From what I’ve read music critic Lester Bangs was a frustrated musician. I believe this is not an uncommon phenomenon. For every Patti Smith, David Thomas, and Chrissie Hynde who’s graduated from writing record reviews to writing records that get reviewed there must be a thousand frustrated rock critics. I’ve been told this even extends to music bloggers.
It had been years since I checked out the music of Lester Bangs. In fact, I’d forgotten that recordings of his music existed until I read the Joey Ramone memoir, I Slept With Joey Ramone, written by Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, who is a bit of a frustrated musician himself and who played in Bangs’ band for a while. I believe Leigh is the guitarist on this track. [NOTE: I was wrong about this belief.]
I found this track surprisingly strong. I still haven’t gone back to check out his other recordings, but had this been better recorded it would sit nicely alongside some of the jazz-poetry workouts of Patti Smith and a side 2 track from Pere Ubu‘s Dub Housing.
What do you think? Yourself excluded, who’s your favorite critic/frustrated musician?
