Rating: 
Summary: Finally updated: the best rock reference book, bar none
Review: 5 years after the 2nd Edition, we finally receive the 3rd Edition of the All Music Guide to Rock: 1,399 (no, not 1,400!) pages of vital information on the best in rock music from yesterday and today. What sets this reference book apart from its competitors is the detailed album-by-album review (and rating) of the artists. A good example is how the editors treat Bob Dylan's career and its 40+ (and counting) albums.The book cover albums issued before or no later than October 2001, so you will find reviews on albums such as Dylan's "Love & Theft" and Collective Soul's "7even Year Itch", but you won't find, say, Radiohead's "I Might Be Wrong--Live Recordings" or Natalie Merchant's "Motherland". Of course, as the editors note, this book is culled from the vastly more expansive on line version of All Music Guide, which obviously is also updated more frequently. The book has some curious omissions (what, no listing for Creed?) and out-of-proportion reviews (3+ pages on The Fall, about the same as for the Beatles!). In the end, those are minor quibbles. While the on line version is more complete and up to date, I also want to have something I can physically leaf through (same reason why there are still actual newspapers, I guess). Let's just hope that it won't take another 5 years before the 4th Edition sees the day of light! Meanwhile, we will do with this. BUY IT!
Rating: 
Summary: The best just got worse
Review: Cool book but not a patch on the previous edition. The best is still the best but it just got worse. Pity. Needs more groups info in the text. There are few books as good as this but it is not what it used to be.
Rating:
Summary: The best just got worse
Review: Cool book but not a patch on the previous edition. The best is still the best but it just got worse. Pity. Needs more groups info in the text. There are few books as good as this but it is not what it used to be.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best guide but only by default
Review: First things first: AMG's rock guide is still the most comprehensive look at modern rock music of all styles. This honor is only won, though, by the default of Trouser Press to update their album guide after 1996. If you're merely interested in exploring contemporary rock music, skip the purchase; refer to AMG's website, search to your heart's delight, and take their suggestions with a grain of salt. If you're a die hard aficionado and looking to complete a well-rounded collection, AMG's guide serves as a checklist of sorts for choosing from the discographies of thousands of artists. Again, you will certainly find your opinions vary from those of the writers.* Do not buy blindly. For albums produced prior to 1995, I personally refer to the Trouser Press guide or the 2nd edition of AMG's guide. In the 2nd edition of the AMG rock guide, the writing style is closer to rock journalism than fan fiction, and the reviews seem honest rather than celebratory. *As for other users' comments that the reviews in the 3rd edition seem to be written by fans rather than journalists: that's because they are written by fans. At the launch of the AMG website, AMG began allowing fans to submit reviews; with the publication of the 3rd edition guide, they began including fans' reviews in the written volume. Personally, I found the reviews to be more consistent and fair when authored by the AMG staff.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best guide but only by default
Review: First things first: AMG's rock guide is still the most comprehensive look at modern rock music of all styles. This honor is only won, though, by the default of Trouser Press to update their album guide after 1996. If you're merely interested in exploring contemporary rock music, skip the purchase; refer to AMG's website, search to your heart's delight, and take their suggestions with a grain of salt. If you're a die hard aficionado and looking to complete a well-rounded collection, AMG's guide serves as a checklist of sorts for choosing from the discographies of thousands of artists. Again, you will certainly find your opinions vary from those of the writers.* Do not buy blindly. For albums produced prior to 1995, I personally refer to the Trouser Press guide or the 2nd edition of AMG's guide. In the 2nd edition of the AMG rock guide, the writing style is closer to rock journalism than fan fiction, and the reviews seem honest rather than celebratory. *As for other users' comments that the reviews in the 3rd edition seem to be written by fans rather than journalists: that's because they are written by fans. At the launch of the AMG website, AMG began allowing fans to submit reviews; with the publication of the 3rd edition guide, they began including fans' reviews in the written volume. Personally, I found the reviews to be more consistent and fair when authored by the AMG staff.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what it was
Review: I agree with most of the sentiment expressed by the other reviewers. It's still the best guide out there, but its previously high standards have dropped alarmingly. Not only do we lose some excellent and helpful essays, but these are frequently replaced with fan-type reviews, which almost always are unobjective (i.e. they praise the band/artist without question), and which are therefore largely useless to the reader wishing to explore the music of that artist (I seem to recall the entry on 'Modest Mouse' being something on these lines...although my memory may be failing me). To summarize: It's still the best guide out there, but I sincerely hope that the editors realise the error of their ways with this 3rd edition and rectify it in the 4th.
