Links To Other Review Sites
It’s shocking, I know, but most (i.e. all) of these sites below are bigger and better than mine. At least the ones that aren’t offline at this point (half of them). That’s mainly because I suck.
Mark Prindle's Record Reviews – I’m not ashamed to admit that I probably rip off roughly 99% of my writing style from this guy. This is a massive site, tons of bands reviewed, and his reviews are short, but utterly hilarious. Plus (except all the hardcore punk bands I know nothing about, as well as his hatred for the Smashing Pumpkins), he seems to have pretty similar tastes to mine, so that’s good. Go here before anywhere else.
George Starostin's Classic Rock and Pop Album Reviews – This is the other site on the web (along with Prindle’s) that’s pretty much essential. They’re the only two I visit on a regular basis, anyway. His reviews are quite a bit longer than Mark’s, and he doesn’t use so many fart jokes, but they’re very informative. He’s VERY biased towards 60’s pop though, which is fine ofcourse, but that results in some negative reviews for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AND Yes. The horror! He’s got a message board as well that I sometimes post on, but not too often, since it actually messes up my computer more often than not for some reason. Oh, and he’s Russian, if you were curious. (Now offline)
Music Junkies Anonymous – This site is neat because there are multiple writers on it, not just one, though Nick Karn is the boss. It’s fun to see four or five different people’s opinions on something rather than just one. They’ve got good, full pages for most current bands as well, which is different from, say, George. I approve.
John McFerrin's Reviews – I call this guy “George Jr.” since, except for his love of Yes, he seems to agree with George on pretty much EVERYTHING. It’s almost scary. You wonder whether it’s a coincidence or whether he’s just really influenced by George. Who knows. They both rate Led Zeppelin’s debut as their best! Balderdash, I say! I like this site, though. Good stuff.
Capn Marvel's Rock Record Review Bonanza – OK, I’m writing a third summary, because Capn Marvel is now so far beyond anyone else in the WRC in terms of writing ability it’s not even worth discussing. He writes in such a thorough, entertaining fashion and provides such great insights into the bands he reviews that I read everything he posts, word by word, even if I’ve never heard a thing by the band in question. At this point I more or less completely rip him off whenever I write anything. And he’s funny too!
Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews – Now, apparently (though I’m new to this whole scene), this was the first review site on the web. I can believe it, since it is absolutely gigantic. I dislike it, though. The reviews are like two sentences long, for one thing, and they seem to casually rag on a lot of artists I like without really explaining themselves. They also go by the “cheap albums rule,” meaning updates will most likely come from the bargain bins. Plus, they give Bubba Sparxxx’s album a higher rating than Nevermind, so they can suck a nut.
Jack Feeny Reviews – This site holds a special place in my heart because, to my knowledge, he’s the only reviewer with his own site (besides me) to REALLY like the Smashing Pumpkins. Rock on! (Note: I have recently been made aware of yet ANOTHER personal web-review site that heartily endorses Billy Corgan and his back-up band.)
Scott's Rock And Soul Album Reviews – And here it is! LONG LIVE THE TALL, SKINNY, BALD, PRETENTIOUS WHINER!
Adrian Denning's Album Reviews – Here’s ANOTHER big review site that encompasses a whole lot of stuff. Where else but here will you find one person’s reviews of THIRTY-ONE Beach Boys albums? I couldn’t name one they made besides Pet Sounds. Apparently there are thirty more, though.
CosmicBen's Record Reviews – This site’s not that big at all, and CosmicBen has an admitted bias against “guitar rock,” which he elucidates in his review of Back In Black, but it’s a nice site. Could be updated more often, though.
Steve And Abe's Record Reviews – On this particular site, The Beatles’ catalog is reviewed entirely from the perspective of Ringo’s drumming. That’s really neat.
Rock Is Dead-Long Live Rock – And here’s another good, solid review site. What would make it better is if good ol’ Marco Ursi here gave System Of A Down higher ratings. They RAWK!
Cole Reviews – Here’s another one I didn’t put on my original links page because I’m a lazy piece of shit. Cole is one funny guy, with short, Prindle-esque reviews. More good stuff! There’s so much good stuff! Huzzah for good stuff!
