★★★★★
For whatever reason, certain musicians seemingly suited for massconsumption are destined to remain what marketers would callniche products. Despite the use of her songs in Magnolia, AimeeMann appears headed for such a province, following in thebad-luck footsteps of such underappreciated performers as EStreet Band guitarist Nils Lofgren. And then there's MarshallCrenshaw, one of the great lost rockers of the '80s...
- ew.com
2011-03-03
★★★★★
On his firststudio album in five years, the veteran pop meister drops hisusual slickness for a looser approach. Marshall Crenshaw still has anunerring song sense, be it raw (an incendiary cover of RayPrice's "Who Stole That Train") or melodic (the radiant"Starless Summer Sky"). With just enough acid mixed in with thesweetness, Miracle of Science is truly a miracle. A-
- ew.com
2010-08-27
★★★★★
The songs on Marshall Crenshaw's tenth studio album, his first in six years, creep up on you in unexpected ways. Anyone familiar with his body of work will hear distinctive shades of his past from the rockabilly flavored opener "Right on Time" to the smooth adult nostalgia and resignation of "Passing Through...
- www.ink19.com
2009-11-19
★★★★★
From that spiritual place where you conclude that since life doesn't resolve neatly, neither should songs ("Passing Through," "Right on Time").
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-09-19
★★★★★
That's right, import--the long-rumored non-Lillywhite unhyped-drums version of three songs from Field Day plus a live Elvis (Presley) cover and a DOR remix of "For Her Love." In addition to balancing the instruments, the remixes add a few decorative flourishes, and as a Crenshaw fanatic I've already put them on a special tape. Did I get it free? You bet. What do you take me for--a collector?
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-17
★★★★★
With Steve Lillywhite doctoring Crenshaw's efficient trio until it booms and echoes like cannons in a cathedral, the production doesn't prove Marshall isn't retro, though he isn't. It proves that no matter how genuine your commitment to the present, you can look pretty stupid adjusting to fashion--as usual, production brouhaha is a smokescreen for the betrayal of impossibly ecstatic expectation...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-17
★★★★★
By now there's comfort in his surprising little modulations as well as his plain-spoken prosody, and it's nigh on 10 years since he collected so many strong songs; heard live, "Better Back Off" and "Don't Disappear Now" seem no less inevitable than "Cynical Girl" or "Whenever You're on My Mind...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
This album seems simple because it is simple, yet it continues to unfold long after you believe its byways played out--not by exploiting the snazzy bridges and key changes of the traditional pop arsenal, but with lines repeated at odd junctures, choruses reentering when you anticipate another verse...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
One reason his debunkers can't decide whether he's ripping off Buddy Holly (nice boy, wears glasses) or John Lennon (played him in Beatlemania, wears glasses) is that he loves the music of the '50s just the way '60s rockers did before they fell victim to hippie condescension--not as living tradition but as living music. With its played-not-produced intimation of process, Downtown gets this unpretentious message across--this is the kind of album whose negligible songs can open your set...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
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