Alternative Rock : Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion

Rating:
Summary: Charming but Shallow
Review: I found this recollection of bands and information about them describing the history of what could be called the "new music" rather narrow, especially when it comes down to the international scene bands like Nina Hagen, Napalm Death, KMFDM, and others of significant influence in the picture as a whole. Others that only happen to get mentioned as secondaries or wanna bes that tried to find an label to fit into and simply never did (maybe their record sales were too low). The whole dissmisal of some of the hardcore bands i.e. D.R.I. AND C.O.C., Circle Jerks, and others. Some of the very pioneers of punk i.e. Subhumans, The Exploited they too go unnoticed. Also missing is one of the few artists that showed us what real artistic integrity and social participation is all about: Frank Zappa, is not mentioned except for the P.M.R.C. trials, this man left over 60 albums of music and gets no credit for alternative (huh????). The whole absence of Rap music, except for the Beastie Boys (hey, there was rap music before them!!) In essence I find the book running contrary to what most people think it is, "alternative". If this is what is transpiring as Alternative Rock, I suggest to the author and anyone who reads this book, to go back to a real record store (the kind that stocks independent music) and take a tour through the first 5 letters of their stock, you may have something new to listen to and redefine your criteria as to what alternative really means. Buy it, if you have spent the last 20 years under a really big rock, otherwise for the real thing search for more promiscuos reading.

Rating:
Summary: Charming but Shallow
Review: I found this recollection of bands and information about them describing the history of what could be called the "new music" rather narrow, especially when it comes down to the international scene bands like Nina Hagen, Napalm Death, KMFDM, and others of significant influence in the picture as a whole. Others that only happen to get mentioned as secondaries or wanna bes that tried to find an label to fit into and simply never did (maybe their record sales were too low). The whole dissmisal of some of the hardcore bands i.e. D.R.I. AND C.O.C., Circle Jerks, and others. Some of the very pioneers of punk i.e. Subhumans, The Exploited they too go unnoticed. Also missing is one of the few artists that showed us what real artistic integrity and social participation is all about: Frank Zappa, is not mentioned except for the P.M.R.C. trials, this man left over 60 albums of music and gets no credit for alternative (huh????). The whole absence of Rap music, except for the Beastie Boys (hey, there was rap music before them!!) In essence I find the book running contrary to what most people think it is, "alternative". If this is what is transpiring as Alternative Rock, I suggest to the author and anyone who reads this book, to go back to a real record store (the kind that stocks independent music) and take a tour through the first 5 letters of their stock, you may have something new to listen to and redefine your criteria as to what alternative really means. Buy it, if you have spent the last 20 years under a really big rock, otherwise for the real thing search for more promiscuos reading.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference book
Review: I was first acquainted with Dave Thompson's writing through a book called Industrial Revolution and liner notes from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Generation-The Best of. The Industrial Revolution book used an encyclopedic format and in a way was a precursor to Alternative Rock. This book covers everything from the history of Alt music: Velvet Underground and Glam, through Punk and all of the post punk derivatives you can muster: Hardcore, Goth, Industrial, and some of the more moderate New Wave music of the Eighties. Though not every band under the sun was spotlighted or even mentioned, it is about as comprehensive as you can get. Each selected band has a concisely written bio and discography, not to mention that each album is rated and most were reviewed. Also included is a section on the producers and record labels. This is the type of reference book that you will open time and time again. The book's only disappointment were two ommissions that are not justifiable: The Fall and The Mekons. There are other bands I would have liked to have seen: Girls Against Boys, Yo La Tango and some of the other Matador and Touch and Go bands out there. However, this book is an inspiration to those who love music and for those who love to write about music.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference book
Review: I was first acquainted with Dave Thompson's writing through a book called Industrial Revolution and liner notes from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Generation-The Best of. The Industrial Revolution book used an encyclopedic format and in a way was a precursor to Alternative Rock. This book covers everything from the history of Alt music: Velvet Underground and Glam, through Punk and all of the post punk derivatives you can muster: Hardcore, Goth, Industrial, and some of the more moderate New Wave music of the Eighties. Though not every band under the sun was spotlighted or even mentioned, it is about as comprehensive as you can get. Each selected band has a concisely written bio and discography, not to mention that each album is rated and most were reviewed. Also included is a section on the producers and record labels. This is the type of reference book that you will open time and time again. The book's only disappointment were two ommissions that are not justifiable: The Fall and The Mekons. There are other bands I would have liked to have seen: Girls Against Boys, Yo La Tango and some of the other Matador and Touch and Go bands out there. However, this book is an inspiration to those who love music and for those who love to write about music.

