sometime i read christgau and am amazed...

(as she kinda did in a Re:Search interview, denoucning "faggots" takin' over the at world etc)

OMG! Exene said this? Where exactly?

Another in the "you don't have to answer" category: John, do you live in the States?

And Donna Summer said some nasty shit away from a recording studio, so.

Can we get some concrete evidence of this? I've heard she said that AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuals. Adn where did she "poke nervous fun at the gay men who made her a star?" References? Wikipedia needs a citation for the area of the Donna Summer entry.

OK, so my 1st guess was more or less correct. But then it just seems like he was using perverse syntax to say something straightforward. (I'm still not sure that sentence makes sense. "They're a one-idea group who deserve only that much attention" has one less word in it.) I'm not even sure I get that criticism though. Would it be better if there was no one theme or organizing principle to an eclectic 20-minute track? Is "Marquee Moon" less of a one-idea piece? Is he just saying "Instead of writing lots of different short songs like a rock band should, they're so obsessed with this one dumbass 'seasons of man' idea that they try to connect them all to this one idea?"

Kevin, the Re: Search issue with the Exene interview (odd-size trade binding)is in the Fine Arts stacks at my local library: I'll check the issue no., page no. soon as I can get back over there (this interview really was *a long, long time ago*, she might well have changed quite a lot, and who knows how it was edited.Guess the point of the song was people who get stressed by living in L.A., zooming in on somebody to blame. I know she's said in recent interviews that, no matter how much better her life there got, like with her dayjob as a teaching assistant at her kid's school, she'd saved up til she could buy a house in Missouri, and when she'd saved some more, would move out there permanently, as I think she's since done [still tours with X, and records with her other band] Also in the Re: Search interview, interesting stuff about her life in Florida, before moving to L.A.

Thanx, Dow!!

Sundar to answer your questions in order:

Would it be better if there was no one theme or organizing principle to an eclectic 20-minute track?

No, it would be better if there was no one LAME theme or... Lame to Xgau, natch.

Is "Marquee Moon" less of a one-idea piece?

Well, if you're asking Xgau, he'd undoubtedly say yes. Or maybe that the one idea is a great one. Or waaaay greater than "the seasons of man."

Is he just saying "Instead of writing lots of different short songs like a rock band should, they're so obsessed with this one dumbass 'seasons of man' idea that they try to connect them all to this one idea?"

He'd never require a rock band to write short songs. As you intimated, he adores "Marquee Moon." And he loves The Grateful Dead who wrote/played longer than Yes ever did. But yes, he believes that Yes is obsessed with this seasons of man theme and that they do try to connect their songs (long or short) to it. And the songs are poorer for it.

Can we get some concrete evidence of this? I've heard she said that AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuals. Adn where did she "poke nervous fun at the gay men who made her a star?"

Skimming through her vapid autobiography a few years ago at B&N, she alluded to how the most intense part of her Christian phase drove her to say nasty things, and the gay stuff was one of them. I may be remembering it incorrectly, but I'm pretty sure she apologized to The Gays.

Yeah, I got the letter. :)

the voice music section is so much better now

Seriously, you have got to be kidding! As I'm certain Kogan and others would be only too happy to attest to, the Voice music section started goin' downhill as soon as the powers that be imposed ever more stringently limited word counts on reviews.

John, do you live in the States?

Nope. I've been living in Greece since '93, Kevin; hence my keeping such odd hours--as far as American posters are concerned, that is--on ILX.

upthread somebody, I think Ned, predicted Jonathan Gold's pulitzer prize three years before it happened!

has xgau reviewed boz scaggs or art garfunkel in rolling stone yet?

i don't think Joe Levy would allow Xgau to throw himself under the train, unless Bob really did love a new Scaggs or Garfunkel album (you never know, though I wouldn't bet on it). That suggesting either have a new album to submit. Maybe Xgau could wait for Mick Jagger's 2010 opus, surely a work of genius percolating with his MIckness and a future superstar to be named later....

Maybe--however, I do not really see that happening until Wenner has rather unceremoniously kicked the bucket, ya know.

Cass Elliott: Don't Call Me Mama Anymore [RCA Victor, 1973]
How about Fatso? D

what an asshole

Agreed. Dude is the worst.

rip

The E.N.D. [Interscope, 2009]
How dare people call this wondrous album--actual quotes, now--"insipid," "saccharine," "clumsy"? Only I don't mean people--I mean journalists professional and self-appointed, from rockist sourpusses to keepers of the hip-hop flame. Just plain people love it--love it so much that various of its tracks topped the pop charts nonstop for the entire summer. "Party All the Time" is no more a recipe for living than is instant Wi-Fi for all, the message of the supposedly "political" "Now Generation." But in a party anthem it's the definition of intelligence. Sampling classic rap rapaciously and as cool with Auto-Tune as with getting their drunk on, they party beginning to end, which as it happens is a far rarer achievement than signifying beginning to end. Maybe this album is dumb on the surface, though not as much as fools claim. But sure as showbiz it isn't dumb underneath. A

