Rating: 
Summary: A little light
Review: After reading Amazon's description of Christgau's latest record review guide, I was expecting a lot of bang for my buck. Instead, it's not only slimmer than either of his previous two volumes (544 pages? Mine's only 396!), it leaves out one of my favorite features of those two books: his "Core Collection" list. In addition, his new rating system is too confusing, as if he stole it from the Penguine Guide to Jazz. In addition to letter grades, now we have symbols representing "bombs," "turkeys," and "neither," whatever that means. I do like one new feature: Christgau's rating of notable songs on otherwise forgettable albums. But after a 10-year wait, I wanted more.
Rating: 
Summary: A sad disappointment
Review: Almost everything that made Christgau's 70s and 80s reviews so great - their broad survey, their ferocious pith - is missing here. Even the beautiful simplicity of the famous letter grades is gone. Unless you're in the market for Afro-pop reviews, which take up a self-indulgently large part of this collection, this has little to recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: C
Review: As a decde passes, I look forward to a new Robert Christgau Consumer Guide. In the past his works have turned me on to many interesting disks and hours of thought provoking commentary on the music scene. Well, the 90's version basically (stinks). It is convoluted in it's ratings and sometimes dismisses a release with only a symbol rather than the usual commentary. I'm sure I will find some treasures from reading this, and thus a saving 3 or C grade.
Rating:
Summary: C
Review: As a decde passes, I look forward to a new Robert Christgau Consumer Guide. In the past his works have turned me on to many interesting disks and hours of thought provoking commentary on the music scene. Well, the 90's version basically (stinks). It is convoluted in it's ratings and sometimes dismisses a release with only a symbol rather than the usual commentary. I'm sure I will find some treasures from reading this, and thus a saving 3 or C grade.
Rating: 
Summary: The most un-"user-friendly" record guide ever published
Review: As a fan of Christgau's earlier consumer guides for albums of the 1970s and 1980s, I was looking forward to this edition chronicling the 1990s. After one hour of trying to read this thing, I threw it down in disgust. This book has to rank as the single most difficult and un-"user-friendly" record guide ever published.Instead of the earlier, simpler method of reviewing albums with a paragraph and a letter grade, Christgau now includes stars, turkeys, ham, and bomb symbols and often combines them. The result is a confusing, sometimes contradictory mishmash. For example, a record may rate a "C+", but may be supplemented with a bomb or turkey symbol. Or, a record may not get a letter grade, but will instead have one, two, or three stars after it, or have an "N" or a ham symbol. While Christgau explains his new rating system in the introduction, I found myself flipping back to his ratings chart frequently to figure out what he was saying about a particular album. In addition, it seems that over half the albums listed in the guide get no review at all and instead merely get a symbol. The book is also a lot slimmer and has larger type than previous editions. Overall, this was very disappointing and frustrating. Not recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Christgau Rolls Along
Review: Christgau takes on the 90's in this continuation of his Consumer Guide Books. This book is as essential as the 70's and 80's Guides. The format is pretty much the same. An A-Z grading of albums. But those who follow his Consumer Guide in the Village Voice will know that Christgau added an Honorable Mention, Choice Cuts and Dud section to his reviews beginning in late 1990. It's this latter format that makes up the bulk of this book. And that's one of the differences between this and the other guides. So, while the cover states that there are 3,800 reviews written, some may or may not be full reviews. Honorable mentions are given a few sentences, Duds a full review and Choice Cuts just lists the best cuts from albums that Christgau thinks are marginal. Another big difference is the lack of a Rock Library (or Core Collection) that were in the 70's and 80's books. These were incredibly informative. And with the CD reissue era in full bloom in the 90's, there was a chance for Christgau to update the Core Collection of albums that he deemed essential to your collection. In it's place, is a new section called "Everything Rocks and Nothing Ever Dies" that includes records made by older artists that have basically become nostalgia acts on the County Fair circuit (but still pumped out albums in the 90's). These acts don't get a mention in the A-Z section. For example: Pat Benatar or Lynyrd Skynyrd. This may be entertaining to read at first, but it becomes negligible. Sting doesn't belong on the list. Neither does Lionel Richie or Boz Scaggs or Phil Collins. Surely, Christgau faves like the Sex Pistols and James Brown could've been added. None of those artist's 1990's albums were any better than, say, a Little Feat CD. Make no mistake, Christgau has his favorites. Longtime Consumer Guide readers will know his love for Sonic Youth, Public Enemy, Aretha Franklin and Yoko Ono (yep, Yoko Ono) has never subsided. Although, to be fair one Yoko CD does get mentioned as a Turkey in one review. But still, he likes 'em so he's sticking to 'em. And the acts that he's always disliked: Sting solo, Crowded House, Def Leppard or Metallica get dissed. The revelations in the 70's and 80's books were discovering guilty pleasures that Christgau liked. Here was a critic who liked KC & The Sunshine Band, Freddy Fender, Hot Chocolate and the Fat Boys. In the 90's, you'll be happy to find that Garth Brooks, the Backstreet Boys and Shania Twain are high on his Guilty Pleasure list. The rating system for records remains pretty much the same: A-F, although he has added some new symbols to accomodate the Honorable Mentions, Choice Cuts and Turkey's. This is very much an album guide for the 90's. With few reissues of historical importance (you'll find a James Brown and Janis Joplin box set here, as well as the Harry Smith Anthology, but little else). Some of the reviews will be new to Consumer Guide fans. The A List section at the end of the book has been updated from his year-end Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll as well. SO WHY BUY? Well, like a good music reference book you'll find yourself browsing back and forth to see if an act you recognize is listed. From Rock to Pop to Country to Jazz to AfroPop, he's covered it all. You may not always agree with him. As you can see I don't always agree with him. Some 30 years after his first review's were written, Christgau continues to roll along. Give the man his props. And to rate this book I'd give it a B+. If only for that missing Rock Library, it might've gotten an A-.
