Rating: 
Summary: Christgau's lost it
Review: Robert Christgau, whose 70s and 80s consumer guides were fairly entertaining and sometimes enlightening, phoned this 90s guide in. The stupid new, obnoxious "turkey," "dud," "neither" (here nor there) and honorable mention ratings are completely unnecessary. These are in addition to his letter grades, and the A's that he consistently gives out to his teacher's pets - the Beastie Boys, Ani DeFranco, Mekons, L7, Tricky, PJ Harvey, Janet Jackson?!, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Luna, Madonna (he's madly in love with her..er.."genius"), Youssou D'Nour, Randy Newman, Nirvana, Pavement, Pet Shop Boys, P.M. Dawn, Bonnie Raitt, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Miles Davis, Cachao, Belle and Sebastian, The Go-Betweens, and just about all really old old-school rap. Many good choices, right? But pretty narrow. And Christgau can't stand artists such as Radiohead, Oasis, Tori Amos, Blur, Jeff Buckley (he rates "Grace" a turkey), John Mellencamp (says "Human Wheels" is a dud),The Cure, Counting Crows (claims August and Everything After is a turkey), Dinosaur Jr., The Flaming Lips, Emmylou Harris, Maxwell, Aimee Mann, Sam Phillips, Stone Temple Pilots, Sade, Elliott Smith, TLC, Uncle Tupelo,and U2 (he especially hates Bono and rates "Achtung Baby" a dud!). All you really have to know about this book is that the author gives the Backstreet Boys first album an A-, mainly because his 13-year-old daughter played them nonstop when it first came out, and he rates Radiohead's "OK Computer" a turkey, opining that Radiohead's "idea of soul is Bono, who they imitate further [on "OK Computer] at the risk of looking even more ridiculous than they already do." He also gives "The Bends" a lowly C. Ridiculous. So if you want to waste your money to read how souless and plastic Radiohead are in comparison to the creative, spontaneous and soulful BS Boys, be my guest. Me, I'm going to pop in my Oasis "Definitely Maybe" CD (Christgau gave it a feeble honorable mention) turn it up loud, and kick myself for buying this damn book.
Rating: 
Summary: If he acts just like a dean, that's becuz he's a human being
Review: The first thing to say about Robert Christgau is that he can write. And unlike his friend Greil Marcus, he doesn't trip over his erudition on his way to grandiosity. He doesn't quote Minima Moralia once in this whole book, but his sentences never reveal less than an intelligence at work upon itself as well as upon the records under consideration. That is to say, he doesn't just review records; he reviews the art of listening to them. And though it's easy to find fault - I can't understand how anyone who is so discerning about Afropop and hip-hop can be so uncritically accepting of so much blandly similar alt-rock; and Sleater-Kinney and Lucinda Williams are hugely overrated - it's not easy to remain unimpressed by such breezy eclecticism, such joyous range. A-.
Rating: 
Summary: Erratic, Difficult, but Worthwhile for the Patient.
Review: The first thing you should know before reading this book is that it is NOT a starting point for neophyte music zealots.... With this guide, it really helps to be at least somewhat familiar with many artists he reviews; even though he's often interesting and sometimes insightful, he usually isn't very descriptive and you might not have a very good idea of what the album sounds like after reading his review. In the introduction he acknowledges this, and suggests you consult other guides if curious about an album he reviews. That said, Christgau remains one of the most enjoyable music writers, even if he's as perplexing as ever; as in his two previous guides, some of his reviews seem convoluted to the point of incoherency. Perhaps it's because I'm not as learned as Bob, but few are. He's articulate without being erudite, and blunt without being crass. Many have complained that his ratings aren't reliable anymore, but this has never been his primary appeal for me. In fact, like many others, I do think he ignores some vital albums. As others have mentioned, he doesn't discuss several popular and acclaimed albums such as U2's 'Achtung Baby' or other less popular, but critically acclaimed artists such as Sam Phillips. But as with his first two guides, Christgau makes you look at some albums in a different perspective. It's unlikely he'll change your mind, but you're likely to think about an album differently after reading his review (though like many others, I do think this volume is less reliable than his 70s and 80s guides). There are two serious shortcomings that make this 90s guide less enjoyable than his two previous efforts. The first, most obvious problem is his new convoluted rating system. The simple, easily-referenced letter-grades have been expanded to include symbols such as 'Turkey', 'Neither', etc. These symbols are annoying and seem like pointless gimmicks. The only one even remotely worthwhile is 'prime cut', used to describe great tracks on mediocre to bad albums. The second problem is his tendency to discuss at great lengths albums he doesn't like. Previously, he dismissed marginal albums in a couple succintly, oft funny sentences, or else left them in the 'meltdown' or 'distinctions not cost effective' section. It's usually more trouble than it's worth to read through most of his negative reviews. Only occasionally interesting, most waste space by stating the obvious criticisms (at least to anyone with more than a cursory understanding of music). If you can sort through the superflous negative reviews and learn to live with his new annoying rating system, Christgau still displays his encyclopedic music knowledge in his characteristic brusque, but endearing and articulate manner. While certainly not comprehensive the latest guide from one of music's most unique and intelligent writers has much to offer knowledgeable, patient listeners.
