Customer Reviews

1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die)

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

What most readers/reviewers fail to recognize is that this book is not about the BEST 1000 recordings it is about recordings you should HEAR. Those who complain that some really great music is missing are missing the point. Buy this book for education and enjoyment not to see how close Moon comes to your top 1000 music recordings ratings of all time.

"1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die" represents a challenge Martin Landau and the IMF would love: "How do you present a mere 1,000 musical recordings across all major genres, across an entire century, and sufficiently global as to be credible while not esoteric?"

Put shorter, "Who made YOU the judge? And why are you such a snob?"

There are no upsides to undertaking such a project for the arbiters of musical taste.

While I was duly impressed with Tom Moon's boldness, I was fully prepared to gut him for his shortcomings in selecting these "essential" recordings.

First, the boring stuff:

The book is sorted alphabetically by artist. This presents some difficulty for, say, opera composers, as a given performance of "Madame Butterfly" might be under the composer or the artist. Fortunately, indexes refer to both. Unfortunately, whomever compiled the index (probably that Microsoft Word fella) didn't check for relevance---when I look up Beethoven's 9th Symphony, it takes me to a parenthetical reference to it (main subject: the "Missa Solemnis"), the page where it's truly discussed is not in the index.

As a reference book, this poses some trouble. As a skimmer, it poses none.

Now, let's get to the content.

Many, many genres are represented here. Classical music and opera are given due prominence; country, metal, and Southern Rock are an afterthought; folk is way overrepresented; blues, rap, world, disco, and pop are about right. I'd say this compilation reflects the usual Baby Boomer view of the world of music leavened by a bit of "Empire Records" snobbery.

So how'd the artist and recording selection by genre fare?

Quite well, surprisingly.

Since this is a target-rich environment for the snide, let me praise Caesar before we bury him.

I tested content by looking up some movers and shakers in genres I'm fairly knowledgeable about.

Alternative: The Pixies - "Doolittle"

Okay, that means Moon isn't a fool. You HAVE to include The Pixies, and "Doolittle" was their biggest and most influential album.

Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - "The Sky Is Crying"

The best blues guitarist yet produced must be included, but what about this pick? It's quite informed. Though a posthumous release, "The Sky Is Crying" is my favorite SRV LP and contains his best instrumental track (his blazing cover of Hendrix' "Little Wing") as well as the deeply affecting acoustic song "Life By the Drop". The title song was an instant classic and the revised take of "Empty Arms" corrected an awful production decision on an earlier album. I've got to admit---it's a helluva pick.

Hard Rock - AC/DC - "Back in Black"

Missed opportunity here. As seminal as this album was, its immediate predecessor "Highway To Hell" dwarfs it. Doomed lead singer Bon Scott's finest hour surpasses Brian Johnson's clutch performance in the wake of tragedy.

Grunge - Mother Love Bone - "Apple"

Moon's got some grunge cred. This was the album which straddled the glam and grunge eras and gave birth to the sludgy sound of the 90s, for good and ill. Out of it and lead singer Andrew Young's heroin O.D. came Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and all of their imitators. Nice pick.

Blues - Muddy Waters - "At Newport 1960"

This is my favorite album from the Chicago blues master, the man who invented the modern blues combo. Nice pick.

Metal - Metallica - "Master of Puppets"

Your little sister would pick "The Black Album" of course, but it was "Master of Puppets" which your cassette player melted down over. Nice pick.

Opera - Verdi - "Aida" featuring Leontyne Price

I simply cannot argue with this choice. Verdi's the master of opera, "Aida" in my opinion is his finest, and this 1962 recording is my favorite recording of it. Nice pick, and stop raiding my music library!

There are some quibbles:

1. No Iron Maiden?
2. Britney Spears "Toxic" isn't a recording Kevin Federline needs to listen to before he dies, much less the rest of us.
3. No Dean Martin?
4. The Beatles more essential than Beethoven? (6 albums to 5)

But given the monumental task of pleasing casual listeners and outright nose-raisers across such a spectrum of music, these are minor quibbles indeed.

All in all, a remarkable reference, and one worth building some iTunes playlists from --- well, would you look at that: at the rear of the book are suggestions for just such playlists!

A worthy addition to the audiophile or audiophobe's library.

Coming late to the review party on this book, I will not analyze structure and organization, for others have aptly covered those points. I am impressed that anyone could take on such a monumental project and do as apparently well as he has. kudos.

To make my biases clear from the outset, though, it's worth noting that my areas of special interest and musical knowledge are classic rock (some pop) and classical music (including opera).

