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Title: The Great Rock Discography (Great Rock Discography (Paperback)) by M. C. Strong, John Peel, Martin C. Strong ISBN: 1-84195-312-1 Publisher: Canongate Pub. Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.92 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Very useful, but not always clear and consistent.
Comment: This book, which is readily found in almost all bookstores locally, is an interesting read for those interested in music. It is very useful reference in that it contains a great deal of information about major rock bands - including long out of print albums and all the tracks on them, chart placings in the UK and US, and infornation on singles released.
Basically, each artist's releases are listed in chronological order with tracks and UK and US peak chart placings (if any - note that a line in the box indicates that the album never got a domestic release in the relevant country). Each artist discussed is summarised through each album and the way in which it fared both critically and commercially. In the list of albums, band line-up changes are mentioned as they occur, though full line-ups are not given for each album to make the book still easier to understand.
The albums are rated on a scale from (*0) - only one case in the whole book - to (*10) for the best albums, but, like so much rock criticism, the ratings are inconsistent and never explained with any clarity whatsoever. This is especially true of later releases by established artists, almost all of which are panned whether there is a good reason or not for doing so.
The guide is very good in that it is very easy to read because of its layout, but, with the exception of a small number of extremely popular artists it neglects the less "rock" styles of popular music such as r and b almost entirely - and because it is British, artists receiving no interest outside the US are left undiscussed. This makes it a bit problematic for a serious study of pop music.
On the whole, a very useful reference work for the student if little more than that.
Rating: 5
Summary: Somebody Had To Do It - Somebody Had To Buy It
Comment: This is an amazing work - a telephone book of people you might actually want to call, a lost gnostic text to a doomed civilization's pizza delivery places, a total compendium of where all the effort spent in conquering the world went after the fall of the British Empire. God love them, these British folks are serious about that Rock and Roll music!
As for the work itself, it's thorough, fair, and fun to browse through in any time or place. I can become lost for hours, and find myself jonesing for some of the groups Strong knows but about which I've never heard. Some things are a trifle annoying, like which bands are labelled Psychedelic and which are not, but to hell with it; stand back and let the man do his work. I slaver for the second edition of the Pschedelic Discography. When Stong says Great, he means it. The Great Pyramids, the Great War, Great Coats, and Alexander the Great come to mind.
Everyone should have one of these in his or her homes. Or a bottle of Xanax. I'll take the great maroon book with a glass of water before meals and bedtimes.
Rating: 2
Summary: Very flawed.
Comment: This book is very good for what it does have, with very complete discographies. However, there is way too much emphasis on artist/groups of the 80's onward; most of those of the 50's and 60's (except for some of the heavyweights) are not even mentioned. May I respectfully request the authors to do another volume of rock and rollers, well known and otherwise, from 1945 to 1970?
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