I’m wondering about the value of critics. Is there anyone anybody can trust anymore? In the course of my current job, I have to browse every paper to find out what books are being reviewed, and, of course, I wander then into the music sections. So, I find in one paper that the new U2 is great; in another, it’s average; in another, it’s piss-poor. Same with books, actually.
Time was that critics were an elite bunch and you could fairly safely buy an album trusting their taste. Now, with the internet, anybody with an opinion can give their warped view. I heard Clive James the other week on Radio 5 castigating HIS OWN website because it lacked the editorial integrity of an editor to make it better. Isn’t that the same with current music/book/movie/anything critics… too many cooks spoil the broth. And can anybody out there tell me that they actually like the Observer music magazine, a big mag trying to squeeze into a fanzine and failing abysmally. Crap views / worse taste. And they’re supposed to be writing for a national newspaper audience.
So where does that leave us? Who to trust? I have actually found good (fairly) new music, mostly through people whose taste I trust. I did buy the Hold Steady’s last album primarily because my old MM colleague Allan Jones championed them in Uncut, and Jonesy can be guilty of having lapses of good taste. I even emailed him just to make sure… Now, I really like the Hold Steady, got the whole back catalogue, but even they are retro and influenced by Morrison, Springsteen, Thin Lizzy… So while his taste was good, Jonesy’s thirst for groundbreakers is obviously wavering. The age of critics you can trust is slowly dying… trust that critic in your head.