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Old 25-03-2018, 13:27
Marat Sar's Avatar
Marat Sar Marat Sar is offline
I am purity, they call me perverted
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 493
Quote:
Originally Posted by Routine Builder View Post
Some of the reviews I read are from people who've written about the Manics since before I even knew they existed. But I'm a genuine fan I guess, I must know more than they do, I post on a message board, god forbid I could get any insight from someone who writes about music for a living.
+1

That "some kid in Q" is probably a pretty serious manics fan who has the ability and werewithal to put that care and knowledge into a 2000 word essay on that album. It's not super easy to do, compress opinion like that. And real responsibility is involved (unlike just saying something on a thread or a social media post), not only to the readers btw.The "kid" is also responsible for also giving adequate feedback to JDB, Nicky and Sean, so they have some idea what they just made.

Let me take this moment to apreciate and thank one Colin Weston who said Lifeblood was a timeless classic on its release: http://dis11.herokuapp.com/releases/...hers-lifeblood)

Reviews also dictate sales. You'd think they don't but for bands like the Manics whose work isn't judged by soc media buzz and penetration, something like that Simon Price review on Futurology probably shifted at least 8k units in the end, and cemented the album (rightfully) as a late career masterpiece. Him and similar critics, of whom there were plenty, emboldened the band to keep incorporating its electronic elements and musical optimism in further work. (Resistance, by the sound of it), unlike with Lifeblood to SATT where mr Weston's voice up there was the exception.

So, in conclusion -- criticism not only affects us, and sales, it also affects the band themselves. You can be 100% sure they don't aggregate their work with fans' blabbering online, they'd go mad if they did.

Music writing is not the enemy it used to be, it's one of the few remaining counterbalances to total Facebook driven barbarism, where the decimal point in your views counter is the only grade music has. The few people who still work in music writing do so out of ethical reasons and love of music (manics included) alone. The pay is non existent and the (very positive) influence on history is sadly waning.

Last edited by Marat Sar; 25-03-2018 at 13:31.
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