Rating: 
Summary: Encyclopedic look at rock's growth after Nirvana
Review: After several editions of Record Guide and one previous Trouser Press which saw print just before the national explosion of alternative rock, Robbins is back with an encyclopedic look at rock's growth after Nirvana. Using Nevermind as ground zero, the book impressively chronicles a prolific outpouring of major label, indie, and DIY releases over the past decade. Organized alphabetically according to artist names, Robbins attempts to connect musicians though numerous side projects and solo efforts with his capsule format. Overall excellent reference to understanding modern rock's current direction and influences.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, just get the damn thing!
Review: Fabulous. The best book of its kind. No rock reference book is better. Period. It's also worth tracking down older editions, since with each revision the series undergoes interesting transitions, shedding some reviews, changing or adding others.
Rating:
Summary: sort of an add-on to the original editions
Review: I knew the first and second editions as excellent references. This fifth edition pretty much drops of the majority of stuff pre-1990 and adds info from 1991 to only about to the end of 1995 really. kinda sketchy overall, with the limited timeframe while also trying to cover so many styles. It is a shame that this is probably the last book that is going to be printed in this reference series. It is all online at trouserpress.com.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent and Essential
Review: I've been buying Trouser Press's record guides since the early 80's, when the original magazine unfortunately went under. This book, like previous editions, is totally unrivaled. It's uncanny how many facts it provides about a band along with a lucid and intelligent review of their music, all in a few paragraphs. In this way it makes a total fool out of its rivals, particularly the spotty, psuedo-"hip" and self-conscious Spin Record Guide. It has the same flaws you would expect of any passionate reviewer--some neglected talents, like Foetus, are hyped like they're the Second Coming, while okay acts like Janes Addiction are unjustly reamed. Its trashing of the Offspring, though, is merely an indication of good taste and integrity. And these are qualities that this guide has in abundance.
Rating: 
Summary: You need this and the 1991 pink-cover editions
Review: If you want a complete overview of the scene circa late-1970s to mid-90s. Many of the cross-references and entries reduce or eliminate the pre-1991 coverage in the 5th ed. This made room for what can be seen here, perhaps unwittingly, as the death of the alternative scene, as Option magazine folded since nobody knew what the adjective meant anymore. Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, Madonna, Prince, Run-DMC are all here, which isn't a recommendation in my opinion. Still, faced with the lack of other works (Dave Thompson's Alt Rock guide and Christgau's decade-length digests are far more, well, individually weighted, for better or worse), this is the best in-print source. All-Music Guide, now having migrated like TP to the web, serves as an excellent counterpart to TPRG's 4th and 5th eds. I often compare reviews from AMG and TPRG, or check data for references. Between the two, they fill a gap left by Rolling Stone since the 1980s and Spin since, well, then, for the American rock aficionado who can't always find Q or Mojo. TPRG started as an Anglophonic rock 'zine in the middle of the 70s, so its tendencies tilt that direction in much of its coverage. The styles remind me of the heyday of Option or Alternative Press in its array of critics, who often wrote in these magazines. The critics show their smarts and are fun to browse. Reviewers do often go easier on the music than Thompson or Christgau, but their emphasis on what the more mainstream or over-eclectic critics miss fills the gaps for serious fans. If you use this in conjunction with AMG and your own gut reactions, you'll gain a better sense of what's worthwhile to keep hearing.
Rating:
Summary: An essential book for music journalists, or just for fans
Review: Ira A. Robbins is an authority on non-mainstream music. He covered just about every "out there" band on the planet in the pages of The Trouser Press, and this collection of reviews and biographical sketches of some of the most important "alternative" artists of the 90's is an indespensible tool for fans and music journalists, alike. I am a music journalist and consult this book so frequently that it should be the most well-worn book in my library, yet it has held up very well over the past few years. Fans of particular bands might see Robbins' criticism as a bit too, well, critical (see "Alice In Chains" entry) but his reviews are so well-written that a fellow music writer cannot help but envy his style. Also included are reviews from such writers as Alan Moore, David Greenberger and Greg Kot.
Rating:
Summary: Large but unsatisfying
Review: One of the problems with this book is that it doesn't show the kind of scope or guts that early rock criticism did. I don't think it's possible or even desirable to try to evaluate '90s bands without discussing their musical ancestors. All you get then is lightweight criticism worthy of high school newspapers. Also, Robbins isn't as gutsy as his predessor, Dave Marsh (editor, Rolling Stone Record Guide, '79). Marsh used stars to evaluate records, and he and his editors could be brutal: CSN, the Grateful Dead, even Gram Parsons did not get more than 3 stars for a record. Robbins' approach, for these artists at least, is to not even review them, which I think is a mistake, even though Robbins's focus is on the '90s. The Dead and Parsons have had a significant influence on '90s musicians. Instead we get reviews of much smaller bands which, because Robbins seems to be such a nice guy and doesn't use stars, seem vague and, frankly, not very interesting. I recommend that fans of earlier eras seek out The Rolling Stone Record Guides ('79, first ed., or '83, second ed.) for concise and sharp reviews. For contemporary reviews, stick with the Village Voice, Mojo, Q, the Onion, etc.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: Should you buy this book? If you have an interest in it's subject matter (early/mid '90's alternative music), then the answer is an emphatic yes. Just be aware that it is limited to this area of rock. If you're still interested, then you should be very happy with this guide.
Rating:
Summary: It's a Shame it isn't Updated
Review: The Trouser Press Guide's Fifth Edition calls it a "Guide to 90s Rock." Unfortunately, it is now nearly six years out of date and only covers from 1990 until mid 1996. That said, it features some of the best rock and roll criticism (and writing) anywhere. It purports to cover so-called "alternative rock," which even editor and major contributor Ira Robbins freely admits is a fuzzy definition at best. The artists included range from rap to heavy metal to college rock to punk to "alternative" country and everything in between. The main requirement is that they have to have released albums in the 1990s. Hence many rock icons of the new wave 1980s are missing from this latest volume. The artists also range from the megastar level (R.E.M., U2, Metallica) to the truly obscure (Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver?). The one constant is the writing, which is uniformly excellent. As music guides go, this one is top of the line.
Rating:
Summary: sort of an add-on to the original editions
Review: The Trouser Press Guide's Fifth Edition calls it a "Guide to 90s Rock." Unfortunately, it is now nearly six years out of date and only covers from 1990 until mid 1996. That said, it features some of the best rock and roll criticism (and writing) anywhere. It purports to cover so-called "alternative rock," which even editor and major contributor Ira Robbins freely admits is a fuzzy definition at best. The artists included range from rap to heavy metal to college rock to punk to "alternative" country and everything in between. The main requirement is that they have to have released albums in the 1990s. Hence many rock icons of the new wave 1980s are missing from this latest volume. The artists also range from the megastar level (R.E.M., U2, Metallica) to the truly obscure (Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver?). The one constant is the writing, which is uniformly excellent. As music guides go, this one is top of the line.
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