Confessions of a Fanboy

I struggled writing the Janiva Magness review more than any review I’ve written in quite some time. Writing about the new Watermelon Slim CD was easy- I love that record and I couldn’t wait to tell people about it. The new Arctic Monkeys’ CD is so damn much fun, that review felt like it wrote itself. I don’t know if I’ve ever written a decent review that quickly.

The Janiva review (or estro-Janiva as I’ve taken to calling her) was different. I don’t like this record, but I didn’t want to say that. At first, I was just going to avoid writing the review. I was going to ignore it, focusing instead on the nominated works I enjoy. I didn’t want to review her album, but decided I should try reviewing all five BMA nominees for Album of the Year. That meant reviewing Do I Move You?.

I found myself trying to like the record rather than trying to review it. I was being unduly affected by my fanboy tendency to want to like new records. I was also being influenced by the award nominations. I was questioning my judgment because the album had been nominated for three awards. Making the extra effort to listen to the music with an open mind is what any decent critic would do, but my job is not to like the record. It’s great when I can review a disc and like it, but I owe it to myself and to the reading public to be honest as well as fair. I don’t feel a need to balance my glowing reviews with negative ones in an effort to create some sort of validation equation, but if my reviews are to mean anything I have to be brave and bold enough to be honest.

Mark Saleski and I have gone round and round about the value of negative reviews. He thinks they’re pointless because they often degenerate into a string of snappy putdowns by a reviewer trying too hard to be clever. He thinks they’re a waste of time because the energy put into slagging off a record could be put into praising a record worthy of raves. I see his point and go to great lengths not to get assigned records I’m pretty sure I won’t like. For example, I don’t think I can be open-minded about a Bon Jovi record. I’ve heard enough of his schlock over the years that I have no confidence in his ability to pleasantly surprise me. I’ll probably make a couple of those clever jokes when he assaults us with his next album, but I won’t review it because that would require me to listen to it- I shudder.

That brings me back to the Janiva Magness CD. I pulled it together and wrote the review, but I am still trying to come to terms with it. I’m not often shy about voicing my opinions yet I still found the prospect of panning this an intimidating one. Part of me feels as though I pulled some punches and gave into the intimidation, while another part feels I presented a balanced assessment. There were no sharpened knives are poisoned pens. I probably would have had more fun if I had decided to take a hatchet to it. Instead I tried to make legitimate criticisms of the record rather than slinging a series of nasty insults. I explained why I didn’t like the record rather than repeating for 500 words that I didn’t.

I stand by my conclusions, I’m just not enjoying them.

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