The list of things I hate in the world isn't so long, really: Chris Martin, Simon Cowell and Pitchfork are the highlights of my lowlifes! My distaste is one part jealousy (to say we do rock nyc on a shoestring overestimes the price of shoestrings), one part bemusement that anybody takes the long winded blowhearts and one part admiration (always hurt the ways we love asRotten once noted).
So in the spirit of the season, let me inquire why anybody would give the fabulous Dinosaur Jr official bootleg from an early concert Chocomel Daze (Live 1987) a 4.5 out of 10 review, I have no idea. The bloke who wrote the review thought it wasn't loud enough and sounded like crap (I paraphrase because I don't write stuff like: ."Aside from Mascis' phaser-pedal flourishes and occasionally hammy vocal tic… what you get are simply more slack, sloppier, and shoddily recorded renditions that don't come close to inciting the equilibrium-imbalance that normally results from being in the room while this band plays."
In that case, give up on any live album before 1994.
Oh, and what is the difference between a 4 and a 4.5 and a 4.7 and a 5 rating? The answer is none, of course.It is Pitchfork being Pitchfork and may the lord have mercy on us all.