I recently introduced a new series to evaluate the best discography sites, starting with Vehicle Flips, a 90s indie band. Let's shift now to the 50s with Lillian Briggs and see how allmusic, discogs, rateyourmusic, 45cat, wikipedia, and a new competitor, musicbrainz, stack up.
This time I'm going to start with Wikipedia. The Lillian Briggs wikipedia page rather boldly asserts that she was the first woman to achieve super-star status at the dawn of the rock'n'roll era. The wikipedia page also provide the year and chart position of her first single, and it closes by noting that she has a new 2013 collection on Jasmine records. It also includes my favorite Lillian Briggs fun fact. She owned the boat (monkey business) where Gary Hart got caught with Donna Rice, knocking him out of the presidential race.
Let's move along now to allmusic. As of the very end of 2013, allmusic is the only source that lists the new collection on Jasmine records. Yes, the wikipedia page mentioned its existence, but it didn't show a cover or give a track listing or provide any useful information about it. The collection is the only record allmusic lists in the Lillian Briggs discography, but, it too mentions the monkey business fun fact.
Discogs.com fills in quite a bit more of the Lillian Briggs discography with 6 singles, an EP, a 1985 collection, and 6 compilation tracks. The compilations include Hot Boppin Girls, Vol III, They don't have the new collection though, and that reflects a general observation I have that allmusic tends to list new releases faster than the other sites even when the other sites are otherwise more complete.
Rateyourmusic also has 6 singles, but they aren't exactly the same ones as discogs.com, and rateyourmusic has dates for all of the singles, while discogs did not. RYM has 2 EPs, and 5 compliation appearances, but no collections, neither the new collection listed by allmusic nor the 1985 collection listed by discogs.
As you would hope, 45cat stomps the competition in the singles category. They list 10 singles in the US alone, and most have not only the release year but even the release month. They also have high-resolution pictures of almost all of the records. They list 7 additional releases ex-US for a total of 17 listings.
By popular request (or maybe just a single comment on a previous blog post), I'm also consider musicbrainz.org. They list 3 compilations and that's it.
It's hard to pick a winner this time. It may be a 3-way tie between discogs, RYM, and 45cat, but you can't totally discount the fact that allmusic was the only site (as of the end of 2013) to list the new compilation. On the other hand, the new compilation is easy to find on Amazon, so maybe it's not so important for it to be covered on music sites. No - I think the music sites need to cover it. I'll need to check back during 2014 to see when any of the other sites pick it up.
This concludes part 2 of our series. Stay tuned for part 3 because, in Lillian Briggs' words, I can't stop.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
The Best Discography Sites - Part 1 of 5
On my bookshelf, my go-to music resources are the 3rd through 5th editions of the Trouser Press Record Guide, Joel Whitburn's billboard chart books, and Martin Strong's Great Rock Discography and Great Alternative and Indie Discography collections. As with so many other resources, however, the web has overtaken print as a more up to date and complete source of information. This is the first in a 5 part series exploring which web resource is best for what.
Thanks to Kickstarter, Vehicle Flips is releasing a collection of their 90s singles and compilation tracks. Vehicle Flips had a complicated discography of 3 CDs and 5 singles spanning several different labels, not to mention all the compilation tracks, making them a good test case for completeness and accuracy at the 5 different sites I plan to evaluate in each part of this 5 part series.
We'll start with Allmusic.com, which was for many years my favored resource for getting information on band's discographies. Once you get past the annoying pop-up ads, which have become increasingly aggressive at allmusic, you can find that they correctly list the 3 Vehicle Flips original CDs. Selecting singles and EPs, it gets a lot sketchier. They list 3 of the 5 singles, but only one listing is complete and accurate. They don't have a date for "Impressed Beyond Belief" and they are under the misimpression that "Terminus" is a different band as opposed to the name of a Vehicle Flips song, an error they compound with a bizarre review. In allmusic's favor, they do note that Frank went on to form The Gazetteers, but they don't mention Wimp Factor 14, his prior band.
Increasingly, Discogs has overtaken allmusic as my go-to resource. Let's see how they do with Vehicle Flips. They list all 3 CDs and all 5 singles. Interestingly, the 3rd CD gets a 2000 date at allmusic and a 1999 date at discogs. The CD itself does have 1999 imprinted upon it, but I believe the true release was delayed until 2000. That's kind of a toss-up, but I think I'm willing to give allmusic credit for that one. Discogs also lists 7 compilation appearances, which is pretty impressive coverage even if it isn't 100% complete, missing a rare cassette compilation. Interestingly, the bio is nearly if not totally identical at Discogs and Allmusic. I wonder who stole from whom, or if they both got it from the same third source.
