Hackney Diamonds has got a very mixed reception, contrary to my expectations. At that musical site, you get "everything". -From the most grumpy casual fan´s "half star" to most the ecstatic impulse based "five stars". The site is a field day for the most unknowledgeable amateur.That said, well known musical landmarks by The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd get loads and loads of recognition. There are also "like" and "dislike" buttons for each user review. Then comes the problem; if you review and rate obscure albums, nobody seems to visit them. They remain lone stars in the musical universe. Besides, those "like/dislike" buttons don´t seem to work anymore, after the recent design face-lift of the site.

No.

It's a trash site.

A slow burning pile of trash site.

I got to say, a while back it was good. The lay-out was clear, and everything made sense. And I thought the main reviewers were knowledgeable. The whole 'history of band' thing etc; you could sample songs.
But it did a 180. I never would go there anymore.
Haha, yes, a slow burning pile of trash

Many years ago, now, I would make use of allmusic.com regularly. I found it incredibly insightful and a useful tool for researching and reading-up on journalistic, critical opinion on albums. I would spend many an enjoyable hour, reading the reviews of artists and acts I was presently exploring. At the time, that would have been the Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, etc. Now, however, the site is not the necessary go-to, and there are far better sources. In fact, it is not particularly user-friendly and is clunky. I will still have a glance very occasionally, but it is not the site it was. It served an important, meaningful purpose, but it has been surpassed and left behind.

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Big Al
Many years ago, now, I would make use of allmusic.com regularly. I found it incredibly insightful and a useful tool for researching and reading-up on journalistic, critical opinion on albums. I would spend many an enjoyable hour, reading the reviews of artists and acts I was presently exploring. At the time, that would have been the Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, etc. Now, however, the site is not the necessary go-to, and there are far better sources. In fact, it is not particularly user-friendly and is clunky. I will still have a glance very occasionally, but it is not the site it was. It served an important, meaningful purpose, but it has been surpassed and left behind.

What other sites do you use now Big Al?

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Palace Revolution 2000

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Big Al
Many years ago, now, I would make use of allmusic.com regularly. I found it incredibly insightful and a useful tool for researching and reading-up on journalistic, critical opinion on albums. I would spend many an enjoyable hour, reading the reviews of artists and acts I was presently exploring. At the time, that would have been the Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, etc. Now, however, the site is not the necessary go-to, and there are far better sources. In fact, it is not particularly user-friendly and is clunky. I will still have a glance very occasionally, but it is not the site it was. It served an important, meaningful purpose, but it has been surpassed and left behind.

What other sites do you use now Big Al?

That is a fair question, certainly. In all truthfulness, I have not explored direct, comparable alternatives. Today, I rely on Wikipedia, fan-forums and YouTube. Like with the magazines I used t love and rely on – Mojo, Q, and the NME – allmusic.com is not a necessary, essential source of music-related content anymore. I am glad that it still exists, however. Another point, possibly relevant: there is a part of me that, simply put, is not the fan I once was. I am still in love with music – always will be – but that rush I felt as a teenager, is gone to an extent. I have not even listened to Hackney Diamonds this week! Ha.

Now they want us to subscribe with 12 dollars a year.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-11-18 16:55 by noughties.

I still have my All Music books for Rock, Jazz and Country. I found them incredibly helpful for older music. It was an essential guide for where to start in the large catalog of 50s and 60s Jazz artists like Freddie Hubbard, Grant Green, Horace Silver, Art Blakey.

Super helpful in getting a sense of what to get (and at times skip) in the many eras of someone like Miles Davis. Imagine starting in a record or CD bin that is chock full of his records from the 50s to the 80s. How would you possibly make sense of all the choices? Having all of that information condensed onto several pages of text, helpfully starred and labeled with one or two concise paragraphs, was a godsend.

For Country I have the 1997 edition, Jazz 1998, and Rock 2002, so needless to say they don't help beyond those years.

TeaAtThree

The Hackney Diamonds user reviews have stopped coming. The album has settled on three and a half stars out of five, both by allmusic and users.

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noughties
The Hackney Diamonds user reviews have stopped coming. The album has settled on three and a half stars out of five, both by allmusic and users.

What an absurd thing to say.

One site.

A site that sucks.

That doesn't mean anything.

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GasLightStreet

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noughties
The Hackney Diamonds user reviews have stopped coming. The album has settled on three and a half stars out of five, both by allmusic and users.

What an absurd thing to say.

One site.

A site that sucks.

That doesn't mean anything.

Your comment is not less absurd, and not very factual.

On another note. I used to visit Allmusic quite often. I no longer have the time, so it has been a while.

There are reviews on Allmusic that are fun, spot on, well-written. I have read reviews that do not suck.

Just because you do not like something, it may not totally suck for others.

One love.

They no longer have 30 second song samples with their reviews, and the site is so crammed with pop-ups and advertising it's often impossible to read anything. Used to be a great resource, now it's pretty useless.

I still have the printed guides on Jazz and Rock.
They are great, you can spend hours and days with them an discover and rediscover artists and music.

If any of you from central Europe is interested, I will sell them for €10 each, plus pp.