This month’s Poptimist column is basically a review of the Britney Spears album. I have slightly mixed feelings about it (the column not the album, which is a TOP POP SMASHER) – some of the ideas in the piece are “notational”, I was too harsh on the closing track and the Twin Peaks intro/conclusion doesn’t really do anything, but I think I did justice to the best tracks. It’s also true to say that some of the ideas in here were arrived at through chat on Poptimists, and also through reading reviews by Dave Moore, Frank Kogan etc. So a big thankyou to them!
Since this is my last column of 2007 I thought I’d link to the previous 9 here too, so here they are:
#1: Music hall, audience participation, the Beatles
#2: “Spoilers” and the effect of instant access on music appreciation
#3: The 2000AD one – includes explanation of thrill-power in pop
#4: What makes good music writing (criticism vs advocacy in the interweb era)
#5: The ABBA one – pop music for grown-ups
#6: Are the Smiths funny? Big Facts about music and what they hide.
#7: Dump all your rubbish music and start again pls.
#8: The gorilla one – how an advert can be great pop criticism.
#9: The NME, Radio 1 and consensus-building in UK pop.