Xgau Sez: May, 2026
Upgrades/downgrades, salvaging Hendrix's guitar at Monterey Pop, listening to the Eagles, not listening to classical music, and coming to a theater near you (if you're in D.C. or Provincetown).
Hi Bob, it looks like a bunch of the albums that top this year’s Dean’s List received A minuses (e.g. Margaret Glaspy, CMAT, Body Type, S.G. Goodman) while a bunch of straight A’s (e.g. Tyler Childers, Amanda Shires, Danny Brown, Margo Price) land much farther down the list. What gives? — Eric Grossman, New York City.
I decided to construct that list NOT by replaying the many albums that got straight A’s, a herculean timesuck of a task, but by scanning the list and seeing what had taken up some kind of residence in my memory, which means in turn that they had played an active role in my life. That means some albums were left off, and so be it. It also means others that I did replay were upgraded, most notably CMAT and, obviously, Glaspy, which started sitting on my shoulder and whispering in my ear at the very start of the process. Of the downgrades you mention, the ones that stir the most regret are Tyler Childers and Amanda Shires. Least: Danny Brown though of course you never know. Might there be others were I to devote another day to checking everything out yet again? How could there not be? But working late in the game due to health reasons and eager to move on to the April and May Consumer Guides, I had no intention of doing so.
Hi there. I was re-watching Monterey Pop the other night, and there’s a guy in the crowd pictured applauding at the end of Ravi Shankar’s filmed performance, and it shore do look like you. No lengthy response required, unless you want to expound. But, aware you were there: is it? — David Poindexter, Illinois.
That is me, definitely. I wrote a big piece for Esquire about Monterey that’s in Any Old Way You Choose It. Was sitting up front and salvaged a hunk of Hendrix’s guitar that was thrown out as garbage that by a subletter a few years later. Arrrghh.
Reading your essays on the enduring power of the Rolling Stones, I am consistently curious (certainly not surprised per se, as the band is highly polarizing amongst the rockists) about your general dislike of the Eagles—the band, I believe, to a very great extent that continued on the Stones dichotomy of iconographically fronting the excess whilst inwardly always acting as detached, and gritty observers of it. Only the Henley and Frey band did it within broadly-defined corporate rock; but Hotel California album milieu speaks of highly literate narratives that are both functional for the image and stimulating for the intellect/self-criticism beneath it. Doesn’t “The Long Run” opening speak to you as the same sort of exhausted bravado Eagles describe, that the Stones did on “Rocks Off”? And, far beyond accusations of misogyny, “Those Shoes” actually a poignant take on females being preyed upon by predatory males? — Jakub, Poland
When I was at Newsday I wrote a piece called “Trying to Understand the Eagles.” (Relevant aperçu: “Listening to the Eagles has left me feeling alienated from things I used to love.”) Eagles fans hated it. I’m still proud of it myself.
I am 61 years old and have a broad spectrum of musical interests, but find very few personal acquaintances who share my musical interests or variety. From time to time I have a question about music, but don’t have a person to turn to and discuss it with. Can I use you as a source? My first question would be: I enjoy the Kronos Quartet. They are classical virtuoso musicians who appear to perform non-traditional arrangements. What rock band would be a good comparison to them? — John A. Davis, Nebo North Carolina
I liked a 2017 collaboration of theirs with a Malian supergroup. But asking me questions about classical music is a waste of time for everyone involved.
Hello, Enjoyed seeing your Dean’s List as if anything I find it interesting how you compile such a review of all your reviewed albums for the year. Easy to assume A+s make it to the top, with full As following, then the A-s arrange afterwards, with maybe the occasionally the odd B+ being buoyed up after a whole to digest. In recent years, it appears that if the list reflects anything, it reflects your current response to a record when creating the list, in which your previous opinion may have waned or even grown. Examples, Beyonce’s Renaissance (an A+) coming second to Selo i Ludy Performance Band (a full A). Or Charli XCX’s Brat (B+) coming above several full As. Looking at this year’s list I notice several full As be ranked rather low (Skrillex: F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not, dead last; Corook: Committed to a Bit, 49). What changed your opinion, if anything? Also noticed Lorde’s Virgin wasn’t present. — James, Liverpool
See above. Might my response levels change over the months and years? Of course. But at a certain point I play what I feel like playing or a guest has requested and find out from there. In the case of Selo i Ludy I had a conversion experience that hung in there for a while, and although I’ve only played it a few times since, it always sounds good. Remember: I OWN A LOT OF ALBUMS!!!
My name is Michael, and I am a budding film critic/essayist from Milwaukee, WI. I had recently seen the documentary about you, The Last Critic, and I was floored. What I truly loved about the doc is your openness to discuss the craft of writing, and I felt immensely inspired to go home and write (which I am doing). — Michael Viers, Milwaukee
I’m glad you liked it. I had my doubts about the project but I’m very proud. It’s currently showing around the country at film festivals, and I expect it to get to a Manhattan festival later this year.
Did you get sunburned at Monterey?
So who’s the blonde?