S&D: music guides

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I would like to buy a new pop/rock music guide as the one I mainly use right now is the AMG edition of 1997 which is (even for me) a little outdated. If possible there should be album reviews (at least short ones like in Christgau's consumer guides) in there. I saw that there are now two AMGs. One on popular music and a new one on rock, pop and soul. What is the difference? Are there any other guides which can compete? I liked the old Trouser Press guide which had articles on the artists with succinct descriptions of the albums in there. It was indie-orientated which would be fine for me.

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My good opinion of Spin is entirely based on the Spin Guide To Alternative Music which was mentalist and almost guaranteed to annoy 90% of ppl who liked alternative music (12th best alternative album ever = Madonna's Immaculate Collection etc.). I thought it was very well written. As I understand the question though you are looking for something useful, oh well.

― Tom, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Btw I liked the Spin guide too Tom. And found it quite useful (didn't you?). Even though I am a fan of alternative music I try to be not too narrow-minded in my music taste. The Spin guide was quite refreshing in that respect. Isn't Abba covered there as well? My edition is from 1996. Is there a new one?

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd like to know, too. Because Christgau and Trouser Press are the only two I have ever liked....

― Dave225, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Andy Kellman knows more, but as I understand it a third proper AMG rock edition is being prepped up -- the 'rock/pop/soul' one is a taster, I hear. You can find some of my wibblings in that. ;-)

A new Trouser Press would be nice -- I gather Ira Robbins was still smarting from the Sonicnet hookup or something.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I borrowed it off somebody Alex so I didnt have it for long enough for it to be useful. I've never really found any buying guide useful - the Hound Dog guide to R&B and Soul has pointed me towards a couple of good records though but it also recommends a lot of same old same old.

― Tom, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ned's right -- there will be a new rock book soon. Another rock book focusing on non-mainstream bands is in the works, but that won't be for a while.

A little bird has told me that a sixth edition of the TP guide should be happening.

― Andy K, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The fourth edition of Trouser Press was a godsend to me when I was still living in the wilderness. That 5th one, which focused mostly on 90s stuff, was a little bit less essential because it wasn't quite so comprehensive. I'm a bit ticked off by Andy's news that there might be a new one, because when I contacted Ira after the last one, I got the big ol' brush-off, saying that there wouldn't be another one, or something like that. I showed them, though, by joining AMG's freelance staff! Ha! I hope the new rock book has some of my stuff in it!

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've never really found any buying guide useful
The Spin guide was useful to me insofar as I did not know a lot about alternative music at the time when I bought it. As there were not too many artists featured in there I almost read the whole book from start to end. And discovered quite some bands I had not heard of before. It was useful in order to broaden my horizon.
Buying guides are also useful if they contain ratings. Let's say I have bought my first record of an artist. And I liked it. Said artist has released 50 albums. Ratings can give me a hint what to check out first. Of course often they are deceiving.

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd Edition) is quite nice - UK-centric (which is A-OK, by me) and very informative. They even have photos w/ cheeky captions. (I'm easy to please.)

― David Raposa, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I gather Ira Robbins was still smarting from the Sonicnet hookup or something."

Umm... what the hell are you talking about? Are you thinking of Michael Goldberg?

― Yancey, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Buying guides are most useful for getting started or getting back in touch with music after a break, as I did a few years ago. I remember flipping through my new Trouser Press book, thinking it must contain everybody I'd ever want to know about. I wore it out along with SPIN's guide and AMG, triangulating discographies, a job that's just begging for hypertext. Within a year or two, it seemed that nothing I wanted to look up was in any of those print books - only the web could satisfy. I'll probably still pick up the new editions, if only to stare in wonder at the Superchunk discography in glorious print.

― Curt, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

when I contacted Ira after the last one, I got the big ol' brush-off, saying that there wouldn't be another one, or something like that. I showed them, though, by joining AMG's freelance staff! Ha!

Oddly enough, this was my exact situation too. ;-)

The Sonicnet thing -- okay, I could be misremembering, but wasn't Trouser Press online falling under that umbrella and didn't he have to extricate himself? Could be wrong -- I checked the temporary TP site and there's no mention of it there, I admit.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Edna Welthorpe or Tim Hopkins to thread with tales of their definitive translated-from-French 'Masters of Rock' spotters guide.

― N., Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Re Robbins: I'd be pretty reticent to think of running another marathon after having finished number five, especially when those marathons have turned out to be much longer and more obstacle ridden than expected. I have a slightly informed idea of what it takes to get a book published, but I do reckon it'd wipe me out to the point of being a little less enthusiastic about the whole process in the end. So he's changed his mind after a stretch of time. Is this a bad thing?

― Andy K, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, so the first TP website was hosted by sonicnet. That's the connection.