This makes my perspective perhaps a little different from others, and from the author's, because he admits up front that his weaknesses are classical and opera. While I can't say I either totally agree with his choices (or recordings of the pieces he chooses), there's really nothing "wrong" with his selections in these areas that I've found -- they're mostly rather "safe" choices that a new listener can't go wrong with, though many of the standards I looked up were very old (granted, to a skilled listener, many OLD recordings are the BEST recordings), but with old tech, you don't get the clearest production of sound and detail that a new listener would obtain from a newer (DDD) recording.

But there are exceptions to that rule. I was quite surprised that he chose Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle's recording of the 9 Beethoven Symphonies -- Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies. This is a VERY fine recording, but it's of a new edition ("Barenreiter") that still has some critics unconvinced. It's a great recording, and I own it, but there are so many other cycles of Beethoven's Symphonies that have been around for decades and have passed the test of time. While a great recording of a great NEW edition, the Zinman/Zurich cycle is something of a blip in the author's otherwise rule of "safe" and "big name" recordings for classical. Just not the first Beethoven cycle I'd foist upon a potentially new Beethoven convert. The logic escapes me.

One really interesting feature he includes with each choice is a "Next Stop" recommendation of what to try next if you like this work. I find this to be a brilliant idea: sometimes, though, I fail to see the connections, such as going from Handel's _Messiah_ to Bach's _St. Matthew Passion_ (o.k. so far!) and then to Mahler's Sym. 2. Huh? While the Mahler is one of my favorite pieces, I don't understand the multi-century jump, and Mahler's 2nd didn't even make his list of 1000 works (a point I take great issue with). Again, huh?

I'm more encouraged by his classic rock picks. Again, while I don't always agree on what album by which artist, he almost always picks a safe choice that will at least get listeners interested in that particular artist. Good work here.

For pop, I'm a bit lost. One, I'm not up on the latest pop, so it's a bit hard for me to evaluate his choices in this genre, but picking a Britney Spears CD over Billy Joel's entire oeuvre is completely beyond my comprehension.

Lastly, what I'm most looking forward to (and this is why I gave the book 4, rather than 3, stars) is that the author seems to be on the right track (pardon the pun) with his jazz selections, at least as far as I can discern from others' reviews, and that is my note of hopefulness in getting this book because I've been dying for years to expand my Jazz horizons, and this may be just the guide to help me there.

One note of caution on that subject - Lionel Hampton hasn't been only a remarkable jazz artist in his own right, but he COMPLETELY revolutionized the perception and inclusion of an entire instrument - the vibraphone - in Jazz ensemble, and solo, usage. So why doesn't he even merit a single entry into the 1000? All he gets is a peripheral mention of a non-included album he did with Stan Getz.

Thus, I'm hopeful... yet wary.....

This book aims at the music lover curious about where to go for the best in genres outside the one's comfort zone. As a reader of classical music review books since the early Penguin days, I have no idea where to start with rock or blues or jazz, for example. I can't judge how Moon stacks up in the estimation of enthusiasts in those fields. In the classical world, he does a decent job, with the help of specialists outside his experience. As a limited guide to standard recordings of the greatest hits, it's fine, espeically for readers with a shorter attention span who hesitate to take on Penguin, the All Music Guide to Classical Music, or the Third Ear Classical Music guidebooks. At least he has a good index, something which Penguin lacks.

Are you tired of being assaulted by prefabricated, disposable music? Are you irritated by incessant media coverage of the lip-syncing teen flavor-of-the-month? Are you sick of music guides based on online popularity contests? If so, you need to own this book!

This is the rare book that completely lives up to its product description. It's interesting and well written. It will cause you to revisit stuff that has been submerged in your collection. It will help you to discover music that lies beyond your usual listening boundaries. Most importantly, Tom Moon is enthusiastic and well informed about an incredibly wide range of styles and genres.

The best aspect of this book, however, is that it reflects the taste and experience of one person. Let's face it: the Zagat's/American Idol/MySpace/Yelp method of mass voting ends up glorifying the lowest common denominator. Anything that is unique, quirky, or challenging gets buried and marginalized.

Moon, on the other hand, is able to establish a consistent tone and viewpoint that gives him the space to include both the expected (come on, you know Dark Side of the Moon, Kind of Blue, and Beethoven's Ninth are going to be included in a book like this) and the unexpected. For instance, Learning to Crawl instead of Pretenders? The Shape of Jazz to Come and not This Is Our Music? Take Ten over Time Out? This is where the strength of having a single author really comes out. When you disagree with Moon, you always know where he's coming from and you can intelligently decide if you buy into his perspective or not.