Rating: 
Summary: C-
Review: The guy is nothing if not opinionated, which is fine, but I expect a book entitled Albums of the 90s to be a lot more balanced and comprehensive. This omits essential artists and recordings (e.g. Aimee Mann) and even so is replete with what could only be called filler and throw-aways if it was on an album (and if it were an album by Sonic Youth it would get an A from this guy anyway). Well, I say it's a cynical gyp, and I say to hell with it.
Rating: 
Summary: flawed but essential
Review: The new rating system, with its "turkey," "bomb," and "choice cut" icons, is confusing. The cover looks like Granny's leftover Christmas foil. My copy has what looks like blobs of ink on a few of the pages. And, most disappointing of all, there's no "Core Collection" list, as with the 70s and 80s versions (both also highly recommended). Still, if I had to pick only one record guide from the many titles out there, it wouldn't take long... Why is Christgau better than even such venerable rock critics as Ken Tucker and Greil Marcus? He thinks and listens harder, for one thing. And in an age when most critics are little more than paid lapdogs for the corporate record industry, he remains immune to what he calls "autohype." (Which, as I interpret it, means "loving" a record because of the artist's public image rather than on its own merits.) I have been following Christgau's monthly Consumer Guides in The Village Voice since the mid seventies, and I can honestly say that he has broadened my perspective on not only popular music, but politics, race, and sex as well. (Can reading a music criticism make one a better husband/father/citizen? In this case I'd have to say yes.) In short, he is, to quote that dreaded phrase "the thinking person's rock critic," albeit one who also possesses the occasional ability to make you laugh so hard beer shoots out of your nose. (He isn't known as "the king of the pithy one-liner" for nothing!) Finally, I would take Christgau's own advice when deciding whether or not to purchase this book: Find a copy at a library or book store, and turn to the year-end best-of lists in the back. If at least a few of his higher ranked cds are also among your faves, then purchase immediately. If, on the other hand, you find yourself turning up your nose at most of them, then pass.
Rating:
Summary: flawed but essential
Review: The new rating system, with its "turkey," "bomb," and "choice cut" icons, is confusing. The cover looks like Granny's leftover Christmas foil. My copy has what looks like blobs of ink on a few of the pages. And, most disappointing of all, there's no "Core Collection" list, as with the 70s and 80s versions (both also highly recommended). Still, if I had to pick only one record guide from the many titles out there, it wouldn't take long... Why is Christgau better than even such venerable rock critics as Ken Tucker and Greil Marcus? He thinks and listens harder, for one thing. And in an age when most critics are little more than paid lapdogs for the corporate record industry, he remains immune to what he calls "autohype." (Which, as I interpret it, means "loving" a record because of the artist's public image rather than on its own merits.) I have been following Christgau's monthly Consumer Guides in The Village Voice since the mid seventies, and I can honestly say that he has broadened my perspective on not only popular music, but politics, race, and sex as well. (Can reading a music criticism make one a better husband/father/citizen? In this case I'd have to say yes.) In short, he is, to quote that dreaded phrase "the thinking person's rock critic," albeit one who also possesses the occasional ability to make you laugh so hard beer shoots out of your nose. (He isn't known as "the king of the pithy one-liner" for nothing!) Finally, I would take Christgau's own advice when deciding whether or not to purchase this book: Find a copy at a library or book store, and turn to the year-end best-of lists in the back. If at least a few of his higher ranked cds are also among your faves, then purchase immediately. If, on the other hand, you find yourself turning up your nose at most of them, then pass.
Rating:
Summary: In praise of shorter reviews
Review: This book claims "over 3800 reviews", but that's more like a sample size. That's far from exhaustive, but no doubt exhausting work for any single reviewer: more than a new record a day, every day for ten years. (For what it's worth, I have a web site where I've rated some 3000 records from the same decade, including many reissues, and it's taken me 8-10 hours/day listening time to accumulate that -- without writing reviews. Much more is hard for me to imagine.) Sure, most are quickly disposed of with icons for Bombs, Neither (good nor bad), short lists of Choice Cuts, or cryptic Honorable Mentions, but in most cases that's information enough. That leaves us with about 1100 single paragraph reviews: mostly "A List" records, with a smattering of Turkeys for balance, perspective, and blowing off a little steam. I don't care much for the Turkeys, but I suppose it's good to know that Christgau actually thought about the likes of Michael Bolton, MC Ren, and the Verve Pipe before sloughing them off. But once you sort through the data, what's left is the broadest and most erudite survey of popular music in our time. Christgau eschews categories since he transcends them: his picks range from Al Jolson to Spring Heel Jack, Sleater-Kinney to Mzwakhe Mbuli, Ruby Braff to Prince Paul, Freedy Johnston to Liliput, Tricky to Garth Brooks. The writing is denser than in previous Consumer Guides: partly the accumulated weight of his experience, partly a bias for the analytical over the informative, and possibly a reaction to the bloat in the music he critiques. This can be difficult, and can send you scurrying off to other guides for background. And by limiting the scope to an arbitrary decade, it lacks context. But these days almost all record guides are tepid committee works, usually locked into a single limiting genre. By contrast, this book offers us a single, coherent critical viewpoint, often brilliant, applied to an impressively broad musical spectrum. This book is unique, and we're fortunate to have it.
