Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119614 in Books
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 944 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"How do you make an album guide that fits in a book bag?" Bracket asks in the introduction to this door-stopping compendium. "Selectively," he answers. To trim down the possibilities, the editors of this book decided to limit their entries to domestically released recordings currently available through major online stores. This makes it easy for consumers to buy what they want, as long as they want the latest mainstream music. Roughly 70 percent of the writing in this guide is new; Brackett notes that the editors chose artists who "have made a lasting, undeniable contribution to pop music." There are extra-long entries for Miles Davis, Dion, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Elvis and Muddy Waters, but a few baffling oversights (e.g., George Harrison is missing while the maligned Paula Abdul remains). The Guide is not intended for popular music historians, but a comparison with earlier editions reveals much about trends in popular music commentary: Chicago’s recordings, once ahead of their time, are now "schlock;" a Rolling Stone reviewer has realized that Yes made some good records; and Tony Bennett merits triple the space he occupied in 1992. The new edition’s 72 authors (vs. the four in 1992) produce a tone and style less consistent than in past editions. Some things have not changed: the best-selling albums generally get the highest ratings, and punks and bluesmen are demigods. Often entertaining, the guide offers comprehensive album lists and usefully ranks the innumerable collections available for many artists. (Also welcome is the short section on anthologies and soundtracks.) However, readers seeking lengthy reviews of individual albums would probably be better off looking elsewhere.
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Customer Reviews

George Who?
I own 3 editions of this work, the first dating back to pre-CD days when, it seems, there was a lot less stuff out there to review. The 1983 edition was generous enough in its pagination to include cover photos of all top (five star) reviewed albums. Succeeding editions have, necessarily to save space, cut back on the pictures (there aren't any now) and on the artists reviewed.

I enjoyed this latest edition, as the reviews are new and fresh. BUT, the omissions are glaring...consider the Beatles, for example. Paul McCartney is there...John Lennon too, of course...and also Ringo in all his recorded historical glory. To my amazement, the deletion of the one who gave us Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun, and All Things Must Pass shows that the editors of this latest Guide decided George must pass too.

My point being, this version of the Guide is not for completists in the loosest form of the term. For that, you need to own at least the 1st or 2nd editions as well. This one gets 3 1/2 stars which, according to the book's own rating system, means "Like a B+ movie [it's] often pleasurable but not necessarily memorable."