No Wonder Christgau Was Fired
What follows is Robert Christgau’s “review” of the new Decemberists album, The Crane Wife. Prepare to be astounded by the analysis and insight.
In the lyrically impaired alt-rock world, Colin Meloy is lionized for his literary prowess because his reading predates Bret Easton Ellis and he knows what “picaresque” means. That was the title of the Decemberists’ 2005 Kill Rock Stars album, which came complete with such arcana as a barrow boy, an infanta and a veranda. Supposedly inspired by the Japanese tale of the same name, The Crane Wife makes no concessions to its major label, unless engineering counts. Among its ten tracks are two song cycles that exceed ten minutes; among its topics are a Civil War romance, meat-cleaver murderers and a damsel dispatched with saber and pistol. [SOURCE]
By the way, he gave it 3.5 stars. I guess random number scoring is what qualifies as music criticism today. Pitchfork must be proud.
Wait, that’s the entire review? Unbelievable.
Let’s hope the blame lies with the RS editors. Yeesh.
Hey, I don’t always agree with the guy, but I still find him interesting. I like the Decemberists and all, but I don’t see anything in that review that’s unfair. By the way, guarantee you that’s only a snippet of it. The whole thing must be in the magazine itself. Besides, he clearly likes the record, but to me their “literary” qualities can be a tad much.
I hope that there’s more of a review in the print version. Otherwise, the fact that there’s noting “in that review that’s unfair” is wholly beside the point. There is nothing in that review, period.
The only things this review says about this new album:
(1) It continues to have obscure lyrics.
(2) It has two long songs.
(3) It’s on a major label.
Again, that ain’t criticism. And, again, I hope there’s more in the print edition.
Exactly. As Steve said, it’s not that it’s badly written or unfair, it just says exactly nothing about the music.
I dunno, it says enough about their new album to convince me that I haven’t made a mistake ignoring these guys. “barrow boy”? “Civil war romance”? “Inspired by the Japanese tale of the same name…”.
Yup, just what I thought these guys were about. Thanks Bob!