It still sounds like you are talking more about Addicted to Noise than TP though, as far as a publication being absorbed into another.

― Yancey, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It wasn't so much absorption as Robbins -- again, as I vaguely remember it -- being dissatisfied with the overall results.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

So he's changed his mind after a stretch of time. Is this a bad thing?
No, not a bad thing at all...I'm actually looking forward to it. And considering that I ended up at AMG, it's not a real complaint. More an observation, really.

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Um, since the All Music Guide is online why would you want to buy it at all?

I'm not sure if it's really a buying guide, but as far as a reference resource goes the Borderline Books site has three (working on four apparently) ridiculously comprehensive online discographies and short biographies on various sixties/seventies/psych/prog bands. One each on the US and Britain and one on Latin and South America. They also have another one on eighties/nineties psych rock. These are all transcriptions (with numerous web additions) of printed books, but again all the information plus is online so. . .

― Alex, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I rarely buy anything I read about in a guide book. Used to be different though. Now I tend to go what friends or this board recommend. Hence me checking out Playgroup, Cage and Slayer. Everybody I knew kept saying Slayer rooooled, man, so could I not buy it? Voila.

― Helen, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Um, since the All Music Guide is online why would you want to buy it at all?

1. Because some people like to flip around and discover things at random in a book, as opposed to searching directly for something on the web.

2. Because some people don't have internet access to begin with.

3. Because there are essays, label descriptions, lists, and book reviews that aren't on the site.

― Andy K, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All fair answers, although anyone in a position to read and therefore respond to my question ("you") would have to have internet access.

In other news, Slayer does rule and apparently they are currently touring with their original drummer Dave Lombardo and playing all old Reign of Blood-era stuff. Jaw drops, thin rivulets of drool drip down chin. Mmmmm, Slayer.

― Alex, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought Slayer were holding drum auditions and asked people to send in tapes.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That's true too. They're touring right now though.

― Alex, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All fair answers, although anyone in a position to read and therefore respond to my question ("you") would have to have internet access.
Though admittedly the people that don't have Internet access but would like to flip through a record guide don't care whether you asked the question here or not, and would pick the book up when they saw it on the shelf.

Personally speaking, even though I have Internet access almost everywhere I go (I even have saved a link to allmusic.com on my Blackberry, so I can even quickly check when I'm at the store, if I'm not sure about an album), I still like the feel of the big guides, and spend lots of time just flipping and flipping and flipping through the book, looking for those serendipitous flips where I rediscover something I haven't thought of in a while and wasn't particularly searching for when I started. It's just not the same clicking randomly on links.

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Only with a proper book can you sit up straight and read the whole thing cover to cover.

― Curt, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i read books lying down curt

when my body hurts from too much lying down i sit up straight and go online

if they develop a computer you can comfortably work while in bed my life will be complete (= over, physiologically speaking)

― mark s, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Falling asleep with the All Music Guide on your chest could be fatal. Not to mention whatever the new one might weigh in at. An articulating arm could be your friend, Mark.

― Curt, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I even have saved a link to allmusic.com on my Blackberry, so I can even quickly check when I'm at the store

Ah ha! I said something about this elsewhere on the AMG thread, about how the Guide would be used this way. Andy didn't believe me. *cries*

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A bar code reader to wave over a CD and take you to its page would be orgasmic. I'm a big believer in putting bar codes on EVERYTHING.

― Curt, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm a big believer in putting bar codes on EVERYTHING.
Hey Ned, hand me the tattoo gun.

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Andy didn't believe me.

It's not that I didn't believe you -- I just thought it to be bizarre, as in scary, but certainly not impossible.

― Andy K, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey Ned, hand me the tattoo gun.

When I'm done with it. *skree* AHHHHHH...better.

It's not that I didn't believe you -- I just thought it to be bizarre, as in scary, but certainly not impossible.

Give in, give in!

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's not that I didn't believe you -- I just thought it to be bizarre, as in scary, but certainly not impossible. We scare because we care.

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

fifteen years pass...

Anyone know anything about this one? "Africa 100" by Florent Mazzoleni. I think only available in French, but someone has created a discogs list with the available albums.

It looks like a good jumping off point for African music to someone with only a spotty familiarity via comps and better known
Nigerian Afrobeat.

https://www.amazon.fr/Africa-100-travers%C3%A9e-sonore-continent/dp/2360540696
https://www.discogs.com/lists/Book-Africa-100-la-travers%C3%A9e-dun-continent/221445

― Federico Boswarlos, Thursday, 26 October 2017 14:29 (seven years ago)

Mazzoleni seems to have written lots of books-- one about reggae; one about the White Stripes; Salif Keita; James Brown....

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 October 2017 15:36 (seven years ago)

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