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Members: start a music review section?

I have thoroughly enjoyed being a participant on Audiogon for the past 18 months or so, and much of that pleasure is directly attributable to the fine contributions made by our members. I am an avid jazz listener (perhaps apparent from some of my posts), and buy a substantial number of CD's and the occasional LP. With the price of CD's, I dislike spending $15-18 on a recording that is either poorly recorded or fails to appeal to me. Hence, I often rely on professional reviews, but they can cover only a limited number of releases each month. Then I thought: Eureka! Why not start a music review section to take advantage of our collective listening? We have some real expertise within our ranks, and it would be great to tap that knowledge (especially helpful for the newbies).

What I have in mind is asking interested members to contribute good, well-written reviews when they encounter a recording that deserves mention. For example, I have just purchased an excellent 5-CD set of recordings by Art Pepper titled "The Hollywood All-Star Sessions", which were done during the last few years of Pepper's life. I am still listening to the last 2 CD's in the set, but will plan to contribute a review of 500-1000 words of this very fine boxed set.

Would anyone else be willing to commit to writing a review or two each month? (Remember, the idea here is to provide a quality review, commenting on the music as well as the recording quality.)
sdcampbell
spons
13 posts
 
Sdcampbell,

I am fairly new to the Audiogon forums, but your posts certainly stand out as being especially insightful. You are a very good writer and I appreciate your taste in music. I am a jazz fan, leaning to the cool or west coast side of bop and favoring piano jazz. Some of my favorite artists are Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Drew, Duke Jordan, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Keith Jarrett, Andre Previn, Hank Jones, Art Tatum, Kenny Barron, John Lewis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Brad Mehldau, Lynne Arriale, Barry Harris, Hampton Hawes, and McCoy Tyner.

I think the idea of regular CD reviews by members is fantastic. Your recommendations have been very helpful and I have purchased a few CD's you have reviewed, including the sublime Chuck Israels discs.

Coincidentally, just today I was thinking that I should post reviews on some great CD's I have discovered from little-known labels like Reservoir Music, Criss Cross, and SteepleChase.

Count me in for a review a month, though my posts will surely not be as polished as yours.
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
abstract7: what you seem to be suggesting is a replication of the customers' ratings system on amazon.com. my reading of sdcampbell's query is his calling for something much more modest. it would, indeed, be wonderful to have a fully-searchable archive for all threads. i think/hope that audiogon already has that in mind for its latest round of forum enhancements. it would be fun, i think, simply to have a music review section, with author's providing two to five paragraph posts of the sort one might read in s'phile's "mini-reviews." i'd be willing to contribute to such a section, concentrating mostly on my main areas of interest: folk/blues and "adult rock." -kelly
abstract7
541 posts
 
Kelly: I didn't know Amazon did reviews like this. I got the concept from a variety of things, Netflix (great DVD rental site by the way), the Tracking Angle's scale, and the search engine at CD NOW. I thought I was being over ambitious about this, but wasn't aware it had been done. I still think it's valuable here on A-gon, because I would believe the ratings (particularly sonics) from the people here on A-gon. I agree with SDs idea--I just want more--why not ask? Who knows, maybe A-gon will get part of it incorporated and phase in more as time goes on.
danvetc
527 posts
 
I volunteer to be the token redneck reviewer here at AudiogoN. [:)] The past recommendations by members of this site have been the single most helpful experience, for me, in my pursuit of new music. I would also like to share what I find to be enjoyable, hoping someone else might too. Charlie
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,354 posts
 
Yes, I think that either a thread (or a spot) for this would be very nice. You people will tire of me quickly though, if I participate, as I am still picking up 25 or so CD's a month on an average and am not really into main stream music.
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