We’ve had a lot of fun with Mario Tarradell over the past many months. That said, I hadn’t planned on making him the subject of my first 2010 post, but then so many people got in touch to point me toward his — well, let’s say “interesting” — Top 10 lists that I suppose they forced my hand. Jump.
I know I will be (probably) be accused of snobbery. So stipulated. I mean, I’m probably not the right guy to sit in that chair either. And to answer the “where’s your list?” question, well, I don’t have one, exactly. I will say, and have said, my favorite concert of the year was My Bloody Valentine at the Palladium Ballroom in April and, in no particular order, music I enjoyed this year included: Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage”; the F***ed Up odds and ends compilation; No Age’s “You’re a Target”; the Dark Was the Night compilation; various things from the Atlas Sound; Joe Pernice’s soundtrack to his book It Feels So Good When I Stop; Solange Knowles’s cover of the Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness is the Move”; Telegraph Canyon’s The Tide and the Current; Times New Viking’s Born Again Revisited; the Avett Brothers’ I and Love and You; that record by the xx; and a ton of the stuff I heard on Gorilla Vs. Bear, Aquarium Drunkard, and We Shot JR. Also, the White Denim/Harlem/PVC Street Gang/Fight Bite show at the Pastime Tavern in June destroyed. Anyway, that’s off the top of my head. And that’s just me. Anyway.
Now, I’m not saying Mario has to fit in the same box as every other critic at a major daily newspaper, or the folks from various music mags. But. I haven’t seen a year-end wrap-up as weird as his since probably last year’s entry from Mario, when he gave top billing to Third Day. Seriously.
The top spot is held down by the most uneven U2 record at least since Pop, but probably since forever. Barbra Streisand ranks No. 2. Green Day’s mostly forgettable follow-up to American Idiot cracks the Top 5. The rest is filled with blah-blah country, the most uneven Wilco record in their catalog, and Adam Lambert. It’s just bizarre, is what it is. I was no fan of the previous regime at the Morning News music desk, but at least I knew I wouldn’t get a Top 10 list studded with the likes of Steve Wariner and Larry Gatlin. I couldn’t come up with something that random if you put my iPod on shuffle. And I have some really questionable stuff on my iTunes.
I’ve gone on too long, so I won’t get into his Top 10 concerts. Except: Celine Dion made the list.
Again: Hunter Hauk works for Quick. He’s awesome. It would be an easy transition. Make it happen, DMN!
12 comments
Hunter is awesome. I respect his opinion because it has range — He’s covered Telegraph Canyon but at the same time he can find the jewel in top 40 and make it legit. I once had a 30-minute conversation with him about the fabulous-ness of Beyonce, and that was in 2003 with her first solo. And then smoothly transitioned into our critique of the Little Grizzly show we had caught the weekend before.
Scatteringshooting while I wonder what happened to Zac’s pitch to Wick about a music blog? Your company did announce it will invest more in arts coverage, yes?
How. Embarrassing.
Also: Pete at the Observer had a take on this same subject last week. And I would have read it before now had I been on a computer to do more than check my e-mail since we signed off.
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2009/12/another_year_another_baffling.php
I decided mid-last year that “Mario Tarradell” was a bit. After all, who can take anything he writes seriously?
Let me start by saying that Mario is a VERY nice guy. I know that a professional music review has little to do with the greatness of him as a person, but I wanted to put that out there, anyway.
Let me finish by saying that Mario DID put Morris Day & The Time and Raphael Saadiq on his top concert list. Both put on an AMAZING show. AMAZING!!! Would I agree with his top albums list? No, but that’s OK with me.
Zac: Would you post your greatest hits/albums with commentary?
@Grumpy: I’ll see what I can do.
Does anyone else remember when Zac used to slam Hunter Hauk? I guess that was before Hunter wrote that real sweet review of Zac’s ****ty Pantera book. Now, all of a sudden, Zac is Hunter’s biggest fan.
If I slammed Hunter — don’t remember, but I’ll buy it, as I’ve slammed everyone at some point — that was a long time ago. I think my championing of Hunter for that job precedes his review of my book. Not sure, and don’t feel like searching. But I’ve liked Hunter and his work for a long time. I tried to get him hired as the DO music editor two or three music editors ago.
I can’t recall! I can’t recall! OK, Oliver North… I must have missed the era when Zac was HR Director for the Observer.
Since Zac’s opinions about other writers are so variable, then we don’t need to put much stock in them. Can’t wait to see his sure-to-be awesome Top 10 list.
@Allgood: Everyone’s opinions about everything are variable. Except yours about me, obviously.