{"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"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. 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":4458,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-runaway-ep-matt-ashare\/","url_meta":{"origin":9871,"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":3987,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":9871,"position":2},"title":"Audio Reviews","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u00a0. More to come later . . . Runaway EP Matt Ashare, \"Jim Carroll:\u00a0Runaway.\"\u00a0Boston Phoenix, 4-11 Jan. 2001.\"Carroll gives 'Runaway' his best shot, and he gets\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9869,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/david-duncan-review-of-pools-of-mercury-memphis-flyer-1998\/","url_meta":{"origin":9871,"position":3},"title":"David Duncan-Review of Pools of Mercury-Memphis Flyer 1998","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by David D. DuncanMemphis Flyer, 28 December 1998 Listening to Jim Carroll\u2019s music is a lot like reading his poetry \u2013 it\u2019s usually a harrowing journey, but one worth all the ensuing trauma. Pungent, street-smart urban poet Carroll returns to the rock arena after a 14-year absence with Pools\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10228,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/jim-carroll-at-the-bottom-line-nyc-1998-photos-by-gail-ames\/","url_meta":{"origin":9871,"position":4},"title":"Jim Carroll at The Bottom Line, NYC (1998) – Photos by Gail Ames","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll with his band from Pools of Mercury atThe Bottom Line New York City, 12 November 1998Photographs by Gail Ames","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":9871,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9871","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=9871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9872,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9871\/revisions\/9872"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=9871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}