Links to Other Music Review Sites:
Scott’s
Rock and Soul Album Reviews
A ridiculously nice and humble guy I've traded lots of e-mails
and some cd’s with, Scott is one of the finest album reviewers around.
Although obviously a classic rock buff, his knowledge of several other
genres (soul, metal, alternative, etc) is simply stunning, as is his impressive
writing, which is informative, entertaining and 100% bulletproof. Besides
hundreds of reviews, his site also includes an extensive list page, which
will guarantee you lots of pleasure (if you're another list freak like
me). Also important: Scott single-handedly convinced me into believing
that I was capable of creating my own music review site, the language
barrier and some insecurities notwithstanding. Scott was also the editor
of my very first reviews, for which I'm truly thankful. So, if you don't
like what you read here: blame him. If you do like some of what you see,
send him a box of chocolates and check out his site! No, check it out
anyway!
Adrian’s
Album Reviews
An incredibly dedicated and eclectic music reviewer, Adrian has written
and maintained a site that has very quickly become quite massive. His
writing is very good, and his site is probably the easiest to work with,
with all the genres and artists presented in a very neat way. Hidden between
the hundreds of reviews are also treats such as a small but expanding
prose section, a top 100 list, song reviews, and hey, there’s also
a message board, which I frequently visit to post my completely superfluous
opinions. Adrian is also partly responsible for the stuff you read here,
as he gave me the chance to write my first reviews (the Rollins Band albums)
and posted them on his site. Thanks, Adrian.
The
Disclaimer Music Review Archive
Chris Willie Williams, your host, focuses mainly on contemporary indie
rock, which is a good thing considering the WRC’s obsession with
classic rock bands (The Stones, The Beatles, The Who). The amount of different
bands Willie has covered is simply stunning (you’ll find yourself
in awe of that alphabetical list on your screen), and his (underrated)
writing is informative, trustworthy and to-the-point. Other interesting
stuff: his “Songs of the Day”, his book recommendations, etc.
Finally, Willie is also a musician, crafting solid and original homemade
pop. Check out the site for more information!
Capn Marvel’s
Rock Record Review Bonanza
Another (where does it end?) impressive piece of work, the Bonanza,
written by the Capn (Ryan Atkinson), offers a lot of complete catalogues
of classic artists, but also some less obvious choices (Kraftwerk, Minor
Threat,…). Capn’s writing offers a weird mix of both the formal
and the informal, and is often very factual and informative. In other
instances he is as hilariously over the top as Mark Prindle. This seldom
gets in the way of his judgement, though, as I very often find myself
agreeing with his reviews and the ratings. To get an idea of what you
get, start with his AC/DC-reviews like I did and then proceed…
Jack
Feeny’s CD Archive
Offering a mix of classic stuff and some recent discoveries (…And
You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Queens of the Stone Age, …,
yes, Jack prefers long names), and lengthy but extremely well-written
reviews infused with a delicious amount of witticisms, Jack’s review
site provides hours of reading pleasure. A notorious example, for some
reason, is his Nirvana page, which is just hilarious. On an interesting
note (to me at least): Jack has (re-)discovered punk and proto-punk during
the past years and it has suddenly dawned upon him where his ‘true
allegiances lay’. Check it out!
Sam
Ulward’s Record Reviews
A truly international collective, with writers from Sweden, Russia, Canada
and Italy contributing, Sam Ulward’s is a fine antidote to pretentiousness
and academic music journalism. The often very young contributors (who
introduce themselves, and their preferences, on the website) are regularly
biased towards the (sub-)genre they’re most familiar with, but the
conviction, enthusiasm and eagerness to express their thoughts on mostly
albums by classic artists is truly infectious and often a treat to read.
Rock is
Dead - Long Live Rock
A site that's written and maintained by Canadian music fan Marco Ursi,
RID mainly focuses on classic rock acts, but once in a while he also throws
in modern bands like The Strokes and Spritualized. Written in an unpretentious
and enjoyable style, Ursi's site also contains his earliest essays, concert
reviews, a link to his band's site and also a very elaborate links page.
Daniel
Reviews
A new and sober site by former Sam Ulward's contributor. Daniel Fjall
has started his site with reviews of a couple of big names, such as The
Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan. Short and to-the-point reviews
devoid of any unnecessary frills.
Obscurity
An awkwardly designed website covering an interesting variety of (mostly
classic) bands, but with a very original approach nonetheless, Jon Hendrix’
Obscurity offers well-written and concise reviews (also of Quicksilver
Messenger Service!), which sometimes remind me of the Wilson & Alroy-approach.
Besides the reviews, the site also features hilarious stuff such as “Selections
from the Worst Liner Notes in the World” and a “Proof that
the All-Music Guide is on Crack” (which is probably closer to the
truth than most of us dare to imagine).
Brad's Completely Useless Record Reviews
Brad's site is just a few months older than mine, but he's made quite
a name for himself in the meantime as one of the most promising newcomers,
providing detailed high-energy reviews. Up till now, Brad's mainly focused
on classic bands (Herman's Hermits, Gerry & The Peacemakers, The Beatles),
but he's also thrown in some contemporary faves (Tool, System of a Down).
His site is also one of the few that keeps on plugging some bands (The
Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin) that are dismissed by lots of colleague-reviewers,
so he deserves extra kudos for that. Obviously very Prindle-inspired (which
results in LOTS OF CAPITALS AND MOTHERFUCKING CURSING), but the writing's
usually EXCELLENT and entertaining as fuck. DEFINITELY one to watch out
for, I kid you NOT.
Dreun
A brand new music review site, written and maintained by a Belgian music
fan (the other one). The site is very well designed, and easy to navigate.
Focuses mainly on new releases, many of which are metal-oriented. It will
be interesting to see how this site develops! Oh, yeah, the site is in
Dutch...
George
Starostin’s Classic Rock & Pop Album Reviews
One of the giants of web reviewing, George was one of the first (preceded
by Wilson & Alroy, Mark Prindle and Brian Burks (Creative Noise) to
share his knowledge of music with the world. George is a working animal
(a bit like the horse in 1984, with the sole difference that George doesn’t
seem to have a bad day now and then), and has written hundreds and hundreds
of album reviews since he first started his site, and all of his reviews
are quite lengthy and detailed. Maybe a bit too much for some of us, but
the stuff you read there is often thought-provoking and nearly always
interesting, despite his tendency to applaud classic rock more than anything
else (although the list of ‘recent’ bands he has covered is
starting to become impressive). George’s site also hosts Music Babble,
the WRC’s meeting place. Also check out the other interesting stuff
you can find there, such as a cool rock chronology, essays, etc.
Mark Prindle ’s
Record Reviews
Regarded as one of the funniest men alive by his fans, and considered
to be a vulgar 'agent provocateur' by others, Mark is certainly one of
a special kind. Biased towards his childhood loves hardcore punk and several
other ‘noisy’ genres, Mark has written loads and loads of
reviews in the past few years, some of which are very insightful and informative,
while others quickly transforming themselves into treatises on scatology
and other assorted stuff. Be sure to check out the reader’s comments
too, which are often as hilarious as the reviews themselves, and the guest
reviews page, which is massive too.
Music Junkies
Anonymous
A large, more chaotic-looking version of Sam Ulwards, MJA probably counts
two dozen writers in its ranks. Once you get past the rather confusing
homepage (also covering lots of lists, some essays, and other stuff) you’re
in for a ridiculous amount of reviews. Some of the writers are quite biased
towards a particular genre (hard rock and prog are very popular), but
taken in its entirety, the sheer amount of text and variety offers more
than you’d hoped for (and it’s particularly cool to read several
different (sometimes contradicting) views on one album.
Steve
and Abe’s Record reviews
With probably one of the most relentlessly original sites out there, Steve
(great writing) and Abe (additional toddler’s squirms), are about
to crack you up. The site offers often disturbing, but steadily thought-provoking
reviews of well-known and some plain weird artists (the Andrews Sisters,
George Michael, Paul Young!), harsh ratings (the Stones’ Beggars
Banquet gets a “3”, Dylan’s Time Out of Mind
a “4”), and funny extras “Music That Irritates Me,”
“What I’ve Really Been Listening to Lately” and “Silly
Lists.”
Commercial sites:
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AMG All Music Guide : A massive and professional music review site that I mainly use to check data, titles, names, etc. Some of the reviews are excellent, while others are kind of sketchy with the contents not matching the actual ratings they receive.
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AMG All Movie Guide : The movie site of AMG.
People I Know
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Mr Mama : Our band's website!
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The Bityears Homepage: Website of Swedish music reviewer Joel with loads of MP3s.
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Superfieke Homepage: Home page of one of my work colleagues.
Other Very Important Things
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George Carlin: One of the funniest men alive.
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Kamagurka: Visit the site of Belgium's prime cartoonist
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Humo: Website of Belgium's best Dutch-written general TV-magazine, featuring music links, contests, games etc.
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Oor: website of the Dutch music magazine
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Muziekodroom: Music centre/concert venue/recording studio, where our band recorded its demos.