Rateyourmusic, which started out focusing on ratings has gotten increasing reliable with discography's as well. They do OK, but not great, with Vehicle Flips. They mistakenly list one single as an album, and they miss 2 of the singles, but they get 6 of the compilations. Like the others, they mention the Gazetteers and not Wimp Factor 14 as related artists.
For old 45s, I've found that 45cat is the most reliable source, and we'll get to that later in this series. They also do well with the early punk era, but they're pretty spotty with recent (as in last 20 years) indie rock. Vehicle Flips is no exception. They don't show up at all, but, interestingly, they do have 3 Wimp Factor 14 singles listed.
Lastly, we need to consider Wikipedia. They remain far behind the other sources when it comes to music, but they've been improving rapidly, and may eventually overtake them. As of the end of 2013, there is no Vehicle Flips entry, but, if you search on Vehicle Flips, you can find the Harriet Records Discography, which looks pretty complete to me. I've found Wikipedia to compete most successfully with the music-centric information sources when it comes to artists who are either more mainstream or who are outside of the main rock genres. We may get to that later in the series.
So, the big winner in part 1 of 5 of our series is Discogs.com, with rateyourmusic.com, and allmusic.com coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Stay tuned for further trials with other artists.
Thanks to Kickstarter, Vehicle Flips is releasing a collection of their 90s singles and compilation tracks. Vehicle Flips had a complicated discography of 3 CDs and 5 singles spanning several different labels, not to mention all the compilation tracks, making them a good test case for completeness and accuracy at the 5 different sites I plan to evaluate in each part of this 5 part series.
We'll start with Allmusic.com, which was for many years my favored resource for getting information on band's discographies. Once you get past the annoying pop-up ads, which have become increasingly aggressive at allmusic, you can find that they correctly list the 3 Vehicle Flips original CDs. Selecting singles and EPs, it gets a lot sketchier. They list 3 of the 5 singles, but only one listing is complete and accurate. They don't have a date for "Impressed Beyond Belief" and they are under the misimpression that "Terminus" is a different band as opposed to the name of a Vehicle Flips song, an error they compound with a bizarre review. In allmusic's favor, they do note that Frank went on to form The Gazetteers, but they don't mention Wimp Factor 14, his prior band.
Increasingly, Discogs has overtaken allmusic as my go-to resource. Let's see how they do with Vehicle Flips. They list all 3 CDs and all 5 singles. Interestingly, the 3rd CD gets a 2000 date at allmusic and a 1999 date at discogs. The CD itself does have 1999 imprinted upon it, but I believe the true release was delayed until 2000. That's kind of a toss-up, but I think I'm willing to give allmusic credit for that one. Discogs also lists 7 compilation appearances, which is pretty impressive coverage even if it isn't 100% complete, missing a rare cassette compilation. Interestingly, the bio is nearly if not totally identical at Discogs and Allmusic. I wonder who stole from whom, or if they both got it from the same third source.
Rateyourmusic, which started out focusing on ratings has gotten increasing reliable with discography's as well. They do OK, but not great, with Vehicle Flips. They mistakenly list one single as an album, and they miss 2 of the singles, but they get 6 of the compilations. Like the others, they mention the Gazetteers and not Wimp Factor 14 as related artists.
For old 45s, I've found that 45cat is the most reliable source, and we'll get to that later in this series. They also do well with the early punk era, but they're pretty spotty with recent (as in last 20 years) indie rock. Vehicle Flips is no exception. They don't show up at all, but, interestingly, they do have 3 Wimp Factor 14 singles listed.
Lastly, we need to consider Wikipedia. They remain far behind the other sources when it comes to music, but they've been improving rapidly, and may eventually overtake them. As of the end of 2013, there is no Vehicle Flips entry, but, if you search on Vehicle Flips, you can find the Harriet Records Discography, which looks pretty complete to me. I've found Wikipedia to compete most successfully with the music-centric information sources when it comes to artists who are either more mainstream or who are outside of the main rock genres. We may get to that later in the series.
So, the big winner in part 1 of 5 of our series is Discogs.com, with rateyourmusic.com, and allmusic.com coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Stay tuned for further trials with other artists.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Best Tracks of 2012
It's that time of year once again. It's the time when countless websites and publications make lists of the best songs and albums of the calendar year that is not even over. I love these lists, but I also find that their publication is creeping ever closer to Thanksgiving every year.
