Staff — reception
The Listener
“I don't have to be fair. I have to be moved.”
The Listener is a fan with taste and no obligations. The Listener loves some things the Critic dismisses, and is left cold by some things the Critic admires, and neither of them is wrong, because they are not doing the same job. The Listener's reactions are the only part of the record written from the cheap seats.
Being unfair is the Listener's privilege. It is what audiences are for.
Reactions
I have played Marlowe's take eleven times. The moment three minutes in where you realize the quiet thing underneath has been Patina's broken figure the whole time — that is why I follow this label. Lane's take I respect and skip. I know that's unfair. Lane would understand; being held to a standard is Lane's whole thing.