Originally Posted by
Pippinwhite
Oh, that review is pretentious, all right. Sounds just like some of the stuff people said about the Eagles years ago. I'm reminded of Glenn's comment in his interviews with Bob Costas about some music writers setting themselves up as "arbiters of taste," whether they were really qualified to do so or not.
Those of us who are Paul McCartney fans are all too familiar with this method, because we've seen way too many "Paul: hackneyed, saccharine kinda songwriter vs. John: relevant, visionary GENIUS." This for the man who let Yoko have solo vocalizations (they're not songs, for sure) on his albums. About as far as Paul went was Linda singing, "Cook of the House," which was a lightweight little song. Linda didn't have a good voice, but then again, never pretended to be a singer. She was a photographer, and a darn good one. And say what you will about Paul, you didn't pick up an album of his that had the charming song title, "Woman is the N**** of the World" on it. I kid you not. But that kind of crap made John "fearless" and "willing to address critical social issues." Didn't matter that some of his stuff was cringe-inducing for other reasons.
It's exactly the same dynamic here. Some people think if it's not preachy and intense all the time, it's not good. Glenn had social commentary on his albums -- he was just usually sneakier about it than Don. Spoonful of sugar and all that. Plus, it really bothers some critics when the musicians are obviously having FUN! I am put in mind of "Partytown." Clearly, Glenn was just having a blast on that record. Which does not negate its quality in the least. It's a good, rocking little song. And a sly one.
I love John and I love Don, too. "Boys of Summer" is one of my favorite songs by any artist. It's a really, really great song. BUT, is it that much better than anything Glenn ever released? Not to me. And when Don gets his preachy pants on, he's as irritating as any artist could be. The title track on LROOE is a prime example. It's OK to start with, but has no business being 7 minutes long. It's not that good. Four minutes would have been more than enough.
Just my fifty cents' worth. But you get my drift.