BEST REVIEWS

Rita: How ’bout we balance out the bad reviews our president is getting with the best reviews that local rockers have gotten. Lolita: Sounds good. Okay everybody, get in a single line and let me know about the best review you ever got. JOHNNY BLACK (Stinkin’ Lincolns): After a Johnny & the Jumper Cables gig, some dude came up to me and said “You’re almost good enough to play the blues.” Considering how hard it is the play the blues well, I took it as a supreme compliment. *** CHANDLER TRAVIS (Chandler Travis & the Guys Who Play With Chandler Travis Sometime): I love (and occasionally, under a pseudonym, even write) reviews, and your own Joe Coughlin and Francis DiMenno have written some beauties on us over the years. The most accurate review I ever got was also the first, which covered a Travis Shook & the Club Wow show at Paul’s Mall, maybe even in ’69 (!)—some guy from the Phoenix (sorry, don’t know who offhand) nailed my bass playing as “ham-fisted,” which it has remained to this day. But, damn, we got a spectacular one just yesterday, from Rob Conery of the Cape Cod Chronicle (a writer I’m completely unacquainted with), who said (among other things) that our version of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” on Tarnation & Alastair Sim “...feels like you’ve duct-taped blown 1985 Walkman speakers to your head and had a drunken rhinoceros push you on a rope swing.” *** MIKE LANGLIE (Twink): From an album review at diskant.net: “I kind of like this, if for no other reason than it seems so entirely deranged.” *** ARTO PAYASLIAN (Mishima USA/ The Kent 100s): Pitchfork gave “Hold My Breath” a 7.9 rating, which was really a great treat. Higher than Death Cab For Cutie, The Shins, and The White Stripes! Even though we say those ratings and reviews don’t matter... Thanks Pitchfork! *** MICHAEL EPSTEIN (The Motion Sick/ Okay Thursday): A Herald blogger said that I look like “50 percent Morrissey, 50 percent Woody Allen.” *** SHAUN WOLF WORTIS (Mardi Gras/ Slide): Well, one of the VP’s at Epic said I had the “greatest voice” he’d “ever heard.” I’d have to say it was hyperbole, as Epic didn’t sign us... The Euro version of Rolling Stone said that Slide was better than the Black Crowes. That too may have been hyperbole. Billboard put Wilco and us on their cover, prophesying the next big thing. Again, (alas), hyperbole! I’d have say the best “review” may have been from an old Korean guy who said I reminded him of the shamans he witnessed as a boy in Korea. Now that was pretty cool! *** MIKE COMITE (Sallyboy): I was called a “future Boston rock star waiting to happen” in a live review of Sallyboy at the WBCN High School Battle of the Bands, in March of 2006. *** E. ADAMS (Rock City Crimewave): From a train-hopper punk at a show we played in Ashville, NC, in an abandoned auto dealership: “I just came here to beat people up, but you guys were pretty good, so I danced.” *** DAVE RAND (Robot Goes Here): Best review: “Your music makes me want to set my house on fire beat up my mom then eat woodland creatures but dance while I’m doing... you rock!”—Dan, Revere, MA. *** KRIS THOMPSON (The Lothars/ Concord Ballet Orchestra Players): Hard to pick just one, so I won’t! Reviewing Abunai!’s The Mystic River Sound in Rolling Stone, David Fricke said “you’ll swear it’s midnight at the Boston Tea Party in sweet ’67.” The Playboy review of The Lothars’ Connected said our music “sound(s) like elegies for Martians, or love songs for robots.” And then there was what may have been Joe Couglin’s most bizarre review ever—the one of Abunai!’s Round-Wound in The Noise (#207). 90 percent of it was a violent drug-fueled fantasy, followed by a few short sentences that commented directly on the music. *** CHUCK U. (WMFO/ Urban Ambience): The best review I ever got wasn’t an actual review. I played in this noise/art band called Urban Ambience through the late ’80s and ’90s (with Michael Bloom and Bob McCloskey). We were not a rock band, so our gigs at the Middle East, Johnny D’s, Green Street Station, and other clubs about town did not fare so well. Places like Zeitgeist were much more appealing, as was performances on Access TV and local radio. On one such performance at CCTV, we had lots of live psychedelic effects mixed in. The engineer on duty at the time was blown away by our performance. When we finished, all she could say was, “You guys make me want to smoke pot again.” We took that as a compliment. *** MARTY WHITE (Mr. Curt Ensemble): It was July 30, 2005 and there I was on stage at the Paradise Rock Club, the stage that any aspiring Boston musician dreams to play on. I was playing the thirtieth reunion tour with the legendary Third Rail, me (Mr. Curt), Gary Soprano, Mike (Dog) Powers, David Birmingham, and of course, the man, the myth, the legend, Richard Nolan himself. The next day I read that Third Rail played to a full house and the audience response was overwhelming. It really helps when you have your bandleader writing your reviews. *** DOUG FULLER (The Silver Lining): My best [personal] review was when Jonathan Perry said I was “discreetly superb.” I didn’t know what to think of that at first but then realized that, as a drummer, there is no higher praise. I also think he may have been hitting the bottle when listening to the record... not that there’s anything wrong with that. *** DAVE TREE (SuperPower/ DrugWar): The best recent review I got was from The Noise’s own Mr. Joe Hacking. His first review of SuperPower was his first time seeing us and was very kind. The most recent review shows us he gets what we are trying to do and digs it. Cheers. *** MRS. SLIMEDOG (The Noise): Slimedog once said I was good at sex, he gave me four stars! *** ZORTAR (The Noise): Slimedog once said I was good at (simulated) sex, he gave me four stars! *** SLIMEDOG’S CAT (The Noise): Slimedog once said I was good at sex, he gave me four stars! *** SLIMEDOG (The Noise): Once someone suggested I go fuck myself. In fact, if was a thouroughly enjoyable experience. I gave myself five stars! Lolita: If Slimedog entertains you, you might want to attend the going away party for the Slimedogs at the Abbey Lounge on Friday, September 14 starting at 8:00pm, $7 admission, and there’ll be food. Bands include: Friends of Joe Zippo (Zippo Raid songs), Over the Edge (reunion), Thunderhog (debut), The Dimwits, The Spoilers, Rock City Crimewave, The McGunks, and Bass Camaro.