On Music Reviews

I am not a professional writer nor the son of one. However, I have read a large amount of words in my days. Much of the material I have read has been about music. I enjoy picking up some magazine and reading their reviews of the latest albums on the market. I attempt to read the reviews, not to determine whether I will purchase an album, but what to except out of a record. Currently, I sample music on-line or on iTunes. Although I think is it a great thing that many blogs, sites, etc. enable anyone to review an album, I do not typically find the reviews helpful.

I write on a blog. This is self-publishing. I do not have the writing abilities to work for a magazine doing what I am doing now. Yet, I think that this is a wonderful thing about the Internet, America, and all that jazz. Hear me out: I think it is great that people can freely post their opinions about music at any time and place.

Nevertheless, what I have found are typically unhelpful reviews. I am not typically motivated to buy a record with a review like this: This album changed my life! That's great. I am happy for you. Now if you don't mind me asking, what about the record made such a difference in your life? Another review that I typically find is like this: Greatest album of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After I read a review like that I think to myself, "Wow! That was helpful. I wasn't planning on buying the album at first, but after the 13th exclaimation point, I thought that I would be a fool not to check it out." I am also very fond of this one: Buy It Now! Well, if you were a terrorist standing behind me in a music store with an A-K 47 pointed in my back, that might be a helpful review. On the other hand, your probably not, so please tell me something about the album.

Why do I bring this up? Am I just a cynical jerk? That may be true. Do I not have anything better to do than let people be excited about their favorite bands? Maybe so. However, my primary intention about bringing this up has to do with this blog. My desire for this blog is that when an album is reviewed, we will be helpful to the reader about why we like or dislike the album. In essence, we will attempt to describe what about this album is noteworthy or not. Questions like these: What is the production like? How does this compare to a band's previous albums? Are their any apparent musical, philosophical, or literary influences on the album? Answering these types of questions help people determine if they might be interested in a band or a record. For instance, if the reviewer indicates that a band sounds like the Grateful Dead, then I am not going to waste my time. Why? I do not like the sounds that come from those musicians. Just as a side note, my theory is that all of Jerry Garcia's talent was lost when the edge of his finger got cut off :)

My point is simple: music reviews should help the reader determine as much as possible whether the album being reviewed is worth a listen or a purchase. This is what I intend on doing on this blog and this is also what I hope the readers of this blog will come to except of us.

a few things

I intend to write a more complete entry in a day or two, but I wanted to at least stand up and be counted here, so I though I'd take a moment to list a few of the things that I've been listening to lately, in no particular order. So without further ado, I present:

A Few of the Things Joel Has Been Listening to Lately (in no particular order)

-Del the Funky Homosapien - Eleventh Hour, Both Sides of the Brain
-DeVotchKa - How it Ends, SuperMelodrama
-The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
-Clutch - all of it, but especially The Elephant Riders (which is my all-time favorite album by any band, ever)
-Pixies - all of it, but especially Trompe Le Monde
-X - Los Angeles, Wild Gift

That's all for now...more to come.

What Did We Do?

Not that I have any time to do so, but I am going to try my hand at blogging about music. I will do this with an old friend, Joel Hearth. We haven't kept up on music for years now, which hopefully, will give us some helpful insights into music. This is a work in progress and I don't know where it will go from here, but hopefully, it goes somewhere.