27 March 2007

In the backwash of the (carrier) wave

I was taken unawares by a flood of email responses to Riding the (carrier) wave (posted a few days ago).

Thank you, first of all, to everyone who sent comments, reminiscences, quotations, thoughts, and so on. Those of you who agree with some part of what I had to say: I am, naturally, flattered. Those of you who think my musical tastes show me to be mentally defective or culturally shallow: it's a point of view, and you are of course entitled to it. And Mac: I was particularly surprised, and pleased, by our agreement over Barthes!

And to the several people who asked one particular question: yes, I too was often irritated by, or disagreed with, things which Ms Safka said in interviews and album sleeve notes in the late 60s and early seventies. However ... (a) I am equally irritated by, and equally disagree with, many things I said myself thirty to forty years ago ... I'd hate to be assessed today on my teenage utterances ... and (b) I fail to see what this has to do with assessment of her music?

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