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The Essential Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by...
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The Essential Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by...
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by Martin C. Strong and John Peel
Sales Rank: 257559
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List Price: $29.95
$19.77
At Amazon
on 12-29-2007.
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Features
Paperback: 1200 pages
Publisher: Canongate U.S. October 10, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1841958603
ISBN-13: 978-1841958606
Product Dimensions:
9 x 6.9 x 1.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
Product Review
It took Strong 10 years to compile this discography, and the rock music world is in his debt. More accurate and comprehensive than other books attempting to accomplish the same ends, more readable and better organized, The Great Rock Discography title may toot its own horn, while Strong calls his opus "the ultimate rock book of all time," but it's entirely merited.
It starts at A with ABBA and spends over a page on them (and these are rather large pages, with very small print), describing the history of the band and their albums, then compulsively listing their every recorded musical output from October '73 until October '96, including a jungle of code notations (you can refer back to the formats-and-abbreviations page whenever needed) with catalog number and recording label, whether the A- or B-sides differ in their U.K. and U.S. versions, which are essential to your collection, and whether the vinyl was a long player, a double-long player, a colored long player, or a mini-long player. Covering Adam & the Ants, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Tom Petty, Linda Rondstadt, and Muddy Waters on up through the Zombies and ZZ Top, Strong lists every track by more than 1,000 groups. --Stephanie Gold
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Amply covering both the British and American rock scenes, Strong's fifth updating of his very successful reference work will find a warm reception. Although its wealth of data is presented in eyestrain-inducing small print, this book is still fun and worthwhile to read. Record collectors will especially delight in the myriad facts that Strong, an English rock writer, has unearthed. You may think, for instance, that you know everything about Aerosmith until you read the entry. The work's major feature and the main reason to buy it lies in its extensive chronological discographical listings in each entry. These can get complicated, what with the international coverage and various formats and other permutations that Strong does not shy away from covering. It's essential to read the short "How To Read the Book" section that follows the introduction. As in the past, a straight A-Z format serves as the massive tome's layout, with Strong having tucked in 250 new entries since the 1998 edition. Any library fielding rock music questions, particularly of the discographical bent, will find this a useful title to have on the shelf. David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib., Boston
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
This review is from: The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by More Than 1,200 Artists (Paperback)
Martin C. Strong gives us an excellent discography covering most of the artists important to us. Equally as important, though, is the fact that he rates most of the albums covered. His 1-10 point system is straightforward, and frequently quite accurate. He is judicious in his assignment of 10 points; there are only a handful of them among thousands of albums rated. His perspective is also very British, with certain prejudices following. While compilations by Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Little Richard, etc., receive at best 9 point ratings, Oasis seems to have produced two 10 point albums. (It might make sense if he felt 'best of' collections did not warrant perfect scores, but such collections are nearly the only means of collecting those early artists mentioned above, and anyway, he gave 10 points to both The Byrd's and Simon and Garfunkel's 'Greatest Hits' - so there.) In fact, among the few 'perfect' (10 point) albums found herein are 'Close to the Edge' by Yes, and - of all things - 'Bat Out of Hell' by Meat Loaf. If the latter deserves 10 points, then Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' deserves 1,000 points (it only got 9). He takes a realistic view of Eminem (no 10 point albums) while feeding into the overestimation of Nirvana (two 10 point albums). As for Dylan, some adjustment is called for, like swapping the 10 points bestowed upon 'Desire' with the mere 6 point given to 'John Wesley Harding'. Anyway, this could go on, but the point is, buy it for the excellent discographic information (including UK and US chart positions) and background essays, not so much the reviews. That said, at least this book DOES include Metallica, George Harrison and Joan Armatrading, unlike another new review guide we could mention....
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The Essential Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track Recorded by...
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