Let The Music Do The Talking
Ears open, mouth closed.
I wonder how many teachers said that to me. I thought they were just being Nazis, and they probably were. I was a hell of a lot more interesting than they were. I might have been smarter than one or two of them, too.
Ears open, mouth closed.
Maybe they had a point with that. It annoys me when reporters eagerly write a story before the event has happened. As Layne Staley put it, “You’d be well advised/not to plan my funeral before the body dies.” In his case, that wasn’t really possible. He was dead two weeks before anyone found him. Lurid.
An advance of the new Matt Schofield Trio album arrived today and my mind is racing to write the review before my ears have had a chance to listen to the whole album.
Too many music critics succumb to this intellectually lazy habit and their work is a fountain of nonsense. I read some music writers and wonder if they’ve even bothered listening to the record they’re trashing. This awful “shoot first, ask questions later” approach kills music writing. It serves no purpose because it serves no reader.
The key, I remind myself, is to listen critically and not to critically listen. There is a massive difference. I have almost written a ton of negative reviews, only to find that I changed my mind after subsequent listens. Maybe I was too busy trying to sum the album to actually hear it. Maybe I just needed to give the music a chance to work on me.
If I’m going to let the music do the talking, I have to shut up so I can hear it.
Filed under: Tags: Fanboy Manifesto
[...] a critic approach the subject. What questions need to be answered? What philosophy should one have? Keeping an open mind is part of the equation, but where do you go after that? How does this album stand against others [...]