Customer Reviews

The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Concise 4th Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This all-encompassing volume has about 3,300 entries covering various musical styles of the past century, but with the focus on pop and rock. In the introduction, the author points out that he had to choose from over 20,000 entries in his database - and he is planning to double the size of that database. Unlike so many books of this type, there are no pictures, allowing all the available space to be used for information.

Obviously, this book can only cover a selection and cannot please everybody. However, a series of specialist volumes is available, so anybody wanting to focus on jazz, country, heavy metal, sixties, seventies or any of several other genres can find a book covering their particular interest. The author says that you can find artists in these specialist books for which there is no room here. Even so, there are a staggering number of obscure singers and bands here.

Once you focus on who is in this book rather than who isn't, it is quite impressive. The book I am reviewing is the fourth edition, so any errors that existed in earlier editions have hopefully been corrected. Each entry contains basic details about the singer or band, their music and the author's opinions, plus a brief discography. Again, this discography is deliberately limited. The idea is to provide an introduction to music that is new to you, so the emphasis is on stuff that was readily available at the time book went to press. Fans of a particular singer or band must look elsewhere to track down all the rarities.

My tastes in music are wide, but while my knowledge is extensive, there is a lot I don't know, even about my favorite genres. A book like this is invaluable to me. It is certainly the best book of its kind that I've come across.

Colin Larkin is a godsend for music collectors. After picking up his excellent guides to Indie and Eighties music, I managed to find this behemoth - and was delighted once again.

This volume is the perfect reference for anyone from the casual music fan to the serious collector. Unsure of which album to buy from an artist you've heard all about? Want more background on a favourite band? Curious as to how your favourite albums have been rated? Pour through this volume - it has all the answers you need.

With two diehard music fans in the same house, you can bet that Larkin's books are never far from hand. Something is forever being looked up - and the information this volume provides is more than worth the price.

While I'm sure there are some bands that have not been included, I have yet to fail in finding the information I needed in one of the volumes - and the entries are always honest and objective. And of course, it has become a challenge to pick up every one of the rare and elusive "five star albums."

If you're looking for the ultimate music reference book, your search is over. You're here.

Every reference book about rock music asks for arguments about what's included, and what's not. Like other music encyclopediae/discographies, this one inevitably has a few mistakes or judgments that are certain to strike some readers as strange. Never mind all that. This is an engrossing and endlessly useful book. Best of all, it does a great job of sampling the whole, much more expensive series of volumes from which it is distilled. Someday, I'd like to have the whole set, but for now, this is a great book, and a great bargain.

I was astonished when I found this book in a bookstore here in Brazil. I had never heard of this famous series and bought it at once. It contains thousands of entries and, of course, a lot of bands were left out, due to the enormity of the task. Great job by Colin Larkin. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know generally about music.

The reference seems OK, but the first group I tried to find ("The outfield") was missing. So do not bet on expecting to find other less-known bands.

this is the best book about music i have ever read. buy it

The Outfield only had one good song - "Josie's On a Vacation Far Away" then they vanished back into the Great White North from whence they came. They're about as important as Kajagoogoo, M and The Hooters.