I've created this section of the site for visitors to share their opinions, praises, criticisms, suggestions for bands/artists/genres to review. Feel free to make suggestions about anything, or even feedback on how I get or don't get the point across in my reviews rather well, or insist I absolutely must listen to a certain album or band I haven't heard because they're so great and including them would make the site much more complete, or you could just make general suggestions for features or whatever to make the site even better. Send me your thoughts, and I'll put em up here.
COMMENTS
[email protected] (Geoff McKeown)
Personally, I think it's great that some more recent bands are getting their fair share of web space on sites like yours. Your reviewing style is generally very thorough, and has a habit of making bands that I absolutely despise almost mouth-wateringly good! Personally, I would like to see some reviews of more recent British bands, as I am mor familiar with them (and also I think that you yourself would enjoy such bands.)
[email protected] (Charles Oliver)
I read the Blur reviews, no arguments there, but I found references to Andy Partridge & XTC and hey..., no reviews of bands beginning with the letter X. Was this an oversight? Or, are you just biased against bands whose name begins with X? Your alphabet has only 25 letters! [Editor's note: This has been corrected.]
I used to have the same problem in my CD collection but I quickly went out and bought some to remedy the problem.
Recommended listening.
Charles Oliver.
Hello, nice page. If you'd like some more bands to review I've got a couple of suggestions. Acid Bath and Strapping Young Lad. They may seem kind of obscure, and you probably won't find em in your local mall but they can easily be found over the internet, amazon or cdnow or whatever. Acid Bath is a psychedellic southern metal band sometimes considered death metal, but I really wouldn't consider them death metal. The lyrics are death metal-ish yeah, but the music itself isn't. SYL is an insanely heavy industrial-tinged metal band fronted by Devin Townsend, who if you don't know has worked with Steve Vai, Frontline Assembly(I think) and has several projects and bands. But anyway, even though they're very heavy and intense, they're still quite listenable. It's great music to listen to if your angry. Anyway.. check em out, they're cool.
Visited your site, and it is impressive. Lots of reviews for 80's hard rock, and some classic rock bands. One thing, though, that must be added, is reviews of such legends as the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles (even though I'm not too fond of the Fab Four). These two bands revolutionized rock music, and a truly excellent music site cannot be devoid of them. A few more "classic" rock reviews wouldn't hurt, but overall, nice effort.
Hello. First of all, I think this is a great site. You review all sorts of artists and the reviews are very well-written. I was wondering, would you consider reviewing Electric Light Orchestra albums? This web site covers the Beatles, the Moody Blues, Queen, and other prog-rock groups; ELO is somewhat similar to these bands, so I think it would be a great idea to review them as well.
Thanks,
Nick
[email protected] (Andrew McQuillan)
A very excellent review site along with SSMT, Prindle, and AMG. Not enough hip hop reviews though. You guys should review some King Missile as well.
i just want to sya i love your site but you need some replacements reviews!
[email protected] (Dr. Jose Joanes Fiol)
Hi! "anonymous"´s M.J. manager:
First of all, i want to send you my congratulations for the quality of the site & because you say what you think regardless of commercial commitments. (although i also think you still have a lot of work to do). i linked to you for the first time thanks to Mark Prindle suggestion in late 1999 or maybe early 2000, since then i ´ve been in contact with your site very often, (sometimes weekly) but lately due to the excess of work i only visit your site once or twice a month. Anyway i think you have one of the best review sites of the Web & you have a stable place in my heart.
i´m a rock ´n´roll fan since 1973, when i was a teenager. Now, I´m a doctor, but my second passion is music. Living in a poor third world country have kept me apart from live concerts, or even buying rock music (you know this is a "salsa" country). Fortunately friends from the world over have helped me sending me a considerable bunch of CD´s, so i consider myself a lucky guy having a lot of music from 60´s , 70´s & even 90´s alternative rock music. My musical likes range from progressive rock (Yes, Genesis, Rush, P. Floyd) to "good" thrash (metallica, Megadeth,Nuclear assault) & good classic heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple & Led Zeppelin). i also like electric blues (Cream, Blind Faith, Johnny winter, Stevie Ray & Hendrix) and many other stuff.
Last week i was very lucky finding an old CD from UFO that someone was selling in the middle of the street. I had listened to a couple of songs of this band (through FM broadcastings, mainly from Key West, but they never impressed me very much) but i´ve never had a whole CD. (in fact a 2 cd box "the x factor. out there.. & back" ).
what i listened let me shocked: pure raw rock ´n´ blues in the first disc (a lo Ten Years After) & conventional good heavy metal in the second one (in M. Schenker age). Rapidly i linked to your page looking for some information from a band that had always existed & was born in the golden age of rock
but...nothing about UFO.
