Compare Your Musical Tastes Tastes To Those of the AMG Editorial Staff

Cafe Society
1

This is not a rant about AEC One Stop Group’s All Media Guide.

In case you have no idea what the AMG is, it’s an accurate & well researched database broken up into three groups: All Movie Guide, All Game Guide and the subject of this thread: The All Music Guide. All their reference information is free and I shudder when I give thought to the countless hours of work that goes into maintaining such a website.

My only complaint is with the editorial content found on their all music site. I realize they are only opinions - and like assholes; we all got em. I’m from the school of thought that feels a resource guide shouldn’t be:

A. Recommending an artist’s best album(s),
B. Attempting to rate their discography with 1 to 5 stars,
C. Flagging the best tracks on each album, or
D. Listing the 10 best tracks known as ‘Song Highlights’.

In my humble opinion, linking the Billboard Chart Positions suffices. My concerns (though not something I’m losing any sleep over) stem from the fact AMG has been rolling out their Sonic Guide, which, for all intents and purposes, is a more in-depth song preview feature. Perhaps I come from the all-or-nothing side of the equasion - but as disc space becomes an issue at AMG - who’s going to decide what tracks are available for preview and which ones aren’t. All I can say is I hope it’s not the same writers that select the artist’s ten best songs in the highlights section.

OK, enough of my opinions already. Now I’m soliciting yours (In a thinly veiled attempt to prove mine - of course)…Your Mission, should you wish to accept it, is to:

  1. Go to AMG.com.
  2. At the SEARCH field, type in the name of your favorite Artist and hit ‘Enter’.
  3. Note the small bio and well researched discography (which sometimes includes singles and bootlegs).
  4. Study the blue stars and red checks next to each album title.
  5. You may drill down on any of the titles listed and get a review of the album and see which tracks are recommended.
  6. When your done with your review, you can hit the back button on your browser and return the the artist’s main page. Scroll down to the last section, entitled ‘Song Highlights’.
  7. If you read the 10 songs listed in the highlights section and had any of the following thoughts:

“Are they serious?” / “What about…?” / “No Waaaaay”

Then it is safe to assume we’re now on the same wavelength.

  1. The last and final step (once again, if you have accepted this mission) - is to post your opinions on what you saw, what you read and what glaring omissions you can’t believe got truncated.

For extra credit, you may want to repeat the above 8 steps with some of your other favorite music acts. I’ll grade all posts on a curve - because musical tastes are so subjective. If someone has posted the same band you looked up - feel free to chime in with your opinions - this thread could definitely get moved into the pit if passions swell.

If this thread goes anywhere other than straight down the toilet, I’ll post my opinions on some of my faves. If not, all I can say is I tried.

2

“Weird Al” Yankovic:

The two highest-rated albums were In 3-D and Off the Deep End. In 3-D I can see, although it’s not my favorite; Off the Deep End is my least favorite of his albums. I can’t believe Poodle Hat got two stars; I didn’t think it was nearly that bad. I guess it’s because (imho) the originals were a lot better than the parodies on that album, and…

Reading the album reviews, they really seem not to like his original songs. Most of my favorite Al songs are original. Hmph.

Of course, they gave Greatest Hits 5 stars. It’s 90% parodies and it’s the stuff like “Eat It” that non-fans think of when they think of Al.

The 10 recommended songs:

Fat - okay, it’s a classic…
Eat It - sure, no problem here
One More Minute - oh my God, they actually listed an original. Gasp.
My Bologna - are you serious?
I Lost on Jeopardy - It’s okay, but not top-10.
Like a Surgeon - meh, it’s a classic
Uhf - The video is better than the song.
Amish Paradise - everyone knows this one, and there was a scandal about it. Of course. :stuck_out_tongue:
Headline News - it was funny ten years ago… actually, it’s still funny. But I think it’s funnier to people who were actually aware of news stories in 1994, which is not today’s preteens or whoever Al’s target fan base is supposed to be.
Smells Like Nirvana - other people like it more than I do, evidently.

Splashdown:

Of course, there isn’t much there. Sigh.

Melissa Kaplan… is not a “shrieking siren.” Grarr.

No real quibbles with the recommended songs, aside from that there are only seven there.

Josh Groban:

“Josh Groban” and “Closer” both got 3 stars. Reviews contain comparisons to Celine Dion and bashing of David Foster. Argh.

