Argh

[fletcher]

 

I'm so irritated by the fact-checking that goes into these wilco show reviews! I read every article on the Canadian tour, and they were all full of embarassing slip-ups (Minus one, which referenced "Pecan Pie", whether it was intentional or not). One journalist mentioned the moment where Jeff spreads his arms and repeats "I Love."

 

I Love

I Love

I Love is all we have

 

 

I mean, if they messed up a lyrics in some semi-obscure gem, I'd understand. But if you've heard Wilco, you've undoubtedly heard "Jesus, Etc." Does this stuff irritate anyone else?

 

I think it's for two reasons 1) I'm jealous that I don't have the writer's gig and 2) It's something I care about. Hell, if the New York Times was this crappy with their reporting (on any topic), I wouldn't care. Just so long as they called the new track "Impossible Germany" rather than "Unlikely Japan."

[Lammycat]

Bottom line for me: who cares what/how one person interpreted a show/movie/play/book? I read reviews, too, but take them with a grain of salt. Just because they get paid for their opinions doesn't make their opinions any more valid.

The reviewer quoting from a song shouldn't have been so lazy as to not do a quick fact check by seeking out the lyrics, though. If anything, the reviewer goes on your ignore list, now, eh?

[Beltmann]

I'm reminded of something Phillip Lopate once wrote: "The job of the American film critic is complicated by the fact that virtually all Americans regard themselves as astute judges of movies." That complication, which I think applies to music as well, is compounded by how the Internet has turned anyone with a mouse into a "published critic," vastly undermining the value of real criticism written by individuals who actually know something.

 

One of the first critics I ever read faithfully was Jonathan Rosenbaum, and I read him because he knew more than I did and I learned a great deal from his perceptions. But today, as Roger Ebert pointed out, "it is perfectly possible to swim in the demographically fine-tuned mass media and never learn anything you didn't already know."