by Michael Lydon
When I was a kindergarten kid, records came in cardboard folders we called albums. Each album held four or five black, breakable discs engraved with a scarcely perceptible spiral groove. Dad would get a disc spinning at 78 rpm on the turntable and gently lower a steel needle into the groove. Variations in the groove made the needle vibrate, electricity amplified that vibration, and music came booming from the speakers—Arturo Toscanini conducting a symphony orchestra or Duke Ellington conducting a jazz orchestra.
In the 1950s, 78s gave way to unbreakable Long Playing (LP) records that played for twenty minutes a side: one LP could replace a six-record album. In the 1980s, first the cassette and then the digital CD took over from LPs. Today, though music lovers often download one song at a time from the internet, the “album” remains the most popular format musicians use to group a wide variety of sounds and moods into twenty to fifty-minute units. Since many people the world over love (or hate) this or that album, reading and writing album reviews has become a major way listeners learn about, discuss, and express their responses to music from Bach to Bieber.
So, if music moves you or amuses you, speaks to you about ideas and emotions that matter to you, I say: “Tell the world how you feel!” A Rolling Stone fan may say, “Right on!” or a Lady Gaga fan might say “You’re nuts,” but either way you’ve started a dialogue with another human being from which, I guarantee, you’ll learn something valuable about life and music.
The guidelines your friends at Write the World offer are all helpful:
“LISTEN,“ they urge, “TAKE NOTES,” then “LISTEN AGAIN.” After that they suggest that you “STATE YOUR OPINION.” Still, do your “RESEARCH”—facts about a singer’s life may change how you feel about his or her music. “HONE”— give your review a once-over, touching up any rough spots; “HIGHLIGHT”, polish any verbal jewels, then “CONSIDER,” look at the whole piece: does the review hang together, say what you want it to say? If you answer, “Yes, it does,” I’ll respond, “Good! Now, where are you going to get it printed?”
Liam Kuzan, aka Lieutenant Sugar, gets his review going with a bang:
One of my favorite, if not my most favorite album to listen to day in and day out is ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ by The Beatles.
I like Liam’s sense of humor—Sgt. Pepper, Lieutenant Sugar, get it?—and his commitment to the Beatles, which, by the way, I share. Liam points out, accurately, that Sgt. Pepper is “very different” from the Beatles’ previous work. Why? Because it “came at a time when the band decided to leave the crazy hectic life of touring and return to the studio to breathe and to create.”
Liam also notes that Sgt. Pepper’s varied music and lyrics are due to the “varied influences of each particular band member,” and he points out, again accurately, that the “vaudeville, circus and music halls” that John Lennon and Paul McCartney grew up with contribute greatly to Sgt. Pepper’s sound colors, as do more recent influences of Indian classical music and the “subculture of psychedelia.” Sgt. Pepper, Liam tells us, was created more by endless re-recording and over-dubbing in the studio than by the Beatles playing as a live band: the group spent thirty-times more hours on the final mixes than they had on their first album.
Only then, on a firm foundation of his research, does Liam speak about his personal reaction to Sgt. Pepper:
I certainly didn’t grow up in the 1960’s; I was born way after that era. Unlike most kids my age, my taste leans toward classic rock. I have been made fun of in the past…[but] everyone has their own opinion, and there’s not much you can do to change it. Due to the stories I have been told by my parents, who did grow up in the Beatles era, I can now imagine putting the vinyl record on the record player and listening to this masterpiece of an album.
In teaching about writing on music, I encourage students not to condemn albums they review. Sure, I say, it can be fun to slash and burn an artist, and some readers will cheer you on. But with rare exceptions, find something positive to say, and if you can’t, let someone else review that album. Why? In part because of the ancient adage—“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”—but more because you will write better when motivated by love of your subject, not by disdain.
In reviewing the Everything album by Chicago rapper Herbo, ZaQim Wilson loves everything about Everything; each track is better than the one before! He can see the title track “being the top track on this album.” “Street” is “the perfect introduction to the Chicago rapper’s story…I love the confidence he raps with on every bar.” “Maybe I am biased,” ZaQim raves about the track, “Crown,” “but I think this type of music is hip hop at its finest.” And “Malcolm” is the “best storytelling rap song I’ve heard in a long time.”
I laughed out loud when I read ZaQim’s parade of superlatives, but they also made me want to buy the album—any music that calls forth such enthusiasm must have something going for it! On the other hand, ZaQim could strengthen his review with some meat-and-potato facts about Herbo too.
Andi.oates’ review of Justin Bieber’s Purpose is excellent. She begins by citing the background influences that shaped Bieber’s superstar career, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and Justin Timberlake, then sketches his high points—twelve platinum albums and thirteen top ten Billboard hits—and his low points—including multiple “driving under the influence” arrests.
Hard times cost Bieber many fans, but, says andi.oates, the frank honesty of his new album Purpose is winning them back: “The album’s catchy beats, meaningful lyrics, and sad vocals expose us to a side of the artist never exposed before.” In Purpose, andi.oates argues, Bieber shows that he’s learned “how to say I’m sorry and I forgive you.” Bieber’s “true lyrics and soft touching emotions,” andi.oates admits, brings tears to her eyes: “Bieber’s really made me think of all the times when I’ve felt this exact way.”
This mix of personal feelings and researched facts, captured in plain but sensitive prose—that’s what makes a good album review. Remember as you listen and respond that when you write a strong review, you’re providing a valuable service to both artists and listeners: you’re giving the artist a chance to be heard by many new fans, and opening the ears (and minds and hearts) of those fans to ideas and emotions they otherwise may never have shared.
About Michael Lydon
Michael Lydon is a writer and musician who lives in New York City. Author of many books, among them Rock Folk, Boogie Lightning, Ray Charles: Man and Music, and Writing and Life. A founding editor of Rolling Stone, Lydon has written for many periodicals as well, the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, and Village Voice.
He is also a songwriter and playwright and, with Ellen Mandel, has composed an opera, Passion in Pigskin. A Yale graduate, Lydon is a member of ASCAP, AFofM local 802, and on the faculty of St. John’s University.
