Customer Reviews

The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time

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If you are interested to hear the opinion of the best albums of all time, from the writers of the highly respected British music magazine 'MOJO', then look no further. Arranged in (rather sensibly) chronological order (I hate when writers try to categorize music!), this very informative guide is a must-have for the serious music fan. A page (sometimes more) is devoted to each album, and each description includes the writers opinion, the story behind each album, full track listing, UK and US single releases, chart placings and a list of other notable albums by the artist in question.

This is not a collection to be devoured in a single sitting, but rather is a 'coffee-table' resource to be read at leisure.

Extremely well-written and highly informative, if "The Greatest Albums of All Time" does not inspire you to run to the nearest record store then I will eat my "Pet Sounds' Box Set.

Enjoy!

Are you kidding me?! Buy this book, borrow this book, steal this book. If you love music, all music, listening to it, playing it, buying it, learning about it, dreaming about it, you cannot go wrong acquiring this essential tome. A comprehensive compendium of the greatest albums ever recorded, according to the fine folks at MOJO magazine. They love music and they're just begging for you to love it as much as they. Not only a listing of the best albums, but why they are the best albums. New information on familiar titles, unfamiliar listings, things that'll make you want to delve deeper into an artist's catalog or a genre. You need to get one for your "friend" who thinks Jewel is a poet, Puff Daddy is a rapper & Garth Brooks is country, we all know people like that, heck that might be you. Anyway, this book will broaden any music aficionado's horizons. Enjoy!

This collection is indispensible, overkill and then some for list freaks and music junkies on both sides of the Atlantic. If you care about music enough to know the crucial stuff from the crucial bands by heart, this will instantly complete the necessary remainder of your soon-to-be vast musical knowledge.

Now, mind you, this book is not without its blunders. Too many of these records are out of print, or only available on vinyl, although the trend of reissuing many of these albums seems to be suspiciously coming about (perhaps that Gilmore Girls Episode did the trick...). Meanwhile, sections at the end about compilations, soundtracks, obscure reggae collections and a structureless easy listening essay only serve to make things more confusing--stick with the main section, as the book's introduction reccomends. Finally, a few guilty pleasures and obscurities, such as Toto IV and Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Jajouka, are included over such classics as Let it Bleed & Beggars Banquet, Rubber Soul & With The Beatles, Led Zeppelin I & II, This Year's Model & Armed Forces, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, In Utero, 69 Love Songs, and anything by Squeeze, Janis Joplin, Joe Jackson, the Pet Shop Boys, Post-Eno Roxy Music, non-liveatfolsomprison Johnny Cash, the Housemartins/Beautiful South, the Wu-Tang Clan, or non-Aja/Can't Buy A Thrill Steely Dan. But since you're a music fan who's willing to pick this up, chances are you've already heard all those, and thus your problems are all solved.

A note--there are 592 albums in the book's main body, not 600. If I'm wrong, somebody PLEASE post a correction on this page.

Quite simply, if you own over 200 CD's(LP's, Cassettes, whatever) and take great pride in your collection, you must buy this book. Mojo magazine, the British arbiter of taste in Rock and Roll has it's list of the greatest albums of all time, complete with stories of what went on behind the scenes during their recording. From the obvious to the obscure, the list compiled here will delight the music fan. I will not quibble with the selection(there are a number that I would eliminate and dozens that I would add), just enjoy the information and hopefully discover a number of artists and recording that I would otherwise not know about.

Ever since I got this book my life has changed. It is like the bible of music, I have purchased a lot of the CD's listed in the book, specially from the 60's and 70's and most of them are absolutely the best ones of their kind, if you are a music fan do not hesitate to purchase this estraordinary publication.

The Mojo Collection is subtitled The Ultimate Music Companion and it is an apt title. This book culls together what the UK magazine deems to be 600 must own albums for any music fan. Some of the choices are obvious, some obscure, but it is the reviews of each disk that make the book worth reading. Insightful, interesting, entertaining and a must read for all serious music fans.