Recommended songs:

The Prayer - no, Ma, no, Christ, Ma, no! I can’t stand Charlotte Church; I’m sorry.
Alla Luce Dal Sole - One of my favorite songs. Yes.
Alejate - I’m surprised to see this coming from them, considering it’s the Spanish translation of a Celine Dion song. I like it, though.
Amore Per Sempre - okay, sure.
To Where You Are - mmhmm, okay.
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) - so it’s not a travesty? Cool.
Cinema Paradiso (Se) - Meh, it’s not one of my favorites.
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring - interesting…
Home to Stay - I don’t really like this one.
You’re Still You - Just because he sang it on Ally McBeal doesn’t mean it’s good.

3

That’s not a guide though, that’s just a discography. When it comes to music I’d rather read the opinion of a real person that I disagree with violently than go by faceless aggregate sales numbers. And I often do!

4

The Beatles’ 10 songs:

Something - great song…not one of my top picks.
Help! - typical of the early Beatles…which is to say, not their best stuff.
Yesterday - obvious choice, but another one that I think is beaten out by their later stuff.
I Want to Hold Your Hand - feh. Another early, poppy hit that pales in comparison to most of their songs.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - good psychadelic song. Fun.
Hey Jude - one of my favorite songs of all time.
Penny Lane - okay. this can stay.
Hard Day’s Night - there are just too many of the Beatles’ really insanely popular songs on this list, and not enough of their really great stuff.
Strawberry Fields Forever - score! Approved.
In My Life - not sure how this one got on. A good lovey song, but still…

Keep HJ, PL, and SFF, and add: A Day in the Life; Let It Be (Naked version); The Long and Winding Road (Naked version); I Am the Walrus; While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Revolution; and Sgt. Pepper’s.

Let It Be…Naked got only three stars?! Blasphemy!

5

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan:

Almost all of his albums between 88-93 got about 3 stars, which is good. They named Devotional Songs as his best album. I think Shahbaaz was better. Still, Shahbaaz got 5 stars too, so I’m not complaining. Day, Night, Dawn, Dusk got 4 stars? I think it deserves at most 3.

Highlights:

Kinna Sohna - good call.
Game - ?Are they serious?
Mustt Mustt - I agree entirely.
Shahbaaz Qalandar - Fantastic.
My Comfort Remains - Um…
My Heart, My Life - Good, but not THAT good.
Haq Ali Ali Haq - Satis.
Mer Piya Ghar Aaya - No.
Shams-Ud-Doha - Brilliant.
Lament - No

Beh Haadh Ramza Dhasdha was left off, much to my dismay. As was Tere Bin Nahin Lagda Dil. In fact, I think one could put on all four songs from Shabaaz in the highlights.

They did an OK job. I give them 2 out of 5 stars.

6

By ‘about 3 stars,’ I mean ABOVE 3 stars. Ho hum, silly me.

7

J-Pop duo PuffyAmiYumi (AKA Puffy)

General Comment: Has a separate entry for PuffyAmiYumi, not even crossreferenced to the one for Puffy. No information except for listing the US version of Nice (and nothing else) in their bibliography.

Albums:

Highest ratings given to US albums (Including an extra half star for the extra tracks on US versions of Nice and Spike - Which I can get with, given that the bonus tracks are my favourite tracks on each.) - ok, no real disagreement since the Remix albums are the only ones that got less than 4 stars, anyway. An Illustrated History being the only one getting a ‘Pick’, though… I like it, and it’s a good intro to the band, but not their best album. (I like Nice more.)

My top 10 Puffy songs:

Boogy Woogy no. 5
Love so Pure/Violet (counting them as 1)
Ai no Shirushi
Asia no Junshin/True Asia (Again, counting them as 1)
Jet Police
K2G
Teen Titans Theme
Neholina
Su-i Su-i
VACATION

Theirs:

This Is the Song of Sweet Sweet Season When Cherry Garcia Bloom
Cosmic Wonder
Always Dreamin’ About You
Destruction Pankake
Dec
Boogie Woogie No. 5
Swimming Pool
Su-I-Su-I
Into the Beach
Sui Sui from

I don’t dislike any of them, but the bias towards Spike (9/10 of the songs!!!) bothers me. A bias towards the US albums is understandable, a bias towards Spike is not. 2/10 agreement, even beyond that.