Meanwhile, contrarian that I am, I will continue the tradition I began in 2011 by counting down the best songs of 2010 a year late. Last year (2012) at about this time I counted down the best songs of 2011. These are some of my least read posts, so I have little reason to keep up this tradition other than my love of lists, self-righteousness and obstinate disregard for popularity. Therefore, let's pause a moment. Love of lists? Check. Self-righteousness? Check. Obstinacy? Check. Forging ahead!
These are the top 75 tracks of 2012, with an extra year to evaluate, re-evaluate, supplement, and sift compared to all those sites that came out with their lists prematurely in 2012.
75) Water Liars - Rest
74) Bear in Heaven - Noon Moon
73) Menomena - Plumage
72) Sufjan Stevens - Lumberjack Christmas / No One Can Save You From Christmases Past
71) The Dandy Warhols - Enjoy Yourself
70) fun. - We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe)
69) Old Crow Medicine Show - Levi
68) Yppah - Film Burn (feat. Anomie Belle)
67) Shovels & Rope - Keeper
66) Trampled By Turtles - Risk
65) Tomten - So So So
64) DJ Food Feat. DK - Sentinel (Shadow Guard)
63) The Evens - King Of Kings
62) Field Music - Sorry Again, Mate
61) Amanda Palmer - Institutionalized
60) Daughn Gibson - Rain On a Highway
59) Animal Collective - Honeycomb
58) Air - Astronomic Club
57) The Coup - The Gods of Science
56) Punch Brothers - This Girl
55) Peter Blegvad & Andy Partridge - St. Augustine Says
54) Porcelain Raft - Unless You Speak From Your Heart
53) Opossom - Blue Meanies
52) Beach House - Myth
51) Lord Huron - Time To Run
50) Giant Sand - Thing Like That
49) The Shins - Simple Song
48) Pond - Elegant Design
47) Dr. Dog - That Old Black Hole
46) Adele - Skyfall
45) Squarepusher - Energy Wizard
44) Oh No - Ohnomite Jazz
43) Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
42) Grizzly Bear - Sleeping Ute
41) Kindness - That's Alright
40) Rosie Flores - Working Girl's Guitar
39) The Mountain Goats - Harlem Roulette
38) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Hummingbird, pt. 1
37) The Balboas - Souls (Taste Like Chicken)
36) Kid Koala - 8 Bit Blues (Chicago To LA To NY)
35) Cory Branan - Bad Man
34) Nashville Cast - Kiss (feat. Jonathan Jackson)
33) Robert Glasper Featuring Erikah Badu - Afro Blue (feat. Erykah Badu) - Robert Glasper Featuring Eri
32) Beachwood Sparks - The Orange Grass Special
31) Daniel Rossen - Silent Song
30) Lower Dens - Stem
29) The Lumineers - Flowers in Your Hair
28) The Royalty - Bartender
27) Kelly Hogan - Whenever Your'e Out Of My Sight
26) Rayland Baxter - Driveway Melody
25) Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
24) M. Ward - Sweetheart
23) Django Django - Love's Dart
22) Noisettes - That Girl
21) The Fresh & Onlys - Presence Of Mind
20) Calexico - Splitter
19) Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
18) The Tallest Man On Earth - Criminals
17) Trembling Bells & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I Made a Date (With An Open Vein)
16) Sharon Van Etten - Serpents
15) Lotus Plaza - Strangers
14) Pepe Deluxe - Queenswave
13) Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless
12) Woods - Back to the Stone
11) Father John Misty - I'm Writing A Novel
10) Damien Jurado - Working Titles
9) Hospitality - Eighth Avenue
8) Alabama Shakes - Hang Loose
7) Jake Bugg - Trouble Town
6) Zammuto - F U C-3PO
5) Craig Finn - Jackson
4) Allo Darlin' - Neil Armstrong
3) Menahan Street Band - Sleight of Hand
2) Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Man On Fire
1) First Aid Kit - first place tie (The Lion's Roar and Emmylou)
Meanwhile, contrarian that I am, I will continue the tradition I began in 2011 by counting down the best songs of 2010 a year late. Last year (2012) at about this time I counted down the best songs of 2011. These are some of my least read posts, so I have little reason to keep up this tradition other than my love of lists, self-righteousness and obstinate disregard for popularity. Therefore, let's pause a moment. Love of lists? Check. Self-righteousness? Check. Obstinacy? Check. Forging ahead!
These are the top 75 tracks of 2012, with an extra year to evaluate, re-evaluate, supplement, and sift compared to all those sites that came out with their lists prematurely in 2012.