Rating:
Summary: In praise of shorter reviews
Review: This book claims "over 3800 reviews", but that's more like a sample size. That's far from exhaustive, but no doubt exhausting work for any single reviewer: more than a new record a day, every day for ten years. (For what it's worth, I have a web site where I've rated some 3000 records from the same decade, including many reissues, and it's taken me 8-10 hours/day listening time to accumulate that -- without writing reviews. Much more is hard for me to imagine.) Sure, most are quickly disposed of with icons for Bombs, Neither (good nor bad), short lists of Choice Cuts, or cryptic Honorable Mentions, but in most cases that's information enough. That leaves us with about 1100 single paragraph reviews: mostly "A List" records, with a smattering of Turkeys for balance, perspective, and blowing off a little steam. I don't care much for the Turkeys, but I suppose it's good to know that Christgau actually thought about the likes of Michael Bolton, MC Ren, and the Verve Pipe before sloughing them off. But once you sort through the data, what's left is the broadest and most erudite survey of popular music in our time. Christgau eschews categories since he transcends them: his picks range from Al Jolson to Spring Heel Jack, Sleater-Kinney to Mzwakhe Mbuli, Ruby Braff to Prince Paul, Freedy Johnston to Liliput, Tricky to Garth Brooks. The writing is denser than in previous Consumer Guides: partly the accumulated weight of his experience, partly a bias for the analytical over the informative, and possibly a reaction to the bloat in the music he critiques. This can be difficult, and can send you scurrying off to other guides for background. And by limiting the scope to an arbitrary decade, it lacks context. But these days almost all record guides are tepid committee works, usually locked into a single limiting genre. By contrast, this book offers us a single, coherent critical viewpoint, often brilliant, applied to an impressively broad musical spectrum. This book is unique, and we're fortunate to have it.
Rating:
Summary: His weakest effort
Review: This book is a big disappointment to me and to all Christgau fans I know. Christgau decides that the point of the book is to tell people what to buy, forgetting that the greatest value of its predecessors has always been (as he once said) as a bathroom book. The problem isn't just the convoluted rating system that you won't remember how to interpret after you've put the book down for a week. It's that his preferences have gotten encrusted and made him unreliable. Remember Achtung Baby by U2? I liked it; some people I know think it's one of the great albums of the 1990's. But here, in a book purporting to review all the significant rock albums of the 1990's, he decides it doesn't merit any discussion. He just indicates that he didn't like it, couldn't hear it. (Oh.) Same for Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys; he couldn't be bothered to write anything about it. Evidently his tastes have narrowed and hardened, and he doesn't have the energy to overcome this, which is a disaster for a professional reviewer. Also, the typeface for the book has changed from something reasonably attractive to an awful sans serif font. His least enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing - I Want A Refund
Review: This is the third (and by far the worst) volume I've bought from Cristgau, 'cause when he writes about things he likes he can be right on the money. A line such as "irony - an excuse for anything and a reason for nothing" is a good example. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book, and for several reasons. First of all, he doesn't like any hard rock or heavy metal, so why he even bothers reviewing these genres is beyond me because he has no understanding of them. Truth is, every time he dismisses a band like Alice in Chains, Metallica, or Kyuss, sometimes without so much as an explanation (more on that later), I feel like sending him to a corner and throwing a dunce cap on his head. He also continues to wildly overrate 90% of all hip-hop and African albums, as well as any Ramones-influenced punk bands and hard rocking female bands (he's nothing if not politically correct). This also holds true for his beloved "Amerindie" artists, as well as for literate (but sometimes boring) singer songwriters such as John Prine, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, and Lucinda Williams. Meanwhile, "pretentious" artists who actually try to do something new and different (such as Radiohead, Bjork, U2, Flaming Lips, for example) are obnoxiously dismissed. I could go on about other albums I feel he's dead wrong about (Pearl Jam's "Vs.," Emmylou Harris' "Wrecking Ball," etc) but I'd run out of space. I've also given up trying to figure out why he loves Marshall Crenshaw but doesn't like Crowded House (they seem comparable to me, and I for one prefer Crowded House), especially since he won't tell me. This is because of his awful new rating system, on which simple letter grades are often confusingly replaced by turkey and bomb symbols, or by record symbols along with a list of a few songs. This flawed new system allows Cristgau to be way too lazy. For example, important '90s artists such as Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, Oasis, The Verve (what's he got against Britpop, anyway?), Tori Amos, and Elliott Smith are barely given a mention. Their albums are listed, but with very little or no commentary. In short, his '70s and '80s album guides were much better - even if he thought Lou Reed's '80s albums were better than Led Zeppelin's '70 albums. P.S. What's up with the personal attacks, like the ones on Jeff Buckley and Tom Petty?
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