Master of Reality [Warner Bros., 1971]
As an increasingly regretful spearhead of the great Grand Funk switch, in which critics redefined GFR as a 1971 good old-fashioned rock and roll band even though I've never met a critic (myself included) who actually played the records, I feel entitled to put this in its place. Grand Funk is like an American white blues band of three years ago--dull. Black Sabbath is English--dull and decadent. I don't care how many rebels and incipient groovies are buying. I don't even care if the band members believe in their own Christian/satanist/liberal murk. This is a dim-witted, amoral exploitation. C-

Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone [Startime International, 2002] (The Walkmen)
Just what we always wanted--Jonathan Fire*Eater grows up. Put some DreamWorks money into a studio, that was mature. Realized Radiohead was the greatest band in the world, brainy. Stopped playing so fast, hoo boy. And most important, switched vocalists from Nick Cave imitator to Rufus Wainwright imitator. Wainwright makes up better melodies with a dick in his mouth, and not only that, Cave has more literary ability.

I obviously hate this review for the dumb, offensive dick "gag," but it's also just so tin-eared. Radiohead? Rufus Wainwright? What he is he even talking about?

It's most embarassing that he stumped for a band as terrible as the walkmen, but he's otm about the peas

Shannon Wirry writes better ILM posts with a dick in his hand.

Wow, I was a real hot-head six years ago! (Guess the Voice job stressed me out.)

i think ilm was more hot-headed in general six years. at this point you and shakey mo and amateurist are probably ready to go in on a vacation time-share together.

wait, i'm almost painfully generous and reasonable on this thread (on others, not so much).

also, i actually enjoy reading xgau. when i discover something like the cass elliot review, it actually seems out of character. but i still can't believe he put that in print.

that BEP review is pretty otm, though

so i havent actually heard the bep album but i have heard the samples & are you guys really bumping that album on a regular basis or is this just some like 'its certainly not all that bad cuz a lot of ppl like it" vague populism? i dont mean that it isnt enjoyed by lots of ppl and that isnt legit, just curious if there are ppl here who actually listen to it on the regular

i have heard the SINGLES not samples

like, "man im really in the mood for this black eyed peas album that is blasting out of every single jukebox in the country."

I listen to it on the regular (NB: I don't hear it being blasted everywhere) and I think it's an enjoyable pop album - not really trying to be a contrarian populist here.

I mean I really hated IGF/BBP when I first heard them after youtubing them to see why they had been billboard #1s...but really grew to like both of them after a few listens

fair enough. like i said i think its an acceptable position & believable, but i just have no interest in hearing dude rap the way he does so

yeah, I view his rapping on the same level as gucci mane going "BUR! BUR! yeaaah! woooOOOOooOW!"

I find it pretty easy to tune him out and just concentrate on the sonics

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxgcz7cny91qa9hc8o1_400.png

??

fwiw what I said wasn't meant to be a diss on gucci

You should know better than to bring up Gucci in any negative way around his stan numero uno.

haa i was playin yall

haha. just to explain, I hear will.i.am in the same way as I hear gucci scattin' - someone who has a nice voice which adds to the sonic texture without really adding meaning/signifying anything. nice to listen to. was meant to be a diss on will.i.am more than anything.

comparing any rapper to will.i.am is certainly a diss to that rapper

j0rdan s. raps like will.i.am

It's most embarassing that he stumped for a band as terrible as the walkmen

they left the grade off, but that review is actually a slam

And the fact that it's not apparently possible to tell what constitutes a stump vs. a slam is as hilarious as a dick in the mouth.

thinking is hard.

The E.N.D. [Interscope, 2009]
How dare people call this wondrous album--actual quotes, now--"insipid," "saccharine," "clumsy"? Only I don't mean people--I mean journalists professional and self-appointed, from rockist sourpusses to keepers of the hip-hop flame. Just plain people love it--love it so much that various of its tracks topped the pop charts nonstop for the entire summer. "Party All the Time" is no more a recipe for living than is instant Wi-Fi for all, the message of the supposedly "political" "Now Generation." But in a party anthem it's the definition of intelligence. Sampling classic rap rapaciously and as cool with Auto-Tune as with getting their drunk on, they party beginning to end, which as it happens is a far rarer achievement than signifying beginning to end. Maybe this album is dumb on the surface, though not as much as fools claim. But sure as showbiz it isn't dumb underneath. A

Master of Reality [Warner Bros., 1971]
As an increasingly regretful spearhead of the great Grand Funk switch, in which critics redefined GFR as a 1971 good old-fashioned rock and roll band even though I've never met a critic (myself included) who actually played the records, I feel entitled to put this in its place. Grand Funk is like an American white blues band of three years ago--dull. Black Sabbath is English--dull and decadent. I don't care how many rebels and incipient groovies are buying. I don't even care if the band members believe in their own Christian/satanist/liberal murk. This is a dim-witted, amoral exploitation. C-

This fucker Christgau deserves to die.

Look at any good critic's career's worth of writing and you'll find a few questionable calls.

how is that a "questionable call" unless he's changed his mind? (which in any case we are all allowed to do?) i mean i pretty much disagree but if that's what he thinks...

personally i consider that i have had 0 "questionable calls" to date, bar a couple of times when i gave something 4 stars when it should have had 3

damn u must be the best critic ever