Encompassing a career spanning six decades, Is It Still Good to Ya? sums up the career of rock critic Robert Christgau, whose album and concert reviews, essays, and reflections on his career tackle the whole of pop music, from Louis Armstrong to M.I.A..
a wonderful roundup of how [Christgau's] approached the music that has moved him over the years. It's by no means a definitive summary of all the Important Pop Music since then; three acts not covered here are Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads and Drake. Instead, it uncovers the ideas— and the beats— that have animated Christgau's work, all while presenting the chops that distinguish him as a thinker and writer ... You may or may not be compelled to seek out the music he writes about, or you may wholeheartedly disagree with his assessment of that music, but you will enjoy the way he writes about it.
At a moment when music criticism seems less empowered for being more fragmented, Christgau still offers an informed, authoritative perspective, self-aware regarding cultural aging and mortality, not stodgy but wry.