I know maybe you´re just fans, i´m not complaining in anyway, but would you mind asking some UFO expert fan to review the band?.
Thanks (for everything you have taught me). keep up rock alive!!!
Jose (the old rocker)
from La Havana, Cuba
PS: excuse me for too much talking, but i wanted you to know me.
[email protected] (Adrian Denning)
that's a damn good site you have there, especially now i've discovered your Belle And Sebastian reviews. I'm not aware of any other similar site that has reviewed them ( apart from my own ). a good range of artists covered all in all. i've restored to my links page, and dropped 'Wilson And Allroy' of all people! I don't want to link to everybody in the universe and their site is starting to annoy me!
such is life!
adrian
Here is Oleg Sobolev to tell some good words about your site.
First of all,it's really great work from all of the 20 reviewres,yyou're Nick is the machine who writes great reviews almost every day.I am very surprise how our opinions come closer in most of the reviews you have written.Another reviewrs are great guys too.My own favourite writers on here are you,Nick and Robert Grazer.Oh,and I almost forgot-almost all of your ideas are rip-offed by us(Sam Ulward's site),but we try to get our own style.
Good luck guys!
[email protected] (Richard Collings)
Hi,
First of all, congratulations on a very deatailed site, i was impressed with the standard of reviews. Well done.
Secondly,I would like to suggest that you review some Smiths/Morrissey albums. Lovely. Maybe you have and my internet skills are lacking in finding it.
Thirdly, (i'll admit it, this was my motive!) could you link some sites from your popular page? If so (I do know you are busy!) they are http://www.geocities.com/mjareviews/www.wolfyandben.co.uk (being COMPLETELY stripped down and loads of stuff wil be coming up, should be cool. The other site is its sister site www.geocities.com/guidelinesounds. wolfyandben already has a small reputation, linked to a couple of good sites without us asking first (we are swines) such as drownedinsound.com. Guideline Sounds is small in comparison but more specialist, so take a look and get back to me.
Richard.
I think your site is great, I'm just now starting one of my own. I hope it's half as good as this one.
Thanks for the insparation!
Great site, and certinly something i refer to before buying music, if only for an idea of what it is like. Can you review Free, the parent band of Bad Company and much better i think. Oh and could you also review the Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac. Finally how about Ten Years After, with the excellent Alvin Lee at the helm.
[email protected] (Bruno Garcia)
very good web :)
hmmm, i think your're forget a great band called "zen guerrilla"
[email protected] (Lucille E. Crichton)
Since finding this site I was impressed. I was originaly looking for a site to down load a year of interesting trivia for someone who is getting married and it was the best one and more in line to what I was looking for but I found it really so good I have put it into my favorites list.
[email protected] (Benjamin Massey)
First, great site. It's a pity that you stopped accepting outside submissions, since I really feel like blowing my musical steam, and somehow writing comments about Genesis on the George Starostin site just doesn't cut it for me. :P
Second and, of course, most importantly...if you ever get the time, could you guys do a review of Don McLean (you know, the 'American Pie' guy?) None of the 'big' review sites I've seen have anything on him, and I'd like to see somebody perspective on a pseudo-one hit wonder. :P
Nick,
I hate rap. but i recently picked up 2 eminem cds and actually found i quite like em . i'd like to see you do reviews of them. im a big rock fan i hate rap but yet i like his stuff. i'd like to see your opinion on this. u dont have any rap reviews.
just a sugestion
thanks
you asked for it yourself.
let me first point out that i truly like your initiative to create a huge review database containing all types of good music, i mean, i could come up with it myself.
the only thing that really annoyed me actually, don't get me wrong, i'm not having a bad day or something, i just want to give some decent criticism - that is: most of the times you guys all sound like some deeply frustrated wannabe musicians that couldn't pull it off, so now you're stuck doing second-rate work i.e. earning your credits through other people's work. especially this Robert Grazer is a pain in the ass. his reviews just sound like sheer desperation over music he just couldn't play himself in the end.you see, sometimes i'd like to be a music reviewer myself, but the only thing that keeps me from becoming that, i guess, is the thought of me ending up doing down good records just because i put the guitar away after all.
that's it. sorry for my spelling if it isn't correct - english is not my native language, you see.
Just tell me you're aware of missing a lot of good stuff from the nineties and early 00's...
If not, so it's really serious :o)
How can you neglect Wilco, for example? Did you listen to 1999's Summerteeth?
