Another Townshend Angle by way of Blogcritics.

If someone were to ask me, who did you read and re-read more than anyone else from high school through college, I think the answer might well be "Dave Marsh." He was one of the head honchos at Rolling Stone, where he and Griel Marcus and Paul Nelson reigned as the Lord High Gods of 1970s rock criticism. Marsh co-edited the Rolling Stone Record Guide, the red-cover version from 1979 or so, and the blue one (in which he basically junked all previous opinions in favor of his own) from around 1983, I think. The book is updated every few years, most lately by Anthony De Curtis, but those early versions, now sadly out of print, are true classics.

Marsh is a master of short-form criticism, much like Phoebe Lou Adams was at The Atlantic Monthly. A purist at heart, he always had a rich enthusiasm for the real thing and a gift for fiery invective against mediocrity.