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RE: Why I'm starting to loath news paper music critics



I guess it happens to everyone once in a while. It's just a shame that
music journalists have come to be like this.  Note, however, there are
some very good music critics out there who sincerely care about giving
potential listeners an accurate assessment of an artist or work, who
actually do their homework and are able to compare and contrast, make
factual, yet interesting statements about a work that may interest
readers, etc.  For example, I always thought Phil Elwood of the San
Francisco Examiner was a great jazz music critic, and I saw him speak at
the Lionel Hampton Jazz festival here in Northern Idaho...brilliant man,
new his stuff, spoke with the authority of facts, and new how to
separate his opinion from objective accounts, etc.

Unfortunately, many critics let their job (typically thankless and low
paying, which could contribute to their recalcitrant, coping mechanism
behavior) and the sensationalist power to trash or exalt an artist or
work go to their head; and their egos compel them to make gross
generalizations, irrelevant comments that have nothing to do with the
music (like your example below, Per), or attempt to get cute or snide
with sarcasm or holier than though snootiness.   And it's not just music
journalists. I've seen articles in local newspapers that contained
claims that were blatantly false because the journalists' were either
too lazy to gather the real facts or they were projecting their own
wishes or predictions as alleged fact. 

One of my local music peers suggested something interesting, which was
to get musicians together in my town to critique the music critics,
forwarding an article for publication.  Apparently, there are enough
artists here (and no doubt everyone around the world) that can dredge up
enough distain and refutations of local critics' work to actually
prepare a formidable article.  It is tempting, but I don't have the
time. For now, I'll play the Taoism role and take the path of least
resistance, let the critics be the jackasses that can be are and just
ignore them like a rainy day. ;)

And my final closing philosophical questions are: Are there musical
facts, and what is their nature?  What constitutes a musical fact about
an artist or piece of work? If a critique says that an piece of musical
work is horrible, is that a fact, or his own emotive response disguised
in factual attire?   Let's see what sort of Socratic reasoning we can
get out of this topic. 

Kris


-----Original Message-----
From: Per Boysen [mailto:per@boysen.se] 
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 4:54 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: Why I'm starting to loath news paper music critics

I once worked as a studio musician on a Swedish album by a "locally  
major" artist. I joined a week of day and all-nighter sessions on  
mainly electric guitar and I was strictly ordered by the producer to  
"not getting to know the tunes too well" because my role was to  
create "musical ornamentation" by improvising along the vocal lines.  
All musicians recorded at once and not much were overdubbed  
afterwards. My input came out quite well and everybody was pleased  
with the playful and somewhat impressionistic guitar fills. When the  
record was released one song became a hit and the album sold gold  
right away. One of the major magazines reviewed it and said that  
"hardly any guitar was used on the album - just a little acoustic  
strumming here and there". Very strange ;-)   Maybe the guy took the  
Strat tone for a digital synth?

Another time I did a gig with a band, playing our own collectively  
written music, and we got bashed in the press for "being dressed in  
black". Not a word about the music or the performance!!!!

Stuff that like that has to happen, you just have to put up with it.  
Maybe take notes on "bad" writers and try to avoid them in the future.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.looproom.com (international)
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
--->  iTunes Music Store (digital)
www.cdbaby.com/perboysen