I had a brilliant thought today. One of the reasons that I pick up The Isthmus (Madison’s free local news, music and events magazine) and The Onion (another Madison freebie) or Maximum Ink (still another)and subscribe to Rolling Stone and constantly go to www.allmusic.com is for info about recent albums and record reviews. I turn right to the back of all these and read the reviews. A good review can make me interested in a band or artist I may never have heard of before, or lead me to another, or help me avoid crap. For instance, I read a review of Eddie Vedder – “Ukulele Songs” CD and was so intrigued I actually went out and purchased it without even downloading a song first, a rare event for me. I was not disappointed. It’s just as the review painted it, and something I would have surely passed on had I stumbled on it in the store or online, turned out to be in play slot number one for several weeks for me. It also led me then to get the “Into The Wild” soundtrack.
So… back to my idea… what if I scanned and posted PDF’s here on my blog of reviews from The Isthmus and The Onion and Maximum Ink and Rolling Stone. I could find some other sources and add those too. Sort of an aggregate of music reviews. That would be awesome, right?
Then I paused and thought about the legality of that.
Then I wondered if it is already being done.
Then I went to Google.
I bow to you web page builders and record review aggregate sites. You just blew my mind.
The Aural Retentive 