Other things I love about this book:

*While Moon writes most fluently about jazz, he has an unpretentious approach to classical music that is very refreshing. All too often, classical music writing is stuffy and pedantic (ever try reading through program notes at the symphony? No wonder people fall asleep!).

*The focus is on full albums, not just single tracks. Call me old school, but I think downloadable music has sent the record companies back to a 1950's mentality where albums are just a couple of hits surrounded by filler. That is not a good thing.

*Moon takes care to tell readers which edition or release to buy if inferior versions are on the market. He also recommends additional works by the composer or artist and, best of all, albums by other artists who might not spring to mind at first glance.

*American Idol really is killing music. Moon says it best in his review of Al Green's Call Me: "Thanks to the enormous popularity of TV's American Idol, the ideal of singing in this great land has devolved into a kind of extreme sport--empty athletic expressions, bombastic shows of brutal lung power." I second that emotion.


Anybody who cares about listening to music and collecting music will enjoy this book.



---
Postscript:
Genre guides I enjoy and use often:
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Ninth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings)
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs Yearbook 2006/07 Edition (Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Dvds Yearbook)
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984

Something in me WANTED to give this book a mediocre rating--its part of a "franchise" of sorts (see 1000 Places to See Before You Die G), and generally I abhor glib and messy little collections of "the best" of whatever.

This book is different. Trust me, if you are a connoisseur of any musical genre, you will not be able to put this book down. It is, above all, the little meaty and nourishing and satisfying turns of speech that author Tom Moon uses in his entries which draws one in again and again. Examples: (Regarding the Beatles' "Abbey Road") "A parade of discards and song frangments waiting to be finished, it presents the Beatles cleaning out the cupboards, and tossing anything once deemed workable ... into one last meal;" (regarding Mahler's Symphony No. 4) "When... first issued ... some scholars derided conductor Willem Mengelberg's elastic, shape-shifting interpretation;" (regarding Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale") "Brian Wilson thought he was hearing the music to his own funeral when it was playing." Fantastic writing, folks! This is one awesome book not only for casual browsing, but also true insight into an amazing range of musical genres.

Some other minor brownie points and/or beefs:

1. Well, everyone will find some things to quibble over. For me there are glaring omissions (e.g. there is nothing by Coldplay, the Moody Blues or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). The "country" genre listings seem a little weak. Moon also seems to love a lot of early 20th century mono recordings of classical pieces. But this is really nitpicking.

2. I'm still not sure about the alphabetical organization scheme. Genre groupings make more sense, although there are problems with that too. In the end, there are serendipitous juxtapositions which make the browsing all the more satisfying (e.g., blues artist John Lee Hooker faces the page with Gustav Holst--Fatboy Slim next to Faure was also a hoot). Ultimately the alpha listings became no-problemo when I discovered the indexes in the back--by genre, geophraphy, you name it.

3. My favorite index is a kind of collection of super playlists called "Occasions Index", with titles such as "Get the Party Started," "Romance Enhancers," "Headphone Journey," "Superman's Earbuds," etc., etc. The deeper I burrowed into this fat little book the more impressed and hooked I became.

I gave this book four stars because while I have serious issues with the way the book is organized and the small type/font used, the book does list 1000 recordings and talks about each one in an effective manner.

Writing a book like this is an almost impossible task. After actually deciding on 1000 recordings to include in the book the author has to then explain why he picked the recordings. He does a good job in explaining what made each recording so great and why his readers should want to listen to the recording.

After discussing each recording the author then lists the Genre, Date Released, Key Tracks, Catalogue Choice (which lists one or more additional recordings by the artist), Next Stop (which lists a similar artist) and After That (which references a recording less directly related to the one listed.) This is a nice formula and makes for interesting reading.

The fact that the listings for the recordings are done so well makes the way they are listed all the more frustrating. The recordings are listed alphabetically by artist. This makes for good reading if you want to look up a particular artist and see whether you agree with the recording the author chose or if you want to see which artists are included or excluded. It makes it very hard if you want to learn about recordings in a particular genre.

