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Rating: 
Summary: Impressively fair and balanced...
Review: Al Spicer's Rock volume unwittingly points out something that hard core rock fans would be loath to admit, but is true more often than not -- Rock music consists of two groups: A very small fraternity of truly inspirational, daringly artistic innovators, and a huge pack of imitators, hucksters, rank amateurs and rip-off artists all trying to leap frog the first group to get all the gold, usually (and sadly) with success more often than not. Spicer does a good job of redress for the most part, including zero selling, but seminal inventors like Gang of Four, Robert Wyatt, Jane Siberry, Wire and Buzzcocks. Spicer does miss the mark a time or two, featuring an opportunist sham like Hole instead of the Slits or ESG (or even the Shaggs), and mysteriously listing Jeff Buckley while ignoring his father Tim Buckley. REM, the Doors, Radiohead and Oasis have managed to fool lots of smart people, so I can't fault their inclusion too much, though the absence of Graham Parker, Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane and the Chambers Brothers are troubling. Spicer's list is a reasonable balance between the classic and the alternative made more credible by the restraint he shows in limiting the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Doors, Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin to one disc each and finding room to include AC/DC, Captain Beefheart, Prince and Madonna. I would have liked more of a showing for the mainstream though - Blondie, Hall + Oates and James Taylor all seem pretty essential to me.
Rating:
Summary: Impressively fair and balanced...
Review: Al Spicer's Rock volume unwittingly points out something that hard core rock fans would be loath to admit, but is true more often than not -- Rock music consists of two groups: A very small fraternity of truly inspirational, daringly artistic innovators, and a huge pack of imitators, hucksters, rank amateurs and rip-off artists all trying to leap frog the first group to get all the gold, usually (and sadly) with success more often than not. Spicer does a good job of redress for the most part, including zero selling, but seminal inventors like Gang of Four, Robert Wyatt, Jane Siberry, Wire and Buzzcocks. Spicer does miss the mark a time or two, featuring an opportunist sham like Hole instead of the Slits or ESG (or even the Shaggs), and mysteriously listing Jeff Buckley while ignoring his father Tim Buckley. REM, the Doors, Radiohead and Oasis have managed to fool lots of smart people, so I can't fault their inclusion too much, though the absence of Graham Parker, Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane and the Chambers Brothers are troubling. Spicer's list is a reasonable balance between the classic and the alternative made more credible by the restraint he shows in limiting the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Doors, Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin to one disc each and finding room to include AC/DC, Captain Beefheart, Prince and Madonna. I would have liked more of a showing for the mainstream though - Blondie, Hall + Oates and James Taylor all seem pretty essential to me.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, idiosyncratic selection
Review: Nifty little book includes much that one wouldn't expect to find in a survey of this sort. Some of the expected items (Exile on Main Street, London Calling, Elvis's Sun recordings, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation) are here, but many wonderful but lesser-known albums (John Cale's Fear, Can's Tago Mago) are as well. I was generally pleased by Spicer's unique choices and analyses, even if I didn't always agree with them. There are quite a few things to take issue with, though. For one thing, this book focuses largely on albums significant for the development of "alternative" music, and includes very little R&B, funk, rap, etc. The introduction says that separate Rough Guides books will deal with reggae, soul, country and blues -- but what's closer to "rock" music, Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove (not included, though the Talking Heads' very funky Remain in Light is) or The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (included)? Not that Spicer doesn't include black artists at all -- how could he leave out Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix or Prince? -- but a certain divide is apparent here, something that doesn't occur in the "alternative"-oriented Trouser Press guides. Even if you like this approach, you might find, as I did, that Spicer sometimes seems more interested in choosing albums that are very innovative or influential but aren't really in and of themselves great albums. The Stooges' first, eponymous album, according to the author, "has become an accepted classic not simply because of its enormous influence on punk, but also due to its refreshing sense of being uncluttered by excessive thought." Yeah. The album, I would say, is genuinely moronic, but its tempos are really slow: one of the cuts, the ten-minute "We Will Fall" is perfectly soporific, what with John Cale's crawling viola and the band's monotonous chanting in the background. I'll admit the album's influence and charm, but Fun House and Raw Power would be much better choices. And if you're going to include the Cure, Mixed Up is hardly representative: like Spicer, I admire that disk's pastiche of "beats-plus-melancholia," but I think it's also very inconsistent and sometimes does the originals (especially "Inbetween Days") a disservice. (One further complaint, albeit a minor one, is that it seems a bit unfair to readers to recommend albums that aren't commercially available. The case in point here is Neu!'s debut, which I for one have never been able to track down. On the other hand, maybe his writing will urge someone to do a legitimate CD reissue.) As far as the writing goes, Spicer provides some excellent and rather original readings of these albums; he makes numerous insights I've never encountered; for example, Here Come the Warm Jets, Brian Eno's first and most overtly "rock" solo album, is shown to anticipate his later ambient work. There's a good grasp here overall of the albums' historical significance, although more could be said about just how popular an album was or wasn't in its day. But Spicer might be assuming we already know that anyway. I'm not as widely-read (or -listened) in the music as Spicer appears to be, so in some sense I'm probably not fully equipped to critique his work. But I'm grateful for his contribution and am sure I'll discover some fine artists through it. Moreover, canonical debates of this sort really intrigue me, so I thought I'd participate here at Amazon. And I'll add this: Spicer could be REALLY adventurous if he were so bold as to DEFINE what "rock" is. But I wouldn't envy him the task.
