There have been many reviews of John’s Rock of the Westies album, so we won’t address them all in detail. Instead, this section will be dedicated to responding to various contemporary claims about the album that miss the mark.
The first review we’ll be addressing is by Charles Shaar Murray for the New Musical Express, published on October 25, 1975. In this article, Murray says that “E. J. has often (and unfairly, I might add) been accused of mannered and affected singing in the past, but here he descends into the realms of pure self-caricature that it’s almost painful to listen to.” What makes this statement bizarre is the idea that “mannered and affected singing” is something objectively bad that one can be accused of. If Murray had said something along the lines of “E.J. has often been criticized by people who did not enjoy his mannered and affected singing,” that would be a different conversation. With his word choice, Murray implies that mannered and affected singing is always bad and not something that can be done well or poorly. This idea is a misconception fueled by a lack of understanding of glam rock and John’s desire to sing from multiple perspectives and in different ways and stems from traditional rock ideals about authenticity that do not hold over various genres.