Robert Christgau A+ reviews POLL 1967-1990

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.

Thanks for the Field Day discussion, guys. I'm going to dig it up and relisten (Crenshaw's always been a blind spot).

My high school crush was Crowded House. They and Crenshaw have nothing in common besides guitars and concision, but I mean this as an example of how these touchstones cross over.

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