Review 1 of 4

hedbakery writes:

4of 5 Stars

Rob Sheffield never fails to inform. In this instance he informs us that derivative Yalies don't "get" this particular album. He refuses to see it in the context of its time (PiL's Flowers of Romance and the Grateful Dead's Reckoning & Dead Set), preferring to play the pith helmet-wearing White Explorer: "I like hip-hop too!" Lovely...

Feb 29, 2008 23:37:40

Review 2 of 4

paulG writes:

5of 5 Stars

Sheffield is a player hater. Maybe he just has something personal against eno and byrne. If he wants to go back to kissing the strokes' ass, or whatever it is he usually does, he can be my guest. for the rest of you, check out real innovation. this album is legit.

Jun 13, 2006 17:45:23

Review 3 of 4

misterstick writes:

5of 5 Stars

The reason that Rob Sheffield has denigrated this masterpiece
may be because all the voices on “Bush of Ghosts” are indeed
sampled. See, without an artist’s lyrics to cop and oh-so-
cleverly weave into his reviews and artist summaries as if
those word were his own (see any of his RS columns or the
latest version of the Record Guide), Sheffield becomes
desperate to fill a page So he takes out his frustrations on the
work in front of him. The constant swipes from the very
records he writes about is not only the work of a hack, but
also that of an out-and-out plagiarist. And, sadly, I must
admit that some of his work indicates that he can do better.

“Bush of Ghosts” boldly introduced the world to a cut-and-
paste form of creativity, one that Sheffield continues to abuse.
This is a work that actually puts open-minded listeners on the
same page, and crosses all kinds of boundaries to do it. I
have met people all around the globe who hail Eno and
Byrne’s album as the benchmark that it is. And I have seen
these same people, and others less aware of the album’s
origins, shake their asses like mad to the tight grooves
underneath the ‘found’ and looped voices. The backing tracks
are “weak and pissy”? Yeah, and Sly Stone and Nile Rodgers
were white guys in blackface, too.

Grab any chance to re-live this mind-blowing recording, this
hallmark of its time that showed how original you could be
with an electric bass, a tape recorder, and a shortwave radio.
There is a galaxy of music that we owe to the inspiration of
this work. Even dismissing it's long-range influence, "Ghosts"
is a riveting listening experience.

Maybe you should download it cheap from iTunes and use the
savings to help pay the tuition of whatever decent writer
might knock Rob Sheffield out of a job – or at least scare him
into using his own mind for a change - not just scamming
other, more gifted writers.

Apr 13, 2006 12:49:20

Review 4 of 4

bewlaybrutha writes:

4of 5 Stars

Haha. Rolling Stone prove yet again how fucking out of it they are when it comes to any groundbreaking music. They're spiritually a magazine of ELP fans decrying punk as unimportant and talentless. A shortsighted bastion of MOR taste'till the end.

Apr 12, 2006 12:08:05