The Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely New Reviews: Every Essential Album, Every Essential Artist

by Holly George-Warren

A completely revised edition of the bestselling guide to popular recordings--featuring 2,500 entries and more than 12,500 album reviews. The definitive guide for the '90s. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679737294
• ISBN13: 9780679737292
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 838 Pages
• Weight: 1.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

1/2... A Standard in the Genre - A Personal Fave

I first purchased "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" back in '94 together with the "All Music Guide" edition of that year. I was a music-crazed, scatterbrained, hormonally-inflamed teen back then going through the turbulence of adolescence. I wasn't a reader then, but going through the pages of this book, browsing the snippets of reviews here and there, I was impressed and enthralled with the smart and memorable lines the talented reviewers would use to describe and stamp their collective marks on the artists and their recordings. Before the age of bilious Political-Correctness and mediocre music, this edition of Rolling Stone's ongoing music guide was a representative of it's time: an era of taste and quality matched with integrity and vision. Here one can find some of the most apt and most sound criticism ever penned or typed for the printed page. And a collection of artists chosen for their merit, not popularity. Thus one will find praise for artists as diverse as Elvis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, etc.. Rolling Stone started as a rag to chronicle and feature the Rock scene, hence the preponderance of Rock musicians in the book, but artists who influenced the course of Rock music and were influenced by it are well represented too: Robert Johnson, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Muddy Waters, etc., are given their equal tribute. Other genres are economically touched on, and Rap, Folk, Country, and others are given just due. The writings are some of the very best, balancing seamless lines between worship, accuracy, humor, scathing word-bites, pathos, and knowledge. As admirable as this edition gets, there are some slips and tangles that come along, just like almost anything else. Some of the reviews are hilarious, perhaps inappropriately so (read the one on Gino Vannelli and laugh). Others are ridiculous, revealing the critics' prejudices and limitations (2 stars for Black Sabbath's "Vol.4"?. And the same for Slayer's "Reign in Blood"?.). And as one critic who I read from the net pointedly stated, somewhere along these lines, "Did they really listen to all of those recordings? What's with all of those old bluesmen all getting 5 stars?". After the passage of more than a decade, I still go back to this model of music criticism. I still appreciate the brevity and wit with which Messrs. Mark Coleman, J.D. Considine, Paul Evans, and David McGee shared their talents and efforts for future music fans to revel and cherish only the best in Popular Music.

best one out there

Excellent and good fun. The New York Dolls review sums up the tone of this guide nicely. Definitely not for the Top 40 crowd though. If you're one of them, stay away as you'll probably get somewhat insulted. A drawback is that out of print albums were omitted, which makes the guide incomplete as soon as these albums are reissued. And of course the guide is outdated. Any guide is the moment is goes off to the presses. That said, we want an update now.

Terrific introduction

Many have mentioned that the RS guide is outdated. However, the fact that edition comes out every 10 years gives a timely perspective of an era. For example, The Doors enjoyed a big revival in the 80s. The older edition of the RS guide slams the Doors; the newer one praises them. Rather than showing a lack of integrity or consistency, this and other changes reflect that each decade shapes a new musical, critical perspective. And because RS has been there since the beginning, what better guide to give that perspective than Rolling Stone? The guide's strongest with the standard rock heroes of the 60s and 70s. Why wouldn't it -- Rolling Stone chronicled them. You'll get a solid foundation of the roots and demimonde of rock and roll -- Muddy Waters, Little Richard, Presley, Beatles, Dylan, et al. It's good with the 80s in a "pre-alternative" mindset. While RS is a bit weak (and superficial) on indie heroes and hip-hop, well consider that it was written in '91-92, just when alternative rock hit mainstream. Many may consider this a fault, and it is. RS is not the ONLY guide out there nor is it necesarilly the best. But, before you go to the Trouser Press, this is the one to start with. Before one can enthuse about the latest, greatest Flaming Lips record, an appreciation of the Beach Boys would help. And as a capsule of how rock was like before the 90s really broke, it's great.

Rolling Stone Album Guide

This guide is a must-have for anyone interested in popular culture. I use it almost every day. Too bad the last edition is from 1992. I can't wait for a new one ! Come on guys !

Easy to dance to, and I didn't lose the beat.

This second edition is a must for any CD / Album connoisseur, the most comprehensive of it's kind. The reviews of each artist's work is directly proportional to their success and legacy in the music world, thus avoiding needless passages on Milli Villini or Scritti Polliti. Each album is listed in chronological order and rated from 1 to 5 (best). The only negatives are (1) Updated only through 1992. (2) There are certain rating discrepencies owing to the 3 different authors' individual opinions "from" artist to artist. But there is some consistency "within" each artist's rating, as the writers usually can rank the best works of any particualar group in the proper order. When these guys trash a performer, they often go all out, sometimes on artists you might think are / were good.