Shooting down an album with logic

In his review of A Cross the Universe, a live album by French electro-duo Justice, David Abravanel utilizes an unusual structure that ends up being very effective. Instead of discussing individual tracks or giving a lead-in to the story behind the album, he simply posits two questions about the purpose of a live album. The entirety of the review is split between frankly answering these two questions, and it's to his credit that those answers also serve to answer the question of "Is this worth buying?"

First, he asks, "what is the purpose of a live album in the age of instant bootlegging?". He lists off qualities that stood out in pre-internet live recordings: sequencing, song selection, sound quality. This perfectly sets up his critique of those qualities in Justice's album, which are all lacking due to evidence he supplies. 

This pragmatic style is simple, yet effective because it's so logical. Due to fact that he is reviewing a live album, which has basic characteristics that need to set it apart from any other bootleg, it is possible for Abravanel to set up a hypothesis for what constitutes an enjoyable listening experience. 

When he tries to fit Justice's square peg of an album into these circle shaped criterion, his position that the album is only barely better than average is made clear. It's also thought-provoking to try and answer the questions he asks on your own, and his insightful answers will also make you ponder your own opinions about the matter. I really enjoyed this review.