quote:
Originally posted by Admin
quote:
Originally posted by Pilchard
what a terrible review... awful snobby, badly-written, lazy, cliched review...
I for one Disagree with Pilchard (and that capital 'd' was deliberate).
Maybe many would consider me a narrow-minded, bubble-gum brained simpleton for this but I really enjoyed Aidan's review of Josh Ritter's album, and not because I dislike Ritter's music (not that it is of any import whatsoever but I am completely and genuinely neutral, even indifferent, to his recordings and performances). And - yes - I was delighted to publish Aidan's article and did so without any reservations. In fact I only wish there were more negative reviews like this making it to the site. Done well (as I consider this example) they are refreshing.
Anyway I think the key point in Aidan's article was in the final paragraph where he positions Ritter's success in Ireland as 'evidence... (of) the creative sterility of the Irish music scene today'. A theme I note that, in various guises, has infused this thread. This is not new territory for discussion on the board, nor for Aidan in articles he has written for the website. Aidan back in late 2004 artfully worked this theme in the first OpEd he wrote for the site (‘Irish Music - a truly influential force?’ - http://www.cluas.com/opinion/great_irish_musicians.htm) and which was then discussed at length in a thread that is well worth revisiting (and which – factoid lovers - was actually kicked off by Pilchard with his first ever posting to the CLUAS board):
http://www.cluas.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3475
Anyway any article that sparks a discussion as healthy as this one is sure doing the right thing.
Keep 'em coming Aidan.
eoghan
i also love negative reviews for much the same reasons as admin has outlined above. but there is no way on earth that i'd describe the josh ritter review in these terms. it was written from the pov of someone who had chips on his shoulder and didnt bother to remove them before turning on his computer
i also think its really lazy to throw the irish music scene into a review of someone from f**king Idaho. sure, he's big here and sure, we have questionable tastes in visiting acts we like here but its not ritter's fault we're such gobs**tes.
if he wants to write about the "creative sterility of the irish music scene", let him do so but lets question "the creative sterility of the irish music scene" evident in the work of the chalets, the frames, snow patrol, ash, u2, the thrills, humanzi etc etc and not john boy walton.