Before I Owned This Book I Had Bought The Rolling Stone Album Guide And Was Soon Regretful For The Purchase. I Later Found Out About Mojo Mag. Releasing A Book. I Just Bought It Through Amazon, And Love It!! Let's You Know What Album's You Need And How They Came About. A Truly Great Book. For Any Album Collector, You Have To Know About Mojo Mag., Now Get The Book. Worth Every Penny Spent.

"The Mojo Collection" is an exceptionally interesting list of what are deemed to be the most important albums made since the introduction of the LP record in the late 1940s.

The focus is mainly on the period from the late 1960s onwards, when the LP record began to take over from the single as the major format for recorded popular music. In later years it is true that the focus shifts to records popular in the UK and Europe rather than those well-known in the United States, but that is because MOJO is a British magazine.

The albums chosen are most interesting indeed - I cannot fail to note the obscure folk classics of the 1970s that are mentioned and in at least two cases, be bewildered by the descriptions of the artists involved. There are, at least up until the 1990s, a number of albums chosen simply for their extreme popularity - most notably the nominations by Journey and Don McLean. Also, we note greatest hits compilations by proven hitmakers such as the 5th Dimension included at the end of the book to add some interest and address the tastes of Top 40 audiences. (This is worthwhile in intent, but could be confusing for some).

Most of the albums chosen, though, are chosen largely for their artistic significance, though, as stated above, that focus becomes narrower among the selections of the 1990s, which makes the later part of the book probably the least interesting (though it still surprises me nonetheless).

The 1970s part of the book is full of varied selections, from the obvious (Dark Side of the Moon) to the obscure (Airs and Graces) that make a reader who could never get a chance to hear these albums all the more curious about them. The inclusion of personnel who made the albums adds to what is a minefield of knowledge that, in many cases, could not be acquired elsewhere. The writings also can give significant insights into the personalities and even the lives of the artists involved in a way most record guides never could do. The 1980s part, though less wide in focus, is almost as intersting to read.

Of course, there will be criticisms of the selections in the book - the most obvious in my unworthy opinion being the includion of For Your Pleasure rather than Country Life or Avalon to represent Roxy Music. Nonetheless, many of my favourites have been included in the list, and I accept willingly that the book has to have a different focus from my own listening.

This is a most interesting read for any music fan, and one that you should try to add to your reading list.

OK, there is an intro here with "The Voice of the Century" noted (Sinatra, for those who did not know). And a little Peggy Lee, one Ella (Cole Porter Collection), and a few scattered Jazz albums, mainly Miles Davis, plus one by Ellington..But almost no Jazz- post 1975, no Tony Bennett (how about his "Greatest Hits"), no Dave Brubeck, no Diana Krall, and among current vocalists, NO Sarah Brightman, and obviously no Classical or even Classcial/ Pop Crossovers, like the noted Sarah! We do have some of the records I rememeber as a youth, like "Love", "Mandrake Memorial", "Quicksilver Messenger Service", "United States of Amerca" and others now nearly forgotten, so a certain nostalgic whimsey flies thru here, probably for all ages. But the best thing about this oddly interesting book is how it really details the continuing fall of popular song and music (not to mention popular cuture in general), starting with Sinatra in the late 1940's, and ending with junk-rap, etc...So it goes! Even so, an enjoyable browser, even as it maintains that Rock tunes geared for 12-16 year olds are apparently the high point of the past 50 years in popular song recordings!

....1) "Sticky Fingers" over "Beggar's Banquet?"

2) No Linda Ronstadt AT ALL?? "Heart Like A Wheel" was chopped liver??

3) I seem to remember that, once upon a time, people rated Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells A Story" as one of the finest albums ever released. So it doesn't get mentioned here, but an album by Journey DOES???

4) Where the [expletive deleted} are Midnight Oil??

As well as other sins of omission and comission too lengthy to debate.

It's all subjective, you say? Maybe so, but some absences are inexcusable and some selections are VERY questionable indeed!

All that notwithstanding, it's still a great review collection....BUT.....