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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
distortion, March 11, 2009
distortion in music can be great, just ask my bloody valentine...but distortion in history...well, that's a different story...
if you take this book seriously..you end up with the following conclusions:
*1990-2004 were the "golden years" of rock music
**the beatles killed jazz
***black people didn't make music in the 60's
since the book is broken down by decades...i did some quick number crunching and discovered that almost 25% of the book is from the '90s...
include the last 16 years...and it's over a third.....[there's 23 listings from 2004 alone....] by comparison the 50s and 60's combined produce 17% of the picks...every other list of this type i've ever seen flips those numbers around...
the problem with their "recent music" picks is that every catagory is overstuffed [brit rock, indie rock, rap] and that problem is compounded by the fact that the editors give multiple listings to lots of artists who you really only "need" to hear one to "get" them...
some recent "duplicates" include:
a tribe called quest
the beta band
beck
blur
chemical brothers
coldplay
divine comedy
doves
emeinem
missy elliot
fatboy slim
hole [one is one too many]
ice cube
kinks of leon
manic street preachers
oasis
outkast
pavement
primal scream
pulp
radiohead [i luv them, but FIVE pics?]
spiritualized
suede
verve
rufus wainwright ["want two" is not nearly as good as "want one."]
white stripes
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the award for the most rediculous artist with multiple listings: dexy's midnight runners..[3!!!]
====================
if you check the book's listings, you'll notice that of the 34 albums before "with the beatles," 17 of them are jazz..of the 966 picks that come after, 14 are jazz....any jazz fan will notice what's wrong with that...
=================
again checking the listings.... from the entire 60's they pick 11 soul albums...from the 90's rap and r&b combined get you 37....the way they distort black music is a crime against history...
======================
some black artists who don't get a pick:
louis armstrong
bo diddley
willie dixon
howling wolf
robert johnson
scott joplin
louis jordan
leadbelly
charlie parker
wilson pickett
sam and dave
bessie smith
the supremes
dionne warwick
jackie wilson
=======================
the winner for the single album that has the LEAST business being in this book is "cafe blue" by the style council....the reviewer describes it as a "hit and miss affair."
a "hit and miss affair?" life's too short... and ultimatly that's the problem with this book...there's no "baseline" as to what SHOULD make the cut....i see one star albums rubbing shoulders with five star albums...there's no rhyme or reason to the picks...allow me to explain
a few missing albums by people in the book:
after bathing at baxters
anthem of the sun
bob marley live!
combat rock
dear mr fantasy
the 5000 spirits or the layers of the onion
help
magical mystery tour
ommadawn
some girls
shoot out the lights
sunflower
us
========================
odd combinations/omissions:
culture club but no culture
dr. dre, dr. john and dr. octagon but no dr. buzzard...[dr. strangely strange is probably out of the question....no humble pie, so there's no "i don't need no doctor"]
george jones and norah jones but no rickie lee jones or grace jones
b.b. king but no albert king or the king
"like a prayer" but no "like a virgin"
malcome mclaren but no sarah mclaghlan
mott the hoople but no motley crew
orbital but no orb
silver jews but no silver apples
super furry animals and supergrass but no superchunk
lucinda williams and robbie williams but no victoria williams, tony williams or hank williams [!!!]
coldcut but no beats international
alice cooper but no king diamond
"we are family" but no "diana" [both produced by chic]
weather report but no mahavishnu orchestra
korn, lincin park, limp bizkit and slipknot but no tool...
one cream cd and three by creedence
one pearl jam cd and two by mudhoney
two cds by the eagles but no jackson brown
two cds by george michael and one by otis redding
two temps and no tops
three cds by the pixies and three by prince [a*hem]
four stevies and no smokeys
five cds by tom waits but no warren zevon
seven cds by neil young but no young marble giants
================
odd picks:
"and justice for all" over "ride the lightning"
"pictures at an exhibition" over "brain salad surgery"
"led zepplin III" over "houses of the holy"
"pretzel logic" over "aja"
"the sensual world" over "the kick inside"
"selling england by the pound" over "foxtrot."
