Robert Christgau Moody Blues Album Review

Here is his review of The Moody Blues' On the Threshold of a Dream.

"Rod McKuen out of Ray Conniff with assists by Hugo Montenegro and Bob Crewe. Ugh. D-"

Do you have a similar or different viewpoint on this album? I haven't heard it and can't offer an opinion.

 

You know it's easier than ever nowadays to listen to music?

 

I’d say that guy is full of schitt. Only throw away song on the record is “so deep within you”

id give it an A- Ive been back and forth with all of their first 8 records and keep going back to dream. Its got some great harmonies and dreamy sounds. If I had to pick one I like better it would be perhaps childrens children.

Im just one on a sea of many opinions though.

Listen to them all over and over and over and see which of the first 8 you go back to after a year.

for me its dream, childrens, question in that order. All 8 are must haves (dont forget 1 before future past)

 

Christgau is an extremely opinionated critic. He trashes many musicians who are loved by many here on this Forum.

So ignore him and just listen yourself.

 

I would have thought being opinionated is a prerequisite for being a critic?

 

And? Do you think most people on this forum has the absolute good musical taste?
ANd don't you think that there is nothing more subjective than taste?

 

So why, pray tell, are you asking this question?

 

PS: it’s best to listen to them on record with a good LOMC cartridge and decent system speakers to get best effect. I have all on stereo. Dont have any MONOs

 

I'm picking up a whiff of disingenuousness: this feels to me like another SHF thread invitation to bash Christgau. The consensus view regarding music criticism here seems to be a dim one, so this is just fanning the flames of that (if something dim can have flames to fan).

 

See, this is the problem I have with "rock" critics reviewing music that does not fit their standard of what rock "should" be.

If I remember correctly, Christgau was a "rock purist"; as in, he comes from a certain school of rock fandom that worships low-fi, simplicity, and high energy. Totally his right… We’re all entitled to have our own tastes. The problem is that as a reviewer, he simply discounts large swaths of popular music as inferior, to his standard.

If he was an honest reviewer, he should have never taken on reviewing recordings in genres he did not fundamentally like.

So, of course he will not give good reviews to probably any Moody's recordings. Or prog in general.

Just because a genre has the word "rock" in its label, does not mean it should be reviewed by all rock critics. If a critic does not like prog-rock, no matter how good the album is, they will never give it a good review. And assigning such a reviewer a prog album to review, is not a fair.

It would be like sending a restaurant reviewer who doesn't like Thai food out to review a Thai restaurant. Don't be surprised when they give the restaurant a D- rating. "Well, I did like the tea".

All that being said, I am not a particular fan of "On a Threshold of a Dream". Their 2 recordings before, and the one after, are substantially better, IMO.

 

I usually like both the Moody Blues and Christgau. I don't always agree with Christgau. The first sentence of his review seems to me like a decent description of them though.

 

Agree. As one of the few who'll defend Christgau and has done so in the past on the forum, this thread seems to make no sense. Note: The idea behind criticism is not to necessarily agree or change people's opinions, but to read something based on an educated viewpoint or that is at least interesting/entertaining. The good news is if Christgau bashes something, you may like it - to me a win-win.

 

Bit of a misrepresentation of Christgau's tastes.

Robert Christgau: Grade List: A+

 

I really think you should listen to it before you start an anti-Christgau thread. Maybe you had a genuine reason and that was not your intention, but it will most likely be the result. Personally, I respect Christgau's opinions, even if often I do not share his overall tastes in music.

 

Christgau is great.

 

Wasn't he a Jazz purist being forced to write critics to other genres (like Rock) that he's not really fond of?

 

He's definitely not a "rock purist".

 

I thought he was more of a Rock dude who had some interest in Jazz also

 

I am not saying he was not a fan of other forms of music. I believe he was also a jazz critic.

But he was unquestionably not a fan of prog.

I will review that site you linked, to see what the highest he ever rated a prog album. I did see he gave Close to the Edge a C+. For one of the largely agreed upon, best prog albums of all time. Pretty generous of him

 

Now use this to hold back the anti-Christgauers, Canute! (Although to be fair, no one's had much of a pop at him at all, thus far.)

 

I often disagree with him. Yet, I enjoy his writing.

I'll also reluctantly admit some of his reviews have somewhat changed my mind on things I previously liked.

In the end, it's just one dude's opinion. I wouldn't give it much thought.

 

I actually like 'On a Threshold of a Dream', but Christgau is not completely wrong though. The main problem with the Moody Blues is that they had way too many saccharine ballads in their catalog.

 

The "I'm about to listen, I haven't heard it, any thoughts?" trend is forum chum. Why quote a review published over fifty years ago of an album you haven't heard? Listen to it yourself.

Also, the notion that a critic can be wrong is ludicrous. You may agree, or disagree, but that difference in opinion in and of itself is meaningless. No one is keeping score. All that matters is how the music strikes you, one way or another. Expressing that could be interesting to others.

 

Not liking prog is allowed isn't it? I notice he gave Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog" an A+ rating and that's very much in the same proto-prog ballpark as the Moody Blues.

 

lol, at the exact same time he published this review, he gave Procol Harum's A Salty Dog an A+.

He gave this one a bad review because he thought it sucked. The references he made to middle-brow song poets (Rod McKuen) and studio schlock like Roy Conniff and Bob Crewe do a very good job of locating the music on the record.

Robert Christgau had major limitations as a critic, but attempts to pigeonhole him as one thing or another, "rock purist" or otherwise, are almost always going to fail. He probably had the widest scope of any writer on pop music in the 20th century.