For instance I like Jazz. I am interested in listening to someone new to me. Let's say I want to see which Jazz recordings the author thought were the best and read about them so I can go out and buy a new cd. In order to do this I would have to:

1. Page through the book and stop at the selections that talk about a Jazz recording;
2. Look up Jazz musicians I already know and see whom the author thinks is similar; or,
3. Go to the end of the selections where there is a "Musical Genres Index" on page 894 which breaks the music into Blues, Classical, Country, Electronica, Folk, Gospel, Hip-hop, Jazz, Musicals, Pop, R&B, Rock, Vocals and World. Within these genres the artists are listed alphabetically.

While option number three is the best option, I would have to mark the page where the Jazz category starts, look up an artist, go find the artist in the book and then, when I was done reading, go to the back of the book and start the process all over again and again and again.

It would have been so much simpler to include the recordings by category in the first place so a reader could learn about artists who recorded the same type of music by just turning a page. The author also includes an Occasion index, a Classical and Opera Performers Index and a General Index. The indexes are a great addition but force a person to go back and forth way too much. It would have been so much more useful to have the recordings listed by category.

My other complaint is the type size and or font. The first three sentences of each recording (as well as the introduction) have type the size of what I would expect in a paperback. Then for the rest of the recording description the type seems to get gets smaller and the spacing between sentences smaller as well. I am not an expert on type size or spacing so I can't tell if the font is different or if the type size is made a bit smaller (which is my guess) but in either case it is hard to read.

In order to list 1000 recoding in any detail in one book that can be carried around I know type size is an issue. Yet the book measures 7.5 by 5 inches and is about two inches thick. It is the size of a slightly large paperback. The book could have been made bigger or thicker in order to have larger type.

I don't wear reading glasses and my eyes have grown weaker with age but the type is much smaller than most books or any newspapers I have read. The smaller type makes this more of a chore for me. I do read a lot so I rarely have this problem.

I commend the author and publisher for creating this book. I agree with some of the choices and disagree with others. You expect this in this type of a book. Yet, the book would have been so much better if it listed the recordings by genre and had bigger type.

I have to disagree with the Gentlemen who thinks this book should have been broken up by Genre. As a reference book it is easy to find who you're looking for when it is in alphabetical order. If you look in the back of the book you will see the different Genres with the page numbers of each song from each genre, so if you are in the mood for "Blues" just look in the back of the book.
This would be a great book for a classroom, for people who want to know more about music, and for anyone who loves music and would like to add to their collection. If I were a music teacher I would use this book in class. It's sort of like a "travel guide for music", taking you all over to the best places and giving you a "feeling" for each one. It is clear to see that Tom is an avid music lover and listener, and his viewpoint makes you want to hear what he has described- getting the most out of the music as possible. He is very passionate about getting the "mood" across to the reader.
Mr. Moon did an excellent job of PACKing information and history about each artist. That was not easy to do!! He chose the best of the best. Even though music is in the eye of the beholder, for me his choices are outstanding .
I would certainly buy this book again and consider it a valuable tool!
Because music HAS TO BE HEARD to enjoy, I have been having a ball using this book with pandoraradio.com. (No I don't work for them and it is free) Pandora is a genome music project where it (they) will build a "radio station" for you based on a particular artist or song name. For instance, I wanted to hear what "Bebel Gilberto" (from the book) sounded like, so I went to Pandora and created a "Bebel Gilberto" station.
For that station, "Bebel Gilberto", pandora will play some of her songs along with other artists that have a similar style and sound to hers. It tends to scout out that particular artist's most popular songs- I have found, and play them. For example, the first song that was selected by Pandora for "Bebel Gilberto" station was "Tanto Tempo", which is the same song featured in "1000 Recordings.." Pandora will play one of her songs about every 4 or 5 songs that it chooses, with similar songs in between. Or you can build a station on the "name" of a song.
It is a great way to actually HEAR some of the artists in this book, and also enjoy listening to great "stations" which are free. Not all of the artists in this book are available on Pandora but most of them are- so far as I can find. I just hook my computer up to my stereo and play away. You can go to itunes from the site and purchase each song that you like. So this book rules for using the internet to build your music collection. Try to hear the songs he mentions then just buy the ones you fancy from itunes.
I love all kinds of music other than hard rock-heavy metal type stuff so it is a real treat for me to have this info at my fingertips. I can't say the book would mean much to me if I didn't try to hear the music.
Music is like food for me,...I like to eat all different kinds from all around the world, depending on what kind of mood I'm in, and this book is like a menu in a fabulous restaurant.
I give this book A+. Thanks Tom for all your hard work!!

