{"id":3987,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=3987"},"modified":"2025-10-06T22:36:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:36:24","slug":"music-reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Audio Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here are some reviews of “audio recordings.” So far the reviews are of albums by the Jim Carroll Band and solo albums by Jim Carroll . More to come later . . .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Runaway EP<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Matt Ashare<\/a>, “Jim Carroll: Runaway<\/em>.” Boston Phoenix<\/em>, 4-11 Jan. 2001.
<\/strong>“Carroll gives ‘Runaway’ his best shot, and he gets through it without hurting anyone. . . . what makes this five-track EP a welcome addition to Carroll’s discography are the three tracks that he recorded live at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe in November 1998.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review of Runaway by Hannah Levin – Seattle Weekly 2001<\/a>, “Runaway EP<\/em> (Kill Rock Stars).” Seattle Weekly.com<\/em>, 2000.<\/strong>“Although there’s no new material on this just-released five-song EP, it features a pleasing handful of demo and live versions of some of his unsung classics.” HTML<\/strong><\/a> | PDF<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pools of Mercury<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Click here to see comments at Amazon.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina Apeles<\/a>, “Jim Carroll, Pools of Mercury.” Consumable Online<\/em>, Nov.\/Dec. 1998.
<\/strong>“I could never know what it’s like listening to Jim Carroll from a man’s point of view, but as a woman, to hear him read his poetry, is to be enraptured. <\/em>HTML<\/a> | PDF<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David D. Duncan<\/strong><\/a>, Review of Pools of Mercury. Memphis Flyer<\/em>, 28 Dec. 1998.<\/strong>
“Listening to Jim Carroll<\/em>‘s music is a lot like reading his poetry — it<\/em>‘s usually a harrowing journey, but one worth all the ensuing trauma.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne Klick<\/a>, “Wayne’s Weekly Reader.” 17 Feb. 1999.<\/strong>
“I find it odd that the adjectives I would use to describe this CD seem cliched: haunting, dark, introspective, surreal. This recording is anything but a cliche. It is in fact unlike anything I have ever heard before — a fascinating mix.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Macnie<\/a>. Review of Pools of Mercury<\/em>. Boston Phoenix<\/em>, 9 Nov. 1998.<\/strong>
“It starts with a promise of decapitation, as if to prove that his punkishness is still in effect almost two decades after Catholic Boy’s skag stories turned heads.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul McDonald<\/strong><\/a>, “Mercury Rising.” Louisville Eccentric Observer<\/em>, 1998.<\/strong>
“When you hear Jim Carroll’s voice, you know you’re in for an interesting ride.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitch Myers, “A Christmas Carroll.” NewCity.com<\/em>, 22 Dec. 1998.<\/strong>
“The man’s jaundiced eye is as unforgiving as ever and his words alternately flow and explode with precision and dour insight.” <\/em>I seem to have lost<\/em> this article. If anyone has it, please email me!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Perrin<\/a>, “Jim Carroll: The Poet Speaks.” Beat Scene<\/em> 32 (1999): 59.<\/strong>
“The problem with Carroll is that he has always had two voices and most commentators have chosen to privilege the street talking wise ass adolescent narrator of the diaries over the more measured tones which tend to dominate his poetry. In a some ways this vocal schizophrenia can be seen as a dramatisation of the conflict between America and Europe.”<\/em> Perrin reviews both Pools of Mercury<\/em> and Void of Course<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Richard-San, Review of Pools of Mercury<\/em>. Pitchfork,<\/em> Winter 1998.<\/strong>
This one got lost. It was a stooopid review.<\/em> But I would still like to have it here if you can help me find it<\/a>! The article was originally found at http:\/\/www.pitchforkmedia.com\/record-reviews\/c\/carroll_jim\/pools-of-mercury.shtml<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Basketball Diaries<\/em> Audio Literature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“The Basketball Diaries<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/a>(Audio Literature).” Publishers Weekly<\/em> 241.49 (5 Dec. 1994): 34.<\/strong>
“Carroll, now a poet and sometime rock musician living in New York, reads in a voice that trembles and shakes with a hesitant delicacy. He still manages to evoke his wiseass teenage outlook and a tough anger at the world.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praying Mantis<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Review of Praying Mantis<\/em>. <\/strong> CMJ (College Music Journal). 6 Dec. 1991<\/strong><\/a>.
<\/strong>“You notice the surprise in Carroll’s own voice as you hear the twisted images and the rich descriptions leak from his brain to his almost stammering lips, which emit each piece with wide-eyed wonderment-like a child witnessing lightning for the first time.” <\/strong>HTML<\/strong><\/a> | PDF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A World Without Gravity: The Best of the Jim Carroll Band<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

James Lien<\/a>. CMJ (College Music Journal). Review of The Best of the Jim Carroll Band<\/em>. 4 October 1993.
<\/strong>“As important as Jim Carroll’s albums were, they’re even better when distilled into one action-packed CD.”<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Write Your Name<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Review of I Write Your Name<\/em>.<\/a> CMJ (College Music Journal). 30 Jan. 1984.
<\/strong>“Don’t be scared off by Carroll’s “image.” He’s a brilliant poet and troubador with a razor-sharp rock edge-and his music deserves to be heard.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danny Sugerman. Review of I Write Your Name<\/em>. Creem<\/em> June 1984 : 55.
