10 Years With Glide Magazine: A Look Back Part 2

Wow, @glidemag, has it really been 10 years since I first contributed to the website? That is hard to believe, time flies. In chatting with the sites fantastic editor, Shane Handler, about this series it turns out I have been the longest continual contributor to Glide, that's a fun feat. It continues to be a great ride but since everyone likes round numbers, I decided to take some time to look back at my favorite writings for the site.

Today I want to take a second to look at three of our favorite "Thumbs Down" reviews, thumbs way down actually...they can't all be zingers.

In writing for this Glide, we rarely get sent albums that stink. Shane and the crew do a great job of sifting through the rubbish before sending out CD's or download links for the writers to review. Because of that we virtually never get crap, but when something sneaks through, it is go time.

Writing about a great albums can be pretty easy because you hear something that ignites your spirit, it moves you and you just need to put that into words. The same can be said for the stinkers. The vitriol just pours out with ease. It is actually the "Ok-Good" albums that really stump you, because that is where most of the releases wind up and they test you as a writer, but the bad ones? Oh man they are fun.

My favorite early review of crizzzap was this one about Tarantula AD's release Book Of Sand. Holy pompous nonsense, this release didn't sit well from the first moment we checked out the album art.  

Woof. I literally have no idea how these guys got a spot opening for Pearl Jam of all people. Back to the review though, it was an easy one to write and even with the new 10 point scale this would be down by the 1-2 range. On the plus side though I did check out Borges Book of Sand from the library, after listening to this dreck. I hadn't read it since college and it was really amazing to revisit...huh I should do that again soon.

The next review of a turkey we will revisit is also back from the early days of writing for the site when we reviewed Imogen Heap's album Speak For Yourself.  While this wasn't as laughable as Book of Sand, it was pretty light and silly, especially for an artist who was being pumped to the heavens in England and pushed heavily on MTV shows here. The songs were light, airy and instantly forgettable, but while the "Brittney puke" line may have been harsh, I was very surprised to learn Imogen had some vocal fans.

You may notice I put my actual old email address on the bottom of my reviews when I was writing for the site and this one got me my first load of hate mail. The first one was fun to respond to, by the tenth I just let them come in unread. We are all free to voice our opinion, I just don't need to engage.

The last one I will highlight for this post is actually from an acclaimed guitar player who has played with both Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, this is a guitarist who people love...and who also made a clunker of an album. This review of Nils Lofgren's grossness of a disk, Old School.

Well it was aptly titled, because he sure as shit sounds like an out of touch geezer on this disk. In fact I should have given one star for that first song alone...

Some fine playing, but what a horrible lyric.

There have been others but these stick out as some of our favorite "bad" reviews. Man I hope some more come out soon, these are so fun to write. Thanks to Shane and the gang at Glide for the opportunity to review these turkeys and thanks for reading all these years.