Rating:
Summary: Very good but not the book it used to be
Review: I fully agree with Harley Payette's statement which is posted here on [...]: "This is without a doubt the best rock reference book around today" and they add "however, it does not quite live up to the standard of the original 1995 edition which was simply the best rock reference book ever." This is dead right (well, except my previous edition was dated 1997 and not 1995 but let's not quibble!). In this new edition the write-ups for each group have been cut right down and are far, far shorter than in the previous edition. Also some of the breathtaking excellent essays have been dropped. For example compare the entries for Nirvana: 20 column inches in 1997 have been reduced to less than three column inches! Fortunately the All Music website provides access to most of this missing data but I would really like to have it in book form. Yes, this is still the best rock reference around but sadly it is not as good as it used to be. It is drifting worryingly towards the format of the MusicHound book on Rock (which, if you don't know it, is another rock reference guide). I guess the best way to fill the hole which is now appearing in the All Music book is to get the Rough Guide to Rock. The Rough Guide was always a bit idiosyncratic as a lot of its entries were written by fans of the groups involved (but they were not always sickeningly sweet in their statements!) but the Rough Guide always gave a far more immediate sense of the passions and emotions of what the band was all about, whereas the All Music guide confined its remarks to the strictly factual and it always seemed to write as if the All Music guide was thinking about the band's lawyers suing it! Just to complete the comparison of the All Music guide to other similar volumes, there is the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Despite its high price the Virgin book really doesn't stand up to any of the guides I have mentioned. It is not worth considering. So buy this All Music guide. It still is the best. But the best just got worse. Maybe buy the former edition (1997, second edition) instead to make sure you get all the band info. In fact, I could see a case for buying the former edition in preference to this latest edition if your real interest is not on album reviews but on background to bands!
Rating:
Summary: Very good but not the book it used to be
Review: I fully agree with Harley Payette's statement which is posted here on [...]: "This is without a doubt the best rock reference book around today" and they add "however, it does not quite live up to the standard of the original 1995 edition which was simply the best rock reference book ever." This is dead right (well, except my previous edition was dated 1997 and not 1995 but let's not quibble!). In this new edition the write-ups for each group have been cut right down and are far, far shorter than in the previous edition. Also some of the breathtaking excellent essays have been dropped. For example compare the entries for Nirvana: 20 column inches in 1997 have been reduced to less than three column inches! Fortunately the All Music website provides access to most of this missing data but I would really like to have it in book form. Yes, this is still the best rock reference around but sadly it is not as good as it used to be. It is drifting worryingly towards the format of the MusicHound book on Rock (which, if you don't know it, is another rock reference guide). I guess the best way to fill the hole which is now appearing in the All Music book is to get the Rough Guide to Rock. The Rough Guide was always a bit idiosyncratic as a lot of its entries were written by fans of the groups involved (but they were not always sickeningly sweet in their statements!) but the Rough Guide always gave a far more immediate sense of the passions and emotions of what the band was all about, whereas the All Music guide confined its remarks to the strictly factual and it always seemed to write as if the All Music guide was thinking about the band's lawyers suing it! Just to complete the comparison of the All Music guide to other similar volumes, there is the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Despite its high price the Virgin book really doesn't stand up to any of the guides I have mentioned. It is not worth considering. So buy this All Music guide. It still is the best. But the best just got worse. Maybe buy the former edition (1997, second edition) instead to make sure you get all the band info. In fact, I could see a case for buying the former edition in preference to this latest edition if your real interest is not on album reviews but on background to bands!
Rating: 
Summary: The truth about the song, Wipe Out
Review: If you're into rock trivia or just have the need to know more detail, this is an excellent source. It is not fully encyclopedic, missing many albums found in other books, such as the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock. The writing is generally very good to excellent and doesn't lean into the overly opinionated, a fault with the Rolling Stone book. At the back of the book, there is a section covering the evolution of rock music that is very informative. It includes recommended recordings for many genres. Another minor point - some of the album release dates in this book are incorrect.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: If you're into rock trivia or just have the need to know more detail, this is an excellent source. It is not fully encyclopedic, missing many albums found in other books, such as the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock. The writing is generally very good to excellent and doesn't lean into the overly opinionated, a fault with the Rolling Stone book. At the back of the book, there is a section covering the evolution of rock music that is very informative. It includes recommended recordings for many genres. Another minor point - some of the album release dates in this book are incorrect.
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