1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List

This is a fun, enjoyable book to dive into. It is very comprehensive and well-organized. You should be warned that it might lead to a desire to purchase a large number of albums that you might not already own! The indexes and playlists are a particularly nice feature. The one area where I think the book could be improved might be around the physical elements - it would be nice to have color and a larger page size. Other than that, I found it very interesting and enjoyable.

I have to disagree with the Gentlemen who thinks this book should have been broken up by Genre. As a reference book it is easy to find who you're looking for when it is in alphabetical order. If you look in the back of the book you will see the different Genres with the page numbers of each song from each genre, so if you are in the mood for "Blues" just look in the back of the book. This would be a great book for a classroom, for people who want to know more about music, and for anyone who loves music and would like to add to their collection. If I were a music teacher I would use this book in class. It's sort of like a "travel guide for music", taking you all over to the best places and giving you a "feeling" for each one. It is clear to see that Tom is an avid music lover and listener, and his viewpoint makes you want to hear what he has described- getting the most out of the music as possible. He is very passionate about getting the "mood" across to the reader. Mr. Moon did an excellent job of PACKing information and history about each artist. That was not easy to do!! He chose the best of the best. Even though music is in the eye of the beholder, for me his choices are outstanding . I would certainly buy this book again and consider it a valuable tool! Because music HAS TO BE HEARD to enjoy, I have been having a ball using this book with pandoraradio.com. (No I don't work for them and it is free) Pandora is a genome music project where it (they) will build a "radio station" for you based on a particular artist or song name. For instance, I wanted to hear what "Bebel Gilberto" (from the book) sounded like, so I went to Pandora and created a "Bebel Gilberto" station. For that station, "Bebel Gilberto", pandora will play some of her songs along with other artists that have a similar style and sound to hers. It tends to scout out that particular artist's most popular songs- I have found, and play them. For example, the first song that was selected by Pandora for "Bebel Gilberto" station was "Tanto Tempo", which is the same song featured in "1000 Recordings.." Pandora will play one of her songs about every 4 or 5 songs that it chooses, with similar songs in between. Or you can build a station on the "name" of a song. It is a great way to actually HEAR some of the artists in this book, and also enjoy listening to great "stations" which are free. Not all of the artists in this book are available on Pandora but most of them are- so far as I can find. I just hook my computer up to my stereo and play away. You can go to itunes from the site and purchase each song that you like. So this book rules for using the internet to build your music collection. Try to hear the songs he mentions then just buy the ones you fancy from itunes. I love all kinds of music other than hard rock-heavy metal type stuff so it is a real treat for me to have this info at my fingertips. I can't say the book would mean much to me if I didn'

Something in me WANTED to give this book a mediocre rating--its part of a "franchise" of sorts (see 1000 Places to See Before You Die G), and generally I abhor glib and messy little collections of "the best" of whatever. This book is different. Trust me, if you are a connoisseur of any musical genre, you will not be able to put this book down. It is, above all, the little meaty and nourishing and satisfying turns of speech that author Tom Moon uses in his entries which draws one in again and again. Examples: (Regarding the Beatles' "Abbey Road") "A parade of discards and song frangments waiting to be finished, it presents the Beatles cleaning out the cupboards, and tossing anything once deemed workable ... into one last meal;" (regarding Mahler's Symphony No. 4) "When... first issued ... some scholars derided conductor Willem Mengelberg's elastic, shape-shifting interpretation;" (regarding Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale") "Brian Wilson thought he was hearing the music to his own funeral when it was playing." Fantastic writing, folks! This is one awesome book not only for casual browsing, but also true insight into an amazing range of musical genres. Some other minor brownie points and/or beefs: 1. Well, everyone will find some things to quibble over. For me there are glaring omissions (e.g. there is nothing by Coldplay, the Moody Blues or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). The "country" genre listings seem a little weak. Moon also seems to love a lot of early 20th century mono recordings of classical pieces. But this is really nitpicking. 2. I'm still not sure about the alphabetical organization scheme. Genre groupings make more sense, although there are problems with that too. In the end, there are serendipitous juxtapositions which make the browsing all the more satisfying (e.g., blues artist John Lee Hooker faces the page with Gustav Holst--Fatboy Slim next to Faure was also a hoot). Ultimately the alpha listings became no-problemo when I discovered the indexes in the back--by genre, geophraphy, you name it. 3. My favorite index is a kind of collection of super playlists called "Occasions Index", with titles such as "Get the Party Started," "Romance Enhancers," "Headphone Journey," "Superman's Earbuds," etc., etc. The deeper I burrowed into this fat little book the more impressed and hooked I became.

Are you tired of being assaulted by prefabricated, disposable music? Are you irritated by incessant media coverage of the lip-syncing teen flavor-of-the-month? Are you sick of music guides based on online popularity contests? If so, you need to own this book! This is the rare book that completely lives up to its product description. It's interesting and well written. It will cause you to revisit stuff that has been submerged in your collection. It will help you to discover music that lies beyond your usual listening boundaries. Most importantly, Tom Moon is enthusiastic and well informed about an incredibly wide range of styles and genres. The best aspect of this book, however, is that it reflects the taste and experience of one person. Let's face it: the Zagat's/American Idol/MySpace/Yelp method of mass voting ends up glorifying the lowest common denominator. Anything that is unique, quirky, or challenging gets buried and marginalized. Moon, on the other hand, is able to establish a consistent tone and viewpoint that gives him the space to include both the expected (come on, you know Dark Side of the Moon, Kind of Blue, and Beethoven's Ninth are going to be included in a book like this) and the unexpected. For instance, Learning to Crawl instead of Pretenders? The Shape of Jazz to Come and not This Is Our Music? Take Ten over Time Out? This is where the strength of having a single author really comes out. When you disagree with Moon, you always know where he's coming from and you can intelligently decide if you buy into his perspective or not. Other things I love about this book: *While Moon writes most fluently about jazz, he has an unpretentious approach to classical music that is very refreshing. All too often, classical music writing is stuffy and pedantic (ever try reading through program notes at the symphony? No wonder people fall asleep!). *The focus is on full albums, not just single tracks. Call me old school, but I think downloadable music has sent the record companies back to a 1950's mentality where albums are just a couple of hits surrounded by filler. That is not a good thing. *Moon takes care to tell readers which edition or release to buy if inferior versions are on the market. He also recommends additional works by the composer or artist and, best of all, albums by other artists who might not spring to mind at first glance. *American Idol really is killing music. Moon says it best in his review of Al Green's Call Me: "Thanks to the enormous popularity of TV's American Idol, the ideal of singing in this great land has devolved into a kind of extreme sport--empty athletic expressions, bombastic shows of brutal lung power." I second that emotion. Anybody who cares about listening to music and collecting music will enjoy this book. --- Postscript: Genre guides I enjoy and use often: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Ninth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings) The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs Yearbo