The Tool/Lucinda Williams connection and other Bizarre Amazon Recommendations

[Dusty Chalk]

Amazon just recommended that I purchase West by Lucinda Williams. Now before I mention the bizarre part, I know there are a lot of Lucinda Williams fans, so I'm going to say this: I don't mind that they recommended Lucinda Williams, I just think it's kind of bizarre. So they say that they're recommending it because I recently purchased or rated Half The Perfect World by Madeleine Peyroux, which isn't that far off, so I can see that one, and 10,000 Days by Tool. Whut?!?!? I deliberately put that one in because I wanted cooler stuff in my recommendations list, so where the L do they get the Madeleine Peyroux/Lucinda Williams connection? Are there really a lot of Tool/Lucinda Williams fans about? Tentoze, Davey, et al -- if they sent you a recommendation for Tool...well, first of all, did they send you a recommendation for Tool? Did any of you bite? If they did -- don't you consider that a bit bizarre?

As of right now, there are over 60 used copies of that album already. Did you ever think it's because you're recommending it to Tool fans, maybe? You think? Maybe?

So...have you received any bizarre recommendations from probably the single most frequently referenced online CD purchasing site?

[ForeverAutumn]

Well, I added the CD Five Songs by The Decemberists to my shopping cart and because of that, Amazon is recommending the DVD of Season Three of Arrested Development.

I like Arrested Development, but I'm not sure I see the connection between the TV show and The Decemberists (both a little quirky perhaps, but still...). And I've never ordered Seasons One or Two, so why jump right to Season Three?

[Mr Peabody]

Usually the recs I receive from them are pretty similar to what they based them on but I haven't done anything on the site to try and tweak them.

[anamorphic96]

I have three Tool albums and a few Lucinda albums. So yes there are fans of both. :)

[PeruvianSkies]

My recommendations are usually pretty funny, but that's only because I typically already own what they are recommending, so it's like....'thanks guys..already got it though'. Maybe that's a good thing...it shows they do know what I like...so much so that they I already have it....scary huh?

[Davey]

Yea, that's an odd choice. I don't shop there enough anymore to get much in the way of good recs, but here's what they say right now, nothing really stands out much and I already own a few of them ...

1. The Twilight Era The Twilight Era
~ Sanford Arms (February 10, 2004)
Recommended because you purchased Too Loud for the Snowman (edit)

2. Confidence, Man Confidence, Man
~ Stephen Yerkey (October 4, 1994)
Recommended because you purchased metaneonatureboy (edit)

3. Wincing the Night Away Wincing the Night Away
~ The Shins (January 23, 2007)
Recommended because you purchased Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and more (edit)

4. Nighttown Nighttown [IMPORT]
~ The Walkabouts (March 7, 2001)
Recommended because you purchased Ended Up a Stranger (edit)

5. Jimmywine Majestic Jimmywine Majestic
~ Red Red Meat (February 15, 1994)
Recommended because you purchased There's a Star Above The Manger Tonight (edit)

6. Satisfied Mind Satisfied Mind
~ The Walkabouts (August 25, 1998)
Recommended because you purchased Ended Up a Stranger (edit)

7. 44 Down 44 Down
~ The High Violets (March 10, 2006)
Recommended because you purchased To Where You Are (edit)

8. Devil's Road Devil's Road [IMPORT]
~ The Walkabouts (January 1, 1996)
Recommended because you purchased Ended Up a Stranger (edit)

9. Setting the Woods on Fire Setting the Woods on Fire [IMPORT]
~ The Walkabouts (February 9, 2001)
Recommended because you purchased Ended Up a Stranger (edit)

10. A Mozart Serenades Weekend A Mozart Serenades Weekend
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (May 10, 2005)
Recommended because you added A Guitar Weekend to your Shopping Cart (edit)

11. A Beethoven Piano Weekend A Beethoven Piano Weekend
~ Ludwig van Beethoven (May 10, 2005)
Recommended because you added A Guitar Weekend to your Shopping Cart (edit)

12. Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs
~ Walkabouts (August 20, 2002)
Recommended because you purchased Ended Up a Stranger (edit)

13. Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People
~ Califone (January 1, 2002)
Recommended because you purchased There's a Star Above The Manger Tonight (edit)

14. World Citizen World Citizen [IMPORT]
~ Ryuichi Sakamoto (April 8, 2004)
Recommended because you purchased Snow Borne Sorrow (edit)

15. Money for All Money for All
~ David Sylvian (January 30, 2007)
Recommended because you purchased Snow Borne Sorrow (edit)

And this past pairing seemed odd enough to make a post ... http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=18509

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, I noticed that you can make the system not take into account certain recordings, so I took the two Madeline Peyroux albums off. Stuff like that I usually don't like, so I'm not going to get it based on recommendations. If I hear it in the store and like it, then I'll get it, but not based on a verbal description, because the verbal description does nothing for me.

I don't shop there a lot, but I often browse their recommendations. Yes, like PS, half the time they're recommending stuff I already have, so I click "have it" to get it off the list and see what else they recommend. So I lot of mine are recommended "...because you rated umpty-blah" or "...because you added pickle-squat to your wishlist". So I went back and told them to ignore the fact that I have it on a lot of stuff that was triggering weird suggestions (programming books, &c.). Just because I program in C, doesn't mean I want to learn Prolog.