1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrrets Behind Them

The selection of songs here is not the point. Creswell is not overly concerned about his personal connection with the songs, and he isn't trying to persuade anyone. Instead, he has assembled an extremely pleasant collection of brief essays, histories and anecdotes that any popular music fan can learn from and enjoy. I've found his writing to be generally so informative and entertaining that I read about songs I don't particularly like almost as enthusiastically as I read about my favorites. Highly recommended.

Written by an Aussie, there are an awful lot of entries here of bands and songs unfamiliar to the American public. However, the writing is consistently excellent. Author shows solid foundation of musical knowledge, and clearly enjoys his subject matter. I would recommend that this book be on any rock and roll fan's reference shelf.

[I tried to enter a list of the 1001 songs but couldn't.] It is what it is: a list of 1001 Songs that the author felt like writing about. The subtitle "The Great Songs Of All Time" is rather dubious, and unfortunate. To be fair, Mr. Creswell admits his prejudices openly in the introduction. I found his commentaries on the songs to be an enjoyable read and recommend the book based on that alone. As mentioned in another review here, he occasionally has a fact wrong. I have to admit that my tastes and his differ significantly and that quite a number of the songs here have me shaking my head (Brian Eno's "1/1" ??) or hitting the skip button (Stooges' "L.A. Blues"). I've managed to stream most of them from a music service. Mr. Creswell largely eschews the monster hits, though he strays from this quite often to include the likes of "Satisfaction", "Ticket To Ride", and "Like A Rolling Stone". I actually quite enjoyed the off-the-beaten-trail aspect of this book and wish he had made that a rule when he selected the songs. His inclusion of several songs from bands of his native Australia seems contrary to the subtitle, but, again, any list is subjective. Because of this inherent subjectivity, disagreements are quibbles, but why, oh why do rock critics feel compelled to include every song The Velvet Underground ever recorded in their lists? They are a band that is virtually ignored by everyone on the planet - except rock critics. The VU or Lou Reed or Nico are grossly overrepresented in this list with 14 entries. And does Midnight Oil really deserve 3 songs in the top 1001 of all time? My larger problem with this book and lists by most rock critics is that they feel compelled to include songs from the Country, Jazz, Pop and Blues genres, but their knowledge of these genres is too shallow. The selections are obvious and perfunctory. "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Crazy" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" are obvious country choices; "Take Five", "My Favourite Things" and "Take the `A' Train" equally shallow choices for Jazz. I doubt that the top 1001 songs of all time would truly be 90% Rock. I wish Mr. Creswell had admitted upfront that this was a list of his favorite rock songs or had greater breadth in his selections. I could easily come up with 500 Country, Jazz and Pop Vocal songs that would argue for inclusion in any list of the 1001 great songs. Quibbles indeed, I found this book enjoyable even though I actively dislike at least a third of his selections. His comments are lengthy enough and entertaining. A bonus is that by seeking out the songs herein, I've discovered a few gems that have escaped my attention through the years: "Levi Stubb's Tears", "I Still Carry You Around", "A Message To You Rudy" and others. And what good is a list you don't argue with?

In the iPod era, it seems like everybody and their mother has a book out about "essential playlists," as if you can condense a band like the Beatles into 20 randomized gems. Interesting though books like this are, none are worth owning any more than one should buy a tracklist for a compilation CD. So why should this massive title be any different? The answer is simple. In its size lies content... Creswell says something about each song. It's more like a book of brief stories, as opposed to the bound grocery lists similar titles offer... you get recommendations and reasons why. See, this book is like talking to your friend about music... he'll tell you he's just discovered Portishead, you'll share that you've lately been really into Neil Young's latest, and perhaps after you'll go home and check out what the other was hyping. There is plenty of hyping going on in here, too, with 1001 tracks waiting for you to discover them. Neither the songs nor the artists are all the same old standards... you'll find, for example, Pearl Jam's "Alive," but I was all the more pleased to find a young woman named Thea Gilmore listed within... a name which might be more well known in England, but is not as well known here in the US. If you're looking for the Great American Songbook, you'll be disappointed. Of course, if you're looking for songs that classic, that well known, what more new can be written? The title states that these are great songs. This is, of course, debateable, but what is not debateable is that these are not necessarily the greatest. This book isn't meant to be a top 1001 of all songdom... it is meant to simply be 1001 songs that the author feels are truly great. I'd recommend this book to any avid music fan, anyone who enjoys learning about music they didn't know before, and anyone open to hearing that which may not be familiar... that is the niche it serves. If you need a countdown, look elsewhere, and if you can't look past the classics, Michael Buble will have a new CD soon enough.

I love this book. I rate it five stars because it tells the stories behind all those great songs. It's answered a lot of questions I've had. I know I'm not one to judge a book that has mostly oldies- I'm only twelve years old- but it's a great book and I recommend it to music experts and newcomers alike.