Customer Reviews

The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,000 Groups

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Martin C. Strong gives us an excellent discography covering most of the artists important to us. Equally as important, though, is the fact that he rates most of the albums covered. His 1-10 point system is straightforward, and frequently quite accurate. He is judicious in his assignment of 10 points; there are only a handful of them among thousands of albums rated. His perspective is also very British, with certain prejudices following. While compilations by Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Little Richard, etc., receive at best 9 point ratings, Oasis seems to have produced two 10 point albums. (It might make sense if he felt 'best of' collections did not warrant perfect scores, but such collections are nearly the only means of collecting those early artists mentioned above, and anyway, he gave 10 points to both The Byrd's and Simon and Garfunkel's 'Greatest Hits' - so there.) In fact, among the few 'perfect' (10 point) albums found herein are 'Close to the Edge' by Yes, and - of all things - 'Bat Out of Hell' by Meat Loaf. If the latter deserves 10 points, then Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' deserves 1,000 points (it only got 9). He takes a realistic view of Eminem (no 10 point albums) while feeding into the overestimation of Nirvana (two 10 point albums). As for Dylan, some adjustment is called for, like swapping the 10 points bestowed upon 'Desire' with the mere 6 point given to 'John Wesley Harding'. Anyway, this could go on, but the point is, buy it for the excellent discographic information (including UK and US chart positions) and background essays, not so much the reviews. That said, at least this book DOES include Metallica, George Harrison and Joan Armatrading, unlike another new review guide we could mention....

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.

I love this book. I go back to it time after time to compare notes on my favorite bands, discover new bands, or just pick up some quirky trivia tidbits. Compare it to the latest reissue of the Rolling Stone guide - or try to, because there's no comparison. While some of these guides try to please everybody by delicately balancing rock, blues, pop, rap, etc., Strong mostly sticks with the mainstream of rock and its various alternative and indie offshoots. My only objection is that it is a British creation, and as such I tend to rely less on the evaluations of British bands, which he tends to overrate. The Brits, after all, don't even know who Dave Matthews is! But it's fun to read, the ratings are valuable and realistic (it's not necessary that you agree with them), and the discographies are all-inclusive. I look forward to every new edition of this book, and it's already started to date itself, so I hope the new one comes out soon.

Despite some of the criticism of this book including the exclusion of artists, release information and inaccurate biographical information, this is as good as any musical reference book you'll find. The origins of bands, top 50 chart positions for all singles and album on both the US & UK charts and track listing for all albums are included. There are always omissions and errors in books this size and breath, but they are miniscule and greatly overshadowed by everything else the book has to offer. You will find yourself referring to this book time and time again.

Having read the various criticisms aimed at Strong's efforts I would suggest that folks look at it from the opposite angle of what Strong has achieved. It is a colossal piece of work and I'm sure Strong is painfully aware of what bands have been left out. But those omissions result from publishing considerations not Strongs myopism. For the money I'd say you would be very, very hard pushed (possibly impossible) to find another tome that covers so many bands in such a comprehensive manner. Yes the author is a Brit (and so am I) so there is obviously going to be a tendency for him to give greater coverage to British bands - he's more familiar with them. A way for this issue to be addressed is for someone in the US to compile a similar work, there is obviously demand. For me, I'd say that the book would be a worthy (if not essential) addition to a music lovers library. Indeed it has flaws but they are more than compensated by what he has included. For the price of little more than a cd this is an excellent investment. 100% Recommended.

Absolutely brilliant. There is so much amazing trivia here. Did you know that Dick Dale's Misirilou was based on a greek pop tune? Did you know that the B-52's were one of John Lennon's favorite bands and inspired him to pick up writing music again? Did you know that the 13th Floor Elevators almost had Janis Joplin as a lead singer? Damn. I felt that learning that was worth the price of admission alone.

Before I purchased this, I was looking at all other similar books, deciding which to get, and in the end I chose this one because overall it is the most comprehensive. And despite the title, it spreads out into genres related, such as punk, pop, hip hop, rnb, and even rap.

I was able to find some bands not in this one, but I am sure they could be found in his other books of similar style, metal, indie, etc. I am very satisfied, and I am passionate about all genres of music, so to the average music listener this is very very comprehensive.

I believe it must be the best music reference book out there. Sometime in the near future, possibly when the next edition comes out, I will buy The Great Metal Discography.

The definitve tome for a rock fan, whether you're old school or new blood (and need to learn your roots). Find out everything you ever wanted to know about your favorite band, and then learn who influenced them, and who thier peers were, and then, just when you think you know it all, the Great Rock Discography keeps going. As in depth as you could ask for, more entertaining than you could hope for, and just as Great as the title says, this is a must have for any music (not just rock) fan.

This reference work does neatly complement the other rock dictionaries that are around such as the rolling stone record guide or the allmusic guide. Basically these books do provide information that is necessary to varying degrees. This one is quite heavy on the discography side, which is not a strength of the others and does fullfill a need in any rock library. It might be on the heavy side actually.

OK, maybe my earlier review was a little over-critical, but I was trying to convey the point that this book is simply not as good as it SHOULD have been. The omissions are too plentiful and the author's preferences ARE too easily recognised. It is, however, the best attempt at a complete rock discography in recent years. BUT, if you want to see how it SHOULD be done, read Terry Hounsome's "New Rock Record", or "Single File"