Lefsetz Letter Column

[LaurieBlue]

"Off The Record"
My Morning Jacket

On XM the deejays don't talk enough, on Sirius they talk too much.  On XM when they do talk they sound like the lauded record spinners on the free format underground FM stations of yore.  When they talk on Sirius they sound exactly like what you hate about terrestrial radio.  Jive guys and gals preaching to a lowest common denominator, nobody YOU know.  They employ cliches, they're all sunny, it's complete bullshit.  Which is why I ignore them.  And felt self-satisfied after the babe waxed rhapsodic about this record and it turned to be FAR from the target.  The vocals were ridiculous, and the lyrics not much better.  And wasn't that the guitar from "Hawaii Five-0"?

But then Jim James, who can sing others' material SO well, stopped emoting, and the guitarist took over, and it was the seventies ALL OVER AGAIN!  Kind of like the Marshall Tucker Band crossed with an act from the U.K. Midlands.  An endless dreamy ride.  They don't make them like this anymore.

Then again, they made THIS!

Download this.  You'll be stunned.  You'll finally understand what all the hype is about.  Imagine driving around after midnight, stoned with your buddies, on a hot summer night.  THAT'S what this record sounds like.  After you get past the vocals, when you get to the instrumental part.

Hear this ONCE, and you'll GET IT!!

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[Angry Ewok]

I read the first paragraph at least five times, before finally giving up. I'm usually not one ot knock other people's writing, because I'm so self conscious about my own... but this guy really, really needs to enroll in some journalism classes...

...or at the very least, invest in an editor - someone who may be able to make sense of whatever the dude's point is, by weeding out the absolutely irrelevant banter... Satellite radio? Lowest common denominator?

Imagine driving around after midnight, stoned with your buddies, on a hot summer night.  THAT'S what this record sounds like.

I can't be the only person who found this particular line completely lame. If this is the absolute best description he could come up with, then he's obviously not that passionate about the album... Or being a journalist.

All that said, here's a portion of the review that yours truly wrote for Z ...

"The best visual I could provide, as to the transition this album takes, is to describe the energy like that of a diabetic cat with a fresh shot of insulin - the album goes from cooing you into a trance, to providing you the energy to scale the walls and hang from the ceiling. The two halves of the album accent one another, and flow so well together that you don't realize you're at the end of your ride until you recognize the breakdown of Dondante - which is among the greatest songs My Morning Jacket has performed."

At least I kept the review relevant to My Morning Jacket.



Edit - My mistake, he's an "industry legend" - not a kid, changes made to reflect that... *insert foot in mouth, once again*... I made the assumption based on my own inability to understand what the fuck he was talking about through most of the article... I'll leave my comment as is, though - I hate when people erase shit so you don't know what they said.

Here's the article :

http://www.rhino.com/rzine/StoryKeeper.lasso?StoryID=883#CommentsList

[LaurieBlue]

Don't be too put off by the review.  Bob is a well-known, highly opinionated journalist with a regular syndicated and emailed column.  He writes about everything from new CDs, to current music trends, to the state of affairs with labels and bands, and more.  Some people agree, some disagree, some love him and some hate him.  But he usually stirs up someone's blood each time he writes.  The whole industry is pretty much aware of him.  Sometimes he makes some valid points that others may not be so vocal about, too.  Interesting stuff.  

FWIW, I'm  not supporting his review, only giving more background info on him.

Laurie

[Angry Ewok]

I'm not upset about it - I just tend to come off pissy sometimes, even when I'm more "ho hum" than anything... Ya know what I mean?

:-[

I just think this article (it's format, I suppose) in particular is really, really poorly put together... The random scattered thoughts, the lame "this album is like being high" descriptions, etc...

[LaurieBlue]

I'm not upset about it - I just tend to come off pissy sometimes, even when I'm more "ho hum" than anything... Ya know what I mean?

:-[

I just think this article (it's format, I suppose) in particular is really, really poorly put together... The random scattered thoughts, the lame "this album is like being high" descriptions, etc...

If you think this one's scattered, you should read some of his  previous columns.  But overall, I think because his column is so widely read, that it was good that he finally (took him a while) took notice of MMJ and praised them so "highly" (poor choice of words I know ;-)).

I didn't feel you were upset - only passionately disagreeing :-)

Laurie