Yeah, he's suffering from "i'm to clever"-itis. I think it is a lot more fun to actually listen to the trainwreck of the album and comment on that than make a bulls^$t list. I mean, I listened to part of Blackout and my best review so far is:

"The best career move Britney could make now is re-release Blackout as an instrumental album."

Sigh. And I'll never get paid for this stuff, eh?

isn't 'blackout' still supposed to far outsell any other album this week?

as far as releasing an instrumental album, aren't the smashing pumpkin(s) going to release an instrumental version of their latest album with a special edition (ie. one b-side) available through best buy?

Ha! Now that's actualy funny, Erik!

He definitely thinks he's too clever for his own good. I haven't listened to Blackout yet (but I'm sure I'll pick up a copy of it soon), but if you're curious about what is on the record (as I am), you're not getting anything from the review.

If I was his editor, I'd tell him there's no way I'd run that review and find someone who would at least listen to it.

I must confess I think this is kinda hilarious. But then, I've never listened to a Britney Spears record, and likely won't listen to the new one. So... I rather appreciate his statement that it's not worthy of a listen, and his hyperbolic means of expressing it -- while certainly quite cleverer-than-thou -- made me giggle.

I've gotta say, that's actually pretty fucking funny. It kind of strikes me that what he's saying is that the album is so completely bereft of anything remarkable that he has absolutely nothing interesting to say about it that wouldn't just be a dig at Britney Spears and at this point that whole trainwreck is just too mindbogglingly sad and awful to even think about.

I've definitely gotten a few albums like that from the TIG reviewer grab bag from time to time, where you just sit there with your head in your hands thinking "I have absolutely NOTHING to say about this album."

This would make one hell of a McSweeney's list. :-)

I think there is always something to say about a truly bad album. I'm more offended by albums that aren't bad (like Brits) but are uninteresting, i.e., aren't creative/new/inspired. I can think of examples (Dave Matthews Band, ahem) that I'd much rather not hear than a trainwreck like Brits.

I'm with Dana on this. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the SF Chron's readers either: Don't care at all about this album or are rabid "leave britney alone" fans who are equally biased in the other direction. By even refusing to review it, it's harsh, and, frankly, I'd rather see this than some blowhard trying much, much, much too hard to actually review this thing. Face it, you're either going to write a "real" review and come off as a bloated retard who takes himself too seriously, or trash it up and down and come off as "too clever." At least the second is entertaining.

And, plus, it's got us talking about this review, which is more than the new Britney album did for him, so what's that say?

Honestly, I wish we'd stop talking about Britney Spears altogether on TIG...

I agree with Dana and Erik on this. (1) Dana because it is funny -- and it's a different take on the Britney Blackout review phenomenon rather than just plugging through it acting like writing a review is actually worthy of one's time (2) Erik would have done a much better job on reviewing the album -- both for real and with tongue in cheek.

I look forward to reading Erik's review of the next Dave Matthews record. He'll even convince DB of his own lackluster effort. Probably even better than the Onion did.

Because I need to be up on most EVERYTHING, I’ve listened to the new Britney album twice now, and while it’s not great…. it’s not horrible either. Truth be told, she should have followed the lead of Christina & Pink and hired Linda Perry to write her new album. Its biggest problem is the fact that it sounds like a record she should have released 5 years ago. The “sex me-up” music has no life-span, unlike Pink’s “Get This Party Started” which I guarantee we’ll be hearing for the next twenty years. I still think she’s got a come back in her…. although I could be wrong.

If I could train a pack of doberman pinschers to rob a bank, I'd rather do that than listen to just about any album. After they rob the bank, we could all go to Sizzler, all of TIG is invited and my gang of dogs will pick up the check.

I must admit that shoving Twinkies down my pants and sitting in a beanbag, kinda sounds fun..... I don't know why. Certainly better than eating the Twinkies.. Unless you are eating them off my bum.

I think my job is making me delirious.