The Da Capo Companion to 20Th-Century Popular Music [Paperback]

Phil Hardy (Author), Dave Laing (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

A comprehensive guide to jazz, rock, country, soul, blues, music hall, and to the singers, songwriters, instrumentalists and record producers who constitute the history of popular music in this century. Includes entries on Bing Crosby, Elvis Costello, Frank Sinatra, the Sex Pistols, the infamous and obscure, one-hit wonders and musical legends alike.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Easily the best book of its kind: Sunday Times 'An excellent dictionary. What distinguishes this book from all similar works is the dispassionate assembly of its material. The present book displays wisdom and information, both in abundance.' Daily Telegraph 'This marvellous Companion is much more intuitive about the nature of art than the Oxford Companion to English Literature, for instance.' Sunday Telegraph" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1211 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr; Rev Upd Su edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306806401
• ISBN-13: 978-0306806407
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,653,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ommision, July 24, 2001

By 

Alan Beal (Leeds, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Da Capo Companion to 20Th-Century Popular Music (Paperback)

This is a moderately comprehensive book, but appears to be ruled by the compiler's personal tastes in music.

I'm am a little scathing because of the total ommision of one artist who dominated the charts in the UK between 1954 and 1955, namely Ruby Murray. Here is a short piece from a biography of her to illustrate her impact at the time:

"Murray's first release, 'Heartbeat', made the UK Top 5 in 1954, and was followed by 'Softly, Softly'. The latter reached number 1 in 1955, and became an ideal theme song, reflecting her shy image. In the early part of 1955 Murray had five singles in the Top 20 at the same time, an extraordinary record that lasted until the emergence of Madonna in the 80s. Murray's hits included 'Happy Days And Lonely Nights', 'Let Me Go Lover', 'If Anyone Finds This, I Love You' (with Anne Warren), 'Evermore', 'I'll Come When You Call', 'Real Love', 'Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye' and 'You Are My First Love'".

If this book had been compiled just for the USA market the ommision may have been understandable, but as it is of UK origin it is unforgivable for all those people who will remember her well.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Admirably diverse, and a bit quirky..., August 10, 2001

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Da Capo Companion to 20Th-Century Popular Music (Paperback)

Similar in scope to the All Music Guide, this hefty text includes entries on pop, rock, country, blues, jazz, Broadway and soul musicians, though in this case they are listed together alphabetically, rather than grouped in sections. This has the advantage that it has only two authors, and thus a clearer editorial focus (humorous when, as Brits, they include a few long passages on Euro bands that no one on this side of the Atlantic has ever heard of...) No graphics, but good writing, and admirably inclusive. Nice glossary of styles in the preface, too.