R. Stevie Moore - R. Stevie Moore Quits

All Music Guide

True to the disillusioned title, 1979's R. Stevie Moore Quits is a rather dark album filled with minor-key acoustic tunes, experimental tape collage pieces, and moody drones. Of the three styles, the first is the most fruitful: the skeletal, funny/serious "Can't Afford No Food" and the yearning, country-tinged "One Moore Time" are among Moore's finest songs from this period, showing up on many of his compilation LPs and CDs. The second group has some interesting mood pieces (the surreal, largely spoken word "Meagan Elimination") and at least one genuinely good piece, a deconstruction of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that recalls some of Steve Reich's tape recorder works from the '60s. The last group features two standouts, the ten-and-a-half minute instrumental soundscape "Virtually Throughout" (one of several Moore pieces from the '70s that show a strong influence from Fripp Eno's two '70s albums) and a witty version of the Critters' soft pop classic "Mr. Dyingly Sad" sung through an effects pedal to create an oddly evocative sonic portrait of a terminally depressed robot. Although R. Stevie Moore Quits is basically home demos for songs that didn't make it onto the more professional Clack, the different styles of songs fit together quite well, and this is one of his more stylistically consistent albums.

- Stewart Mason, All Music Guide