Reviews: Neko Case
Music critics are in love with Neko's 'Fox Confessor Brings the Flood'.
I listened to this album on a long trip to Ohio and back. It is not that great. In fact I put it behind 'The Virginian' which is behind 'Furnace Room Lullaby' and 'Blacklisted'.
Why do the critics like 'Fox Confessor Brings the Flood' so much? Is it group-think? Is this a make-up call because they missed her earlier albums? Is it because of the esoteric lyrics?
If lyrics are incomprehensible does that equate to poetry? This seemed to be how Shudder To Think, Helmet, and even Jawbreaker to an extent operated.
I listen to music to be entertained. Critics listen to music to show how cool or smart they are. 'High Fidelity' is a great movie. In the future when I want to hear some Neko music I'll find 'Blacklisted' or 'Furnace Room Lullaby' on the iPod.
My hypothesis is that in the Arts first and/or second efforts are usually the best. Fugazi's 13 Songs, Green Day's 1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, The Fountainhead, Exile in Guyville.
My reasoning is when a person is creating something for the first time they are most likely: A. doing it for themselves so it is very personal; and/or B. doing it to make a statement and therefore know it has to be extraordinary (like a corollary to Carl Sagan's "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" - extraordinary achievements require extraordinary effort).
If an artist doesn't quite get it right the first time it is usually because they haven't found their voice yet. Hence the difference between Neko's 'The Virginian' and 'Furnace Room Lullaby'.
Artist then decline when they stop making the art for themselves and instead do it for the fans and/or critics (dear Liz, I'm talking about you. Please release an album of music that you want to listen to.)