And how can you ignore Lucinda Williams Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (1998)?
And what do you think of Ron Sexsmith? How can one neglect's this talent while loving Ray Davies and John Lennon?
I would have a lot to say... too much to say.
I'll just say that my CDs collection of the 90's and until now, has around twenty CDs a year, and none of them are in yours!!!
Interesting, isn't it???
Regards,
Hugues
(French)
Hey, i like you guys' site. i really wish you guys would review some Husker Du, Jesus and Mary Chain, and especially the best band ever Sonic Youth. i have looked several times, and i don't think i am overlooking them. email me back and tell me if you can, when you can. thanks!
Trevor e.y.
Hi,
I was looking at http://www.geocities.com/mjareviews/ - a page I've visited many times over the past couple years - sometimes I agree with the reviews, sometimes I can't. Anyway, the other day I came looking for reviews of the many Sonic Youth albums. They've got so much material over the past 2 decades, and it seems like they'd be right up the alley of many of the MJA reviews. And yet, I can't find a single Sonic Youth album review on the site. Is there some mysterious reason for this oversight? Does no one actually like Sonic Youth? Or is there some strange qualification for what it takes to be reviewed on MJA? Just curious...
[Nick Karn's note: Sonic Youth are one of those bands I'm interested in checking out, seeing as they are a big name, though one I'm very
I like your site. Starostin's is a little too cerebral and strictly "historically-minded" for my tastes--he has a real problem with anything that doesn't do something drastically NEW and musically INNOVATIVE--that includes Blood on the Tracks, Born to Run, and Led Zeppelin IV great, solid, legendary albums that broke no new ground but are great nevertheless. To him, "not revolutionary" often equates to "inferior." While that is a credible concept, it is belied by the fact that most music listeners cannot tell whether something is "original" or not. You have to know a hell of a lot about popular music to make that kind of informed judgement. Therefore, his opinions often strike me as frankly incomprehensible. He gave Forever Changes an eight because "it had been done before." Right. Like most listeners give a crap. You guys, on the other hand, do what lots of normal listeners do--listen to any album that strikes your fancy, regardless of chronological order. I like that. Keep it up.
And I just can't identify with Mark Prindle. He comes from the coming-of-age-in-the-late-80s- punk-indie-short-song-Pixies-loving-far-left crowd that bashes Radiohead as indie wannabes and the Smashing Pumpkins as Satan's offspring. Weird guy, that. Nice, but weird. You guys, for the most part, seem to not only tolerate bombast, but favor it. I say amen to that. Long live King Crimson.
For new bands/artists to rate, I would suggest a newly popular art-punk-emo group from Austin that you may have heard of: . . . And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. They recently went gold with their lavishly produced prog-punk (is there such a thing?? Apparently there is now.) third album, Source Tags and Codes. A classic example of an indie band signing a major label and breaking through to MTV and the big leagues simultaneously, this band just might become the next Smashing Pumpkins. So that's my first recommendation. I'll have more later on. Tchao.
Hello Nick
Even though I visit your site quite frequently (OK loads of times), this is first time I actually mailed.
Man, I really like your reviewing style, I mean, you make records I would not even touch with a barge-pole sound enticing (Extreme & Warrant spring to mind) and desire to hear. And I guess, that's the whole point of reviewing, to let others discover and enjoy music they wouldn't have bothered or heard of before.
BTW -- I've linked the Music Junkies to my links page at http://www.entertainment.inuk.com/music/links.html - not for any selfish motive, just because your site can get more hits!
Regards
Nick Collings
Alternative Rock Review
http://www.entertainment.inuk.com
Hi !
I *adore* the (your?) site Music Junkies Anonymous. I've read a lot of reviews so far (I like reading reviews of albums I already know) and it helped me to discover King Crimson recently ... What can I say ? THANKS !!!!
I'm quite a fan of a Franch band called Ange. It's a progressive rock band from the 70's who still tours in France (I've seen them recently, wow!). Their style is very theatrical, so I have seen them several times compared to Genesis. You should check their albums from their amazing 70's era :
Caricatures
Le Cimetière des Arlequins
Au-delà du Délire <- THE classic
Emile Jacotey
Par les fils de Mandrin
Guet Apens
Keep on reviewing :)
Guillaume H.
Greetings!
I just wnated to write you and tell you that I enjoy the site, however, why do you not list Roy Harper in your list? This man has 30 albums and he gets forgotten all the time. if this is truly a music junkie's haven then surely you could not pass by Roy's music. IT is some of the most poignant music of the 70's, 80's, 90's, and present!
