Critic's Choice

James Blunt earned a place in The Guinnes Book of Records for the fastest selling album in one year(2006). In Britian alone Back to Bedlam sold over three million copies and was certified 10x platinum. The album eventually sold 11 million copies worldwide and topped the album charts in 16 territories. Compare this with Van Morrisson's critically acclaimed 1968 album Astral Weeks which, 33 years after its inital release, eventually achieved gold status.

It can safely be said that Back to Bedlam won't be appearing on any authorative lists detailing the best albums of all time. Astral Weeks, however, was listed at number 2 in Mojo's 1995 list: The 100 Best Albums. It featured at number 19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. It also ranked number 5 in The Ticket's: Top 40 Irish Albums of All Time.

So, what is the reason for the massive difference of opinion between the music buying public and professional critics as to what constitutes good music? Surely people who are paid to review an album and hold themselves out to be an authority on such matters should be appreciative of music that has sold hugely across the globe and, further, should hold a degree of influence over the music buying public.

It is rarely the case that the public and critcs agree on the merits of a particular song/album and share a common appreciation of its appeal. A discernable pattern emerges when the music beloved of critics is examined. Critics are particularly concerned with emotion, lyrics, innovation and authenticity. Attributes absent in the majority of popular music. It is not that they are using different criteria to asses music, they are simply giving greater weight to some of them. Critics' favourites that the public hate include: Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, Robert Wyatt's Dondestan and Van's Astral Weeks.

The music buying public, on the other hand, derive most satisfaction from material that places emphasis on melody, entertainment, escapism, immediacy and imagery. Attributes that critics often downweight. Public favourites that the critics hate include: Meat Loaf's "Bat out of Hell", "Hotel California" by the Eagles and, of course, ANYTHING by James Blunt.

There has been plenty of recent evidence to suggest that the tastes of critcs and the public can converge. I, personally, was greeted with looks of disgust on the admission that I believed that Rhianna's "Umbrella" was a good song. I didn't "like it-like it" but could appreciate how the song "ticked all the boxes" on the road to creating a well crafted pop song that caused quite a stir on it's release. Other examples of agreement between the normally divided factions include "Hey Ya" by Outcast, "Crazy"- Gnarls Barkley and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". Critics adored them as much as the millions who bought them.

Overall, it seems that true music critcs have an influence over a limited group of people. These people are happy to shun the zeitgeist in search of something more challenging despite looks of confusion when queried on musical preferences on a regular basis. It is also interesting to note that both sets can reach a harmonious common-ground in some instances. I always remeber reading somewhere in the past that the melody of a song makes you fall in "like" with a song, whereas, the lyrics make you fall in love. I suppose critics search out love, and overall, are more susceptible to falling head over heels.



* I must credit Mark Edwards of The Sunday Times for much of the basis of this piece.