Musichound R&B: The Essential Album Guide [Paperback]

Gary; McFarlin, Jim; Lac, Joshua Freedamdu Graff (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 900 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer Books (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578590264
• ISBN-13: 978-1578590261
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Get the Facts Straight!, January 19, 1999

By 

I. Gross Georg "imgeorg" (Edmond, Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Musichound R&B: The Essential Album Guide (Paperback)

Johnny Mathis wasn't born in San Francisco..he was born in Gilmer, Texas. He was introduced to George Avakian at Ann's nightclub in San Francisco by his manager Helen Noga, not singing the National Anthem at a track meet! And as far as millionaire status...try his predecessor, Nat King Cole! How about employing some fact checking before publication! There are more RELIABLE sources than this for biographical material concerning Mathis. If the authors screwed up this badly for Johnny Mathis, who knows how accurate their entries are for the rest of the artists!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many incorrect statements and too much overplay, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Musichound R&B: The Essential Album Guide (Paperback)

As the information can be helpful or insightful to one, it is also a discredit to the artist. Far too much of this information is inaccurate. While there may be some truth to one statement, the next line may be totally off base. Hopefully many of these blunders will be corrected in the next edition.

3.0 out of 5 stars Five bones for the concept, 3 bones for the content!, August 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Musichound R&B: The Essential Album Guide (Paperback)

I liken this book to a Chinese meal - as much as you enjoy it and feel you're full, you always feel empty soon after. While I appreciate the enormity of this project and how subjective the meaning of R&B is, I find many glaring omissions and some very strange inclusions. e.g. No mention of the Soul Children, Jerry Williams Jr. (aka Swamp Dogg), Paul Kelly, Sam Dees, Bunny Sigler, Leon Ware and Phil Perry (to name but a few). I fail to see how David Bowie can be classfied as an R&B artist, or the Spice Girls (even though I'm a Brit!). I would like to see more specialist soul artists included and the book streamlined to be more R&B and a lot less pop. However, I still find it hard to put down!