I found an interesting piece regarding an over the top reaction to an online book review at the excellent Killed In Cars blog .
Killed in Cars is dedicated to independent / experimental music but the author rightly saw the issue of negative reviews as being one that is equally applicable to music reviewers.
As an unpaid writer for Whisperin’ & Hollerin’, I have more than once been tempted to put a gloss on a CD rather than posting a more scathing write-up. However, on reflection, I decided it would be misleading to give a positive report on something I just didn’t like.
What I try to do is to be as constructive as possible when my opinion is not favourable and explain my reasons clearly and honestly.
Any intelligent reader should know that opinions are entirely relative and one man’s future of rock and roll is another’s derivative crap.
To date, I’ve only had one artist who took exception to what he saw as a pompous and needlessly sarcastic piece.
In a brief e-mail exchange I reaffirmed my opinion and sought to clarify my point of view. In the end, we agreed to differ and he was quite civilised about it.
The same dignity is not shared by now infamous Jacqueline Howett who responded in rabid style to a less than glowing review on Big Al’s Books and Pals to her novel The Greek Seaman.
Big Al describes himself as “an avid reader for more decades than he wants to admit” and he set up his blog to cover the surge of independent (“indie”) authors available for e-readers, primarily Amazon’s Kindle, but also the Nook from Barnes and Noble.
You can read his review and the storm that followed here. Continue reading
