The Rolling Stone Album Guide , previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide , is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from Rolling Stone magazine. Its first edition was published in 1979 and its last in 2004.
31-445: The Rolling Stone Record Guide was the first edition of what would later become The Rolling Stone Album Guide . It was edited by Dave Marsh (who wrote a large majority of the reviews) and John Swenson , and included contributions from 34 other music critics. It is divided into sections by musical genre and then lists artists alphabetically within their respective genres. Albums are also listed alphabetically by artist although some of
62-472: A "passable pop voice". Marsh described Bob Seger 's 1980 album Against the Wind as "absolutely cowardly". He was much more supportive of Seger's earlier work. In the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide , Marsh called Journey "a dead end for San Francisco area rock", and their music "calculated". He awarded every single Journey album released up to that point – seven studio albums, a compilation album and
93-568: A 2001 interview that "I don't know that it was any more important than disco ", and believes hip hop is more significant than punk in the history of rock music. He has written extensively about his favorite artists, including Marvin Gaye , whose song " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " he chose as the number one single of all-time in his book The Heart of Rock and Soul: the 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made , and Sly Stone , whom he called "one of
124-459: A consolidation of the 1985 jazz guide and the blues coverage from other Rolling Stone guides. He recommended it to novices, calling it "a worthy addition to any serious jazz/blues collector's library", even though it was not as comprehensive as The Penguin Guide to Jazz or All Music Guide to Jazz , in his opinion. Approximately 70 writers contributed to this edition. Text on the back cover of
155-585: A form of cancer. The fund is dedicated to supporting research in the treatment and cure of sarcoma, as well as improving the lives of young adult cancer patients and their families. Marsh is also a member of the National Advisory Board of PROTECT : The National Association to Protect Children. Punk (music) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
186-488: A live album – the minimum possible score of 1/5 stars. When asked about Marsh's unrelenting derision of Journey on a 1986 television program during which other critics had defended the band, lead singer Steve Perry called Marsh "an unusual little man who all too often thinks that his subjective opinions translate to inarguable fact". Also in the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide , Marsh described Air Supply as "The most calculated and soulless pseudo-group of its kind, which
217-431: A mere four. This edition also included reviews of Jazz albums, which had been removed from the previous edition for the sake of publishing a separate Jazz guide. Unlike both previous editions, this edition did not include comedy artists. Similar to the first edition, it employed a five star rating scale (without the "zero stars" (▪) rating), but this edition had new definitions of what the number of stars meant, and employed
248-399: A re-evaluation of their work. The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide was published in 1985 and incorporated the jazz listings omitted from The New Rolling Stone Record Guide with additional reviews edited by John Swenson. It included contributions from 16 music critics and featured alphabetical album listings under the name of each artist. This jazz edition uses the same rating system as
279-725: Is also a committee member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Marsh grew up in Pontiac, Michigan , and graduated from Waterford Kettering High School in Waterford, Michigan . He attended Wayne State University in Detroit before dropping out in 1969 to write for Creem magazine. Marsh began his career as a rock critic and editor at Creem , which he helped start. At Creem , he was mentored by close friend and colleague Lester Bangs . While supportive of punk music in general, he said in
310-468: Is saying something". In 1989, Marsh referred to the Grateful Dead as the "worst band in creation". Regarding a possible Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction for Kiss , Marsh said: "Kiss is not a great band. Kiss was never a great band. Kiss never will be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot." Kiss were ultimately inducted in 2014; in the lead-up, Marsh said: "I
341-403: Is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, 'We Will Rock You', is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band...[I] wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas." Marsh had previously described Queen frontman Freddie Mercury – who is regarded as one of the best rock singers of all time – as possessing
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#1732791011825372-505: The Internet Archive and Open Library ( registration required ) : Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born 1949 or 1950) is an American music critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday , The Village Voice , and Rolling Stone , and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on rock music . He
403-595: The Five-Star Records section, which is coincidentally five pages in length. The edition also included reviews for many comedy artists including Lenny Bruce , Lord Buckley , Bill Cosby , The Firesign Theatre , Spike Jones , and Richard Pryor . Comedy artists were listed in the catch-all section "Rock, Soul, Country and Pop", which included the genres of folk ( Carter Family , Woody Guthrie , Leadbelly ), bluegrass ( Bill Monroe ), funk ( The Meters , Parliament - Funkadelic ), and reggae ( Toots &
434-587: The March 13, 1975 edition of Rolling Stone, Marsh was one of a number of critics asked about Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Marsh wrote: "The long songs, particularly, suffer from flat, tangled imagery, and the music, with all its hints at the old glory, is often incompetently performed. I suppose it's all a matter of what you're willing to settle for." Dave Marsh hosts three Sirius XM Radio shows, one called Live from E Street Nation , airing on E Street Radio and
465-551: The Maytals , Peter Tosh ), as well as comedy. Traditional pop performers were not included (e.g. Andrews Sisters , Tony Bennett , Perry Como , Bing Crosby , Peggy Lee , Rudy Vallee , Lawrence Welk ), with the notable exceptions of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole . (Dave Marsh justified this decision in his Introduction.) Included too were some difficult-to-classify artists (e.g. Osibisa , Yma Sumac , Urubamba ) who might now be considered as world music . ( Ethnic music
496-516: The River ", John Swenson described it both as an "FM radio classic" (p. 425), and as a "wimp anthem" (p. 244). His colleague, Dave Marsh, in reviewing the three albums of the jazz fusion group Chase , gave a one-word review: "Flee." Marsh's review of a then-current rock band called Platypus stated simply: "Lays eggs." The guide employs a five star rating scale with the following descriptions of those ratings: The New Rolling Stone Record Guide
