IMDB for music? (1 Viewer)

[Camp]

Is there something similar to the Internet Movie Database for music? -or is the All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com/) the closest thing?

I like the AMG but it doesn't go nearly as in-depth as the IMDB does for movies. Just curious if there is something else out there I'm missing.

 

[Ike]

All Music is the closest I've found.

 

[RaulR]

All Music and the IMDB share another similarity -- they're riddled with factual errors. But they're good starting points for finding out basic information. Just don't take everything they say as gospel.

 

[John Watson]

A few possibly good sites, some of which I found here courtesy of other members :

Lyric finder : http://www.lyricfind.com/

Title Finder : http://repertoire.bmi.com/startpage.asp

Misheard lyrics : http://www.kissthisguy.com/

Music Lists : http://www.recordresearch.com/

When I go to commercial sites to find out something about albums, CDNow seems to be better than Amazon. But there are any amazing number of albums with almost no info about the content, let alone sound samples. Hard to figure out why they list them, I know I am not likely to buy one like that.

 

[BrianB]

Hard to figure out why they list them, I know I am not likely to buy one like that.

Well, it may be listed for people looking for that particular album, not for "browsers".

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I like allmusic. But it is hit or miss in terms of how much info they have about a band. But I also like the reviews that show up on Amazon. You can learn a lot of "tidbits" about different releases that way. (Heart's Magazine on lp is a better buy than CD, where they hacked a bunch of the songs; Planet of the Apes VHS has some TV stuff that was never included on the DVDs, etc.)

 

[Michael Hughes]

I like allmusic a lot, but there reviews are hit and miss. I use amazon as well.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

Heart's Magazine on lp is a better buy than CD, where they hacked a bunch of the songs.

I saw that review and would like to know what that reviewer was talking about. It' not the same Capitol CD I bought back in '86 which has the exact same songs as the '78 Mushroom LP I have.

I've never heard that the CD has changed since then.

Unless he's comparing the CD to the extremely short-lived first Mushroom release in '77 that was in dispute with the group before the court settlement allowed the group to go in a re-mix the entire album for the later official release.

There are many reviews that are just wrong, but there are times when other newer reviewers try to set the "record" straight.

Joel

 

[Ted Lee]

i like ubl.com

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Joel- He was comparing to the '77 version. I have both on lp (different song order, and there's a disclaimer on the '77 version), and was considering getting the CD.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

Kevin,

I did assume that to be the case, but that reviewer did not make a point of the fact that he was comparing the CD version to the "unauthorized" and very rare 1977 LP release.

Instead he chastised the CD for being the exact same (and dare I say, a very well done) version as the more common and readily available (for years, along with the picture disc) 1978 re-mixed LP.

He just should have been more clear.

I don't have the '77 version, but I know all about it and plan to hunt it down on e-bay some day. However, It's the '78 version I grew up with.

Joel

 

[Kevin C Brown]

To be honest, I didn't compare the track times. The '77 version I have doesn't have them! (My copy is on Arista records from Holland.) So I actually don't know if there are further differences between the '78 lp and the CD.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

...So I actually don't know if there are further differences between the '78 lp and the CD.

There are none. The CD is the same as the LP that Heart went back and re-mixed and Mushroom re-issued in '78 (and Capitol re-re-issued in '85).

Now that I've sufficiently hijacked this thread...

I do use allmusic a lot too. As already stated, it's not perfect - not always entirely complete (ie: not listing all releases of a given album) and sometimes inaccurate, but it does come close and does list all releases of most major artists along with compilations, singles, EPs and videos.

Keeping track of music released since the beginning of the recording industry has got to be so much harder to do than keeping track of movies. So much has been released before movies really became an industry and so much is released all the time all over the country (much less the whole world) between major labels and independents. Even here in South Louisiana, we used to have so many more local records (whole LP's) being made and in the stores for years, than we do now with CD's. And, of course, almost none of those old LP producing local bands are listed in allmusic.

Joel

 

[Ken Stuart]

If you know the name of the artist (which, of course, is 99.9% of the time), then by far the best source of information is the highest-traffic unofficial web site, the one run by a dedicated fan.

For example, for information on the 1960's rock supergroup "Cream", the best and most accurate information is at:

http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/default.htm

For Miles Davis, there is probably literally a thousand times more information at:

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~losinp/music/miles_ahead.html

than anywhere else.

And so on.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Ken- It's pretty easy to find sites like that with bands that have unique names: Cheer Accident, Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, but any hints for a common word named band? Heart, The Who, UFO... ?? UBL used to be a lot more useful in that it would include unofficial web sites, but it doesn't seem to do that anymore. I usually try Google, but it's hit and miss...

 

[RaulR]

Kevin,

Try adding words like "discography" or song or album titles to the search. You can even add "unofficial" and see what turns up.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Exactly right. I've even done that before, looking for a info on a specific recording. But it was always looking for an individual disc, but not general info on the artist! Cool.