Calling all critics

[QuantumJo]

I have been encouraging a good friend of mine to start writing reviews of the shows that he has seen. His tastes are not prog, although I have turned him on to several bands that I have heard here on the moon. His cd collection is some where between 3500 and 4000 disc’s and growing all the time.

I value the opinions of people on the moon. If you could please critique his writing for me I would appreciate any raves or criticism you may have. I have no problem if this thread is deleted. I’m just looking for your thoughts.

Thanks in advance,
jo

[QuantumJo]

Robin Trower At the Tralf March 25, 2008


Is it just another Tuesday night in R&R’ville? No, it’s Trower at the Tralf. Another show to add to the memory banks. Cool!

Warming up the crowd for the night was the Mick Hayes Band, a Western New York staple for many years. In 1999 Mick Hayes opened for both Marshall Tucker and Molly Hatchett wile in the band Only Human. In 2003 he formed the Mick Hayes Band & won an award for Best Blues Guitarist. The Mick Hayes Band has 2 CD’s available, About Forever & Live as they should be. Both are nice additions to any music collection.

The Mick Hayes Band opened up exhibiting a lot of energy, Mick is proof that the local scene is going strong still.

Mick was a little bit nervous with his banter. I think this was maybe due to this was his first show at the Tralf. Mick’s playing showed no hesitation and the rest of the band followed right along. Makes you look forward to the new album coming out soon from this bluesy three piece.

What can I say about Robin Trower that hasn’t already been said? Not much, so I’m going to pick a few obvious trains of thought and run them through both of my brain cells. First off that distinctive guitar sound. Such tone, such sustain, such control. Each song grabed me and took me to another place.

The depth of Trower’s catalog is immense covering more than Three decades. On the set list were all the obvious fave's Victims of the fury, Daydream, & Too rolling stoned. Even though he didn’t play everything I was looking for, it was still a killer show. That’s one of the signs of a good band.

Davey Pattison’s eerily haunting voice made the rendition of Bridge of Sighs almost like the old days with James Dewar. The guitar solo in the song was extended, not to flashy just soulfully meaty. Coupled with Glenn Letsch’s base chops it was a perfect mesh.

All in all a good time was had by the band and the fans. Now… if I can just find a way to see these shows and not get both my brain cells welded together. Well there’s always next week

Wild Bill Sharp

[OverHillandDale(Admin)]

Well, seems like all the critics have left the building. So, I guess I'll take a stab at it. Now I also saw the Trower tour so I'm familiar with the show.

Wild Bill, I liked your review. Your style is concise and simple. It's from the heart and you tell it as you felt it. Some things other people like to see in a review might also include production values, like the light show (if there was one or commenting that there wasn't any appreciable lighting), sound quality and dynamics. It's nice to get a full 'picture' of the show, both visually and aurally. This can also include the audience's general reactions and 'tude.

But as I said, I like your general style. Good simple (and that's a positive thing) authentic style.

Now, I do have one bone to pick. Glenn Letsch plays the 'bass' guitar, not a base. One of those cases where spell check won't catch it.

Thanks for the review. I especially liked the psychedelic section about midway through where they went to an almost black light setting and played into the alternate universe. Cool stuff.

[jtmckinley]

Good advice from Dale, so I'll just add "use a spelling checker" and a couple other notes. A spelling checker wouldn't have caught "base", or "to" where "too" should have been used, but it would have caught the others like "wile" and "grabed". Also I don't know if a grammar or style checker would catch this, but the sentence "I think this was maybe due to this was his first show at the Tralf", should probably be written "I think this was maybe due to this being his first show at the Tralf". Other than that, nice review, but as Dale said a bit more detail would be useful, but of course you may have word limits depending on where you want to publish. Maybe just try to write down everything you remember about the gig and then edit the review to make it more concise and remove non-essential stuff to hit whatever word limits you may be working with. Good luck and thanks for the review!