Prince would be better off if he just left the business because he will never make another album that will please everyone.

It's a pretty on-point review, but these indie-reviewers need to chill with all the big college words. It's a little overkill with words like "acquiesced", "mawkish", "hubristic", "pontiffs " and "sieve". I mean, most readers are intelligent enough to use context clues to get through an article, but having to keep dictionary.com open in a separate window is a bit annoying. I think it's actually more amateurish to make yourself sound complicated when you can just keep your wording simple. It's not "dumbing it down"... just not "complicating it up".

Nevermind the actual review, the
writer (herself?) displayed
the actual pretentious, rambling "dreck". Wow.
The internet doesn't so much level the playing
field as place it 10 feet below many of us.
DREADFULLY VERBOSE.

mrdespues said:

what does dreck mean

stanleylieber said:

i see what you're trying to do here, but i think you chose the wrong word for an example. all of us who are on a prince fan site know the meaning of the word "dreck" (sic or otherwise).

What a pretentious son of a bitch. Reminds me of the people that were in my wife's phD program - the kind of people that love to use big and intellectual-sounding words for no reason other than to make you believe that they're smarter than they actually are. A good writer, and one secure in his own abilities, needs no such nonsense. Nor does he need 50 words to convey what can be said in 25. This is why I hate Pitchfork. GET TO THE POINT!!
[Edited 4/13/09 21:35pm]

But Pitchfork shows a lot of love for Prince, for instance on their list of 100 best albums of the '80s (all the usual nerdy white-boy suspects):

045: Prince
Sign 'O' The Times
[Paisley Park/Warner Bros; 1987]
Along with The White Album and Exile on Main Street , Sign 'O' The Times is the template for the perfect double album. Take an artist at the peak of his powers, give him the space to work all his crazy ideas to their logical conclusion, and then edit the results into a varied four-sided collection. Club classics ("Hot Thing", "U Got the Look"), ballads of epic rock ("The Cross"), sexy R&B ("Adore"), and flat-out amazing pop songs ("I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," "If I Was Your Girlfriend") are all here in abundance. Oh yeah, he wrote, played, produced and sang just about everything himself, too. Was he the greatest quadruple threat ever? Listen and decide for yourself. --Mark Richardson

012 Purple Rain
[Warner Bros; 1984]
Prince was everywhere in 1984. Almost every song on Purple Rain was in steady rotation on radio or MTV at some point (don't remember hearing "Computer Blue" anywhere), and incredibly, they never really got old. What carries Purple Rain over is the unbelievable emotional intensity Prince brings to nearly every song. He never screamed with more intensity than on the end of "The Beautiful Ones", he never wrote another melody as good as "When Doves Cry", and he never integrated his rock leanings into his sound as completely as on "Let's Go Crazy". The great accomplishments of Prince are very great indeed, and this is his greatest. --Mark Richardson
087: Prince
Dirty Mind
[Warner Bros; 1980]
No one ever made the combination of gender ambiguity and panting sexuality seem as right and natural as Prince, an outsider stuck in a mid-sized midwestern city with the balls to sport heavy makeup, thigh-high stockings and bikini briefs while opening for the Rolling Stones. Dirty Mind is the Purple One in stark black and white, as yet untouched by the spiritual heaviness that would color his work as the 80s wore on. At this point, all he wanted was to get down, in both senses of that word. The music is unbelievably lean, with the dry recording and minimal production serving as the perfect foil to the decidedly wet and lush physicality of the subject matter. Catchy electro-pop meets danceable electro-funk, Dirty Mind stands as Prince's first great album. --Mark Richardson
[Edited 4/13/09 13:01pm]

squirrelgrease said:

The best piece of advice I got when starting my writing career was, "Never use a two-syllable word when one syllable will do."

murph said:

Not much I'd argue with. Not many choices that I'd call indefensible (but always thought REM and Sonic Youth overrated):