<\/strong>“<\/em>I Write Your Name is the album Jim Carroll always wanted to make and should have made but couldn’t until now. This is the one, not his other two.” <\/em>Download PDF<\/a><\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dry Dreams<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Suzan Crane<\/a>. CMJ (College Music Journal). Review of Dry Dreams<\/em>. 24 May 1982.
<\/strong>“Dry Dreams simply serves to reconfirm his status as poet cum laude – not poet cum vocalist.”<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic Boy<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lynne Greene.<\/a>“The Jim Carroll Band: Catholic Boy.” Pitchfork 21 September 2025<\/strong>.
“How badly do you need to hurt to be a martyr? The principle he fought for was telling the stories of those comrades he made in hell, people whose lives came and went without much fanfare: the users, the alcoholics, the urban poor. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Riegel. “Subterranean Urbanesque Blues.” Creem<\/em> Feb. 1981: 44.
<\/strong>“Pardon my critic’s disbelief that rock ‘n’ roll this intense and true has come from what I’ve always smugly called ‘a real writer,’ but Jim Carroll’s done it, over and over, for sure.” <\/em>Download PDF<\/strong><\/a>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put Your Tongue to the Rail<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


Cassie Carter<\/a>, “The Fire’s Reflection.” Exclusive to CatholicBoy.com<\/em> (2000).<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>
“The project does not worship the Carroll legend, but rather it spotlights the lyrical and musical strength of The Jim Carroll Band. With the unifying vision of Carroll’s lyrics as its center, it also effectively showcases the diverse talents of the Philadelphia music scene.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are some reviews of “audio recordings.” So far the reviews are of albums by the Jim Carroll Band and solo albums by Jim Carroll . More to come later . . . Runaway EP Matt Ashare, “Jim Carroll: Runaway.” Boston Phoenix, 4-11 Jan. 2001.“Carroll gives ‘Runaway’ his best shot, and he gets through it without hurting anyone. … Continue reading Audio Reviews<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[17],"class_list":["post-3987","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-12j","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4060,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/music-jim-carroll-jim-carroll-band\/runaway-e-p\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":0},"title":"Runaway EP","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cover Art - Runaway EP (2000) - by Jim Carroll Runaway E.P.By Jim CarrollKill Rock Stars, 2000 Get this on AmazonSee also: Lyrics and Audio Library SONGS: Runaway Hairshirt Fracture (DEMO) I Want the Angel (LIVE) It's Too Late (LIVE) Falling Down Laughing (LIVE) Liner Notes PRODUCED BY ROBERT ROTH;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art - Runaway EP (2000) - by Jim Carroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/runaway.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4458,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-runaway-ep-matt-ashare\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":1},"title":"Jim Carroll: Runaway","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Review of Runaway EPReview by Matt AshareBoston Phoenix , 4-11 January 2001 Singing has never been one of Basketball Diaries author and poet\/spoken-wordartist Jim Carroll's strong suits, and his pipes haven't improvedwith age. So though covering fellow NYC poet\/rocker Lou Reed's\"Sweet Jane\" back in the '80s wasn't such a bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9849,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-of-runaway-by-matt-ashare-boston-phoenix-2001\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":2},"title":"Review of Runaway by Matt Ashare – Boston Phoenix 2001","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll:\u00a0Runaway Review by Matt AshareBoston Phoenix\u00a0, 4-11 January 2001 Singing has never been one of\u00a0Basketball Diaries\u00a0author and poet\/spoken-word artist Jim Carroll's strong suits, and his pipes haven't improved with age. So though covering fellow NYC poet\/rocker Lou Reed's \"Sweet Jane\" back in the '80s wasn't such a bad idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4056,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/music-jim-carroll-jim-carroll-band\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":3},"title":"Music by Jim Carroll & The Jim Carroll Band","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Runaway EP Released: 2000 By: Jim Carroll Label: Kill Rock Stars Get this recording on Amazon Pools of Mercury Released: 1998 By: Jim Carroll Label: Mercury Get this recording on Amazon A World Without Gravity: The Best of the Jim Carroll Band Released: 1993 By: The Jim Carroll Band Label:\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art - Runaway EP (2000) - by Jim Carroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/runaway.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9852,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-of-runaway-by-hannah-levin-seattle-weekly-2001\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":4},"title":"Review of Runaway by Hannah Levin – Seattle Weekly 2001","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Runaway EP (Kill Rock Stars)Review by Hannah Levin, Seattle Weekly October 26 - November 1, 2001 Jim Carroll recently told me that the last song the Velvet Underground recorded before Lou Reed left the band was an early version of Carroll's morbid roll call, \"People Who Died,\" a lengthy group\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10156,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-at-aladdin-theater-portland-or-1999-review-by-craig-giffen\/","url_meta":{"origin":3987,"position":5},"title":"Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR (1999)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll at Aladdin TheaterPortland, OR, 2 October 1999Review by\u00a0Craig Giffen At the box office, the Aladdin Theater had a printout of upcoming shows with ticket prices & description of show. It was \"The Jim Carroll Band\", .... the first appearance in Oregon in 15 years. I can't remember if\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3987"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10621,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3987\/revisions\/10621"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=3987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}