It is what it is

The most overused term in casual music criticism? That's probably genius.

Witness:

[Olivia Newton-John's 1971] interpretation of Richard Manuel's "In a Station" is respectful and intuitive. Music From Big Pink was only three years old when this recording was pressed, and it is one of the few albums to survive the hype and get better with age. Olivia Newton-John dipping into the Big Pink songbook was a stroke of genius.

Please, let's save genius for Mozart. And Thelonious Monk.


FMFM: Herbie Hancock's Quartet album, which introduces Wynton Marsalis as a 19-year-old phenom. Marsalis' playing is lucid and authoritative, and he brings out the best in Tony Williams (who himself was all of 17 when he joined Miles Davis' quintet in the early 60s). I can't quite detect whether this is subtlely innovative music, or just a much clearer recording than the ones from the mid-60s that tread in similar territory. But it sounds fine, fine.