Even though there are lots of reasons to not support the Village Voice, there is a PoOP tradition of noting the arrival of the granddaddy of POmpous and OPinionated Music Lists. So there you have it.

PoOPsters, start your engines – What will the correlation of “theirs” be to “ours” – Pazz and Jop

This weeks NYT Popcast has a fascinating discussion between Ben Sisario and one of my favorite writers, Nik Cohn. Really good insights into how the times influenced Cohn’s review in The Times back in ’68.  I found myself nodding in agreement and saying “Yes! You put your finger on it!”   The White Album, Heard in 1968 and Pronounced Boring. And Now? PS: You’ve heard the term “He’s got a face fit for radio”?  Well,  Jon Pareles has a voice fit for the newspaper.  Someone really needs to help him with microphone /  headphone  technique and perhaps give him a nice expectorant……

Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream From Springsteen we’ve come to expect, if not outright demand, the rich, multi-hued detail of every moment, making ‘Working On A Dream’s weird one: It sounds real good but what does it mean? Springsteen has always taken his heralded influences and made them work for him but here he works for them and, opposite his granite rep, doesn’t always get the job done. If these dark ages really were the old radio glory days his writing harkens back to, “My Lucky Day” and the CCR-ish title track would deservedly be blasting from every…