Everything you ever wanted to know (about music) but were afraid to ask... (allmusic.com)

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	allmusic.com
Date:	20/07/02 (349 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comprehensive, Easy to navigate, Easy on the eye

Disadvantages: Not everything in the whole wide world world ever is listed/reviewed, Spoils you!

You know how sometimes you’re reading around the site and you find a reference to a band or artist that you’ve never heard of? And as wonderful as the op is, you just have a few unanswered questions? For example, if the name rings a bell and you think that maybe the artist in question once collaborated with x, or recorded a version of song y? Or maybe you’ve been really interested by the sound of a particular artist and want to have a look at other recordings they’ve released? Well, I’ve found the answer to your prayers.

Part of the All Media Guide (actually comprised of 4 sites – allmusic.com, allclassical.com, allmovies.com, and allgames.com), the All Music Guide is 99.9% guaranteed to give you all the answers you’ve ever wanted, plus some. I’ve never used the classical, movies, or games sites, so can’t help you there I’m afraid – you’re just going to have to take a look yourself if they appeal. Because I’m going to tell you all about the one I go to at least once a week. It’s particularly useful if you’re actually writing a music op, but anyway. The site.

When you first go to www.allmusic.com you see a number of helpful things immediately on the front page, and that’s before you start searching. Every time you visit, you’ll see the New Releases flicking before you – not in a fit-inducing way, just in a gentle 4-at-a-time vertical display of album covers that change in an orderly fashion. On the left of the screen are yellow buttons that take you to Music Styles, Music Maps, Articles, Glossary, Books and CDs.

There is so much information onsite I couldn’t possibly go into each and every one without this op becoming at least 5000 words. So to give you the idea, if you click on Music Styles, you get taken to a page that lists a variety of styles under 6 sub-headings, such as Rock&Roll, Jazz, and Roots. In Rock
&Roll for example, you can select Electronica, which then opens a dropdown box with 30 styles within that category. The first dropdown by the way is always About, and in here you can select from Styles, Essays, Key Artists, New Releases etc.

Music Maps works in much the same way and enables you to trace the musical history of a particular country or region, again by style. What you get is basically either a timeline that notes all important events, or an essay, accompanied by important artists and key albums. You can also search within these selections by decade, to get a more precise summary.

The front page also has a Featured Style section in the left-hand corner that changes every time you visit. This has ranged from across the board and seems to be selected at random as opposed to having any topical bias. Although I usually completely ignore this, there have been times when the style that’s popped up has caught my eye, and it’s quite a good way of expanding your musical awareness without putting in any effort.

The main function of the front page though is to access the wonderful search engine. This can be done from any page within the site, but if you’re looking for something specific, this is probably where you’ll start your search. You can search by Artist, Album, Song, Style, or Label, selected via a radio button. It defaults to Artist though, so remember to click on the search pattern you actually want. In the text box you can provide the whole word or phrase, or just the first part. It doesn’t mind. It’s that helpful. All you need to do is tell it whether it’s an artist or a song etc it’s looking for. Of course, the more exact your criteria are, the better the results you’ll get, but don’t panic if you can only remember part. So, say you’re looking for the Buena Vista Social Club album, you only really need to enter Bue and the first 100 starting
with those letters will list.

This may be a problem if you’re looking for an artist like Paul Simon though, as a search for Paul brings up more than 100 hits, and only the first 100 will be displayed. In fact, so comprehensive are its listings that in order to get Paul Simon you have to enter at least Paul Si for him to appear. But then again, you can work by song or album title if you’re really having no luck. I must say that I have never had a problem finding what I’m after though, so don’t worry.

The database is truly exhaustive, covering a vast number of acts from the 1920s onwards. If it’s specifically something classical you want, you can click on the link at the top left-hand of the screen, and that takes you to their dedicated classical search and information site. For everything else, you can stay here.

Ok, as an example, I’m going to go with a recent purchase of mine, that’s suitably obscure (I think) to demonstrate how comprehensive the site is. I’ve searched for the album 1 Giant Leap, and AMG has presented me with two options, one listed under Soundtracks and one under Rock. Now, I know it’s the same thing, so I click on the one with the star rating. And up pops the info page for that album.

I’m shown the Artist, Album Title, Release Date, AMG Rating, Genre, Tones, Styles, Type, Library View, and Product Purchase, which takes me to CD Now so I can buy it. Above this is a series of tabs – Album Review, Songs/Tracks, Similar/Related, Credits, and Releases. Alternatively you can just scroll down to the same information.

The Album Reviews are always top-notch in my opinion, incredibly well informed, and providing links within the text to other associated artists or releases. Following that is the full track listing, with track lengths and any guest artists appearing. You can click on the song titles, which brings up a list of
all songs that have ever been released with the same name. Useful if you want to check whether track 4 is actually the same as the one released by artist x 10 years ago. Next are the credits. These are typically well detailed, and again you can click on an individual entry to reach the full info page for that artist. As an example, the vocalist Maxi Jazz performed on 1 Giant Leap. By clicking on his name, I get a page that gives me info like Performed Songs By, Worked With, Member Of, plus a full listing of Appears On (eg albums he’s worked on), and then another list that tells you where his Songs Appear On (which tells you which compilations have used individual songs).

How much information can they get on one site? The mind boggles…

Anyway. Another example. A search for Beatles as the artist gives me a list of 5 alternatives. The most popular are highlighted, and The Beatles (which is what I want) is top of the list. Bit more information here – in addition to everything listed above, I also get dates when Formed, Disbanded, a timeline that shows me when they were active, a list of Group Members, and Labels that they recorded on.

Then there’s the AMG biography, again fully linked to other areas in the site via the text, a comprehensive list of Related Artists, a somewhat interesting Artist Browser (pay no attention to this, personally I think it’s a bit silly), a list of relevant Music Maps, and finally the Discography.

The Discographies are further broken down into Albums, Compilations/Box-sets, EPs/Singles, and Bootlegs/Videos. In each of these is a full listing complete with labels. If the same recording was released in more than one country it will tell you by following the release title with the country in parentheses. Here you also have the option to buy from CD Now, if it’s available, by clicking on the blue button following the title. Not everything is always sho
wn immediately, and if this is the case, at the bottom of each list you’re invited to Click Here For More, which takes you to the complete listing. By clicking on an album title itself, you’re presented with a generally detailed review of the specific release, from which you can access further reviews of individual tracks.

Back to The Beatles main page. Again, you get the Appears On listing, and for most artists (not all) you also get a Song Highlights option, which takes you to detailed reviews for individual key songs. For The Beatles, ten songs are considered highlights, of which nine have individual reviews.

A Bibliography is also available, listing authors, titles, years and publishers, but unfortunately no further info. Then again though, this is a music site and not a book one. The problem is, when you get used to the wealth of information on offer, you expect it everywhere across the site. You’ll be wanting the moon on a stick next. Spoilt, I tell you.

The scope in information and detail is enormous, and this really is a one-stop shop for all your music notes and queries. Ask it about Cuban Son, or Video Games Music, or Lullabies, in fact anything from Acid House to Zouk, and everything in between. Ask it about your favourite artist or album, find out who, why and when, and then take up its offer of suggesting similar releases you may like. Contribute by clicking the user ratings as the base of each album page. And just explore!

The site was set up in 1992 and seems to get better every time I visit, and I’ve been using it now for about five years. I’ve never done it, but you can email them via the icon at the bottom of each page, presumably if you find a dead link or want to give them some more information. I can’t tell you what they’re like to communicate with because as I say, I never have. I'm just take, take, take. ;)

All in, any question you
could possibly have about popular music can most likely be answered on this site. It’s dead easy to navigate, quick loading, uncluttered, and is so unbelievably comprehensive it’s amazing that the site isn’t littered with ads to fund it. (It’s definitely NOT by the way). The only things I’ve not been able to find in all the time I’ve been using the All Music Guide are a German novelty record released in the ‘80s, and a Belgian early ‘90s techno label. Everything else has turned up.

So go on, test it, see what it can’t find. And while you’re there, have a look around. For music info, I promise you will never look back.


Thanks for reading!

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