Horrible, close-minded, piece of shit.

Pretentious and useless...urgh

As other readers have noted, the earlier RS Album Guides - compilations of a select few of the greatest music reviewers' RS articles from 1968 through 1988 - did the subject proud. Those writers / editors such as Landau, Swenson, Malamut, Bangs, Tiven, Flippo, Marcus et al wrote extended reviews that not only discussed the music in a professional, sometimes outrageously humorous manner, but also did a superb job in framing their reviews within the context of the Zeitgeist.
This book is written by people who are not engaged by their subject matter of music, let alone its broader cultural framework. It's really clear that writers / editors Brackett, Hoard et al are far out of their depth writing about much of the music far more brilliantly covered by the early editions' writers like those mentioned above and their contemporaries.
In sum, this 2004 Album Guide is a mess - one wonders why RS even chose to publish this lackluster book when RS has had others cover this material in earlier Guides, and far more brilliantly. Had they assigned young writers like Brackett et al the modern music released from where the last guide left off (around 1990 and forward), at least the book would have attempted to serve a useful purpose.  

Review of Michael Jackson's "Invincible" was a major factor in decision not to purchase this book. Shows bias not acceptable in terms of what makes a good journalist, clearly failing to both "listen" and "hear" this beautiful work of art. What a shame.

kinda hard to trust the magazine that rated the jonas brothers album "a little bit longer" (which by the way is a unimaginative pile of crap with terrible song writing and generic riffs not to mention terrible vocals) 4 stars but rated magical mystery tour by the beatles 3 1/2 stars and led zeppelins physical graffiti 3 1/2 stars. most of the opinions in this book are portrayed as complete fact. 2 stars. 

I love the first three editions of this book and I own all of them.
Something bad happened with this fourth one, though. This Google version seems to include George Harrison, but the copy I bought does not, so if you buy it, I'd advise looking through it carefully first. There are many negative comments on Amazon, and I agree with many of them, but perhaps the version here is an update. If so, I'd love to trade mine in. 

Review: The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

An excellent reference book. You might not agree with every album review, but Rolling Stone certainly knows how to put things in context. I recommend Rob Sheffield's reviews -- especially his entries on Neil Diamond and Billy Idol. Hilarious. Read full review