Michael Erlewine

Though the editors leave out bands, here and there, and give skimpy reviews for groups they don't care for (like ELO), they are a continuing source of help when I'm trying to find unfamiliar bands to check out. Their analysis of genres is thorough.

Most trustworthy of all books in this genre!!

It's got some errors and it's more than a little out-dated now, but my dog-eared copy has sent me down more than one musical rabbit-hole over the years.

The first and best of these guides. Though the number of albums listed can be annoyingly few for some artists, the reviews tend to be a lot better than in later editions--partially because this was written before AMG reviews were conceived primarily as enticements to buy; partially because the reviewers and licensed reviews were just plain better than they've become. Reviewer favorite albums in the front is a good feature they should have stuck with.