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Music reviewers don't know nothing


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According to the SF Chronicle's review of SBS, "Either Way" opened "A Ghost is Born." Niiiiiiice!

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...001&sc=1000

 

 

WILCO

 

Wilco's sixth album starts out with a bittersweet Americana ballad. But unlike the quietly reflective "Either Way," which opened the band's previous album, "A Ghost Is Born," it doesn't erupt midway into primal guitar-rock chaos but sets the tone for Wilco's most understated, accessible Americana album yet. Perhaps after two stunning collaborations with experimental noise-rocker Jim O'Rourke, the band members decided to take a side turn and landed on a country road. But if the title suggests that this predominantly mellow album is Wilco's "Nashville Skyline," it's not as respectfully traditional as the jagged guitar and Beatles piano on "Hate It Here" attest. A fine record, though less likely than "Ghost" to make the critics' polls. -- Sylvie Simmons

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I suspect this was just an embarrassing slip-up, not an indication of ignorance on the reviewer's part. I imagine her reading it in the paper and saying, "Wait, how did that happen? Damn, now I look like an idiot."

 

I remember once publishing a review of the movie Pollock, and I referred to Lee Krasner as Lee Krasden. It was just a slip-up, and when I read the published version I couldn't believe I had made that mistake--I knew all about Krasner previously, and I can't explain why I was thinking of The Honeymooners when I wrote that piece! (Krasner + Kramden = Krasden.) Sometimes the brain just misfires.

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Oh man. I know Sylvie and she's a great writer who REALLY knows her shiznit about the music. It sounds like too obvious an error for her, must be a subbing error, or a phrase got dropped in the cut and paste. Please god.

But that is a hell of a clanger... :no

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Mistakes happen ALL THE TIME in newspapers.

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Oh man. I know Sylvie and she's a great writer who REALLY knows her shiznit about the music.

 

Ummmm. I have to disagree. And how about the often overused, generic term, "Americana?" Did she have to use in consecutive sentences? I think the editor ignored this article.

 

I heard Either Way was from Summerteeth. Now I'm really confused. :unsure

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Newspaper mistakes DO happen all the time. If the New York Times could employ Jayson Blair for 5 years, and the SF Gate is just spending it's journalistic cred on Wilco, which is worse? At least it's doing so on Wilco, and not on that american idol trash.

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Ummmm. I have to disagree. And how about the often overused, generic term, "Americana?" Did she have to use in consecutive sentences?

Are you basing your assessment on two sentences from a single blurb, or are you familiar with her writing?

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Simple mistake. Replace "Either Way" with "At Least That's What You Said" and it all makes sense.

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Mistakes like this are often less the case of the writer not knowing than the writer slipping up and no one catching it (editors). It happens a lot for our site, but we're not a major publication and don't have the time or resources to always catch these things...try as we might. Not sure how a fully staffed, paying publication like a major daily newspaper makes them...but we're all human.

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I assumed it was a nod to the lyrics to "Theologians," and let it pass...

Although, frankly, in order to fit the rhythm of the line, it really should be something like "Music writers...they don't know nothin...about Wilco...about Wilco"

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She must be high.

 

Which leads off Still Feel Gone, right?

 

It's amazing what copy editors on a newspaper desk can miss. Especially for a non-sports or news story that probably wasn't turned in close to deadline.

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It's amazing what copy editors on a newspaper desk can miss.

Not really. I had a brief career as a copy editor after college (not for a newspaper, but still) and let me tell you I was one lazy SOB about it. I might as well have had a rubber stamp that said "Sure, looks good to me!" :lol

 

Then again, I pretty quickly realized my level of disinterest and went and found something else to do for a living. It takes a special kind of maniacally-obsessive person to make a good editor, and those aren't as plentiful as one might think.

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I assumed it was a nod to the lyrics to "Theologians," and let it pass...

 

It was indeed. Thanks for not putting the smackdown on me for that nod.

 

After reading it again, clearly she meant to say "ALTWYS" instead of Either Way. Then the sentence makes sense.

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It was indeed. Thanks for not putting the smackdown on me for that nod.

Not a problem. :)

 

Yeah, I think it is just a slipup. As Dan-O said, if you replace the song titles, you get:

 

But unlike the quietly reflective "At Least That's What You Said," which opened the band's previous album, "A Ghost Is Born," it doesn't erupt midway into primal guitar-rock chaos but sets the tone for Wilco's most understated, accessible Americana album yet.

 

It pretty much makes sense, although I think she did mean to apply the "quietly reflective" tag to "Either Way." "At Least That's What You Said" does indeed erupt halfway through the song into "primal guitar-rock chaos," in stark contrast to the opener for Sky Blue Sky. It's a fair comparison.

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Not a problem. :)

 

Yeah, I think it is just a slipup. As Dan-O said, if you replace the song titles, you get:

It pretty much makes sense, although I think she did mean to apply the "quietly reflective" tag to "Either Way." "At Least That's What You Said" does indeed erupt halfway through the song into "primal guitar-rock chaos," in stark contrast to the opener for Sky Blue Sky. It's a fair comparison.

 

I think you and Dan-O are exactly right: a couple of different thoughts/sentences got mangled together and she and her editor just missed it. It wasn't a full article, just a blurb in their cd review section of the Sunday paper.

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