Re: FP Review and others

[Diachrome@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 4/12/03 9:43:21 AM, bon@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

..................
> I am not complaining about reviews I get, but about the way classical
> reviewers write.  These guys have ivory towers that bear no resemblance to
> reality.  We would be better off if the rock critic came down; maybe there
> might be a Wow! or two in the headlines.
>
>
Harmonica players in general get dissed in reviews by non-players and the
ignorant at large.
When they do give us a review it's luke warm as in "the harmonica player was
admirable."

One review I recall was in a 1971-72 issue of Downbeat. Toots was on the
cover that month and a review of Butterfield's "Live" record was inside.
The reviewer gave one of the most dynamic harmonica recordings ever, IMO, a
lame review, basically calling it lackluster and without the feel of the
previous studio versions of the tunes. I don't recall him mentioning anything
about Butterfields playing or the forward thinking of the music in general.
He just didn't like the overall LP. I read the review in 1979 so I can't
repeat word for word what was written. Just my feeling after I read it.   IT
was about 7 years after I first bought the LP and was working on my second
copy because I wore out the first LP. Tom Ellis might have a copy of that
review if he wishes to reprint it here. I had to shake my head when I read
it.

I'm wondering if that review and others like it is what kept the LP from
being transferred to cd. It was ahead of it's time. Number Nine is a killer
instrumental on that recording.

The other review was actually an obituary/bio about Bill Evans. He died a few
months after his recording with Toots. The woman that wrote the article/obit
gave mention of the musicians Evans recorded with in the past couple of years
of his life but made no mention of his final recording with Toots, as if we
were to forget that recording counted.





Michael "Fathead" Easton
Chromatic and diatonic repair and restoration @
http://www.harmonicarepair.com