I skim quite a lot of fairly mainstream music reviews and often take a punt on someone new to me (of whom there are countless numbers) which is highly recommended if it sounds interesting. Just recently there has been an album (won’t say what/by who but you may guess) that has been so overloaded with 10/10 reviews and praise that I keep talking myself out of getting it. Is it just me? I have bought a couple of unanimous 10/10s in previous years and found myself a bit irritated – is it my failure to “get it” or that they just aren’t as great as they are (currently) cracked up to be? “Probably just me” I say, without really believing it. I don’t think its just a question of “don’t believe the hype” – because I’m sure I’m quite an easy touch if the right buttons are pressed – more a resistance to claims of perfection. I’ve avoided naming names so I don’t show how clueless I am, but interested if anyone else feels the same way?
Can anything be too good?
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I’m with you.
Over the years I’ve been persuaded to buy a fair few over-loved albums and have rarely found my response comes anywhere close to that of the reviewer.
I say thank heavens for Spotify, which allows me to preview these things and save money and shelf-space.
Paul Simon’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon is perfect. Too perfect for me.
Sign ‘O’ The Times is an album you marvel that anyone could make. For anyone else it would have been five years work. It came just a year after Parade and then he went and made Lovesexxy a year later. Ridiculous.
I am more interested in guessing you are resisting. Laura Marling, maybe?
And I resisted initially but it is an excellent album and I’m not a big folkie/singer songwriter person especially with people I silently judge as fey and cute. But listen without prejudice if you can and it’s great. Not 10/10 but very little is, apart from Sign O The Times.
No – I’m even more oblivious of laura marling than she is of me. Clue: the bloke I was resisting appears in an episode of Master of None. On reflection it may be what I’ve read previously about him (including here) that is feeding my reluctance.
As the blog’s Father John Misty correspondent, can I just say: it’s Father John Misty.
Though I am like you occasionally resistant to 5/5 across the board reviews for an artist I don’t already know – so for example have irrationally not listened to Kendrick Lamar though I’m sure he’s amazing for this reason.
You should. He’s brill.
You shouldn’t. He’s not brill.
This ^^^^
He’s definitely brill.
Can I join in? He’s so not brill.
He’s Brillo.
I see your Brillo and raise you a Three Shredded Wheat:
https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/media/images/66824000/jpg/_66824464_66824463.jpg
Don’t believe the hype.
I have been notoriously to several parties because of the hyperbole surrounding them. Irrationally gets my back up and makes me think even less of whatever it is. See: Mad Men for a start.
None of my parties ever got a 10/10 review from Pitchfork. Very jealous of those who have – how did they get their Easter afternoon tea or Halloween-themed dinner party in there?
Err…Mad Men is brill.
It’s pretty hard to get a completely unbiased opinion from album reviews.
One week artists are true saints whose merest farts are like honeysuckle on a balmy evening and the next they are total talent-vacuums sullying the very idea of musical entertainment.
The truth invariably lies somewhere between these extremes.
Not sure there is any such thing as unbiased. I am fleetingly aware of my complicated logarithm that encounters and responds to the world and its works (of which music is but a part) and wonder where it all comes from. And leads to. On the other hand…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfyUqVqX-0
I have been burnt before by a 10/10 on at least two occasions. I agree with @carl when it comes to Spotify- it allows one to have a good listen first (I’m sure deezer and apple music are just as good).
I also think i should go and have another listen to Sign o the times again- its probably been 29 years since I borrowed that from the cassette library.
Ah, I remember the day that Q magazine gave Be Here Now a 5-star review. Not their finest critical hour and possibly an attempt to make up for giving Definitely Maybe 3 stars.
Come to think of it, this may be why The Word didn’t give starred reviews.
Yes, has happened to me on several occasions. Bill Callahan, Sufjan Stevens, Matthew E White, Bon Iver, (amongst many others) I’m looking at you.
Was bored by Father John Misty’s last record so feel little inclination to check this one out. Laura Marling, on the other hand, is brilliant as any fule kno.
It questions the whole point of reviews really? I haven’t paid much attention to them since Smash Hits so I’m hardly qualified to comment. Isn’t it wholly dependant on who the reviewer is? As we see on here so often music is such a personal thing why would anyone buy something on the recommendation of a complete stranger? Are there certain reviewers you trust?
Having said that I enjoy the reviews on here as I enjoy writing the odd “Night In”. There are certain posters who might prompt me to investigate because I “know them” through the site others not so.
It’s great to be freed from the crushing jackboot* of professional music reviews. They were in it to keep the free lunches flowing so they could never really be impartial. The only reviews I take heed of are from folk on here and other sites who are in it for the lurve.
*possibly over-doing it here
Possibly, but so few of the reviewers names mean anything to me I’m not that swayed by who it is -unlike in the olden days when some names were like an instant on/off switch – Morley, Burchill, Parsons, Penman etc. And to be honest I’m a bit embarrassed to even be seen buying Mojo or Uncut and their endless parade of wrinkled cover stars, so I’m happy to ignore their recommendations. However certain words in reviews can “do it” for me e.g. Morriconnesque, surf-guitar, art-school.