Rating:
Summary: Feh!
Review: Christgau's Record Guides used to have value, in large part because they were informative and he wrote like he actually enjoyed his reviewing job. Not this time. This time he takes the lazy way out with all of his new ratings symbols, and his writing smacks of someone who finds listening to all of this stuff beneath him. Maybe he still does get a charge from it, but you'd never be able to tell from his condescending prose. It's time for him to pack it in.
Rating: 
Summary: The man has my ears
Review: Christgau's writing is occasionally diffuse and esoteric, but if you complain about his judgements you'll get little support from me. I knew he had my ears when I opened his 80s guide and found that this middle-aged veterin awarded Public Enemy's greatest an A+, was into Prince, loved Daydream Nation. I'm confident that any A he recommends in the new book I can buy with safety, something I've treasured in a critic ever since I was sold a secession of "masterpieces" by U2, the Smithereens and the Cure by Rolling Stone, all of which turned out to have little gas in the can, making me feel cheated. If it wasn't for Christgau's review of Sonic Youth's A Thousand Leaves in 1998, reprinted in full here, I may never have gotten back into a group I'd lost interest in in the early 90s. Now I get such a buzz out of all of their 90s albums, that the least I felt I could do was pay him back with a royalty. The less streamlined grading system is a reflection of nothing more than the impossible task of keeping up with as much as one individual can - few other critics listen to enough to get such context for their judgements. I think he needn't have added turkeys to graded records, and the dud looks more like a bomb than a dud. And after having occasionally experienced frustration with Christgau's language, I finally realised that his words actually operate like rock lyrics, most of which need to be experienced multiple times before you have full appreciation of their meaning. So the book, for me, stands a lot of re-reading. My theory of how to negotiate all the rock criticism out there is that you are lucky if you find one that has your tastes. If you do find such a person, stick with them because they will save you a lot of time and money. I mean, who else are you gonna trust - the marketing? Some local critic whose descriptions don't match the object? Trust your man (or woman). I do.
Rating:
Summary: self-absorbed hack; misleading title
Review: First, no book written by Christgau should be labeled as a "guide" for "consumers." Anyone who suffers through his smug, self-absorbed typing knows in three sentences that this guy stubbornly likes, for the most part, obscure records by obscure bands, save for the few kitschy crap bands he'll chuck in to cover this fact. Even folks who might be confused enough to equate his shaky prose---even by the no-talent standards of music journalism---with insight would agree with me there. Christgau's opinions are not for consumers, a term that implies a large group, as opposed to a small group. A more accurate book title might be "Christgau's (Self-Conscious, Chain-Smoking, Dominant-Male-Monkey-Man-Hating, Friendless) Consumer (fan of X Files-type shows) Guide: Records of the 90s." In addition to that is the simple matter of writing. Christgau delivers his opinions like they're presidential speech transcripts run through a thesaurus computer to up the grade-level quotient. His reviews lean on self-righteous soundbites and empty, windy turns of phrase. It's difficult to discern anything from a Christgau review other than that the author prioritizes coming off clever over communicating insights and opinions. Read a review of his about a band you've never heard, and you'll be no closer to knowing what they sound like or whether you would like it. Save money: offer to buy a frappucino for the most bitter guy in a coffee shop if he promises to place his forehead on the tip of a broom and run around it in circles like a football player at training camp; same deal, much cheaper. If you're here on amazon reading this, it's much easier and more effective to check out a site like allmusic.com to get even-headed reviews of most any record you'd be curious about, even from decades before the 1990s. This misleadingly titled book is a confused, condescending summation of a largely unremarkable decade of music. The only people I can see enjoying his observations are those who would cut off a foot before they let it tap to a song on the radio. Allmusic and the age of sound samples allow you to make album-purchase decisions independent of bad writer blather in print. Steer clear of this book.
Rating:
Summary: What a SUPERFICIAL collection!!!!
Review: His writing aims to be clever at the expense of informing the reader. Not only is his "analysis" woefully lacking in detail and description, but Christgau's taste in music is just plain awful. If you to read highly informed and passionate music criticism then read Jack Rabid, the publisher of the Big Take Over magazine.
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