allmusic.com reviews

[benhur]

They aren't bullshit like pitchfork and they usually, imo, seem to be spot on. What do you think about how well allmusic has done at judging albums? They're always my first place to check out albums and their genre sections are awesome for finding new music.

While I think that they do a great job overall what about the new Bon Iver album getting 2 1/2 stars (possibly a little low). Do you think that they've picked the right songs for best of an album. I'd disagree heavily with their song picks for King of Limbs for example.

This thread could be just a general allmusic response sense it seems to be a pretty well respected source of music criticism.

[SoulDischarge]

I find their obvious pandering to the Pier 1 crowd distasteful. It's clear that they inflate their ratings in order to appease Moroccan lawn furniture czars. All of this just confirms my suspicions that they're turning into the next Entertainment Weekly album reviews section.

[PotVsKtl]

Just like any other mass effort, allmusic's reviews are dependent on the individual writer. This may not be the case anymore, but I do know that in the past different people chose the artist picks and song picks than the reviewer themself, so it tends to be a bit schizophrenic. Absolutely should be a major resource for anyone invested in music though, I've discovered hundreds of great acts tracing the lines back and forth between band members, influences, etc.

[PotVsKtl]

Then again, I'm a well-known lawn furniture aficionado.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Pot, could you please direct me to your lawn furniture ratings blog

[guedita]

I feel like they really cater to adult contemporary music. I don't actually really ever pay much attention to the actual number of stars they give an album and usually just skim their reviews, but yeah, they are a fantastic resource for diving into genres and learning a bit of back history about bands. I also find the list of descriptive words associated with the albums they review somewhat helpful for getting at least an idea of what the work might sound like.

[SoulDischarge]

Their star ratings and their reviews are wildly inconsistent, in addition to what Pot said about the different writers. Which is a huge pain in the ass when you're trying to find a good starting place for an artist with 20+ releases and just want to browse the list for the highest star rating.

[SoulDischarge]

Case in point: http://allmusic.com/album/zulm-r176922/review

[PotVsKtl]

Pot, could you please direct me to your lawn furniture ratings blog

I tend to cover a lot of topics, but here's my Tumblr about cruise ships, patio furniture and mulch. It's called I Love Photo.

http://tuckery.tumblr.com/

P.S. All photo from Google.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

i almost choked on my food when i opened that link

[SoulDischarge]

I hate to be a stickler, but that Tumbler is all patio, little furniture. Might as well buy a porn mag with close ups of elbows.

[Hannahrain]

Everybody's attracted to different things, Patrick. I am sick and tired of you prancing around acting like people could only possibly be attracted to the same kneepits and ilia you're constantly spouting off about. Sick and tired.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Kneepits.

[Wheres the beef?]

Patrick, do you like your kneepits shaved or unshaved?

[bballarl]

True story: in my free time at one of my internships I used to read allmusic for hours, making lists of artists and albums and then going home and downloading them. This was a huge part of my musical education.

What Pot said about the individual writers is spot on. I enjoy Stephen Thomas Erlewine. He reviews most of the classics/mainstream new stuff. Tim Sendra reviews all the indie pop/related stuff, and he tends to like just about everything. Heather Phares reviews the Pitchfork-type stuff, and her viewpoints aren't terribly surprising. Thom Jurek is the guy who writes about everything in really important proper musical terms (especially jazz and whatnot.) I enjoy his writing but he often comes across as haughty.

Regardless, I find most of the writing to be well-constructed and interesting. The bottom line is the site can't be beat as a resource.

[SoulDischarge]

True story: in my free time at one of my internships I used to read allmusic for hours, making lists of artists and albums and then going home and downloading them. This was a huge part of my musical education.

My teenage years right there. It's why I know too much about music and almost nothing about how to socially interact. It was a fair trade.

[PotVsKtl]

allmusic.com + Soulseek.

[nosurprises12]

allmusic.com + Soulseek.

As mentioned by others, this was my teenage years in a nutshell; I would queue up a bunch of albums and let them download over night. At one point I went on so many allmusic pages it actually blocked my IP address for the rest of the day!

As for the reviews, they can be hit and miss for modern music. However, I think a lot of their reviews for stuff from the 80s and back are pretty spot-on, and I use it all the time when I shop for records.

[SoulDischarge]

Napster. Then Audiogalaxy. Then Soulseek.

[bballarl]

allmusic.com + Soulseek.

This was me from my sophomore year of high school until senior year of college. I haven't used Soulseek in forever but should probably get back on there.

As for the reviews, they can be hit and miss for modern music. However, I think a lot of their reviews for stuff from the 80s and back are pretty spot-on, and I use it all the time when I shop for records.

I probably annoy the shit out of people when I'm record shopping because I'll sit there on my slow-ass Blackberry internet pulling up allmusic pages for albums I am not familiar with.

[dorkfish]

Napster. Then Audiogalaxy. Then Soulseek.

Back in '96, I once spent 1 or 2 hours downloading an MP2 of the Prodigy's "Firestarter" from some guy's website.

Soulseek was the true innovation in music thievery.

Allmusic.com really got me through some boring graveyard shift hours.

[TomAz]

when I was a teenager all we had was AOR radio, word of mouth, Rolling Stone, and we had to buy our albums one by one*. This is why I am more socially capable than you people.






edit: * there was taping, yes. "Hey Fred you have the Rockpile album would you tape it for me? Yeah, sure, got a blank? Umm, I gotta go get some more. Ok"

edit2: http://www.allmusic.com/album/second...-r76121/review

[SoulDischarge]

And look where that got you. Same place as us, only without all those wonderful downloading memories.

[TomAz]

well, yes.

[dorkfish]

My friend had a double speed tape dubbing boombox, so that was probably my earliest memories of illegal downloading.

I also had a surprisingly large MIDI collection.

[TallGuyCM]

I've never ever used Soulseek, is that weird? My progression went CuteFTP > Napster > Audiogalaxy > Kazaa > Limewire > Torrents > ?.

[PotVsKtl]

You missed out on the most bafflingly diverse collection of music the world has ever known.

[Timestretch]

edit: * there was taping, yes. "Hey Fred you have the Rockpile album would you tape it for me? Yeah, sure, got a blank? Umm, I gotta go get some more. Ok"

edit2: http://www.allmusic.com/album/second...-r76121/review

I would always take tapes I was tired of and then re-record over them. They would sound like shit, especially after recording several albums over each other.

[SoulDischarge]

I'm slightly torrent retarded, so Soulseek is still my main resource for downloading music.

[hawkingvsreeve]

Soulseek is the only thing I miss from PC land, as I could never get the Mac equivalent to work properly.