===========================
because the editors chose not to include collections, you end up with:
"the visitors" over "gold"
"another music from a different kitchen" over "singles going steady"
"pornography" over "standing of the beach"
"the rise and fall" over "complete"
"if you can believe your eyes and ears" over "fairwell to the first golden era"
"groovin'" over "rascal's greatest hits"
====================
some missing artists from just the end of the alphabet:
this mortal coil
tindersticks
tomorrow
toots and the maytals
trans-global underground
trembling blue stars
trio
uncle tupulo
ultravox
vangelis
vaselines
x-ecutioners
waitresses
weezer
wendy and lisa
yellow magic orchestra
camille yarbourgh
stomu yamash'ta
yaz
tom ze
===================
if you combine morrisey and the smiths the following artists have seven picks....the beatles, bowie, neil young, dylan and mozza......doesn't one of those names seem JUST a bit out of place?
================
ultimately, what we've got here is a book that says you "must" hear five [count 'em] five sonic youth cds but skips chuck berry...yes, you read that right....no chuck berry...pretty much the whole beepin' book WOULDN'T EXIST without him....kind of an obvious flaw...
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe I'll Finish In My Next Incarnation, July 22, 2006
Of all the various 1001...BEFORE YOU DIE books, this one at least made me feel like I had begun to scratch the surface--not that you should be deliberately scratching an album's surface, of course. But you know what I mean. The 1001 BOOKS volume had me feeling like I was not so well-read after all. And the MOVIES version gave me a definite sense of not being all that, uh, "well-screened."
But I can lay claim to being--shall we say?--"well-turntabled," (and that may not be such a misnomer since my halcyon listening days were before the CD era). So at least I have a good percentage of the middle section of this volume's recommendations under my belt.
And I find that I don't really dispute that many of the selections. I see a lot of reviewers have, true to form, protested the inclusion of this artist and the omission of that. I could gripe too. I mean including THREE Madonna albums and only one Laura Nyro?? Come on now, really. One of those ladies is the penultimate pop star, to be sure, but the other was a genius.
And yeah, I could complain that the albums included are often among the "safest" a given artist or group ever produced (SURREALISTIC PILLOW for the Airplane, not AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S, say, or CHELSEA GIRL for Nico and not THE MARBLE INDEX or DESERTSHORE). But still it's nice to see so many of my favorite artists included at all.
And it's also kinda nice to see these works still referred to as ALBUMS. "CD" (like "tape") is a FORMAT, but even in the age of downloads (especially in the age of downloads), we need to remind ourselves that there is something special about a COLLECTION of songs by a given artist or band. A record ALBUM (whatever the format)is a compilation that gives you insight into the full range of that artist's capabilities. Books like this can never truly be the last word on the matter, but they do remind us that the "album" has served us well over the past 50 years as a means of giving recording artists of all stripes a serious listen.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You better get a move on.... there are 1001 albums you have to hear..., February 10, 2006
I'm always sceptical about these kind of books; it's either the writing is too arrogant, or all the facts are wrong. But, with this publication, I'm extremly suprised, and glad to be so, seeing as it's an Australian ABC book!
The records are in chronological order, starting from the 50s - the book begins with Frank Sinatra's "In the wee small hours" and ends in 2005, with the White Stripes latest, "Get beind me satan." The majoirity of the reviews include - the year, the label, producer, art direction, nationary and running time. Plus, a small album cover picture, and then about 350 words on why the album is so remarkable. But, for the most influential, like, for example, The Clash's first self titled album, it includes a quote from the band, a full page picture, and a list of the album tracks and their running times.
The people writing about all these albums seem to know what they are talking about - they know little facts about the people they are writing about, and seem to dig out the dirt on why this album should be in the list of 1001 you should hear before you die. --- It is also a very varied list, with mainstream artists like Norah Jones being included, and alternative artists like Elliott Smith, and DJ Shadow thrown into the mix. Actually, most of the entries aren't from the mainstream, and if they are, they have actually been influential, even if it's only on the 'scene' like The Killers have. (Their album "Hot fuss"is one of the last reviewed)
However, I was suprised with a few of the entries - such as Britney, Christina and Justin - I think inclusions by people like Suzi Quatro, and the Runaways would have been more interesting - as the mickey mouse kids seem to be a sign of the decline in female rock, whilst Quatro and the Runaways prompted girls to pick up guitars and start a' rockin'.
I don't listen to that much music from today, I'm still listening to all the old stuff, the roots of rock n' roll, but I still really love this book, and every few days, I pull it out and have a flick, and read about a band I've heard of before, but never heard.
If you want to -
Improve your CD collection,
Expand your musical knowledge,
Read good music reviews,
Then check this book out.
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