Well OK, the book didn't cost that much, but it's impact certainly did. On one level this book makes an informative read that should develop a curiosity about the music that surrounds us all. Some reviews criticize it for not being the definitive list of all that is best; well, OK, maybe that is the case, but I took from this book that it was just a list and that in digesting its contents there should grow inside you a curiosity to find your own '1001' that may or may not include elements of this 'list'. That you should go out and listen to this 'list' or indeed find your own is enough; you have found your music and felt what it does to you. Aha! But can/do/should you stop there? Maybe I took things a bit too far as I sought out not the CD from the local music store (we'll come to 'record store' in a minute) but as much of the original recordings as I could find. Yes, I sought out the vinyl where it was on vinyl, CD where it was on CD and 78 where it was on 78 and actually bought them (not all 1001 I assure you! Just the ones I wanted to hear...) hence the book being 'expensive'; most you can get for under ten dollars, but start looking for mono Rolling Stones or Hendrix first pressings from the UK with intact inner materials etc and it will start to cost...)

Yes, it is all still out there; eBay being the obvious choice among rival bidders - but you get the choice of 'good enough', '1st pressing' or 'cheap and playable' depending on your budget, preference etc. Then you have the local thrift stores and 'record stores' where people dump those piles of vinyl from the attic - recycling, perhaps? Wherever it comes from, you can find it and this is the core of my message. If you can find it to rent (local library) or buy (eBay, thrift etc) get the original and hear it as it was supposed to be heard. This book will literally jump out at you and you will thirst for more...

That music was crafted long ago by those who sought to bring an experience to their listener and did so according to how its reproduction should sound (or at least as best they could manage within the boundaries of the technology at the time...Jelly Roll Morton, Memphis Minnie and Bix Beiderbecke for example). There have been many treatises on the reproduction of music - especially classical, written not for the LP but for the salon or concert hall - but to experience it in the medium that brings the intent of the composer/writer/performer alive should not be missed. From within that medium comes the textures and dimensions modern compression for our disposable 'noise in the background' music media have destroyed or lost along the way.

...then you will have found your music. It won't be that of the reviewers, nor necessarily the same 'list', but you will have experienced what music can do as well as understand where it comes from and how it has developed. Buying this book will begin a journey you can enjoy and share with others too, learning of their tastes and perspectives and sharing yours - to say nothing of nostalgia etc.

Tell you what...go down to the local 'record store', find a good copy of an album (and I mean an LP you own on CD) you think you know (according to taste...) and play it in the store. See what you think. Enjoy.

10,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die
A Listener's Life List
By Tom Moon

When confronted with an achievement this Olympian in scale, we mortals tend to respond like ants on a layer cake, reflexively searching for crumbs we can pick at to bring the whole thing down to size. We'll start by flipping frenetically through its 890 pages, lamenting every omission and disdaining every inclusion that doesn't pass our personal smell test. All the while, of course, weighing Moon's selections against the imaginary catalogue of vital recordings we ourselves would compile, had we the time, talent or tenacity to undertake such a quest.

So before we move onto the acceptance phase, let's pause to mourn our losses.

In the interest of completeness, Moon's selections are weighted heavily toward acknowledged masterworks and distributed carefully across genres. Although this quest for balance throws us some unforeseen curveballs (dude--Alice Cooper and Pantera ?) it also takes some of the fun out of the enterprise--what kind of Rock n Roll heaven would have no space for The Cars, Kool and The Gang or World Party? If you're going to suck up your dignity and concede entry to the likes of Boston and Bob Seger, is it really fair to leave Tom Petty and Billy Joel standing out on the curb? What misbehavior did the Ians, Anderson, Hunter and McLagan, commit to get bumped off this flight? Baroque composer Georg Phillip Telemann, flamenco guitar god Paco DeLucia and jazz drumming visionary Jack DeJohnette will perhaps be inspired to form a power trio to work out their collective rejection issues in the next life. And those seeking to settle once and for all whether Blur or Pulp was the better band will be surprised to learn that, at least according to this book, the answer is neither.

Of course Moon is cagy enough to anticipate and deflect many such objections by cross-referencing almost every record ever made in the notes that accompany each selection. These musings constitute one of the book's great pleasures, as Moon's recommendations of a "catalog" recording by each artist and a "next stop" for the curious listener reveal the sensitivity of his ear and the eclectic depths of his knowledge in ways the basic listings can't. He also cheats the count by appending a list of 108 also-rans which he obviously regrets having had to cut from the final list.

