hmm, well phil, this is just to salvage that little faith people have in rock critics... as a so-called... erm... 'rock critic', i know many colleagues that receive albums about an hour before the deadline, only get a chance to listen to it once and have to deliver a review... a personal experience of mine relates to listening to rem's 'automatic for the people' years ago and hating it, thinking the songs were drab, boring, and tuneless (yes, i await a bombardment of mail telling me that indeed the songs are drab, boring, and tuneless and that rem is crap). but after those first five listens, it started growing and growing on me... after ten listens, i loved it. now the album is one of my faves (sorry for those offended that rem is on a major! silly twats!). lesson: always beware! if i like an album instantly and the songs are catchy right off the mark, i'll probably learn to despise it very quickly. many excellent records are 'difficult' and take a few spins to work their magic. and who knows? - maybe one day 'the gate' will be heralded as a classic. you know, one of those songs enclosed in a wee capsule on the moon... nah! doubt it. your 'rock critic' and b&s fan (an anomaly?) alex p.s. as i've plugged before, for those german-speakers, there's a lengthy 'rock critique' of the boy with the arab strap (stop those bloody abbreviations!) on my page... ----------------------------------------------------------- alex tobin pater romboutslaan 14 6419 be heerlen the netherlands phone +31.45.5711883 fax +31.46.443.3937 mobile +31.6.50603533 e-mail alex@tobin.demon.nl webpage http://www.tobin.demon.nl +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+