The Jackin' Pop reissues poll was handily won by the deluxe edition of Pavement's
Wowee Zowee, and while its upper reaches were filled with familiar names—David Byrne, Brian Eno, R.E.M., The Clash—we were pleasantly surprised by a few of the results.
· The long-overdue compilation of recordings by the all-female post-punk outfit Delta 5,
Singles And Sessions 1979-1981, came in at No. 16. One interesting wrinkle; it tied for first in the reissue race among female critics with Karen Dalton's
In My Own Time, which placed second overall.
· The essentials-compilers at the UK label Soul Jazz had a strong showing:
Tropicália! A Brazilian Revolution In Sound, its 20-track, meticulously annotated overview of the Brazilian artistic movement, came in at No. 5, and
Big Apple Rappin', two discs full of early New York City hip-hop, reached No. 21.
· And, since we are contractually obligated to mention Jarvis Cocker at least once a week, you should know that the deluxe reissue of Pulp's
Different Class—an import-only release in the States, which meant that a lot of our voters had to work to get it—tied for No. 27 on the reissues list.
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Idolator
To recap: Yesterday, we were forwarded a splenetic rant purporting to be the lead essay for the Village Voice's forthcoming Pazz & Jop Poll; we figured its hackery and misdirected vitriol made it too over-the-top for it to be legit; then we found some curious Microsoft Word info that made us wonder if it was, lord help us, actually considered for publication. Today, we've received a few tips alleging that the piece did, in fact, come from a source inside the Village Voice Media empire; according to our sources, the essay was penned by VVM bigwig/roller hockey enthusiast Bill Jensen (pictured), then rejected by New York-based editors Rob Harvilla and David Blum, before being sent to us. Who leaked it our way, and whether or not this is just some boneheaded attempt at viral marketing for the VVM poll, is still a mystery; for now, let's all take comfort in the fact that a higher-up at the nation's largest chain of weeklies can't tell the difference between us and our New York-centric, stalk-happy siblings. Way to keep your fingers on that "hyper-local" pulse, guys.
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This Sunday is Dec. 31, the date we were supposed to unveil our first annual critics' poll. And guess what? Thanks to our ballot-deadline extension, some tech delays, and the fact that nobody is on the Internet during the holidays except for us, we're going to hold off on announcing the results until later in the week. It'll be worth it, believe us! You won't believe that [ARTIST REDACTED] placed so high, and that [NAME REDACTED] voted for [ALBUM REDACTED]!