75) Water Liars - Rest
74) Bear in Heaven - Noon Moon
73) Menomena - Plumage
72) Sufjan Stevens - Lumberjack Christmas / No One Can Save You From Christmases Past
71) The Dandy Warhols - Enjoy Yourself
70) fun. - We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe)
69) Old Crow Medicine Show - Levi
68) Yppah - Film Burn (feat. Anomie Belle)
67) Shovels & Rope - Keeper
66) Trampled By Turtles - Risk
65) Tomten - So So So
64) DJ Food Feat. DK - Sentinel (Shadow Guard)
63) The Evens - King Of Kings
62) Field Music - Sorry Again, Mate
61) Amanda Palmer - Institutionalized
60) Daughn Gibson - Rain On a Highway
59) Animal Collective - Honeycomb
58) Air - Astronomic Club
57) The Coup - The Gods of Science
56) Punch Brothers - This Girl
55) Peter Blegvad & Andy Partridge - St. Augustine Says
54) Porcelain Raft - Unless You Speak From Your Heart
53) Opossom - Blue Meanies
52) Beach House - Myth
51) Lord Huron - Time To Run
50) Giant Sand - Thing Like That
49) The Shins - Simple Song
48) Pond - Elegant Design
47) Dr. Dog - That Old Black Hole
46) Adele - Skyfall
45) Squarepusher - Energy Wizard
44) Oh No - Ohnomite Jazz
43) Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
42) Grizzly Bear - Sleeping Ute
41) Kindness - That's Alright
40) Rosie Flores - Working Girl's Guitar
39) The Mountain Goats - Harlem Roulette
38) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Hummingbird, pt. 1
37) The Balboas - Souls (Taste Like Chicken)
36) Kid Koala - 8 Bit Blues (Chicago To LA To NY)
35) Cory Branan - Bad Man
34) Nashville Cast - Kiss (feat. Jonathan Jackson)
33) Robert Glasper Featuring Erikah Badu - Afro Blue (feat. Erykah Badu) - Robert Glasper Featuring Eri
32) Beachwood Sparks - The Orange Grass Special
31) Daniel Rossen - Silent Song
30) Lower Dens - Stem
29) The Lumineers - Flowers in Your Hair
28) The Royalty - Bartender
27) Kelly Hogan - Whenever Your'e Out Of My Sight
26) Rayland Baxter - Driveway Melody
25) Public Service Broadcasting - Everest
24) M. Ward - Sweetheart
23) Django Django - Love's Dart
22) Noisettes - That Girl
21) The Fresh & Onlys - Presence Of Mind
20) Calexico - Splitter
19) Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
18) The Tallest Man On Earth - Criminals
17) Trembling Bells & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I Made a Date (With An Open Vein)
16) Sharon Van Etten - Serpents
15) Lotus Plaza - Strangers
14) Pepe Deluxe - Queenswave
13) Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless
12) Woods - Back to the Stone
11) Father John Misty - I'm Writing A Novel
10) Damien Jurado - Working Titles
9) Hospitality - Eighth Avenue
8) Alabama Shakes - Hang Loose
7) Jake Bugg - Trouble Town
6) Zammuto - F U C-3PO
5) Craig Finn - Jackson
4) Allo Darlin' - Neil Armstrong
3) Menahan Street Band - Sleight of Hand
2) Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Man On Fire
1) First Aid Kit - first place tie (The Lion's Roar and Emmylou)
Sunday, December 8, 2013
The Early Year-end Music Lists of 2013
There are still 23 days left in 2013 for musical artists to release new tracks or albums, but none of those tracks or albums will appear on any of these year-end lists. I love year-end lists, so I can hardly complain about them starting so early, but it really does feel like they show up earlier and earlier every year. For myself, I'll be sticking to my tradition of waiting a full year. Look for my best of 2012 list sometime in the next month. Wait another year for my best of 2013 list. In the mean time...
Paste Magazine features both a song list and an album list:
Paste's top 50 songs of 2013
Paste's top 50 albums of 2013
Pop Matters gives us the top songs of the year and the top albums in various categories
Pop Matters top 75 songs of 2013
Pop Matters top 10 best indie rock albums of 2013
Pop Matters top 10 best indie pop albums of 2013
Spin provides their lists in annoying slide show format
Spin's top 50 sings of 2013
Spin's top 50 albums of 2013
Stereogum also uses the slide show format, but it's a wee bit less annoying because there's a little more content.