Goth artist Voltaire

Albums:

Missing Banned on Vulcan completely.

Will assume Devil’s Bris simply wasn’t rated, rather than their thinking it deserved 0 stars.
Almost Human is too low at 2.5 stars. WAY too low. 4 stars at minimum, IMO. My favourite of his albums.
Boo Hoo, fine at 4 stars.

Song Highlights - again, bothered by the bias towards a single album - 9/10 are from Boo Hoo, the other’s from Devil’s Bris, but listed as being from the Projekt Sampler (it is, but it’s on his album Devil’s Bris - this supports the assumption that Devil’s Bris wasn’t reviewed.).

Their list:

I’m Sorry
When You’re Evil
Vampire Club
Irresponsible
Graveyard Picnic
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Where’s the Girl?
No. 1 Fan
Hello Cruel World
Let It Go

Mine:

When You’re Evil
Vampire Club
Graveyard Picnic
Brains
USS Makes Sh*t Up
The Man Upstairs
Goodbye Cruel World
Dead Girls
Almost Human
Alchemy Mondays

So I agree with 4/10.

8

‘Hello’, not ‘Goodbye’. >_<

9

the afghan whigs.

the ratings for the albums seem way off. “congregation”, “gentlemen”, and “1965” all get 4.5 stars. my personal favorite, the beatiful, brooding, but lush “black love” gets bashed with a 2.5. the dude said it was unlistenable and unmelodic. i’m wondering if he even listened to it. it’s a work of genius. i’d give “congregation” a 4, “gentlemen” a 4.5, “black love” a 5, and “1965” a 3. “1965” is easy to listen to, but it’s a completely watered down version of their sound.

best songs:

Retarded from Up in It: not one of my favorites. you my flower would have been a better pick from the album.
What Jail Is Like from Gentlemen: great song. no complaints.
Debonair from Gentlemen: ditto
Gentlemen from Gentlemen: sure
Honky’s Ladder from Black Love: yep
Tonight from Congregation: not bad. i’d take milesizded if i had to pick one from this album.
Beware from Uptown Avondale: if i were to pick a cover it would be creep off of the honky’s ladder single/ep.
66 from 1965 : sure, it’s the best song off a mediocre album.
Fountain and Fairfax from Gentlemen : good instrumental, but i’d lose it in favor of something else off black love. maybe “faded.”
Uptown Again from 1965 :dump it for “bulletproof” off of black love.

10

My critique of their entry for Warren Zevon:

Their Album Ratings:

****1/2
Warren Zevon
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School
Sentimental Hygiene

Excitable Boy
Transverse City
The Wind

Stand in the Fire
The Envoy
Learning to Flinch
Life’ll Kill Ya
The First Sessons

**1/2
Wanted Dead or Alive

**
Mr. Bad Example
Mutineer
My Ride’s Here
There are several problems with this list. First, “Wanted: Dead or Alive” is by far Zevon’s worst album, and anyone who would rate it higher than fantastic albums like “My Ride’s Here” or “Mr. Bad Example” doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Second, “Warren Zevon” and “Excitable Boy” were two of the best albums of the 1970’s, and simply cannot be given less than five stars. There is not a weak song on either one of them.

In general, the ratings for the last three albums are too low - other than WDOA, Zevon never made a ‘failed’ album, which I would consider anything lower than 2.5 stars.

Given all that, here’s how I’d rate Zevon’s albums:

Warren Zevon
Excitable Boy
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School

The Wind
Stand in the Fire
Mr. Bad Example
Transverse City
My Ride’s Here
Life’ll Kill Ya

The Envoy
Learning to Flinch

**1/2
Mutineer

Wanted Dead or Alive
As for his top 10 songs, they are listed as:

Johnny Strikes up the Band
Mohammed’s Radio
Hasten Down the Wind
Werewolves of London
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Excitable Boy
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Play it All Night Long
Accidentally Like a Martyr

Now, these are all great songs, and it’d be hard to take any out of that list, but we need to find space for:

*Carmelita
Genius
Keep Me In Your Heart
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
*

But most importantly, the top-10 list leaves out Zevon’s best song, Desperadoes Under the Eaves.