Then there are the choices within the choices. With the exception of the most monumental giants, Moon confines himself to one recording per artist. This disciplined approach, in many cases, drives his selections toward the iconic rather than the merely excellent. By choosing, for instance, Springsteen's "Born To Run" over "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle," Joni Mitchell's "Court And Spark" over "Blue" or Steely Dan's "Aja" over "Countdown To Ecstasy," Moon favors self-consciously momentous statements over more heartfelt works of art.

Another hedge Moon employs occasionally, particularly for "legacy" artists is to select a "greatest hits" compilation or live recording over a studio release. Understandable though this is--how indeed is a guy supposed to choose a single recording by Django Reinhardt, Andres Segovia , Hank Williams, or the Staples Singers--the effect is a kind of distillation of the body of work, like preserving the music behind a pane of museum glass.

But enough whining; let's get on to the good stuff. And there sure is a lot of it. This being, after all, a reference book, the real question of importance is, does it have things to teach us? And does it ever.

The first test is to read Moon's description of a recording you think you know and experience his rare gift for expressing music in words. Here he is on Miles Davis's "KInd of Blue': "A single shift of the harmony--on "So What," for example, the tonality moves up just half a step--changes the weather, making it feel like galaxies are realigning." Of Glenn Gould's landmark recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, Moon observes: "He makes the connective tissue that links major themes almost float along. Seizing upon little bits of counterpoints that other pianists obscured, he calls attention to the almost cryptic multilayered logic Bach embedded into the initial aria and the thirty subsequent variations, which are presented in ten groups ot three."

Unlike so much of the lazy writing that is pervasive in pop criticism, Moon's prose rarely lapses into portentous generalizations, insider jargon, or smug allusions. He tells you what the music sounds like, not whom. And unless your ear is as good as his (in which case please write your own damn book) Moon's explanations will enrich both your understanding and appreciation of your own record collection. Here he is, for example, on Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced:" Throughout this most essential rock document, (Hendrix) plays as though handling fire. It's right on his fingertips, pulsing through his wrists, and as long as he keeps moving, he won't get burned. His lines sear the wires that carry them. "

Compression is also a virtue. In these encapsulated listings Moon packs his language into a potent shorthand, providing an illuminating and cannily accurate snapshot of each recording and placing it deftly in the context of its time and place. "Revolver" is "the big hinge in the discography of the Beatles...It has the plaintive earnestness of the early band and the radical curiosity--about sound, subject matter, composition--that defined everything after."

But the true value of this collection--and of Moon's writing--will come fully to light when you read his take on a record you've never heard or heard of. This, pardon the expression, is where Moon shines. Lo Borges, a "criminally overlooked" Brazilian singer and guitarist, released a self-titled album in 1973, consisting, in Moon's words, of "pieces built on slurpy rock/ funk rhythm patterns and languid, almost mystical vocal melodies, with lyrics about unrequited and rediscovered love." The songs on the 1968 release "Oar" by ex Moby Grape multi-instrumentalist Alexander "Skip" Spence are "feats of great loner reflection, with ethereal vocals that hang heavily in the air and tangles of overlapping guitar carrying on their own conversation." These might or might not be records you'd like to own, and through close reading of these entries you will come to know the difference.

Although his hipster credentials are impeccable, and maybe even because of it, Moon is never a snob. He addresses such unfashionable forms as progressive rock, top 40 and `60s folk with respect and affection. Usher, Madonna and Brittany get their due alongside Ravi Shankar, Arthur Rubinstein and Ray Charles. He even deigns to touch on jazz-rock fusion (albeit with rubber gloves and a forceps,) he embraces show tunes, hiphop, hardcore and the avant garde with the same curious interest, and bravely ventures into the uncharted backwaters of Chinese traditional music, Hungarian folk, Jewish Incantation and Bollywood soundtracks.

As a final gift to the reader, Moon includes a selection of recommended play lists in which he bundles his selections into groupings such as "Get the party started," "Sunday Morning," "Headphone journey" and "Superman's Earbuds." This lighthearted coda to what has been an exhaustive journey serves to put the whole thing back into perspective. Music, after all, is for listening. For most of us, it's rarely a "full-brain" activity, but a welcome distraction, a mood-setter or a cocoon we can climb into to escape our social universe.

"1,000 Recordings" is a worthy addition to an outstanding series.
Previous quibbles aside, it is hard to find a great record or artist that isn't acknowledged and incisively described in these pages. Indeed in some cases Moon's reviews contain more consideration and craftsmanship than the records they describe. And in every case they do what criticism is supposed to do--tell you just enough to inspire you to want to know more.