Stereogum's top 50 albums of 2013
Pretty Much Amazing gives us a top 100
Pretty Much Amazing's top 100 songs of 2013
Pitchfork also goes to 100 with top tracks and a top 50 album list
Pitchfork top 100 tracks of 2013
Pitchfork top 50 albums of 2013
Drowned in Sound has just 20 albums, but only scrolling and no clicking is required, which is really thoughtful of them
Drowned in Sound top 20 albums of 2013
A New Yorker blog provides a very pop-centric top 40 songs list
Top 40 songs of 2013 (New Yorker blog)
Billboard has a critics picks list, which is also, of course, very pop-centric. It's valuable though to have pop-centric critics lists because often critics ignore pop and some pop is definitely a lot better than other pop.
Top 20 songs of 2013 (Billboard critics list)
NPR thinks a top 100 should be listed alphabetically by artist. I disagree, but here it is.
NPR's favorite 100 songs of 2013
NPR's top 10 folk and americana albums of 2013
NPR's top 50 favorite albums of 2013
Allmusic suffers from the same inability to rank their selections, but they alphabetize by last name (phone book style) rather than NPR's first name first approach (iTunes style).
Allmusic's top 50 albums of 2013
eMusic has a top 100 albums list with a rather odd interface. They claim the "experience" of looking at the list is optimized for iOS7. I think I'd like it better as a read rather than an experience, but I'm old-fashioned that way.
eMusic top 100 albums of 2013
Uncut has a top 80 albums list. Why 80? Twice as good as 40? I don't know.
UNCUT's top 80 albums of 2013
I found all of the above a bit more predictable than I would have hoped, so I went searching for a few more obscure lists. I haven't actually had that much luck so far. Maybe those looking for hidden gems wait until after the year has really ended, much as I do with my own lists. These were at least a little bit different in one way or another:
Secretly Important 10 best albums
The L Magazine best 20 albums of 2013
Chart Attack's 50 best songs of 2013
Top 10 songs of 2013 from The Boot
More lists will follow soon enough. I'll update this post when they do.
Paste Magazine features both a song list and an album list:
Paste's top 50 songs of 2013
Paste's top 50 albums of 2013
Pop Matters gives us the top songs of the year and the top albums in various categories
Pop Matters top 75 songs of 2013
Pop Matters top 10 best indie rock albums of 2013
Pop Matters top 10 best indie pop albums of 2013
Spin provides their lists in annoying slide show format
Spin's top 50 sings of 2013
Spin's top 50 albums of 2013
Stereogum also uses the slide show format, but it's a wee bit less annoying because there's a little more content.
Stereogum's top 50 albums of 2013
Pretty Much Amazing gives us a top 100
Pretty Much Amazing's top 100 songs of 2013
Pitchfork also goes to 100 with top tracks and a top 50 album list
Pitchfork top 100 tracks of 2013
Pitchfork top 50 albums of 2013
Drowned in Sound has just 20 albums, but only scrolling and no clicking is required, which is really thoughtful of them
Drowned in Sound top 20 albums of 2013
A New Yorker blog provides a very pop-centric top 40 songs list
Top 40 songs of 2013 (New Yorker blog)
Billboard has a critics picks list, which is also, of course, very pop-centric. It's valuable though to have pop-centric critics lists because often critics ignore pop and some pop is definitely a lot better than other pop.
Top 20 songs of 2013 (Billboard critics list)
NPR thinks a top 100 should be listed alphabetically by artist. I disagree, but here it is.
NPR's favorite 100 songs of 2013
NPR's top 10 folk and americana albums of 2013
NPR's top 50 favorite albums of 2013
Allmusic suffers from the same inability to rank their selections, but they alphabetize by last name (phone book style) rather than NPR's first name first approach (iTunes style).
Allmusic's top 50 albums of 2013
eMusic has a top 100 albums list with a rather odd interface. They claim the "experience" of looking at the list is optimized for iOS7. I think I'd like it better as a read rather than an experience, but I'm old-fashioned that way.
eMusic top 100 albums of 2013
Uncut has a top 80 albums list. Why 80? Twice as good as 40? I don't know.
UNCUT's top 80 albums of 2013
I found all of the above a bit more predictable than I would have hoped, so I went searching for a few more obscure lists. I haven't actually had that much luck so far. Maybe those looking for hidden gems wait until after the year has really ended, much as I do with my own lists. These were at least a little bit different in one way or another:
Secretly Important 10 best albums
The L Magazine best 20 albums of 2013
Chart Attack's 50 best songs of 2013
Top 10 songs of 2013 from The Boot
More lists will follow soon enough. I'll update this post when they do.
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