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Ratings

I don't think that AMG ratings, no matter how professional they are, should be included in the infobox for albums. I believe that these ratings may give a bias toward (or against) some albums (none in particular). --Ryan! | Talk 18:48, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)

Couldn't this be said for the NME (biased toward non-mainstream music) or Rolling Stone (biased toward rock)? What makes AMG different and why should it be excluded? Acegikmo1 5 July 2005 00:02 (UTC)

"I believe that these ratings may give a bias toward (or against) some albums (none in particular)." Um, how cryptic. :) What exactly to you is evidence of this bias? That some albums get higher ratings than others? Would you prefer a ratings system where every album gets the same rating? That would be completely bias-free. The fact of the matter is, ALL reviews have some bias. The thing that makes AMG so great is that their ratings reflect more of a "critical consensus" than just some guy randomly choosing ratings: accepted classics of the genre get 5 stars, near-classics 4.5, solid albums get 4, and so on down the line. Sometimes ratings even change to reflect changes in the consensus: Oasis has had their first two albums bumped up to 5 stars from 4.5. (Very few original albums get 5 stars immediately upon release.) After years and years of having EVERY original album The Beatles ever did at 5 stars, AMG finally took down Let It Be to 4.5...not because of one man's bias, but because that album's critical stature has dwindled over the years. Bottom line: AMG is not perfect, but nothing is, and it comes as close as you possibly can. StarryEyes 05:47, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

I second StarryEyes - some indication of critical consensus is clearly of interest to most readers. Thomas Ash 19:15, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

I think it's useful to point out what AllMusic says about its ratings system,

How does your ratings system work?

Our experts use a 1 to 5 star system (5 is the highest rating). It is important to note that we rate albums only within the scope of an artist’s own work -- we only compare a release to other releases by the same artist. We won't compare a Britney Spears album to the latest release by Incubus. When looking at an artist's discography, you may see a check mark next to the star rating of a release. That represents the AMG Pick for the release most representative of that artist's entire body of work. On specific release pages you may also see smaller checks next to two or three tracks on a recording. Those are AMG Song Picks. These are the songs on a recording that our experts feel are most representative of the entire release.

For classical albums, two ratings are provided: one for performance/musical quality, and one for sound quality. These are applied on a more universal scale than the non-classical ratings, because a classical album is rarely the work of a single artist or group, and so cannot usually be evaluated within the scope of a single artist’s discography.

Thus, I feel that AllMusic star ratings should not be used on album pages Alcuin 16:57, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

All ratings are qualified and limited. Hyacinth 05:58, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Ad?

Compared with the entry on Gracenote, this sounds like advertising. Like it's written by a blurbwriter. I guess it's hard to edit something as elusive as style though. 81.156.49.248 02:46, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

What about how they rate some albums without a review. Who gives these ratings? Also, there are some written reviews that differ somewhat in tone from the numerical rating. (i.e., a glowing review but a mediocre rating.)

--65.32.93.18 21:06, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Template

The templates {{allmusicguide}} or {{amg}} can be used to easily make links to All Music Guide entries on bands and other content. See Template talk:allmusicguide for instructions on use. —Mulad (talk) 21:17, May 19, 2005 (UTC)

All Music, however, does have a few errors. For example, in the case of Elton John's album "Greatest Hits Volume 2", the guide states that it was released in 1986 instead of 1977, and the track listing only shows the tracks from the 1992 reissue of the album (which replaced two songs with two different songs). Also, a common error in the listings is albums that were released before 1983 being listed with CD releases at the time of the albums original release. User:THollan

Didn't you mean to say "a few thousand errors"? Monicasdude 13:03, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Yers. It's dead handy, but you have to take it with a pinch of salt. The entry on Ultravox doesn't mention their only real claim to fame, the single "Vienna", the feature-length entry for the Penguin Cafe Orchestra fails to give any information whatsoever about the group other than its name and the name of its second album, which is in turn identified in its article as the group's debut , the article on Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats praises it for a song ("Hamburger Lady") which was on the previous album, and the articles for British and other non-US acts tend to start with "Although NAMEOFBAND was never particularly popular in America, the group had several hits in their native country". And if I see the awful word 'sophomore' once more I will hurt myself with a pen. The rest of the world hates America enough without you having to destroy our music.-Ashley Pomeroy 22:06, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Whoa, chill, mate. The AMG has some errors. Some several thousand, perhaps. But for that matter, Misplaced Pages has some errors...and, yes, some several thousand, perhaps. That doesn't mean it isn't a valuable source of information. You just have to view things critically (no pun intended), and realize that, like Misplaced Pages, information beyond bare facts on relatively obscure artists is never going to be perfect. Although one thing you have to keep in mind is that sometimes US and UK versions of albums differ, so perhaps the track was on the US version of the album. Furthermore, sometimes albums never get release in the US, so an American debut might be a UK sophomore effort. Unlike Misplaced Pages, however, it is a site made exclusively by Americans, so US-centric points of view are to be expected! And, of course, vocabulary too. I think you need to relax a little. I mean, I don't have the inclination to hurt myself with a pen every time I see a British website prattle on about "Manchester United Football". It still takes a minute to register: "oh, they mean THAT kind of football...not 'football' as in football". I'm sure you're "taking the piss", as you British say, when you talk about how the rest of the world hates America and you hate us even more because of a website...at least to a degree, I would hope. But if you really hate it so much, hey, I'm sure you could register http://www.UKCentricMusicGuideThatNeverOnceUsesTheWordSophomore.co.uk StarryEyes 05:47, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Isn't all AMG content free on the website?

I was always under the impression that it was... perhaps a little more information on what precisely isn't included would be of interest to readers? Thomas Ash 15:50, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Vladimir Bogdanov

This article states the Vladimir Bogdanov is one of the founders. The linked article is for a russian businesspeople; is this really the same person? Jayvdb 14:25, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

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