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Why has DS given up altogether on album reviews?


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Old 23-01-2011, 12:40
xfactorfan27
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OK so they hadn't reviewed an album for ages and ages but now they have removed the link from the main music page and it appears there are no plans to write them any more. Admittedly they were not always the best reviews and they tended to be a little over-generous with the amount of stars they awarded but I still liked to read them and looked forward to their publication on the site. I don't understand why they would do away with them
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:45
SpaceToilets
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They should give me the job of reviewing albums if no one in Digital Spy towers wants to do it
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:45
Paparazzo
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They should give me the job of reviewing albums if no one in Digital Spy towers wants to do it
Or me.

And because they know that the output was shite last year.
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:48
Mr. Fahrenheit
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I was never bothered anyway, I won't miss that.:yawn::sleep:
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:49
Paparazzo
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I was never bothered anyway, I won't miss that.:yawn::sleep:
True, I did prefer to judge albums myself.

(Or not with most)
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:53
Mr. Fahrenheit
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True, I did prefer to judge albums myself.

(Or not with most)
It's Digital Spy - they hand out stars like John Mayer talks about his cock.

If I'm going to pay attention to critics, it's going to be something dedicated to music, like Rolling Stone or Q, or the averages on Metacritic.
One internet review isn't enough.
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Old 23-01-2011, 12:54
Paparazzo
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It's Digital Spy - they hand out stars like John Mayer talks about his cock.

If I'm going to pay attention to critics, it's going to be something dedicated to music, like Rolling Stone or Q, or the averages on Metacritic.
One internet review isn't enough.
Oo, burn!
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Old 23-01-2011, 13:02
kutox
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Their album reviews were actually pretty solid in many cases. There were loads of great albums released last year as well. Also, they used to review less-mainstream acts like Royksopp and Goldfrapp, which I liked about them.

It's just the single reviews which have gone down the toilet over the last 6 months. I've been a regular to the site since 2009, and back then they were mostly impartial and objective, but now they just fawn over their favourite pop acts and give out 5-star ratings like confetti. Their reviews are actually embarrassing to read at times now, with the constant over-excitement over any song by today's big popstars like Cheryl, Katy Perry, Britney etc.

There is literally no point in reading most of the single reviews now, unless you want to read someone basically saying things like 'OMG Britney's back, amazing, 5 stars!' or 'We love Cheryl Cole because she's really popular!'.

Another thing is. they suck up to Popjustice big time - anything they like automatically gets a high rating from DS, and they've made it known on several occasions that they love Popjustice so it's pretty obvious.
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Old 23-01-2011, 13:12
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frankly i never even noticed.
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Old 23-01-2011, 13:15
Mr. Fahrenheit
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Their album reviews were actually pretty solid in many cases. There were loads of great albums released last year as well. Also, they used to review less-mainstream acts like Royksopp and Goldfrapp, which I liked about them.

It's just the single reviews which have gone down the toilet over the last 6 months. I've been a regular to the site since 2009, and back then they were mostly impartial and objective, but now they just fawn over their favourite pop acts and give out 5-star ratings like confetti. Their reviews are actually embarrassing to read at times now, with the constant over-excitement over any song by today's big popstars like Cheryl, Katy Perry, Britney etc.

There is literally no point in reading most of the single reviews now, unless you want to read someone basically saying things like 'OMG Britney's back, amazing, 5 stars!' or 'We love Cheryl Cole because she's really popular!'.

Another thing is. they suck up to Popjustice big time - anything they like automatically gets a high rating from DS, and they've made it known on several occasions that they love Popjustice so it's pretty obvious.
Oh yes, the single reviews are worse!
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Old 23-01-2011, 15:45
MikePJB
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Yeah last week I was wondering what they thought of Rihanna 'Loud' album, which I love, and I can't remember them saying anything about it. So looked at the reviews section and then noticed they hadn't reviewed it, or any other albums for ages. Guess they can't be bothered.
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Old 23-01-2011, 15:51
mvood
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They have pretty bad and blatantly biased reviews in the music category but their gaming and film ones are good.
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Old 23-01-2011, 16:06
ags_rule
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Stopped reading them after they decided to review some useless X-Factor album over the new Metallica one, which stayed at No. 1 for 2 weeks.
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Old 23-01-2011, 16:09
Carmen Queasy
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Reviewing albums is probably a real chore. With films you can see it once and review it with no issues. With games you can play small parts of it to get a feel for the game and then review it like that. Albums, you need to give yourself enough time to listen and not do anything else (because you won't really be paying attention enough to review it) and then perhaps listen several times. Further to that, it'll depend on the availability of the albums. If they're not sent a promo copy or have access to a stream to listen to, they'd have to buy it... which was probably why we only seen a handful of albums reviewed.

