Customer Reviews

The Da Capo Companion to 20Th-Century Popular Music

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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.

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.