Product Description: The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die—does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.
This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners’ horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.
Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote—"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.
A Good Place to Start, or to Fill in the Gaps of Your Musical Repertoire As said before, this is not a book listing the 1,000 best recordings of all time, but instead a list of 1,000 recordings you should hear before you die. Of course, any such list is going to be steeped in the writer's own biases, but nonetheless Tom Moon does a pretty good job of expressing the general consensus of music afficianados, musicians, journalists, and experts who define modern music criticism on what's essential in music. Before I read the book, I of course immediately looked up certain artists that I thought SHOULD be in it, and was encouraged to give the whole work a chance by the fact that I found my first few picks within the pages. I was very pleased to find King Krimson's "In the Court of the Krimson King" and an album by Leo Koettke among the names, but was displeased to find both Michael Hedges and ALL representative of the Marsalis clan missing. These missing artists, as well as a few others, became especially conspicuous when I saw that certain bands such as The Smiths were included, who are in my opinion an overhyped niche group who's breadth of popularity and influence is distorted by the media. It might even be a BLESSING if just one modern heterosexual male were allowed to live their live without ever having to hear the mediocre musicianship and cringe-worthy (though admittedly unique) whining of singer Morrissey. However, going to one's grave without having heard Hedges is in itself a crime against the image of man's known musical prowess, as that person might actually report to Archangel Michael at the Pearly Gates that the guitar's arial boundaries had never been breached on the planet Earth. Similarly, I had mixed feelings about such newcomers as Mars Volta having been included, but only because people like the Marsalises and Alex Britti were not. Volta is a great band, don't get me wrong, and the circumstances behind the album which Moon uses to define them are perhaps extraordinary and impactful....but the Marsalis clan is one of the biggest powers defining Modern Jazz, whether Moon personally likes them or not, and Alex Britti is the one French rock star who should be included in any international list as a must hear, if any French rock stars are to be included in the list at all. He's the French Elvis, an adoration phenomena only experienced before by The beatles and Elvis himself, and probably a better guitar player than any American rock artist currently on the Top 40. Also, where is bela fleck and the Flecktones? The biggest innovations in American music history to both the banjo and the drums are contained within the self-same band, and that band is not included. I could name 10 less influencial bands that ARE included from the over-represented rock and folk genres which the Flecktones easily deserved to have replaced. All in all, though, it's a good read, with little known facts about specific albums to serve as a steady supply of coffeetable mind candy, and enough great music to keep you downloading MP3s or ordering CDs for a very long time.
Why 1000 and Not 1001? This book is a marketing product. It show you all comercial and well known albums. Witha little of research You can find compilations like that by on Internet and even better ones. Why the author have not included many good and fundamental singers and albums. (Because they set a limit of 1000, or simply because they are not on top 1000 sells? Come on!) An example of one of best albums on history not included:
Yma Sumac - Mambo
Very Poorly Arranged! Although the information included is rather good, I cannot rate this any better because it is presented in a useless fashion for me. If all I wanted to do was browse through this book at random, it would be just fine that the recordings are arranged alphabetically by artist/composer.
But I want to find essential recordings in various genres, and this book will not conveniently help me do that. This 1,000+ page book has a 14-page genre index in the back, but it is difficult and tedious to flip from there to the listings over and over. For example, if you want to read about the best blues albums, the genre index lists 48 of them - but you'll need to flip to 48 different pages scattered throughout the book to find them all.
In one 4-page stretch we go from The Clash to Van Cliburn to Jimmy Cliff to Patsy Cline; in another we go from Professor Longhair to Prokofiev to Propellerheads to Public Enemy. I think so much more thought should have gone into how people would actually use a book like this. It's very unfortunate that such a potentially good resource is so uselessly arranged.
But consider the overall expense... This is a fun and informative book. I have enjoyed researching the recommended recordings. I have not enjoyed the cost of buying them! There is a very good representation of many musical styles and artists. You could really stretch and find new things, or solidify an area of interest.
POOR PACKAGING The book came in an envelope just big enough for the book to be squeezed into. Because of this and through the less than delicate handeling system of the US Mail the packing was in VERY POOR condition which was transfered to the book it's self. The condition of the book more than likely would have arrived in a "like new" condition if it were shipped in the appropriate packaging (larger padded envelope or a box) instead it arrived in a "visibly used" condition.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
