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Rating: 
Summary: Very helpful with my book report on Female Funk Groups
Review: I am a 12 year old student who has listened to funk music as long as I can remember, Mr. Thompson's book is very informative. I especially liked the chapters on Chaka, Mother's Finest, and The Brides of Funkenstein. To my amazement I learned that Dawn Silva from the Brides has a new Cd??!My Dad is a old school DJ and he has thousands of old vinyl, mostly of all females from back in the day. The best song I ever heard was a song called Never buy Texas from a cowboy, by the funk group The BRIDES. I was hoping to find in the book what the title of this song means? anyway it is still my all time favorite song. I was very thank-ful that Mr Thompson did this discography. Must have been very wonderful back in the 70's 80's cause I think this was when music was at its all time best.
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Summary: The erros never stops!
Review: I don't know where to start (the sum-up's in my head...), but let's call it "1" etc...
1.This book features a lot of errors. When covering The Meters, Mr.Thompson first writes that they released 8 albums (which they did), then on the album list there are only seven, and it reads that the song "Hang 'em high" is included on their album "New Directions", which it is NOT (it's on the previous one, "Trick Bag", but that one is left out).
This is unfortunately not the only error; there are hundreds, like some names are spelled differently every other time they appear - E.G.: everybody on earth knows that there are two Rocco's in the world and that one of them plays bass for Tower of Power ...well, every time Rocco Prestia's name is mentioned in this book it reads "Rocca". Incorrect release dates are featured and it says that "One Nation Under A Groove" gave Parliament a spot on the top 20, although it's a Funkadelic album/song.
Another thing I found strange was that the list of artists who has covered Ohio Players' songs are 81, but "Love Rollercoaster" by RHCP's is not included. The story of James Brown firing his band in 1970 just before a show and hiring The Pacesetters the same evening is told three times (when covering J.Brown, B.Collins & M.Parker)!
There are, of course, artists in this book that I am not as familiar with as others, so there may be even more errors than I think. Some are excusable, while others are too big to accept.
2.The reviews is a disappointing feature. The say nothing - they're usually one or two sentences long, not insightful at all. All albums aren't even reviewed. There are unreviewed albums by almost every artist. A track list of all albums would have been a better feature.
3.The stories about the bands are all very basic and they are all written in the same way, "...first the group's name was "this", then they changed it to "that", released this album on this label, then that album on that label, had a hit, then someone quit and four years late they broke up"...it gets tiring.
There are too many bands and artist to cover in 370 pages (not 400 like it says on the amazon page), especially since a fourth of these pages are lists of singles and albums by the artists and long lists of covers by other bands.
It's a pretty misleading dictionary of funk-albums for beginners.
If you want to learn about the music of funk itself, I recommend "FUNK" by Rickey Vincent instead.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference. Made many great purchases from this book!
Review: I thoroughly disagree with ... who compared this book to Rickey Vincent's book, which is also pretty good. Vincent's book is intended as a philosophical and historical book, pointing toward an Afrocentric view of funk as a philosophy/borderline religion. Very ambititous and worth reading. Thompson's book more than fulfills its intentions, which is to be a thorough reference for funk. It's got great biographical summaries on many groups, and it also gives balanced reviews of the key albums and shows evidence of being thoroughly researched. Also, you get a sense of the author's biases, which are inevitable in any CD review guide written by one or two authors [think Penguin Guide to Jazz for example]. After the classic funk bands [George Clinton, Kool & the Gang, James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire] Thompson's more likely to get heavy into electrofunk. This is cool, but was not as helpful for me as I'm more into acoustic funk after the biggies. Meaning that a lot of New Orleans funk compilations and soul funk compilations slip under the radar. One of the biggest helpful things about this book, however, if you're into hip-hop is that it lists many of the key tracks with sampled singles by a particular artist. As someone growing from a love of The Funk to building a hip-hop collection, that aspect pointed me toward a lot of the great CDs from the glory age of hip-hop before the industry made sampling the classics prohibitively expensive. All in all this is a great reference for funk, certainly the best out there on the market [better than All Music Guide] and worth picking up if you're looking for a thorough reference for funk.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly disappointing
Review: I'm familiar with at least half the artists and the albums and the stories this book tells about. Not much is accurate. The writer gives too many personal opinions on the music, many discographies lack important information, the selected sample lists are unnecessary (and take up LOTS of space in the book), and the reviews are uninsightful. Lots of research must've been done in order to get this much "fact" into these many pages, but obviously not enough. Not recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry I didn't mean to write a review on this
Review: My mistake, funk music is a bit annoying
Rating:
Summary: Funk for ABSOLUTE beginners...