Rating:
Summary: Not Fairly reviewed...
Review: I would like to respectfully disagree with a couple of the previous reviews. This book (though no longer the most current) is a GREAT reference to both casual music fans and music geeks alike. Even if not every band you would like to see or should potentially know about from '75-'00 is included, many of them are, and even if the synopses/reviews may not be your opinion, you can not deny they are at least fair and informed.

The book is already large, and if more were included it may become ponderous and overwhelming for some. It is not an encyclopedia, but it is the closest this genre is likely to see.

I spent several hours reading it before I bought it (we had it at my job) and learned many things about bands I knew about, as well as some I had never heard of. The book does a good job of putting the artists in the context of their time and regional culture, and does a great job as a piece of reference in catalogueing the recordings.

As for the complaint about not including hip-hop or Zappa. I am a big fan of both, I was once reprimanded on my college "alternative" radio show for including a couple songs by Zappa era Steve Vai, and I agree that the "alternative" genre such as it was (I consider it to now be a dead genre) was too restrictive and became nothing more than a marketing strategy. However it is a recognized and fairly well defined genre, like it or not, and I feel that the artists represented in this book are a fine cross-section of the most important players in said genre. As much influence as Zappa had both musically and attitude wise to many a "alt rocker" he resides just outside of this classification (along with most other classifications, to his credit).

So to sum up, if you are looking for a fine reference tome on Alternative Rock and the bands who made it what it was, you could do a lot worse than this. If you are looking for the end all be all volume on one particular band or are likely to get offended by someones opinion of your idols, then look elsewhere. I myself, am glad it was written.

Rating:
Summary: Recycled journalism meets some honest ratings
Review: Yes, I too miss the inclusion of The Fall and the Mekons, not to mention dozens of other bands here. Why not Hawkwind, if you're giving such space to Psychic TV and Christian Death? This book takes extremely obscure goth-industrial/new-wave curiosities even a rock geek like me's never heard of and mixes them into mini-essays that both overrate and dismiss, as any critic should do--according to his/her and our tastes, respectively!

Thompson did inspire me to go back and listen to bands fresh. Most of this book covers the 80s, especially the Brit scene, and while many of the records were impossible to find, or at least afford, back then, it does jog one's memory. As one fan's reactions, it straddles the fence between the Lester Bangs/Bob Christgau/Joe Carducci single-critic assaults and, in its catholicity, the variety of the Trouser Press or All-Music Guides.

You won't find exactly what you hoped for, but groups as bafflingly listed as Roogalator, pointless as Hanoi Rocks, and as risible as Dead or Alive share space with Gun Club, Raincoats, Buzzcocks and undoubtably your favorites too. I hope.

Added bonuses: the prefaces are windbagged attempts at giving backgrounds from the 1970s for the alternative scene. They read like they were cut-and-pasted from magazine articles. Better time spent perusing the discographies by label and producer, which appear unique to Thompson's compendium among current record guides.

And do read his reviews! Even if you've never heard of the music, they show his talent at summing up a sound and an attitude, with less snobbery than Christgau and more acumen than some in the Trouser Press volume (which doesn't overlap as much as you'd think with Thompson's picks.)

By the way, Thompson did publish in 2003 "A User's Guide to the Fall," one of three Fall books that year. I have not found it yet, but MES said on the band's website that it was the best of the lot, if because T. opted safely for a run-through of the albums rather than a run-in with the band's fearsome leader.