Re: Another good quote from the Village Voice web site
The year's most inexplicable musical fad was the vastly overrated genre of "Americana" a/k/a "No Depression," "progressive country," "regressive country," "independent country," "insurgent country," "alternative country," " (Blah blah blah, to borrow a phrase from Brad Bechtel g). What pisses me off about these sortsa dismissals is that, to me, they almost always seem to imply that any concerted (or even semi-concerted) effort to attempt to cover music, or a scene, or whatever that falls so untidily in the vast spaces between mainstream rock and country is bogus on it's face. Why is it so offensive that there are musicians or a magazine (even a listserv g) that are interested in making or following music that often borrows heavily from both genres, often rendering it difficult to neatly categorize as either Country or Rock? At least, that's what *I* get from these sorts of full-on crit dismissals. I realize I'm probably over-reading, but I still don't buy it, even if I do think there are too many pretenders to the throne and cooks in the alt.country kitchen if you will. I mean, show me a quote where Rob Bleetstein(?) or Peter Blackstock or Grant Alden or the Bloodshotters have ever said "*this* (alt.country) will be THE hot thing this year, we're really gonna break big and be the new grunge or whatever. Maybe someone's done this but I haven't seen it. Long on sincerity and short on talent, these are sensitive, educated, well- meaning writers who genuinely lament the end of Route 66 consciousness and the blanding of America. Which is why no one, critics or peers, wants to dog them. I'm not sure what Lipton means by that, but if he means that the alt.country crowd seems to be immune from similar attempts to cut the scene down to size he must not read much music criticism. Dan, offtabed and with more cliches than you can shake a stick at tonight...g
Re: Another good quote from the Village Voice web site
The year's most inexplicable musical fad was the vastly overrated genre of "Americana" a/k/a "No Depression," "progressive country," "regressive country," "independent country," "insurgent country," "alternative country," " Anyone notice the obvious irony here. This year's most inexplicable music fad also can claim the Pazz Job #1 record of the year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Mermaid Ave. up there in or near the top ten as well. A pretty good year for an overrated genre. Neal Weiss
Re: Another good quote from the Village Voice web site
At 01:34 PM 2/25/99 Neal Weiss wrote: The year's most inexplicable musical fad... snip Anyone notice the obvious irony here. This year's most inexplicable music fad also can claim the Pazz Job #1 record of the year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Mermaid Ave. up there in or near the top ten as well. A pretty good year for an overrated genre. Not to pick on Neal, but if one reads the entire quote, it gives a better idea of the critics mindset. I don't think he was dismissing the entire genre. Jamie D. Lipton's quote: The year's most inexplicable musical fad was the vastly overrated genre of "Americana" a/k/a "No Depression," "progressive country," "regressive country," "independent country," "insurgent country," "alternative country," "neo-traditional country," "garage country," "cow punk," "twangcore," "y'alternative," "grange." For every Lucinda there are 50 Freakwaters and for every Shaver there are 100 Backsliders. Long on sincerity and short on talent, these are sensitive, educated, well-meaning writers who genuinely lament the end of Route 66 consciousness and the blanding of America. Which is why no one, critics or peers, wants to dog them.
Re: Another good quote from the Village Voice web site
Excerpts from internet.listserv.postcard2: 24-Feb-99 Another good quote from the.. by Brad Bechtel@macromedia. For every Lucinda there are 50 Freakwaters I wish. I liked Springtime a lot more than Car Wheels (or for that matter, disc #4 by Billy Bragg Wilco). It's interesting that Lauryn Hill apparently got more first-place votes than any other record, but Williams's disc managed enough votes overall to beat it out. Also interesting that they included Dylan's record as a new release. The Voice failed to mention that Robert Wyatt's Shleep, though released by Hannibal UK in 1997, was issued domestically on Thirsty Ear in January of 1998. Carl Z.