Regards,
Scott
Hi,
I just wanted to thank you for you're reviews. They have helped me to discover some of the best music around especially older songs. Keep up the good work.
One recommendation: How about reviewing the white stripes?
Greetings from Berlin
Florian
Like the subject says, it's not often that I ever send out email to a site, and this is probably the first and last time I ever will (Unless your reply of course). Anyway, I can't believe how much my taste in music has changed since I was a Middle School kid, up to mid High School, and now as a graduate. While I find most of your reviews on your site incredibly accurate (unlike Entertainment Weekly's, etc.) I must say that you are missing out one of the greatest bands I have actually heard in a long time. While I listen to everything and everything (even pop some times, I never said I liked most of it but sometimes you just have to hear it to get it out of your head.. you know what I mean) the band I have been hooked on for a while now and I can't get out of my cd player is the Queens of the Stoneage.. Preferably the first cd, which is much better than the third (I actually haven't picked up their sophomore release because I can't stop listening to this). Anyway, you really need to get it. I swear it is one ofthe most refreshing cds in recent times. It's the Queens of the Stoneage self titled cd. Anyway, I got side tracked a bit in that.
- Lanlost
Hi Nick ,
You created a hell of a site. Very good indeed! I do like and appreciate the way you review popular music. I hope to read a lot more from you.
King regards
Jan Hoving
The Netherlands
Hey - Like the site. Found it by accident. Check out Helmet. You mightlike them.
:) Adam
Hi, I enjoy your music review website, and I'm curious if you plan on reviewing the band Porcupine Tree. From what I've read of your work, they seem to be a band that you would enjoy. I'm sure others have already harassed you about them though..hehe. Anyway, keep up the good work!
-Jason
Wheres the Nirvana??? [Site maintainer's note: Right here] Common they have got to be the best ever.!. I would say more but I had to let you know... I mean I have all the Nirvana CDs but I rarely listen to them but they still have got to be the best that I know of at least... O and Pink Floyd is tight too... Why not try and listen to Three Days Grace there pretty new and good... I could name so many other good bands but I kinda at school right now and a well you probably know how that is and all...
Ooo... and a Haste The Day is a good band from round here in Carmel, Indiana check into that... Man I cant believe you made a web sight just for this shit... Thats alot of F*ckin work... O well I cant believe I typed all this shit either... The only reason Iam is cause I took 3 Adderals in 3rd Period... But anywayz... Check into that stuff and be Good.....Later!
Hi,
I would like to tell you just how fantastic your website is. The reviews are well balanced and accurate and gives the reader a good idea of the dynamics surrounding and influencing the artists as they recorded their music and it does so without falling into the trap of inflating them into mini-gods.
A few months ago I experienced a moment of what I shall mockingly describe as "epiphany". I had enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch - roast beef and Yorkshires of course - with all of my family Sisters, nephews, nieces and parents, when the conversation turned to our childhoods and in particular how the whole of Sunday would be marked by my Dad running through his vinyl collection including Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Beach Boys and many more. How hours of Pink Floyd from Relics forwards would give way to the Stones and so on, my Dad singing lead vocals as we three kids played air guitar and drums and backing vocals.
Anyway we started to moan about the crap that was dished out to kids today and then about the crap that British music had served up to us in the early eighties. I blurted out how we had to put up with the lameness of people such as Feargal Sharkey only for my Dad to state quite matter of factly that Feargal was a genius and that his vocals were exceptional.
Obviously I argued the point remebering him as a sad white soul singer who rolled briefly across my conciousness as tumbleweeds roll across dirt tracks in Kansas.
My Dad went out to his collection and put on The Undertones relaying it back to us in the kitchen.
Now I spend my time searching out records by "The Undertones" and I am amazed and always thrilled by how expertly they could craft a 2 minute pop tune. Their skills in doing so would stand comparison with Lennon and McCartney. Bold I know, and I make the claim only for those couple of minutes when they can and DO match those Scousers hook for hook and riff for riff.
As a result of this i know love The Ramones a band not short of admirers and rightly so, and many more bands of that era and style
But I think you should mention somewhere on your site some of the music produced by "Blondie". Unfortunately I dont have a complete album just a couple of hours of individual tracks downloaded from the Internet. They were however superb. And from watching a live performance of them they were a most striking band, fronted by the then utterly irresistable Debbie Harry whose beauty and sex appeal did not overshadow her lyrical interpretation and her almost dramatic performance of the songs.
I mention it only because I cant seem to find them listed on the site. I'm sure that you must get loads of e-mails like this, so sorry to be another arsehole. But they were good. And your website is still excellent,
Cheers
JK