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Rating: 
Summary: Popular Music Gets Really Ugly
Review: A few of the pictures here are very good, but for the most part, this presents Pop Music in the same manner that "Sunset Boulevard" portrayed the movie business. Most of the photos are dull (scores to choose from), moronic (The White Stripes, Eartha Kitt), or just plain ugly (Iggy Pop, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash,at least another dozen). While some peeople argue that poor aesthetic quality is an essential attribute of "art", there is no excuse for the lack of technical competency shown here. Most of the photos here look like the work of a person who has no camera skills. If the bad aesthetics are deliberate, then it seems clear that the photographer regards musicians with great contempt, judging by how she portrays them here. Pass on this, and just get copies of your favorite rock music magazines if you want a collection of good pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Popular Music Gets Really Ugly
Review: A few of the pictures here are very good, but for the most part, this presents Pop Music in the same manner that "Sunset Boulevard" portrayed the movie business. Most of the photos are dull (scores to choose from), moronic (The White Stripes, Eartha Kitt), or just plain ugly (Iggy Pop, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash,at least another dozen). While some peeople argue that poor aesthetic quality is an essential attribute of "art", there is no excuse for the lack of technical competency shown here. Most of the photos here look like the work of a person who has no camera skills. If the bad aesthetics are deliberate, then it seems clear that the photographer regards musicians with great contempt, judging by how she portrays them here. Pass on this, and just get copies of your favorite rock music magazines if you want a collection of good pictures.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't know what these other folks are talking about.
Review: Gee. I've never heard that poor aesthetic quality is an essential element of art. I'm not even sure what "poor aesthetic quality" means. But if it describes the heartbreaking, iconic portrait of Johnny Cash and June Carter, then I surely want more of it. These are beautiful, sometimes funny and often emotionally moving pictures in which the subjects collaborate with the artist to present a certain face to the world. Maybe not all the faces are completely honest ones, but they're interesting and beautifully photographed.
Rating:
Summary: Don't know what these other folks are talking about.
Review: Gee. I've never heard that poor aesthetic quality is an essential element of art. I'm not even sure what "poor aesthetic quality" means. But if it describes the heartbreaking, iconic portrait of Johnny Cash and June Carter, then I surely want more of it. These are beautiful, sometimes funny and often emotionally moving pictures in which the subjects collaborate with the artist to present a certain face to the world. Maybe not all the faces are completely honest ones, but they're interesting and beautifully photographed.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Photographs from a master, however unfinished
Review: In response to another review on this site, clearly if you think the book has "poor aesthetic quality" You know nothing of photography or art for that matter.
The people in this book are beautifully portrayed in silver and in color. Clearly the photographs were taken over a number of years, which shows the scope of the project.
The only thing that I find wrong with this project is that it may be unfinished. The book is called American Music. Cleary that is why there are mainly blues, rock and roll and hip, country/folk and hip hop artists. Obviosly everyone would like to see their favorite artists in the book and have the ones they dislike removed. I however feel that this is the artists choice, and we have to live with it. If Leibovits decides to put out a 'Part II' it would do all of us a favor.
The only reason why I don't give this a 5 out of 5 stars is that most of the photographs don't grab you by the face and demand your attention. The ones that grab me the most are the artists I folllow, so perhaps there is something in that. Some measure of knowlegde that must accompany the photographs. Buy the book anyways...and listen to more blues albums. I didn't check this review for spelling, HA!
Rating: 
Summary: This is a photography book, not a music anthology
Review: It seems to me that the other reviewers have mistakenly criticized the book for its choice of music artists. Such decisions are secondary to the nature of this work of art. Annie Leibovitz is a photographer of surpassing quality and her ability to capture the latent stories of her subjects is on full display in this book. The idea is not so much to produce stunning or provocative photographs as it is to make manifest the character and circumstances of the various pictured musical artists. Seen in this light, Leibovitz's book should be lauded for its ability to tell a story without getting in the way, and to highlight subtleties without resorting to contrivance. "American Music" is a wonderful work of art, as should be expected from such a distinguished artist.
Rating:
Summary: Classical?
Review: OK, think for a minute what it means deep down to chronical AMERICAN music.
That would be music that comes from the Delta and from Chicago and spread from there as essential Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll and later forms of Pop. Classical came to us from Europe, what these artists represent are the outcome of truly American born music. I'm staggered that anyone would not make that connection..
And yes, we know that some may find Iggy Pop "ugly", but American Music isn't all about chicks that look like Britney Spears..
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