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Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect but pretty good.
Review: The compiler has not axes to grind and seems to treat everyone reasonably and fairly.It is a bit weird to find Jimmy Jam under his first name (ditto L.A. Reid). It would also be a bit handier if mentions of folks who have entries were highlighted in some fashion when they are mentioned elsewhere. A few (doubtlessly accidental) omissions aside it is pretty comprehensive. I'd like to see more coverage of produces and entries discussing styles but of the books of this sort I've bought this is the most useful.
Rating: 
Summary: A Poor Book Badly Edited
Review: Where do I start? I'll start with a positive. This was a brave idea badly let down by poor editing and poor presentation. I had bought this book because I needn't a reliable guide to these forms of music.So why did I give the book away shortly after buying it? Its full of errors. An example would be the entry for Archie Bell & The Drells - This book states that Drell recorded for Ovid; He actually recorded for Ovide. There is no mention of thefact that many of his early records were in fact, recorded using the TSU Tornados, mainly 'cos Archie was away in Vietnam. This may seem minor but the book is littered with other errors. The editor has also taken the easy option whereever possible. Thus we get a long, dull entry for Micheal Jackson, a singer who has made few R&B or Soul records but no entry whatsoever for Donald Height, now an obscure figure but an artist who recorded throughout the sixties until 1975. I'll finish with two further points as I 'm writing this as a warning. There were no pictures in my edition making it hard on the eye and the editor has a quite ridiculous policy of inserting deliberate errors (So he says anyway) to warn people off plagarism. Thus you get part discographies with wrong album information. I'm sorry but if I'm to spend my hard earned money I expect far better than this shoddy exercise in popularism.
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