Road, London WI, I was told I'd never see it again and advised to plunk down another six quid for this substitute. I'm glad I did, but anyone who knows where I can find the one with the orange cover please advise. A

And Pamelo Mounk'a's Propulsion! (which I have, btw):

Pamelo Mounk'a: In the fall of 1982 my friend Sue Stewart took me to an African disco in Soho, London. The DJ played five or six songs that sounded real fine, then put on something by this Congo-Brazzaville soukous veteran, I know not what. I jumped, I raved, I gibbered. Six months later Sue brought me a copy of Mounk'a's Propulsion!, on French Sonics, thirty-plus minutes of soukous whose understated floodtide grew into my groove record of the year. Utilizing my scanty research facilities, I determined that Mounk'a's most famous song was the niftily entitled "L'Argent Appelle l'Argent," with an album of the same name attached. I never found it, to my knowledge never even heard it: never saw Propulsion! anywhere else either. I did eventually locate something called 20 ans de carrière, and bought it against the advice of Ronnie Graham's Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music. Graham was right. If you run across Propulsion!, scarf it up. And if you find "L'Argent Appelle l'Argent," tape one for me.

he reviewed PiL's Paris au Printemps in the CG (1980).

xps

i think i may have that King Sunny Ade orange cover one. my copy is simply titled King Sunny Ade and the African Beats c. 1980 on Ade's own label. i'll check if i can find a jpg of it anywhere.

Most of these are worthy of their plus; not sure about Paul Simon, Let It Be or Pretzel Logic (the last just because, despite many good songs, it seemed a little spare vs. sparse after prev albums) Pulnoc Live At PS 122 is great, but I don't have any way to digitize the cassette, sorry.

Firesign could have some deep co-ordinates (they wanted to make comedy records that were like prime time Dylan x Pynchon smoking the Golden Age of Radio and early TV, seemed like), but also plenty of yuks up front, sonically as much as in writing--they weren't just conceptualists, they were moonlighting media pros, like Steinski.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

don otm re: Firesign Theatre. also, agree that Let it Be (and maybe Paul Simon) ought to be docked a notch. but no way in hell is Pretzel Logic anything less than A+.

Of all the sets here, the one I could put on any time and get lost in it: the Bo Diddly Chess Box. A portrait that gets beyond the caricature.

yeah, that Bo set was a revelation back when. i'm still kinda partial to the Got My Own Bag of Tricks comp from '72 or so, tho.

So the most marginal album on the list is clearly the Crenshaw, right? (Would have said it was tied with the Cray, but people have already defended that one here, which means Crenshaw wins. Though people are guaranteed to defend him now, I bet.) (Not that I have anything against him. He's okay, I guess.)

Field Day is great. other albums are greater. that is all.

albums he initially graded A+ only to downgrade them at a latter point

Squeezing Out Sparks (which I'll take over Field Day anyday) goes from A+ to A in the '70s guide.

actually, i'd say In a Special Way is way more marginal. i mean, at least Field Day was good for some kinda stupid purist ("the drums are, like, too loud, man") controversy back when.

xp

tru, but u rong about it being better.

only two on the list i've never laid eyes on/heard:

Delaney & Bonnie: The Original Delaney & Bonnie [1969, Elektra]

Ray Charles: A 25th Anniversary in Show Business Salute to Ray Charles [1971, ABC]

I slsk'ed the D&B the other day inspired by this thread -- apparently it's commonly known now as Accept No Substitute...? Anyway, it's really really good. Searching for Ray Charles Anniversary just gets the 50th Anniversary collection from 1997. The 25th Anniversary album seems to have passed from human memory.

that's cool about the D&B.

So the most marginal album on the list is clearly the Crenshaw, right?

Have you heard that Procol Harum - A Salty Dog? there is no way i see that being more than a middling A minus...
imo, the original D&B is a solid A, no plus. the recent re-ish of field day sounds much better than the original vinyl. the production is still what it is, but the songs make it at least an A.

yeah, but the Procal Harum album is generally acknowledged to be their masterpiece, no? hence: nothing marginal about that shit. who acknowledges In a Special Way, other than a handful of Xgau luvin' nerds, that is? D&B have seemingly disappeared from history, tho. i think they've been generally referred to as "Eric Clapton", lo these past 35 years or so.

Nonetheless, Joe Yanosik reports that Christgau would have made several grade changes, including: Procul Harum, A Salty Dog (A+ in 1969), "a mistake," probably B+; Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (B+ in 1969); Fugs, Golden Filth (B+ in 1970), should be high A-; Holy Modal Rounders, Last Round (B+ in 1979), should be high A- or possibly A; Mission of Burma, Vs. (B+ in 1982), and Mission of Burma (B in 1988), should be A-; My Bloody Valentine, Isn't Anything (1988), missed, could be A.

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/list/issues.php

who acknowledges In a Special Way, other than a handful of Xgau luvin' nerds

2Pac
Biggie
Mariah Carey
Ashanti
Mary J. Blige
Boyz II Men
Blackstreet
Janelle Monae
others

Who acknowledges Field Day, other than a handful of powerpop nerds? (Not a sarcastic question; I'd really like to know. At least Debarge's album had a top 20 hit on it -- Crenshaw never got higher than #36, and that was with a song off his previous album. And at least Debarge's album is a definitive example of something.)

well yeah, guys, i love it too, obv. all i meant was that the album is essentially a non-entity insofar as the wonderful world of pop music criticism is concerned. the primary exception(s) being Xgau (and his acolytes), of course. Field Day--love it or loathe it--at least has a rep amongst many mainstream music crits (or it did back in the '80s, anyhow).

As in: It finished a staggering #29 in Pazz & Jop, 14 places below Big Country's The Crossing and (here's the punchline) one place below Graham Parker's immortal The Real McCaw.

I bet lots of the people who voted for it were Xgau acolytes, too. (If not for them, it surely would have finished below 34th-place Trio And Error, as it should have.)

no, Chuck, i meant it has a rep as being the disappointing follow-up album to the widely-praised Crenshaw debut. sheesh.

*for being, rather.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Culture mafia is gonna getchyall

I'd have voted for Field Day if not for Prince, Chuck.

sorry--if not for Riot, followed by Sign. THEN Field Day. it was my favorite record in high school.