Review: Since the original FUNK came out by Rickey Vincent some 5-6 years ago, a lot of people have tried to jump on the funky bandwagon. Thompson's book is just the latest and nowhere near the greatest. Basically, this is a book by someone who likens funkiness with how danceable the music is. However, this is only scratching the surface. THE FUNK is much deeper than that, and it seems that Thompson--like a lot of musical commentators whose expertise lies OUTSIDE the realm of FUNK--doesn't realize it. Thompson's a fish out of water. If there is a plus with this book, it's that there is a discography. If you're looking to "get into the funk" and are an absolute beginner, this might be a great starting point. If you know the difference between "disco" and funk, are looking for some DEPTH, and are a serious FUNKATEER, don't even waste your time with this book...unless you need access to a discography or something like that.
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Summary: Glory B the funks on me
Review: Thoroughly enjoyed this book, from beginning to the end. The writer goes into explicit chronological detail of the music, groups, solo artist, showcasing the creative icons that played a substanial role in the 70's 80's and 90's. I discovered I didn't know as much as I thought, viewing photo's that I had never seen. This is a must purchase, truly "Funk is it's own reward."
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Summary: Exellent book, Yanow isn't afraid to tell it like it is!!!
Review: Yanow covers almost every aspect of swing(he's left out Banu Gibson!), with a few acceptions. From Louis armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens to Glenn Miller, to Squirrell Nut Zippers. Surprisingly the tough jazz critic likes Bran Setzer's Dirty boogie Cd, and gives Squirrel Nut Zippers HOT cd, a rating of 9(out of 10)! A great book and Yanow tells it like it is, if it doesn't swing, or the musucianship is poor he's not afraid to say so. a grea thonest book that will tell you what cd's to bu yand what to skip. Includes an interview with big band leader Lavay Smith(he gives her cd a perfect 10 rating)! Even a whole section here on modern swing including Big Bad Voovdoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin Daddies, and more... Fun book to read while stuck on the toilet, I keep one in all three of my bathrooms, and one in the car for when I go to record stores!!!
Rating:
Summary: Exellent book, Yanow isn't afraid to tell it like it is!!!
Review: Yanow covers almost every aspect of swing(he's left out Banu Gibson!), with a few acceptions. From Louis armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens to Glenn Miller, to Squirrell Nut Zippers. Surprisingly the tough jazz critic likes Bran Setzer's Dirty boogie Cd, and gives Squirrel Nut Zippers HOT cd, a rating of 9(out of 10)! A great book and Yanow tells it like it is, if it doesn't swing, or the musucianship is poor he's not afraid to say so. a grea thonest book that will tell you what cd's to bu yand what to skip. Includes an interview with big band leader Lavay Smith(he gives her cd a perfect 10 rating)! Even a whole section here on modern swing including Big Bad Voovdoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin Daddies, and more... Fun book to read while stuck on the toilet, I keep one in all three of my bathrooms, and one in the car for when I go to record stores!!!
Rating:
Summary: Exellent book, Yanow isn't afraid to tell it like it is!!!
Review: Yanow covers almost every aspect of swing(he's left out Banu Gibson!), with a few acceptions. From Louis armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens to Glenn Miller, to Squirrell Nut Zippers. Surprisingly the tough jazz critic likes Bran Setzer's Dirty boogie Cd, and gives Squirrel Nut Zippers HOT cd, a rating of 9(out of 10)! A great book and Yanow tells it like it is, if it doesn't swing, or the musucianship is poor he's not afraid to say so. a grea thonest book that will tell you what cd's to bu yand what to skip. Includes an interview with big band leader Lavay Smith(he gives her cd a perfect 10 rating)! Even a whole section here on modern swing including Big Bad Voovdoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin Daddies, and more... Fun book to read while stuck on the toilet, I keep one in all three of my bathrooms, and one in the car for when I go to record stores!!!
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