I hate picking only 10 Zevon songs, because he’s written fifty or sixty that would be on any other artist’s best 10 list. But here goes:

Desperadoes Under the Eaves
Mohammed’s Radio
Hasten Down the Wind
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Keep Me in Your Heart
Carmelita
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Play it All Night Long
Genius

11

Aimee Mann:
Top Ten Songs:
[ol][li]“How Am I Different”[/li][li]“Wise Up”[/li][li]“Could’ve Been Anyone”[/li][li]“I Should’ve Known”[/li][li]“That’s Just What You Are”[/li][li]“Save Me”[/li][li]“You Do”[/li][li]“I’ve Had It”[/li][li]“Nothing Is Good Enough”[/li][li]“Sugarcoated”[/ol][/li]I would’ve liked to see “Frankenstein” (from I’m With Stupid), “Ghost World” (from Bachelor No. 2), and “It’s Not” (from Lost in Space) on this list. In fact, there isn’t a single song on this list from her latest album, which has some gems on it. I assume that they haven’t updated it since that release.

Album Rankings:
[ul][li]Whatever: 4.5 stars. I can’t say whether I agree – I only just got this album a couple months ago, and I haven’t had time to let it sit with me yet.[/li][li]I’m With Stupid: 3 stars. I disagree. This I would’ve rated higher, as it is my favorite of her albums.[/li][li]Bachelor No. 2: 4.5 stars. I agree. Much of her music in the Magnolia soundtrack came from this album; hell, much of Magnolia’s storyline came from P.T. Anderson’s listening to this album, pre-release.[/li]Lost in Space: 4 stars. This album is different from her others, as it has coherent song cycle. Each song is related to the others, and I like it very much.[/ul]

12

Peter Gabriel

All his mainstream releases got at least three stars except “secret world Live” and “ovo” (although the ovo limited edition got four stars). PG #3 got five and a red check mark.

Highlights:
Biko
Shock the Monkey
Games without Frontiers
Solsbury Hill
I Don’t Remember
D.I.Y
Digging in the Dirt
I Have the Touch
Blood of Eden
Secret World

Not a bad song on the list, but if I had to choose 10:

get rid of: Shock the Monkey, I Don’t Remember, D.I.Y, Digging in the Dirt, I Have the Touch, Blood of Eden.

Add: Here Comes the Flood, Family Snapshot, Lay Your Hands on Me, The Family and the Fishing Net, Mercy Street, Growing Up and because they only listed nine songs Signal to Noise.

13

Cello Rock band Rasputina
Thanks for The Ether. 4 and a half stars. Highest ratings of all their albums. I love it, but the quality only went up after this album.

How We Quit the Forest. three stars…Beh…nope, much more complex musically then Ether, IMO

Cabin Fever…Two and a half stars. Now here is where I sorta agree. Cabin Fever is an amazing album, but when compared to number 4…
Frustration Plantation recieved four stars. I would have given it five. Once, again, much more complicated than Ether, and Cabin Fever pales in comparison.
Signature songs

State Fair from Cabin Fever–My favorite song from that album, and one of the rockiest songs they have done. This song is important because it was somewhat of a deviation in style for them. So yeah

Transylvanian Concubine from Thanks for the Ether—This song is great, but Melora has written much better stuff. This is on the list because it was featured on Buffy.

Howard Hughes from Thanks for the Ether—Yeah, ok, this belongs here. You can’t argue with lyrics like “he will be allowed to pee on the floors…cause his codiene constipates.”

Rusty the Skatemaker from Thanks for the Ether—beautiful song, but simply does not show off enough of the unique instrumentaion to be a HIGHLIGHT.

Brand New Key from Thanks for the Ether----What? No…Just…no. Does not belong here.
Rock and Roll from Lost and Found----Now I just don’t see taking a band as original as this and putting covers on thier list…No.
Olde Headboard from How We Quit the Forest–Now we’re cookin with gas! This is a great song, tongue in cheek and angry at the same time. Sung in Spanish before the chorus for no apparant reason.
Crybabies from Thanks for the Ether----Thanks for the Ether seems to be their pet album. They should have removed some of these songs and replaced them with others.

Mr. E Leon Rains from THANKS FOR THE FRIGGEN PICK ANOTHER DAMN ALBUM ALREADY!!!
AntiqueHighHeelRedDollShoes from Cabin Fever—Excellent song, would have perferred to see The New Zero here, though. The New Zero makes everyone love Raspy!
So all in all, no, did not repersent the quality of work coming from my favorite band…:frowning: BAD BAD.

