New Christgau Consumer Guide From MSN Music

To be clear, the snooty knee-jerk anti-Americans have been on the wave for several decades now.

Interesting. My first time in Paris was during the tail end of the (second) Bush years, and I was surprised how many Parisians my age didn't seem anti-American at all. Almost to a fault - McDonald's seemed depressingly popular - but I remember they were all enthusiastically planning to visit L.A. or NYC or just came back from there, and that stuck out after putting up with "freedom fry" twits in America. I think soon after I saw a new film (Assayas's Summer Hours?) where they mention how the "kids" these days were all into American things. Maybe it's a generational thing?

Ah now I see the "wane" correction, I thought it was on the upswing!

I love What's Going On, as much as I love Sgt. Pepper. Neither would be among my top 3 albums of their respective years, but they're still great albums in my book. The "3 songs + filler" is the most common knock on What's Going On but I didn't learn to hear past that when I stopped trying to judge it by the individual parts. It's hard to explain, but it's like a book where you have scenes or chapters that don't feel remarkable out of context, but without them, the book isn't a masterpiece. Like you need to read those to get the whole thing. The album works brilliantly for me as a stream-of-consciousness immersion into a stoned, traumatized mind, but that's only if I hear it all - that narrative doesn't actually reveal itself without swimming through the entire first side.

*hear past that until I stopped trying to judge it by the individual parts

Oh, I get that, it's just a bore for me after the three sinles.

*singles

The Paula Deen of American Rock Critics TM