Rolling Stone Album Guide
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The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that, along with its sister publication Rolling Stone magazine, contains professional reviews of popular music and is commonly used by both musicians and casual listeners.
Contents |
[edit] First Edition
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| Author | Dave Marsh and John Swenson (Editors) |
|---|---|
| Subject(s) | Music,Popular music,Discography,Sound recording,Reviews |
| Publisher | Random House/Rolling Stone Press |
| Released | 1979 |
| Media Type | Paperback |
| Pages | 631 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-394-73535-8 |
The Rolling Stone Record Guide was the first edition of what would later become The Rolling Stone Album Guide. It was edited by Dave Marsh (who wrote a large majority of the reviews) and John Swenson, and included contributions from 34 other music critics. It is divided into sections by musical genere and then lists artists alphabetically within their respective genres. Albums are also listed alphabetically by artist although some of the artists have their careers divided into chronological periods. The first edition also included black and white photographs of several of the covers of albums which received five star reviews, although they were not listed in a separate section of the book. The edition also included reveiws for many comedy artists including Lord Buckley, The Firesign Theatre, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby.
[edit] Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Rock, Soul, Country and Pop
- Blues
- Jazz
- Gospel
- Anthologies, Soundtracks and Original Cast
- Five-Star Records
- Glossary
- Selected Bibliography
[edit] Rating System
The guide employs a five star rating scale with the following descriptions of those ratings:
- Indispensable: a record that must be included in any comprehensive collection
- Excellent: a record of substantial merit, though flawed in some essential way.
- Good: a record of average worth, but one that might possess considerable apeal for fans of a particular style.
- Mediocre: a record that is artistically insubstantial, though not truly wretched.
- Poor: a record where even technical competence is at question or it was remarkably ill-conceived.
- • (typographic bullet)
- Worthless: a record that need never (or should never) have been created. Reserved for the most bathetic bathwater.
[edit] Reviewers
- Dave Marsh
- John Swenson
- Billy Altman
- Bob Blumenthal
- Georgia Christgau
- Jean Charles Costa
- Chet Flippo
- Russell Gersten
- Mikal Gilmore
- Alan E. Goodman
- Peter Herbst
- Stephen Holden
- Martha Hume
- Gary Kenton
- Bruce Malamut
- Greil Marcus
- Ira Mayer
- Joe McEwen
- David McGee
- John Milward
- Teri Morris
- John Morthland
- Paul Nelson
- Alan Niester
- Rob Patterson
- Kit Rachlis
- Wayne Robbins
- Frank Rose
- Michael Rozek
- Fred Schruers
- Tom Smucker
- Ariel Swartley
- Ken Tucker
- Charley Walters [1]
[edit] Second edition
 |
|
| Author | Dave Marsh and John Swenson (Editors) |
|---|---|
| Subject(s) | Music,Popular music,Discography,Sound recording,Reviews |
| Publisher | Random House/Rolling Stone Press |
| Released | 1983 |
| Media Type | Paperback |
| Pages | 648 |
| ISBN | 0-394-72107-1 |
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide was an update of 1979's The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Like the first edition, it was edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson. It included contributions from 52 music critics and featured chronological album listings under the name of each artist. In many cases, updates from the first edition consist of short, one-sentence verdicts upon an artist's later work.
Instead of having separate sections such as Blues and Gospel, this edition compressed all of the genres it reviewed into one section except for Jazz titles which were removed for this edition and were later expanded and published in 1985 Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (ed. Swenson).
Since the goal of this guide was to review records that were in print at the time of publication, this edition featured a list of artists who were included in the first edition but were not included in the second edition because all of their material was out of print.