14

I’ve generally found the AMG to be a good guide. Looking over their Bonzo Dog Band (just the original albums), they have the following:

4 1/2 stars
The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse

3 stars
Gorilla
Urban Spaceman
Tadpoles

2 stars
Keynsham
Let’s Make Up and Be Friendly

Fairly good, except – “The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse” and “Urban Spaceman” are the same album (well, Urban Spaceman adds one more song). Two different reviewers covered these, which is the reason for the discrepency (they also credit the song “I’m the Urban Spaceman” on Tadpoles, though the American version of Tadpoles, whose tracks are listed).

15

Terrific site.

I found that most of the more obscure performers that I like, they recommend songs that my friends like but aren’t amongst my favourites but that is a good thing because I know what I like.

16

Shellac: hmm, they reckon At Action Park is better than Terraform, which I disagree with, although the 10 best is pretty accurate.

Admiralfrom At Action Park
Crowfrom At Action Park
My Black Assfrom At Action Park
Watch Songfrom 1000 Hurts
Prayer to Godfrom 1000 Hurts
This Is a Picturefrom Terraform
Minutefrom At Action Park
Squirrel Songfrom 1000 Hurts
Canadafrom Terraform
Disgracefrom Terraform

But where are: Copper, didnt we deserve a look at you the way you really are, Fight song or Gana Veral?
replace Canada, Disgrace, Crow and watch song from the above list and we’re laughing. Bios pretty good too. I shall investigate further…

17

I did a few.

Rush- They generally nail the big songs that are crowd pleasers live. I think they rate 2112 and Exit…Stage Left too high and Roll the Bones and Grace Under Pressure too low.

The singles section is woefully imcomplete and there’s some weird stuff at the outliers like listing ‘Rush’ as producers of some Roy Rogers tribute (which I’m certain I would have heard about).

And they miss Geddy’s appearance on ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ from the ‘We Are the World’ album.

Next

Queen - Again a good job of nailing hte crowd pleasers but I disagree with some of their ratings. I liked ‘The Works’ and didn’t think a lot of ‘The Game’

Again very short on single information, especially during their heyday. Distracting because there are a few songs that ONLY ended up on single b-sides (back when that had meaning) and someone looking to complete their collection wouldn’t be able to know that from here.

Next

Cowboy Mouth - They completely blow one section of the bands development as there was a time before Rob Savoy joined the band and the bio doesn’t mention that.

I agree that ‘Are You With Me’ is the best of their albums but I think ‘It Means Escape’ is up there, too and they don’t think well of that one. They DO think well of the recent ‘Uh Oh’ which is good but uneven.

18

Feeling wayy too lazy to complete the task in the O.P., but I wish to chime in that as an all-around reference source, AMG is indispensable and I hit it at least 20 times a day. But I do think it’s more valuable as a general background guide for bands/artists you want to learn about than it is as a review site. By virtue of the sheer amount of ground they try to cover, many great, interesting CDs by obscurer bands are sometimes glossed over in two or three woefully inadequate sentences.

Now the All Movie Guide rocks- those reviews I’ve found quite helpful. If they just came out with an All Author Guide, I’d be happier than a pig in poo.

19

No listing for Talking Heads??? :confused: Maybe I’m missing something…

20

I think you’re approaching it from the wrong direction. They aren’t “recommending an artists’s best album(s),” they are flagging what would be the best album for a listener to buy first. Without the guide, someone who has only heard of a band may buy their worst album or one that is unrepresentative of the band and may otherwise not get into a band they would have otherwise enjoyed. It’s the same with the Song Highlights section. AMG isn’t attempting to pick a band’s 10 best songs, they’re picking 10 songs that will be familiar to a listener and/or are fan favorites. If you download one of the song highlights or flagged tracks, you’re more likely to have an idea of the band as a whole than if you go downloading blind.

Of course, I own a weathered copy of the All Music Guide to Rock, and this is explained much better in the introduction of that book than it is on the website. I think AMG is an invaluable resource for discovering music and I visit it at least once a day. I credit it with educating me in music and making me the indie pop/rock junkie I am today. :smiley: