Leading the Deaf (How To Write A Good Music Review)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	How To Write A Good Music Review
Date:	11/07/06 (1871 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Music reviews made less intimidating?

Disadvantages: Spoils the magical illusion

I’ll get this out of the way right at the start: I like music, a lot. I have more than 600 CDs, which is far more than any human could ever hope to need. I’m always listening to music, whether I’m eating, sleeping, showering or writing a ‘How to Write a Good Music Review’ review to the strains of some proggy overture or other.

Dooyoo’s Music category is nowhere near as busy or popular as the other entertainment-based categories Movies and Books, as it’s a little intimidating to attempt to communicate sounds the reader may never hear through a bunch of well-chosen words. Music reviews therefore have to rely, to an extent, on comparison: name-drop similar artists or influences, and have faith in the reader’s knowledge of what an acoustic guitar or flute sounds like, and this problem shouldn’t be too much of an issue. That’s my first tip. Welcome.

The vast majority of my reviews on this site have been album reviews, something that the product suggestion facility has been most excellent for, and I was even Dooyoo’s music guide for some time during 2004 before the guilt of awarding myself crowns meant I wasn’t earning quite so much. I’m not saying I’m the best at writing music reviews, that’s for other people to say. But I clearly am. Only joking, there are loads of great writers on here, some who focus on music prominently, and others who dip in occasionally to give their opinion on loved or loathed records. At least I have the credentials.

The music I like won’t be to everyone’s taste, but is at least characterised by a general devotion and skilfulness by the musicians involved in creating something worthwhile and new. I hate repetitive, soulless, conveyer-belt approaches to music that do nothing to push genres forward and are aimed solely at lining the artist’s pockets. That said, here is Frankingsteins’ mechanical process that must be followed to write a great music review and bring home those Dooyoo miles. Repeat these steps ad infinitum, and you can churn out crown-worthy reviews in the Music category for ever more.

Musical taste is subjective, and music reviews are too. But this individuality only benefits music reviews, which will focus heavily on the writer’s personal response to the album / artist / live performance being reviewed. This makes it easier to write a personalised review that will, hopefully, be more entertaining to read and write, as well as detailed enough to give a clear indication of what the music sounds like in a solely visual medium.


PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE


Pre-Production Step 1: Locate & Enthuse


Starting a music review is the same as writing anything else on Dooyoo: you locate the product on the site that you wish to write about, and go at it. This may be a recently heard album or old favourite you fancy a crack at, or even just something you know fairly well and feel you might as well write about as nothing else is tickling your pickle in the other categories at the moment. Enthusiasm, either commending or condemning the music, always leads to better reviews.

As with all categories, the more popular products will likely attain more reads, as more people will be genuinely interested in reading about something they either know or wish to investigate, but being damned to obscure musical taste doesn’t mean no one will read your reviews. In the end, it doesn’t make too great a difference whether you like Disney soundtracks, house, or funeral doom metal, and if you write a great review on anything it will be instantly crown worthy.


Pre-production Step 2: Listen & Contemplate


This step isn’t always necessary, it depends on your familiarity with the music. Just as it’s easy to write about ‘King Kong’ weeks after seeing it, you can write about a Queen album if you’ve heard it enough times and know the songs. Of course, reviews of gigs can only be done this way. However, if it’s something you don’t know well, or is new and perhaps demands a second listen, it’s always useful to give albums a more objective listen, and to think about what you’re going to say in the review. Any particular touches that stand out make for more entertaining reviews, for example the studio glitches that led to a Beatles song and a ringing phone in nearby studios ending up audible on Pink Floyd and CKY albums respectively. This step doesn’t need to be tedious, and can even be performed while writing the review itself, if you’re confident enough in your ability to keep up.


WRITING THE REVIEW


Step 1: Introduction


There’s no need for music reviews to follow a set pattern, but somewhere down the line I fell into something of a routine, based largely on appropriateness and a little on laziness. All good music reviews seek to enlighten the reader right from the start with a general synopsis of what the album sounds like, again through the method of comparison, and I also like to locate albums specifically within the discography of the band or artist I’m writing about. This makes it clear that fans of Bowie’s commercial disco period won’t automatically enjoy some of his more experimental offerings of the 1990s, and situates music within its historical context also.

Any and all music facts and personal musings are welcome in the introduction, which can sum up the review that follows or just whet appetites. It’s best not to burden readers with things like specific song titles at this stage, unless it’s a simple statement that a popular single appear on the album. I regularly include information on band members, musical style, interesting general features and any personal grievances I have with the production.


Step 2: The Music Proper


The bulk of album reviews needs to describe the music on the CD, and this can be done in numerous ways. It’s important to give an impression of the album as a whole, including any songs that don’t stand out as much – making sure to mention this fact – and not just the most notable tracks.

Perhaps the most debated feature of music reviews is whether track-by-track accounts are necessary. They aren’t. It can get incredibly tedious both reading and writing a review that details track 1, then track 2 and so on for twelve songs, as although this strives to reproduce the experience of the listener, it doesn’t give the best impression of the album, and as such is a little lazy. I do like to give details of all track titles.

What I tend to do is group songs together (assuming there are enough of them) and cover these like-minded tracks together in a paragraph. I group them either by their style, e.g. slow ballads versus fast-paced rockers, or simply according to their originality. Such grouping prevents repetition of ‘another average song…’ as such points can be used in an umbrella fashion, leaving more time to rate the songs against each other.

Everything that’s important to the writer about the music needs to be discussed here, if only briefly, and this should always lead to acceptable review lengths. As most of the music I review prides itself on technical accomplishment and experimentation, this is what I tend to focus on predominantly, but I also try to suggest the most approachable songs for interested readers. If the music you review is more focused on the lyrics, or they are of particular importance to you, you have free reign in either quoting directly or explaining the lyrical themes. Aim to talk about everything, but only as far reader patience permits.


Step 3: Conclusion


Not as necessary as the introduction, especially as the conclusion can deal with the same issues. As the conclusion follows the detailed discussion of the music itself, there’s more freedom to pin-point specific aspects, songs or musicians. Again, I like to compare albums to other releases (if there are any) by bands to see how they measure up, for whatever reasons, and bands or artists can be compared to their contemporaries or influences.

As the conclusion is a summing up, it’s helpful to indicate the move away from discussing the album (step 2) with an opening conclusion line that indicates the review has moved on and is about to end. A double paragraph break or other form of line break can also help, depending on your disposition, and I tend to refer back to album titles, for some reason, in making the transition more obvious. Recent examples include: ‘The Delicate Sound of Thunder is an acceptable live album’; ‘Selling England is very nearly a concept album’; ‘Lizard was an overlooked King Crimson album right from the start…’ and ‘If Master of Reality is let down in one area…’


GO YE FORTH AND SPIN YE SOME CDS


There, in far more detail than may be strictly necessary, are my tips for writing successful and entertaining reviews in one of Dooyoo’s overlooked categories, and my personal favourite. If I remember any more as I continue to write music reviews, I’ll add them to this review in the future, and may look over this review retrospectively with a ‘How to Write a “How to Write a Good Music Review” Review’ review. I probably shan’t bother though.

Dooyoo’s current music guides read all of the reviews posted and I’ve seen them make consistently sound judgements on crown worthiness. Similarly, review readers seem to have no trouble rating reviews in this category as fairly as elsewhere. Many of the same rules apply across the site, but there are a few issues due to the restrictive format involved when writing on CDs, live shows and artists / bands.

All comments would be welcome, especially if you have alternate views to my tripartite review structure. This is merely my method for writing reviews that I enjoy using and find the most helpful, and has led to a lot of nice crowns over the past two years.

I hope you look forward to reading more over-enthusiastic reviews from my (soulful) conveyer belt in the future. Enthusiasm is the key. Goodbye my friends.

Summary: Ex-guide's tips on writing reviews in the Music category