[edit] Table Of Contents
- Introduction to the Second Edition
- Introduction to the First Edition
- Ratings
- Reviewers
- Record Label Abbreviations
- Rock, Soul, Blues, Country, Gospel and Pop
- Anthologies, Soundtracks and Original Cast
- Index to Artists in the First Edition
[edit] Rating System
The second edition uses the same rating system as the first edition. The only difference is that in addition to a rating, the second edition employs the pilcrow mark (¶) to indicate a title that was out of print at the time the guide was published. [2]
[edit] Reviewers
- Dave Marsh
- John Swenson
- Billy Altman
- George Arthur
- Lester Bangs
- Bob Blumenthal
- J.D. Considine
- Jean Charles Costa
- Brian Cullman
- Dan Doyle
- Jim Farber
- Laura Fissinger
- Chet Flippo
- David Fricke
- Aaron Fuchs
- Steve Futterman
- Debbie Geller
- Russell Gersten
- Mikal Gilmore
- Alan E. Goodman
- Randall Grass
- Malu Halasa
- Peter Herbst
- Stephen Holden
- Martha Hume
- Scott Isler
- Gary Kenton
- Wayne King
- Kenn Lowy
- Bruce Malamut
- Greil Marcus
- Ira Mayer
- Joe McEwen
- David McGee
- John Milward
- Teri Morris
- John Morthland
- Paul Nelson
- Alan Niester
- Rob Patterson
- Kit Rachlis
- Ira Robbins
- Wayne Robbins
- Frank Rose
- Michael Rozek
- Fred Schruers
- Dave Schulpas
- Tom Smucker
- Ariel Swartley
- Bart Testa
- Ken Tucker
- Charley Walters [2]
[edit] Third Edition
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| Author | Anthony DeCurtis and James Henke, with Holly George-Warren(Editors) |
|---|---|
| Subject(s) | Music,Popular music,Discography,Sound recording,Reviews |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Released | 1992 |
| Media Type | Paperback |
| Pages | 838 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-73729-4 |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide was a complete rewrite of both the 1979's The Rolling Stone Record Guide and the 1983's The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. The title change reflects the fact that by the time this edition was published in 1992, records were almost completely replaced by CDs. This edition employs three new editors and reduces the number of reviewers from more than 50 as seen in previous editions to a mere four. This edition also included reviews of Jazz albums, which had been removed from the previous edition for the sake of publishing a separate Jazz guide. Unlike both previous editions, this edition did not include comedy artists.
[edit] Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Ratings
- Contributors
- The Rolling Stone Album Guide
- Anthologies
- Soundtracks
- Acknowledgments
[edit] Rating System
Like the first edition, it employed a five star rating scale but this edition had new definitions of what the number of stars meant and this edition employed the use of 1/2 stars in the reviews. The descriptions of the markings used in the third edition of the guide are:
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- Classic: Albums in this category are essential listening for anyone interested in the artist under discussion or the style of music that artist's work represents.
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- Excellent: Four star albums represent peak performances in an artist's career. Generally speaking, albums that are granted four or more stars constitute the best introductions to an artist's work for listeners who are curious.
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- Average to Good: Albums in the three-star range will primarily be of interest to established fans of the artist being discussed. This mid-range, by its very nature, requires the most discretion on the part of the consumer.
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- Fair to Poor: Albums in the two-star catefory either fall below an artist's established standard or are, in and of themselves, failures.
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- Disastrous: Albums in the range of one star or less are wastes of vital resources. Only masochists or completists need apply.
[edit] Reviewers
- Mark Coleman
- J.D. Considine
- Paul Evans
- David McGee [3]
[edit] Fourth edition
| Author | Nathan Brackett with Christian Hoard (editors) |
|---|---|
| Subject(s) | More than 10,000 of the best Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, and Soul Records, Reviewed and Rated |
| Publisher | Fireside |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media Type | Paperback |
| Pages | 838 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0743201698 |
Approximately 70 writers contributed to this edition. Here is a quote from the back cover of the fourth edition:
"For the first time since 1992, Rolling Stone's definitive classic returns to the scene, completely updated and revised to include the past decade's artists and sounds. When it comes to sorting the truly great from the merely mediocre, the enduring from the fleeting, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide provides music buffs and amateurs alike with authoritative guidance from the best voices in the field. Filled with insightful commentary, it not only reviews the most influential albums of all time, but also features biographical overviews of key artists' careers, giving readers a look at the personalities behind the music."
[edit] Artists omitted from the fourth edition
Some of the artists who were included in the previous editions but were omitted in this edition include:
- Louis Armstrong
- Captain Beefheart
- Nat King Cole
- Crowded House
- Deep Purple
- Duke Ellington
- Ella Fitzgerald
- George Harrison
- Robert Johnson
- Wynton Marsalis
- Metallica
- The Alan Parsons Project
- Tears for Fears
- Toto
[edit] Artists not included in any edition
Some of the artists who have never been included in any edition of this guide include:
[edit] Citations
- ↑ a The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1979. (Note 1, see p xiii) (Note 1a, see p xv-xvi)
- ↑ a b The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. (Note 2, see p 645-648) (Note 2a, see p xv) (Note 2b, see p xvii-xix)
- ↑ a The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Ed. Anthony DeCurtis and James Henke with Holly George-Warren. New York: Random House, 1992. (Note 3, see p vii) (Note 3a, see ix)