Rating: 
Summary: One to argue about.
Review: Rather than simply add to the piles of "Best of..." books, I thought I'd try and point out some of the less well-trodden pathways to musical heaven. Hope you enjoy my book, it was lots of fun to write.
Rating:
Summary: Spicer's 100 Essential
Review: Spicer's book is a good read. One could argue the ground rules for choosing the 100 best albums (one per group, even if you're the Beatles or Stones) but the mentions of albums almost chosen are a big help. His approach is biased in favor of more alternative style music. This was a good thing in that it directed me towards things I probably wouldn't have given a second thought to previously. However, if you are looking for a reference which pertains to American rock, this isn't it.
Rating:
Summary: Spicer's 100 Essential
Review: This is a generally sound, give or take a few selections, guide to the essential albums in rock music today. In addition to such obligatory selections as "Exile On Main Street", "Pet sounds" etc there are few suprises, notably Gang Of Four and the Minutemen, enabling the listener to explore new uncharted musical territory. This book has more than reedemed its price by introducing me to the mesmerizing songmanship of John Cale, an artist whom I may never have encountered without it. Few minor quibbles though. Theres a noticeable deficiet of black and female and performers, the former being the impetus that created the musics medium. On a more personal level, though the writer makes a persuasive argument, it's a little dismaying to find the unabashedly unoriginal Oasis making an appearnace here. Also, "Are You Experienced?" over "Electric Ladyland", and "Trompe Le Monde" choosen over "Surfer Rosa" seem a little misguided. But then given the highly subjective nature subject it's impossible expect a book like this to please everybody. With short, pithly written entries and a book size that fits comfortably in the pocket, its the perfect companion to take on subway journeys or in dentists waiting rooms, where a read less toilsome than a novel, and more satisfying than a magazine is required.
Rating:
Summary: Sound advice
Review: This is a generally sound, give or take a few selections, guide to the essential albums in rock music today. In addition to such obligatory selections as "Exile On Main Street", "Pet sounds" etc there are few suprises, notably Gang Of Four and the Minutemen, enabling the listener to explore new uncharted musical territory. This book has more than reedemed its price by introducing me to the mesmerizing songmanship of John Cale, an artist whom I may never have encountered without it. Few minor quibbles though. Theres a noticeable deficiet of black and female and performers, the former being the impetus that created the musics medium. On a more personal level, though the writer makes a persuasive argument, it's a little dismaying to find the unabashedly unoriginal Oasis making an appearnace here. Also, "Are You Experienced?" over "Electric Ladyland", and "Trompe Le Monde" choosen over "Surfer Rosa" seem a little misguided. But then given the highly subjective nature subject it's impossible expect a book like this to please everybody. With short, pithly written entries and a book size that fits comfortably in the pocket, its the perfect companion to take on subway journeys or in dentists waiting rooms, where a read less toilsome than a novel, and more satisfying than a magazine is required.
Rating:
Summary: Sound advice
Review: This is a generally sound, give or take a few selections, guide to the essential albums in rock music today. In addition to such obligatory selections as "Exile On Main Street", "Pet sounds" etc there are few suprises, notably Gang Of Four and the Minutemen, enabling the listener to explore new uncharted musical territory. This book has more than reedemed its price by introducing me to the mesmerizing songmanship of John Cale, an artist whom I may never have encountered without it. Few minor quibbles though. Theres a noticeable deficiet of black and female and performers, the former being the impetus that created the musics medium. On a more personal level, though the writer makes a persuasive argument, it's a little dismaying to find the unabashedly unoriginal Oasis making an appearnace here. Also, "Are You Experienced?" over "Electric Ladyland", and "Trompe Le Monde" choosen over "Surfer Rosa" seem a little misguided. But then given the highly subjective nature subject it's impossible expect a book like this to please everybody. With short, pithly written entries and a book size that fits comfortably in the pocket, its the perfect companion to take on subway journeys or in dentists waiting rooms, where a read less toilsome than a novel, and more satisfying than a magazine is required.
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