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they don't review stuff there.

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Originally posted by vitunkrapula:

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Whenever I go to Delusions of Adequacy, half the words on the page are all smudged and I can barely read them.

You probably smudged peanut butter or hand lotion all over the website. good job

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Has anyone heard of the Piero Scaruffi music review website, at Scaruffi.com, and if so, what do you think of it?

Yes!! I've been trying to turn people over here on to him for some time now, but I haven't heard of anybody actually visiting it.

Before you go and get your panties in a bunch about the 'mediocre' numbers, here's his rating scheme:

Albums are rated on this website as follows:
10=best ever; 9=a masterpiece; 8=buy it now;
7=buy it eventually; 6=buy it if you are a fan

The upshot is that, in my experience, just about anything that gets a 7 or above from him is worth checking out.

If you look at his top 25 of all time (list found here), the decade breakdown goes as follows (I was doing this for the hell of it the other day):

1960s - 6 albums
1970s - 14 (!)
1980s - 2 (!?)
1990s - 5

(I just noticed 3 albums are tied for spot 25)

Another con is that many of the reviews are only in Italian. I've been wanting to try my hand at translating a couple for a while now, but haven't ever had enough time to sit down and work on it.

Even if you've already written off his reviews, I would recommend the best of lists - he has one for every decade, year and genre. They always have something you wouldn't expect.

He wrote a book, History Of Rock Music
and it is up in its entirety.

Not only that, he has a pretty extensive list of other online resources (and yes, metacritic is listed on there ). Link Here

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Originally posted by musicfanatic:
Okay, going by this guy's ratings, there wasn't one "buy it now" album released in 2006. Seriously, look it up. The highest rated album was 7/10, or in the "buy it later" category. Lost some credibility in my mind.

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Originally posted by vitunkrapula:

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Originally posted by musicfanatic:
Okay, going by this guy's ratings, there wasn't one "buy it now" album released in 2006. Seriously, look it up. The highest rated album was 7/10, or in the "buy it later" category. Lost some credibility in my mind.

Get the numbers out of your head. Pitchfork hasn't given a 10 out to a new release since about the same time (I'm talking 2001, the last time scaruffi gave out an 8), but they've given out scores of 10s to reissues. It's not just scaruffi that has the revisionalist mania. If you just think about them as recommendations (which is how I like to think of almost all criticism really), you'll be much more likely to get something out of it. If you're looking for 'cred' instead of good music, then good riddance to your approval.

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What exactly is he recommending from 2006? You say ignore the numbers, but those are the numbers he gave to judge how he feels about a certain album. I just can't believe he can't find one album from last year that's worth "buying now", to use his scale. And no, Pitchfork doesn't pass out 10s very often, but they give out a shit load of 8s and 9s.

Saying that, he seems very knowledgable about many genres of music.

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I mean, on some other websites you have to read 3 paragraphs into a review to find out that it's about an album in a genre you're not into at all.

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Originally posted by vitunkrapula:

Albums are rated on this website as follows:
10=best ever; 9=a masterpiece; 8=buy it now;
7=buy it eventually; 6=buy it if you are a fan

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Pitchfork hasn't given a 10 out to a new release since about the same time (I'm talking 2001, the last time scaruffi gave out an 8)

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The Broken West hail from Los Angeles and their debut full length, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, is a melting pot of influences, old and new. A California sound rightfully permeates the album, from the 60’s jangle of the Byrds on through the next decade’s AM radio rock. Images of desert car rides, handlebar mustaches, and denim jackets come to mind. After 2 dusty rock songs the album really kicks in to gear with “Down In The Valley.” With it’s sing along chorus it’s the perfect anthem for speeding down the road in between the cacti to.

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Originally posted by jonathanbrisby:
If you think you feel bad about that PE, imagine being in my shoes. After reading Ryan Durfee's latest review this week for the new Zozobra record, I'm furious. His last few reviews have been some of the most horrible writing I have ever seen. What's worse is that he isn't the only one.

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Originally posted by vitunkrapula:

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What exactly is he recommending from 2006? You say ignore the numbers, but those are the numbers he gave to judge how he feels about a certain album. I just can't believe he can't find one album from last year that's worth "buying now", to use his scale. And no, Pitchfork doesn't pass out 10s very often, but they give out a shit load of 8s and 9s.

Saying that, he seems very knowledgable about many genres of music.

I don't really pay any attention to what he has to say about the 2000s. As his best rock albums of all times list will attest, he's most excited about the 70s. I suspect that that's when he was in his prime as a critic. He may be washed up now, but as a 20-something I'm always interested in delving a little deeper into the annals of rock history, and this is a damned good place to do that.

I can't remember exactly where I found this, but he said something about giving his highest ratings on the basis of a certain 'seismic' quality in some music. Which is not so hot if you want an objective, allmusic style rating - something reliable. But you can be rest assured that he will be super excited about what he does give high ratings to, and that' really what I look for in music review. Genuine, justified love for what is recommended.

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I mean, on some other websites you have to read 3 paragraphs into a review to find out that it's about an album in a genre you're not into at all.

eh... That's one way I've gotten interested in a bunch of genres I originally thought I had no interest in. I'm a fan of surprises.

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Originally posted by less_success:

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Originally posted by vitunkrapula:

Albums are rated on this website as follows:
10=best ever; 9=a masterpiece; 8=buy it now;
7=buy it eventually; 6=buy it if you are a fan

I'm sorry, but I have to laugh about this. Even Trout Mask Replica, at the top of his all-time list, has a 9.5. What exactly is he waiting for if his favorite album doesn't get a 10.0? You've got to admit that's kinda ridiculous, vitunkrapula.

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Pitchfork hasn't given a 10 out to a new release since about the same time (I'm talking 2001, the last time scaruffi gave out an 8)

Just for the sake of accuracy, Pitchfork gave out two 10's in 2002 - to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Source Tags & Codes.

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Hey, great response! I was hoping you wouldn't find my reply as an attack against you. I will definitely contiunue to monitor his site for older recordings that I may have missed (which number in the thousands, I'm sure).