100: Minor Threat - Out of Step [Dischord; 1984]
099: Gang of Four - Songs of the Free [Warner Bros; 1982]
098: Cocteau Twins - Treasure [4AD; 1984]
097: Mekons The Mekons - Rock 'N' Roll [A&M; 1989]
096: Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring [Dischord; 1985]
095: Duran Duran - Rio [Capitol; 1982]
094: Meat Puppets - II SST; 1983]
093: David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) [RCA; 1980]
092: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love [EMI; 1985]
091: X - Los Angeles [Slash; 1980]
090: Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking [Warner Bros; 1988]
089: Boredoms - Soul Discharge [Shimmy-Disc; 1989]
088: Spacemen 3 - Playing with Fire [Fire; 1989]
087: Prince - Dirty Mind [Warner Bros; 1980]
086: The Police - Ghost in the Machine [A&M; 1981]
085: Paul Simon - Graceland [Warner Bros; 1986]
084: ESG - Come Away with ESG [99; 1983]
083: Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring [EMI; 1986]
082: The Fall - Perverted by Language [Rough Trade; 1983]
081: Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll [4AD; 1988]
080: Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising [SST; 1985]
079: Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 [Spalax; 1981]
078: They Might Be Giants - Lincoln [Fire; 1989]
077: The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come [Sire; 1987]
076: The dB's - Stands for Decibels [IRS; 1981]
075: Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded [Sugar Hill; 1987]
074: Mekons - Fear & Whiskey [Sin; 1985]
073: Coil Horse - Rotorvator [Relativity; 1987]
072: Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun [SST; 1985]
071: Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me [Sire; 1987]
070: Elvis Costello - Trust [Columbia; 1981]
069: The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms [A&M; 1980]
068: Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense [Sire; 1984]
067: The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & The Lash [MCA; 1985]
066: The Dukes of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot [Virgin; 1987]
065: The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight [Armageddon; 1980]
064: Television Personalities - ... And Don't the Kids Just Love It [Rough Trade; 1981]
063: Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth [Rough Trade; 1980]
062: R.E.M. - Reckoning [IRS; 1984]
061: Nurse with Wound - Homotopy to Marie [United Dairies; 1982]
060: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska [Columbia; 1982]
059: Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction [Geffen; 1987]
058: Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom [Columbia; 1982]
057: Pixies - Come On Pilgrim [4AD; 1987]
056: King Crimson - Discipline [Warner Bros; 1981]
055: The Police - Synchronicity [A&M; 1983]
054: Big Black - Songs about F---ing [Touch & Go; 1987]
053: Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls & Marches [Ace of Hearts; 1981]
052: Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full [4th & Broadway; 1987]
051: Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man [Columbia; 1988]
050: Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription [Fire; 1987]
049: Mission of Burma - Vs. [Ace of Hearts; 1982]
048: R.E.M. - Document [IRS; 1987]
047: John Zorn - Naked City [Tzadik; 1989]
046: XTC - English Settlement [Virgin; 1982]
045: Prince - Sign 'O' The Times [Paisley Park/Warner Bros; 1987]
044: Kraftwerk - Computer World [Warner Bros; 1981]
043: Run-DMC - Raising Hell [Profile; 1986]
042: Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session [RCA; 1988]
041: Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill [Def Jam; 1986]
040: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me [SST; 1987]
039: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses [Silvertone; 1989]
038: The Cure - Disintegration [Fiction/Elektra; 1989]
037: The Replacements - Tim [Sire; 1985]
036: Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes [Rough Trade; 1983]
035: N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton [Ruthless/Priority; 1988]
034: Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden [EMI; 1988]
033: The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour [Kamera; 1982]
032: Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade [SST; 1984]
031: Sonic Youth - EVOL [SST; 1986]
030: U2 - The Joshua Tree [Island; 1987]
029: The Replacements - Let It Be [Twin/Tone; 1984]
028: New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies [Factory; 1983]
027: Michael Jackson - Thriller [Epic; 1982]
026: Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Get Happy [Columbia; 1980]
025: Black Flag - Damaged [SST; 1981]
024: Gang of Four - Solid Gold [Warner Bros; 1981]
024: Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy [Blanco y Negro/Warner Bros; 1985]
022: My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything [Creation/Sire; 1988]
021: Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [Sire; 1981]
020: This Heat - Deceit [Rough Trade; 1981]
019: Public Image, Ltd. - Second Edition [Virgin; 1980]
018: De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising [Tommy Boy; 1989]
017: Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime [SST; 1984]
016: Galaxie 500 - On Fire [Rough Trade; 1989]
015: XTC - Skylarking [Virgin; 1986]
014: Sonic Youth - Sister [SST; 1987]
013: The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace [Beggars Banquet; 1985]
012: Prince & The Revolution - Purple Rain [Warner Bros; 1984]
011: Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones [Island; 1983]
010: Joy Division - Closer [Factory; 1980]
009: Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [Def Jam; 1988]
008: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs [Island; 1985]
007: Pixies - Surfer Rosa [4AD; 1988]
006: The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead [Sire; 1986]
005: R.E.M. - Murmur [IRS; 1983]
004: Pixies - Doolittle [4AD; 1989]
003: Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique [Capitol; 1989]
002: Talking Heads - Remain in Light [Sire; 1980]
001: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation [Blast First/Enigma; 1988]

Parroted a lot of what I said about the records in my own review. Well written and insightful. And heaven forbid someone use high school level vocabulary when writing a review. I can only imagine the take on a writer using the tools of his trade (ie using words) had this been a positive review. Then everyone would be gushing about how there was an intelligent review that praised the record.

Face it, Lotusflower and Mplsound are average at best and the third disc is a laughable bore.

Some of you all people need more scrabble in your lives, shoot

Anxiety said:

I just had to look up scrabble. It's definitely not what I thought it meant.

Any 'best of' list from the 80's that places Takes A Nation of Millions and Paul's Boutique ahead of Purple Rain has zero credibility (for me at any rate).

Neither album (in my humble opinion) has even a smidgen of original music on them (but there's no accounting for taste is there).

Paul's Boutique: 3rd best album of the 1980's.

i see what you're trying to do here, but i think you chose the wrong word for an example. all of us who are on a prince fan site know the meaning of the word "dreck" (sic or otherwise).

Accujack said:

Very reasonable. What you say about taste is so true.

ChaosDisorder said:

but he didn't use big or pretentious words.

i mean, 'sieve'? you guys really had trouble with that one?

'mawkish'?

ChaosDisorder said:

but he didn't use big or pretentious words.

i mean, 'sieve'? you guys really had trouble with that one?

'mawkish'?

i can't believe they put the smiths above bowie on their list. i mean, WAY above. without bowie, there would have been no smiths. come on, now. and is nurse with wound THAT influential? ugh, i hate these lists.