Links to Other (Better) Music Review Sites

If you want to discuss music yourself try:
Music Babble, or Adrian Denning's Message Board.

Also the WRC Updates is now updated by some some sites on an ongoing basis.

Only in the order they were added:

Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews - My main inspiration.  Alroy has great taste in classic rock and roll, and Wilson covers just about everything else.  They're like some sort of musical odd couple.  The reviews don't give the store away - short and to the point.  A good comprehensive site.

Only Solitaire: George Starostin's Reviews of Classic Rock and Pop Albums - Starostin is probably the most thorough web reviewer out there.  I almost find it hard to believe that he has a job, as his review schedule is past paced and his writing is thoughtful and detailed.  If you want to know how an album fits into the grand scheme of things check here.  

Mark Prindle's Record Reviews - Entertaining above all else, but Prindle (and the copious others who write for his site) does go for an honest gut reaction to the music.  Those offended by "dumb humor" and bad words should stay away.  Entertaining is the key word here.

CosmicBen's Record Reviews - Earth-shattering green, with the relatively same scatter-shot approach to choosing albums as I have, and quite interesting.  Hey, he gives Odyssey and Oracle five stars, that's good enough for me.

Adrian's Album Reviews - Adrian earned his place in the history books by being the first ever person to email me about this website.  His website is diverse (Billie Holiday to Marilyn Manson diverse), simply categorized and informative.  With some many fingers in so many pies, there's a good amount of cross pollination that doesn't occur on say Wilson & Alroy's site (yes, that's a good thing).  Some reviews are longer than others, but nothing approaching the Starostin mark.  The guy's got a Top Ten Kinks Songs list with Waterloo Sunset at number one, so he knows what he's doing.

Scott's Rock and Soul Album Reviews - This guy is actually semi-professional and like Adrian has a huge range of artists that he covers.  The reviews are short, to the point and well-written.  He focuses more on newer stuff, and brings some needed diversity to the reviewing community.  Certainly worth checking out.

Brad's Useless Record Reviews - I don't know about you, but a self-proclaimed Zephead who writes well is something the WRC really has lacked.  I may be getting myself into some hot water (not too much, my readership being what it is), but Brad is like Prindle, but less bombast and more useful info on the music itself.  The bands he's covered are the usual fare, but unlike some of us, he's pretty complete in his coverage.  Hey - he thinks this site doesn't blow - that's good enough for me.

Ian's Music Reviews - Do you read Ian's reviews? You should. This guy can write. Mainly old and new rock.

Jack Feeny Reviews - Jack Feeny reminds me of Adrian, although more focused. Both are British, with a critical eye to the British Press in regards to current music, but with a sound overall pallette.

John McFerrin's Reviews of Music - You know, before I got so d*****d busy, I did read other review sites. John's was one of them. Old school reviews.

Disclaimer Music Review Archive - Someone who reviews current bands! Indie-pop! Seriously, that's a pretty big need on the internet, and these guys (mainly Chris Willie Williams) do it well. I bought a Starlight Mints CD because they gave it a good review, so I'm not just talking out of my ***.

Don Ignacio's Music Reviews - A Prindle-like approach, with albums all over the map... The Shins? Check. Toronto? Check. Booker T and the MGs? Check. Saxon? Check. And you thought my reviewing choices were odd. (I totally think that approach is awesome.)

Still not satisfied?  Try the WRC Webring Listings.

Inactive Sites

HIBERNATING Superfluous Music/Book Reviews - This site is by Jacob Helfman, and appears to be rather new.  He splits pretty evenly between Today (Tool and Limp Bizkit) and Yesterday (King Crimson and the Yardbirds), and tries to update frequently (as opposed to yours truly).  That takes nerve, as I don't think I could stomach listening to Fred Durst three times (or even once).  So, just like Sea Monkeys(TM), watch his site grow!

HIBERNATING Steve and Abe's Record Reviews - The only worthy father and son music reviewing team around (yes, that's insulting the Erlewines of AMG).  We both have quotes from Pete Townshend on the main page and dislike BTO.  The comparisons probably stop there, although sometimes I also squirm while listening to music.  Like everyone else he tends to have a wider repertoire of reviews (just wait until I dig out my Police and U2 someday), with a good helping of pop and unsnobby material (Corey Hart and Motley Crue among others).  For the health of all potential victims, Steve has also dispatched a review of Europe, preventing (hopefully) anyone else from being scarred by cheesy synthesized horns.

RETIRED Rock is Dead - Long Live Rock - I managed to delete my original comments about this site by Marco Ursi, which gives me an excuse to run around his site instead of working on mine.  Not only is his writing good and accessible, he has great taste as well.  I mean, sure he mixes in some modern groups as well (Radiohead and groups of that ilk), but even check out the Single Album Page - there's really good stuff on there.  Ahh, he really likes the Who - how can you not respect such good taste?  He also covers a couple of Canadian bands, and I can't remember the last time I saw a review of a Canadian band. What more could you want?  I bet he even updates more than I do.

RETIRED Music Junkies Anonymous - Nick Karn and Co. have a very nice website that has multiple opinions.  Generally, my tastes differ from theirs (there are three reviews of Thick as a Brick, all of which give it the highest rating), but the writing is good and detailed (one poor soul went so far as to break down the aforementioned album into segments) and certainly worth a look.

RETIRED Guy's Music Reviews - Talk about starting strong out of the gate!  For a guy who claims English isn't his native language Guy sure writes well, and I don't mean in a grammatical sense.   He mainly covers newer stuff, you know, the stuff you didn't find on my website so you went to the links page.  Impressive and direct layout as well.  Maybe I like it just because his taste in comedies is excellent (The Great Dictator!).  Enough rambling, just go there already.

Is it just me or is Pete Townshend responsible for more page titles, or framed quotes in the WRC than anyone else?

Does your site belong here?  Email me at jhendrix (no space) (the number one-hundred-and-ten) at lycos dot com.