On the front page of this month's Consumer Guide, music writer Robert Christgau announces the column's "retirement."
Though he seems to indicate that he'll continue to do some writing about music, 41 years of amazingly succinct and perceptive criticism of rock music (and related jazz, country, r&b, etc.), presented monthly, comes to an end. In particular, his coverage of the late 60's to the late 80's (the era when the LP was the single dominant delivery format) is stunningly comprehensive.
He was hugely influential (Lou Reed even slagged him off by name on a live album), and my contributions to CHUD's Special Edition column are a blatant attempt at homage.
Hopefully, he will continue to leave the complete Consumer Guide database free to browse online: almost 13,000 reviews, nicely catalogued by artist, year, grade, etc.
Though he seems to indicate that he'll continue to do some writing about music, 41 years of amazingly succinct and perceptive criticism of rock music (and related jazz, country, r&b, etc.), presented monthly, comes to an end. In particular, his coverage of the late 60's to the late 80's (the era when the LP was the single dominant delivery format) is stunningly comprehensive.
He was hugely influential (Lou Reed even slagged him off by name on a live album), and my contributions to CHUD's Special Edition column are a blatant attempt at homage.
Hopefully, he will continue to leave the complete Consumer Guide database free to browse online: almost 13,000 reviews, nicely catalogued by artist, year, grade, etc.
