one more word on groupthink in record reviews...

In yesterday's post, I talked about the first record review I wrote. I explained that I was unfair to the band, in lare part because of a subtle form of peer-pressure.

A more blatant example of that occurred later in that semester, when the paper got a review copy of The Smiths debut album. For some reason, the editor decided that we should all gang up on the record. So the whole music staff (or a large part of it anyway) struggled to outdo each other in negativity. We each wrote a review, and they all appeared under a defaced press photo of the band.

The fact is that some of my criticisms were actually accurate. Morrissey's vocals were a bland monotone. But (as did the others) I went over the top, looking for anything to nitpick, and refusing to acknowledge anything good. That was probably my low point as a music journalist.

Now, the fact is I never did get into the Smiths, and I have no real interest in their music. But still...

and speaking of record reviews...

The first record review I wrote was for Bon Jovi's first album.

It was not a well-written review. Worse, it was unfair in its negativity. I won't say I was being dishonest, but I was allowing myself to be unduly influenced by the opinions of others. I was a freshman in college, eager to ingratiate myself with the older students who ran the paper. I was given the album to review, and with it came plenty of snide references to how awful it was. The music editor who I was dealing with was not into any of the new stuff that was popular then. Hair-metal? Synth-based new wave? All bad. He was extremely closed-minded about musical styles (though, of course, he didn't see it that way). I let his taste influence me too much, and didn't give the record a fair shake.

I did acknolede that there were two decent songs -- "Runaway" (which managed to hit the Top 40) and "She Don't Know Me." Actually, looking them up on Wikipedia, I am surprised to see that those two singles peaked at 39 and 48 (respectively) on the Billboard chart.  I thought they did better -- probably because the video for "Runaway" got a lot of play on MTV.

At any rate, while I did acknowledge that those two songs were good, I also said that the rest of the album is a bunch of undistinguishable sound-alike tracks. I wrote that the guitar lead from "Love Lies" sounds like "a video game having its program violently mistreated." And, of course, I also asked if they used the same recorded guitar lead on every track or bothered to rerecord it for each.

Now, I can't at this time go over my review point by point. For one thing, I don't still have the album -- it was on vinyl, I got rid of most of my vinyl records in the last ten years or so, and that is one of the records I never bothered to replace with a CD copy. But suffice to say the album, even at its weakest, was much better than I gave it credit for.

But I don't think my negative review really hurt Bon Jovi's career much.

swearing off reviews

I have now reviewed two CDs on this blog. The first was Country Love by Harold Allen. The second was the soundtrack to the movie, Longhorns. I wasn't entirely happy with the way either review. came out. In both cases, I don't think I did a good job of communicating just how good these albums are. I realize that part of the problem is that at this point I am just not comfortable writing reviews as such. So, for the time being, I'm not going to be writing reviews.

This is not to say that I won't devote any posts to new releases. If I feel like writing about a new CD or a new book about music (or an old CD, for that matter), I'll do so. And when I do, I may recommend or discommend a product -- either explicitly or implicitly. But I don't want to write in the review format.

cd review: longhorns: original motion picture soundtrack

Longhorns, the movie, is a sexual coming (out) of age comedy -- sort of a gay-themed Porky's / Fast Times at Ridgemont High type of production, set in Texas in the 1980s.

With the movie modeled on the 1980s sexcoms, HP Mendoza (who was tasked with creating the soundtrack) set out to make an album that was similarly modeled on the soundtracks to the 1980s sexcoms. That means lots of different tracks by a bunch of different bands.

Now, that's not to say that this is a travelogue of 1980's styles. There's no hair-metal, ska or punk rock. This is an album full of late new wave electro-pop. None of this would sound out of place on a Pet Shop Boys album. 

Actually, what a lot of the music sounds like is HP Mendoza's music sifted through a 1980's synth-pop filter. And that makes perfect sense, since central conceit of the album -- that it's a compilation of various artists -- is basically an inside joke. The featured bands -- Queerious, Analog Crafts Night and Orel Bernstein among them -- are all, in fact, Mendoza.

Mendoza crafted a catchy, engaging collection. The music is danceable and compelling. His penchant for clever wordplay is less evident here than in other works of his, especially the soundtrack to Colma: The Musical. Still and all, there are plenty of good double-entendres. My favorite track is "Race the Storm," which has a slight country flavor -- the only taste of country music in the soundtrack, despite the movie's Texas setting.

The only weak spots on the album are the last three tracks, which are score pieces, which aren't designed to stand on their own as music the way the other tracks are.

In case you care, here's the trailer for Longhorns: 

cd review: "country love" by harold allen

The second album by the New York-based singer is a playful enjoyable sample of modern country music.

Allen sings crisply and clearly, and his material is full of great hooks and clever lyrics. "Jack Daniels" is the standout track. This clever drinking song has me repeating the catchphrase "Jack Daniels take me away" in my head. "The Train Song" and "Hold Me Now" are also great. As a father, I can't help loving the slower "My Biggest Fan."

"Your Northstar," a bittersweet goodbye, is what Allen seems to be pushing as the album's single of sorts (see the video following this paragraph). As good as the song is, I still would have preferred to see "Jack Daniels" pushed. Though admittedly I have a bias toward fast material, and am therefore not the best person to make such a call.

"Country Love" is a great followupto re-Deuced, standing up to repeated listenings. It's available for purchase through his website or from CDBaby.