Does Criticism Belong in Music?

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I think the criticism re: no 5-star for TVOTR was meant as more a general example; newly released music does not get 5-star ratings on allmusic, period. I think it's helpful to give an album a bit of time, but you don't need to wait 5 years to decide if something's great.

 

For that reason, I don't put much stock in the scores on reviews, since they tend to skew either towards laudatory ejaculations or conservative wait-and-see. It appears painfully hard to write reviews for interesting things that fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. I don't really look for star ratings; to answer your first question, I'm most interested in a combination of the second and third choices you gave. If I'm reading a review, it's cause I want an understanding of what the album's like, an idea of what songs stand out or are particularly representative, and, if possible, some good writing in general.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Good writing is always important. While encountering someone with similar taste as myself is nice, I like it when a writer takes a point of view I don't agree with and makes me understand where he's coming from. I'd much rather read a reasoned, concise piece on why, say, Dear Science doesn't work than read someone who says little more than "this album is great because these songs move me."

[MrRant]

The only reference I use for reviews is if they compare an artist to another artist so I have a feel on whether I may enjoy their work. Since music is subjective like art, criticism is fairly useless.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

The only reference I use for reviews is if they compare an artist to another artist so I have a feel on whether I may enjoy their work. Since music is subjective like art, criticism is fairly useless.

 

C'mon man, that's just stupid.

[godthedog]

since music is subjective, music is fairly useless.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

While I disagree with Point B, I primarily use reviews as an "X sounds like Y" reference point myself.