527-540: The artists have their careers divided into chronological periods. Dave Marsh, in his Introduction, cites as precedents Leonard Maltin 's book TV movies and Robert Christgau 's review column in the Village Voice . He gives Phonolog and Schwann's Records & Tape Guide as raw sources of information. The first edition included black and white photographs of many of the covers of albums which received five star reviews. These titles are listed together in
558-596: The bestsellers Born to Run and Glory Days . Marsh has edited and contributed to Rock and Roll Confidential , a newsletter about rock music and social issues. The newsletter has since been renamed Rock and Rap Confidential . Marsh contributed to the 1994 book Mid-Life Confidential , a book about and by the Rock Bottom Remainders , a rock band composed of American authors. He has also worked for Newsday and The Real Paper . Marsh's book 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story — Legends and Legacy ,
589-520: The first edition, the only difference being that in addition to a rating, the second edition also employs the pilcrow mark (¶) to indicate a title that was out of print at the time the guide was published. Many albums had their rating revised from the first edition; some artists had their ratings lowered (notably The Doors , Yes and Neil Young ) as the book now offered a revisionist slant to rock's history, whilst others, such as Little Feat and Richard Hell And The Voidoids , garnered higher ratings from
620-458: The first two editions. The Rolling Stone Album Guide was a complete rewrite of both 1979's The Rolling Stone Record Guide and 1983's The New Rolling Stone Record Guide . The title change reflects the fact that by the time this edition was published in 1992, records were almost completely replaced by cassettes and CDs . This edition employs three new editors and reduces the number of reviewers from more than 50 as seen in previous editions to
651-418: The fourth edition claims that the guide had been "completely updated and revised to include the past decade's artists and sounds", and offered "biographical overviews of key artists' careers, giving readers a look at the personalities behind the music". Some of the artists included in the previous guides but omitted in this edition include: Copies of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th editions are available to loan through
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#1732791011825682-442: The genres it reviewed into one section except for Jazz titles which were removed for this edition and were later expanded and published in 1985 Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (ed. Swenson). Besides adding reviews for many emerging punk and New Wave bands, this edition also added or expanded a significant number of reviews of long-established reggae and ska artists (such as U-Roy , Prince Buster , Ijahman , et al.). Since
713-406: The goal of this guide was to review records that were in print at the time of publication, this edition featured a list of artists who were included in the first edition but were not included in the second edition because all of their material was out of print. This edition also dispensed with the album cover photos found in the first edition. The second edition uses exactly the same rating system as
744-690: The greatest musical adventurers rock has ever known." Along with Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner , Marsh has been involved in organizing and maintaining the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland , Ohio . Marsh has at times courted controversy with his style of maintaining selections. Marsh has championed the work of many rock and roll artists of the Fifties and early Sixties, including doo-wop and soul artists and girl groups, in his books and Rolling Stone contributions. Marsh also published four books about Bruce Springsteen , including
775-630: The music of Columbia Records, Legends and Legacy is available as a free eBook on iTunes." Marsh has been characterised as a "grumpy rock and roll journalist" due to his acerbic comments on popular musicians whom he dislikes. In 1976, he wrote that Led Zeppelin had an "insurmountable flaw" in drummer John Bonham (who has frequently been named as one of the greatest rock drummers of all time), whom he saw as "something like clinically incompetent" and responsible for marring every Zeppelin album to date. Marsh wrote in 1978: " Queen isn't here just to entertain. This group has come to make it clear exactly who
806-706: The second Kick Out the Jams , airing Sundays on music talk channel Volume . The title references the MC5 album Kick Out the Jams . Marsh's third Sirius program, the political talk show Live From the Land of Hopes and Dreams , airs Sunday afternoons on Sirius Left , channel 146 and America Left , channel 167 on XM Satellite Radio . Marsh is a co-founder and trustee of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund, created in memory of his step-daughter who died in 1993 from sarcoma,
837-415: The use of 1/2 stars in the reviews. The descriptions of the markings used in the third edition of the guide are: Some of the artists included in the previous editions but omitted in this edition include: The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide was first published by Random House in 1999, with John Swenson as the editor. Reviewing the book for All About Jazz , C. Michael Bailey regarded it as
868-448: Was an update of 1979's The Rolling Stone Record Guide . Like the first edition, it was edited by Marsh and Swenson. It included contributions from 52 music critics and featured chronological album listings under the name of each artist. In many cases, updates from the first edition consist of short, one-sentence verdicts upon an artist's later work. Instead of having separate sections such as Blues and Gospel, this edition compressed all of
899-426: Was done with them before I ever turned the first album over to the second side... all that mediocrity was harmless enough until the boastful bassist decided to turn it into a propaganda machine for the only two things he's ever loved: Gene Simmons and money." Lead singer Paul Stanley described Marsh as "pompous", and pointed to his derision of Led Zeppelin and Queen as evidence that he had "no clue" about music. In
930-506: Was released in October 2012, as a companion to Sean Wilentz's book 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story . In the same format as Heart of Rock and Soul , this book covers the 264 greatest songs from Columbia Records beginning with the 1890 performance of John Philip Sousa 's " Washington Post March " and working its way chronologically up to Adele 's " Rolling in the Deep " (2011). To promote
961-530: Was the normal term in 1979.) Big band jazz was handled selectively, with certain band leaders omitted (e.g. Tommy Dorsey , Glenn Miller , Paul Whiteman ), while others were included (e.g. Count Basie , Cab Calloway , Duke Ellington , Benny Goodman ). Many other styles of jazz did appear in the Jazz section. The book was notable for the time in the provocative, "in your face" style of many of its reviews. For example, writing about Neil Young 's song, " Down by