On top of that, I agree that there was a clear bias on reviews, but isn't the the case with all publications? I mean Kerrang aren't going to review a Rihanna album.
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Old 23-01-2011, 16:39
ags_rule
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On top of that, I agree that there was a clear bias on reviews, but isn't the the case with all publications? I mean Kerrang aren't going to review a Rihanna album.
This argument is often raised on these forums as to why heavier music is often overlooked by publications, but the fact is that it only applies to a publication that sets their stall out. No, Kerrang won't review Rihanna, and Popjustice won't review Iron Maiden. But DS never made a claim to be a pop music website - it's supposed to cover a broader spectrum.

To be fair to them though, they did review Nickleback and Guns N' Roses. Actually, I think their GNR Chinese Democracy review was the fairest one I've read, very sensibly balanced with pure focus on the music and none of the focus on the long gestation period which other reviewers were fixated with.
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Old 23-01-2011, 16:42
Carmen Queasy
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This argument is often raised on these forums as to why heavier music is often overlooked by publications, but the fact is that it only applies to a publication that sets their stall out. No, Kerrang won't review Rihanna, and Popjustice won't review Iron Maiden. But DS never made a claim to be a pop music website - it's supposed to cover a broader spectrum.

To be fair to them though, they did review Nickleback and Guns N' Roses. Actually, I think their GNR Chinese Democracy review was the fairest one I've read, very sensibly balanced with pure focus on the music and none of the focus on the long gestation period which other reviewers were fixated with.
If you look at the content of the website in general it's very pop culture. It's biggest stories are usually showbiz and celebrity related. There's a few "alternative" things on the site but on a whole it's very focused on pop culture, which is why the albums they did review were mainly from acts you'd hear on Radio 1 and commercial radio.
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Old 23-01-2011, 16:54
ags_rule
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If you look at the content of the website in general it's very pop culture. It's biggest stories are usually showbiz and celebrity related. There's a few "alternative" things on the site but on a whole it's very focused on pop culture, which is why the albums they did review were mainly from acts you'd hear on Radio 1 and commercial radio.
But it never claims to be, and that's what annoys me. Either set your stall out, or treat all the albums equally.

By treating albums equally, I don't mean I expect them to review the latest Opeth or Cannibal Corpse. But an album like Metallica's, or Iron Maiden's, which despite being metal both topped the album charts, are surely worthy of consideration.
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Old 23-01-2011, 17:04
Carmen Queasy
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But it never claims to be, and that's what annoys me. Either set your stall out, or treat all the albums equally.

By treating albums equally, I don't mean I expect them to review the latest Opeth or Cannibal Corpse. But an album like Metallica's, or Iron Maiden's, which despite being metal both topped the album charts, are surely worthy of consideration.
They don't claim to be anything, really, but DS generally favours the more popular and commercial stuff. They only talked about GnR, for example, because it was a big deal in the music world.

Digital Spy is pretty much a celebrity magazine on the internet and it's audience come here for that.
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Old 23-01-2011, 17:08
ags_rule
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Their music news though is often very broad. I've seen articles on Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Bullet For My Valentine, Slash etc. Just wonder why they report on the wider music world but only bother reviewing pop releases?
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Old 23-01-2011, 17:25
Carmen Queasy
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Their music news though is often very broad. I've seen articles on Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Bullet For My Valentine, Slash etc. Just wonder why they report on the wider music world but only bother reviewing pop releases?
Because they probably just get press releases and paraphrase them
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