The Disclaimer Music Review Archive – To be honest, I don’t much like the layout of this site all that much (pages by letter, instead of by band), but that sure is a cool picture at the top! What is that thingy? I don’t know. It looks sad, though.
The Fyfeopedia – Here’s another good, solid music review site that would be just “another good, solid music review site” if not for the “moral comment” section on it, you know, since I’m a militant atheist and all. Good stuff otherwise, though.
Sam Ulward's Record
Reviews – I call this site the U.N. of the W.R.C. It’s sort of a M.J.A.-disciple (look at me
with all these acronyms!), with a whole bunch of writers contributing. I call it the U.N. because of the various,
distant locales all these writers are from.
Guy's Music Reviews – In my ongoing attempts to make my links page more all-encompassing, I stumbled across this nice site! Good layout, good reviews, good stuff! I hate pop-up ads, though. Damn you, pop up ads! Not that this is the only site with them in the W.R.C. Far from it. I just feel like bitching about it in this summary.
Galpy's Music Reviews – The amount of sites I left off this page when I first put my site up is beginning to astound me. Am I really that lazy? Yes, I probably am. More good George-influenced goodness, with band ratings and all sorts of fun stuff.
Daniel Reviews – An ex-member of the Internation Union Of Sam Ulward’s Review Site, Daniel’s got a nice little site going here, though not many reviews posted yet. And he’s got a Hanson page! He doesn’t like them. Neither do I. MmmmmmmmBop? MmmmmmmmSUCK!
Superfluous Music Reviews – Jacob Helfman has himself a nice little site here, and he even reviews video games too! Shibby! It’s a little too much in the “album review” camp rather than the “full artist review” camp for my tastes, though.
Obscurity! – I’m not the biggest fan of the layout of this one, but, man, does it have a cool site name! I wish I’d thought of that. Good reviews, though. Sort of W&A-looking upon first appearance, but they don’t blow. So that’s the difference.
The Reactionary Reviewer – This is a nice site, but…this guy’s favorite band is Rush. Insert castrated elf joke here.
Alternative Rock Review – I like this one (which I’ve just discovered) a good bit. It concentrates mainly (solely?) on the whole alternative nineties scene, which is nice with SO MANY classic rock-centered sites around. I like to think I try to incorporate both. With MAXIMUM SUCKITUDE. There’s also a nice setup here. It looks official! Like Rolling Stone or something! Only without MAXIMUM SUCKITUDE.
Eclipse Review Emporium – The
newest site to come to my attention, Roland Fratzl here might have the best new
name for a site I’ve seen in a while.
Dig the Halloween graphics and odd “percentage” ratings, which are (as
far as I can see) not explained anywhere on his site. The reviews?
I could say “they’re great!” but I honestly haven’t really read more
than a few, though the ones I’ve checked out seem pretty witty. I’m sure they’re plenty better than Wilson
the Gay Volleyball and Al “Siegfried and”
Sir Mustapha's Album Reviews Page
– The band “pictures” on this page are deliciously hilarious caricatures
straight from the
Sick Boy's Bastard Reviews Site – This site is in Italian! I don’t speak Italian. I took it for a year, though! But I still can’t speak a damn word. Sorry, Cinzia…
Ian’s Music Reviews – Hey! It’s another music review site with a layout more professional-looking than mine!
Don Ignacio’s Music Reviews – Hey! It’s another music review site with a concept more original than mine!
Sylvain Migdal’s Reviews – Sylvain Migdal rates his albums on a scale of one to PI!! You know, pi! 3.14! That is bad-ass.
James Hunter’s Reviews – James Hunter is another nice young man just starting up his own site. I continue to feel old. NOTE: This site is a work in progress, even though it’s already better than Wilson and Alroy’s.
Dan The Man’s Record Review’s And Such – Hey! It’s another music review site. And like ten of the sites above have stopped updating. I’m going to bed.
The All Music Guide – This is really your one stop shop for music information, at least it is for me. I don’t take the reviews too seriously, though, since they seem to just reflect the general critical opinion of a record about 95% of the time and often seem completely unconnected to the rating. I’ve gotten the album covers for my site from here, though, and it’s a VERY useful tool when downloading, since it gives the length of every song for most records. It’s sort of the online popular music encyclopedia.