Critic's Corner

Your problem, pjay

207.91.86.2

In Reply to: RE: American Musical Literacy (long) posted by Pjay on July 17, 2007 at 10:00:13

is that you don't go for the "academic" approach to things! ;-)

The compilation of such lists has a Janus-like aspect to it. On the one hand, it reflects back on the erudition/scope of knowledge of the compiler ("shit, he's actually heard something by Walter Piston!" He knows music.) and, on the other hand, it (presumably) confers an educational benefit (Wow, I should listen to this!) on the reader.

In fairness to JM, I don't know how one could separate these two characteristics from each other, even though I, like you probably, am a little put off by the intellectual showmanship inherent in the creation of a list.

And there's the confusion about what the list should be -- should it be "Here's some recordings that I think represent the best" or should it be "Here's some recordings that influenced a lot of other famous artists" or should it be "Here's some recordings that lots of people listened to at the time."

Those categories are not necessarily overlapping. For example, the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" is the 800-lb gorilla of one-hit wonders, but what a gorilla it is! Was it "influential" or "meritorious"? Probably not, unless you consider that every high school and college rock band in the country played it at least once a week at every gig they did in the 1960s.

Anyway, I was struck by the absence of "Born to Run" (either the single or the album) on most of JM's lists. So, I dragged out my lovingly preserved record that I have owned since 1975 and put it on the 'table, having not listened to it in quite a while.

I played the whole "B" side of the record, which begins with "Born to Run." I was struck by the energy, excitement and theatricality (esp. "Meeting Across the River") of the music.

In short, more than 30 years later, it still sounded pretty fuckin' good to me -- even though the mix buries Springsteen's vocals -- and it would have been on my "list" had I made one, for that reason alone.

So much for "lists."

Follow Ups:

Born to Run was on my list - John Marks 11:09:43 07/22/07 (1)
- RE: Born to Run was on my list - Pjay 04:48:12 07/23/07 (0)

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