Robert Christgau Review of Van Halen Debut LP

I think we've found Marty Scorsese's next project

His episodic interviews with Robert Christgau

Somebody put these two in a room

Stat

 

Thanks.....I thought I remembered reading the same in CREEM.

 

He did give 1984 a B+. Must’ve been the warm and fuzzy synthesizers. I peruse his books on occasion when drunk on Miller High Life and the Sunday funnies aren’t around.

 

Critics and journalists have always acknowledged Van Halen as a heavy metal act. To ignore that fact would be historical revisionism.

 

Such as?

 

I understand that at one point, they were the most popular bar band in the San Fernando Valley...

 

Who would have thought that a forum populated by thick-skinned music fans would allow such a topic to get their knickers in a twist?

 

I'm surprised he hadn't a clue how revolutionary the guitar work was.

 

dig your avatar

 

This is because Christgau was excellent at reviewing lyrics and seeing context of how the meaning and poetry (or rage) in songs related to prior work and to the then-current political situation. His blind spot? Music! He knew almost nothing and seemed to appreciate almost nothing about how notes, chords, rests, stop and start of notes, tone, harmony, etc. can work and can create an emotional MUSICAL experience. Having read a lot of his writings, he just didn't get this aspect. Perhaps he had heard so much that such simple pleasures were lost on him, and he was looking more for radicalism than for "music." Kind of a sad existence, I think.

 

I was kinda surprised that the debut was one of the Van Halen albums that Christgau ranked lowest. It might have taken a while for their formula, over the span of a couple three albums, to seep in and for him to appreciate it, but it was a pretty big hit right off of the bat with a lot of rock fans in general.

 

I love Yes and I like Christgau, even though he wrote this:

Close to the Edge [Atlantic, 1972]
What a waste. They come up with a refrain that sums up everything they do--"I get up I get down"--and apply it only to their ostensible theme, which is the "seasons of man" or something like that. They segue effortlessly from Bach to harpsichord to bluesy rock and roll and don't mean to be funny. Conclusion: At the level of attention they deserve they're a one-idea group. Especially with Jon and Rick up front. C+


Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes. And I'm filled with stars.

 

Again, Genesis' "Foxtrot" is one of my all-time favorite albums. Christgau wrote this:

Foxtrot [Charisma, 1972]
This band's defenders--fans of manual dexterity, aggregate IQ, "stagecraft," etc.--claim this as an improvement. And indeed, Tony Banks's organ crescendos are less totalistic, Steve Hackett's guitar is audible, and Peter Gabriel's lyrics take on medievalism, real-estate speculators, and the history of the world. This latter is the apparent subject of the 22:57-minute "Supper's Ready," which also suggests that Gabriel has a sense of humor and knows something about rock and roll. Don't expect me to get more specific, though--I never even cared what "Gates of Eden" "really meant." C


Whatever. People have different tastes. I agree with Christgau often, but disagree with him often.


Going to him for reviews of prog-rock albums (or hard rock) would be like going to a guy who hates classical music for reviews of classical albums. Pretty much a waste of time...but maybe good for a laugh now and then.

 

Christgau needed to get out of NYC a lot more than he did.

Generally though I thought he was an insightful and honest reviewer. He 'got' Exile on Main Street right away when it was still confusing to most.

But more time in Memphis or Minneapolis would have done him some good.

 

You can't have written as many reviews as Christgau has and not miss the boat on a few of 'em. His seventies book is far and away his best because he was still young enough to have an ear to the ground when it came to what was happening in rock music. He began to lose it in the eighties though, and if you bother to read his '90s Consumer Guide then it's almost comedic (and not the way he'd like it to be). He gave everything an A. Take 1997 for instance, when he gave no less than 107 albums an A rating. Christ, how many albums was he reviewing a week when there's only 52 weeks in a year?

 

A challenging album to review. Richard Cromelin's review was amazingly descriptive and appreciative, while acknowledging Yes' tendency to get, well, silly or dangerously close. You sensed he knew what they were trying to accomplish:

Rolling Stone : Yes: Close To The Edge : Music Reviews

 

"The definition of rock journalism: People who can't write, doing interviews with people who can't think, in order to prepare articles for people who can't read." -- Frank Zappa

 

roughly two.

 

That's the issue here, I'm sure he was reviewing way more than that.

 

Van Halen invented the term "Kick-Ass!"

 

dammit, I misread your post and ruined my own joke. I hate when that happens.

 

the irony is Van Halen undoubtedly has had far more impact, and a greater legacy, than Christgau.

 

I own more Christgau books than Van Halen albums

 

My rule of thumb: If Christgau hates an album, I'll probably love it

 

I have far better things to put effort towards. Someone here had an odd take like "why do you old guys care about some review written before little 'ol me was even born" and my response was that Christgau's junky takes actually still pollute the internet here and now. But I myself wouldn't care to try and remove Christgau's snarky one-liners from Wikipedia or put any other review next to his, as that might block all the geezers ever eagerly lined up to go down on him for his peerless contributions to art and culture.