{"id":9871,"date":"2025-05-30T23:47:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T06:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=9871"},"modified":"2025-05-30T23:47:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T06:47:26","slug":"jim-macnie-review-of-pools-of-mercury-boston-phoenix-1998","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/jim-macnie-review-of-pools-of-mercury-boston-phoenix-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Macnie – Review of\u00a0Pools of Mercury – Boston Phoenix 1998"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pools of Mercury
<\/em>Review by Jim Macnie
Boston Phoenix<\/a>, 9 November 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

**1\/2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts with a promise of decapitation, as if to prove that his punkishness is still in effect almost two decades after Catholic Boy<\/em>‘s skag stories turned heads. And it ends with an evaluation of Kurt Cobain’s pre-blast psyche, part of which was published in the New York Times<\/em> after the grunge god’s death. Finales have always tickled Carroll’s muse, and this intriguing rebirth — he hasn’t made a rock album in some 14 years — is spotted with vicious eulogies and romanticized endgames. Although adept at the theatrics of murmurs and insinuation, Carroll makes his spoken verse resonate by blowing a bit of hot air into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About half the tracks here are recitations backlit with abstract sounds created by synths or guitars. Their arty ambiance helps frame hyper-poetic lines like “so silent, so slow, like the Germanic cough drop dissolving on John Cage’s cautious tongue” while reminding us that Carroll is more effective at titillation than profundity. The rest are rock tunes, and these suggest that oomph and hooks are also a poet’s tools. The catchiness of songs like “Falling Down Laughing” and “Desert Town” balance the more hermetic passages. Obfuscation is a rock-poesy copout, but Pools of Mercury<\/em> is cloudy only when it chooses to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original review was found at <\/strong>http:\/\/www.bostonphoenix.com\/archive\/music\/98\/11\/05\/otr\/jim_carroll.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9<\/strong> 1998 The Phoenix Media\/Communications Group. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pools of MercuryReview by Jim MacnieBoston Phoenix, 9 November 1998 **1\/2 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. And it ends with an evaluation of Kurt Cobain’s pre-blast psyche, part of which was published … Continue reading Jim Macnie – Review of\u00a0Pools of Mercury – Boston Phoenix 1998<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3987,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-9871","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2zd","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9849,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-of-runaway-by-matt-ashare-boston-phoenix-2001\/","url_meta":{"origin":9871,"position":0},"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. 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